Just this minute got back from the charity auction. The guys at Tabac were amazing, Kevin you rock & we’ll definately be seeing you next year! Bex.. without you this wouldn’t've happened… and the same goes to Jessa, Jackie, Jared, Dean, Ryan, Trav, and Jenny.

thank you Anthony for the amazing cakes, Conrad for hooking us up with amazing sound and Boyd for the lights.

our performers just rocked… Evie Gordon, amazing as always, Zvi Indyk rocking some awesome tunes and making the room rock with you, Sam Wheeler i know you were nervous but you sounded amazing. start working on material for next year! Kristie Addison (a cut-down Transit of Venus) i’ve missed hearing you play, and suprised myself by still being able to sing along to some of it. Diamond Fist Willie.. well the name says it all and you definitely lived up to it. & lastly Le Freque & Steve. just beautiful.

Natalie Hugill, you held it together, dragged it out, sped it up and were generally amazing and bubbly and just great.  Plus you dealt with my garbled additions every five seconds with aplomb. SO getting you to come back next year

we have video and camera footage of this event (thanks to quite a few people) so hopefully there’ll be footage for those of you who had to miss the actual event! yay. at some point in the future we’ll get to the point of getting full web coverage during the event, but not quite yet.

Lastly…. as a rough estimate, if everyone comes through, we have raised $880 this year, which is almost TWICE what we raised last year. Congratulations guys!! i can imagine a lot of Pain Charities will be very happy, and i’m personally thrilled, and in shock!

Some of the pieces will still be available on the website for purchase after the auction, we’re in negotiations with the artists now, so they’ll be available at a later date.

The standard of art since last year has gone up (several pieces were bought on behalf of an art foundation) the amount of enthusiasm has grown… next year (forbidding any unforeseen hospital type incidents) we will improve organisation, publicity, planning… and use what i’ve learnt this year to avoid the same pitfalls. If any of you are interested in being involved and helping out in any way, Please email me and let me know – be specific, if you only want to hand out fliers, say that. if the thought of having to turns your stomach, thats also important information to have! we need the team to be more than me, so if i fail the competition or auction doesnt fail -which almost happened this year.

Heres to bigger an brighter things – and to you, my amazingly talented friends
thank you for making this year possible
(& trav i love you)
xoxxo!
Nix

but theres no way i’ll get all the pieces up on teh pieces for sale page in time. i’m trying to make labels for pieces tomorrow and my back has gone mental again and is making it difficult.

all the printed pieces have been printed, theres still two physical pieces to get but they’re being delivered tomorrow. all the performers are sorted & the event is on so see you there!

xo

Nix

YAY!

Ryan just dropped off the canvases (the digital pieces that Harvey Norman Wairau Park and Hauraki Picture Framers sponsored us to print)  and they look AWESOME! All set up to hang and i cant wait to hang them

It wierd… i know i said this last year but it truly feels like its not really real until the auction.. like its me imagining things or something & then all these actual pieces of art and people turn up and i start wondering what the hell happened! In a good way

We’ve lost Plum Green, unfortunately, with the date change. we have picked up some more amazing artists who i’ll add to the artists page once i get their blurbs, & i’ll add the pieces which are now guaranteed up for auction up as i can.. they might not get up before the auction, but i’ll do my best. sorry.. forming full sentences is a little beyond me right now.

see you sunday. ill be the one curled up in the corner
xo
Nix

Many thanks to the sponsors of our auction!

Tabac Bar of course, who are letting us use their gorgeous space and gear and staff and are just generally awesome.

Paul Broadhurst from Harvey Norman Wairau Park who are helping us with printing the digital entries onto canvases, and Hauraki Picture Framers who are framing them all for us.

For me at this point though, its mostly about Rose Noire, Ryan van Heerden and my Travis King, who have pretty much entirely taken over organising.. well, everything. It looks like i’m out for the count at this point unfortunately, and they’re helping keep everything running smoothly. Thank you guys

we have some amazing artists performing and a fabulous MC for the night Natalie Hugill, who i cant wait to see in action again.. i just need to get her all her info! off to do that now, add some more to the performers information now we have confirmations, stretch like hell and hopefully sleep at some point soon! fingers crossed
see you Sunday!

Hey guys

the charity auction is now November 6th not November 5th – so a sunday not the saturday advertised. I’d been unable for various reasons to confirm the date with Tabac so we had to shift it.

i’m also trying to sort out hand over of the organisation of the auction to other people, as i’m obviously no longer fit enough to do it.. i’ve been touch & go through the whole competition, but now i’m seriously struggling. i need to concentrate on my doctors appointments and self management to try and regain some of the functionality i’ve lost this year.

i’m also going away for a few days for some badly needed headspace and a change of scene. hoping it helps.
talk soon
Nix

Hey all

among the wonderful things my brain has done in the last few weeeks – or not done, as the case may be – are: misremember my specialists appointment so i thought it was a month earlier than it was, lose my medical folder which had all my doctors letters, winz letters and notes from the last 5-6years of appointments in, as well as  the form granting me payment for my specialist, forget repeatedly about said folder until it was more than a week after i lost it, and scramble my memories about the day so i distinctly remember coming home and putting it down… despite not apparently having done so.

brainfog is such a pain in the butt. Especially when you’re trying to plan things and organise people – and organise yourself.

Anyway! Harvey Norman has agreed to sponsor the printing of our canvases so we only have to figure out how to cover the mounting, which i’ve just emailed about  (yay! GOT to appreciate the small things you actually manage to get done, under the pile of the ones you dont) i’ll know soon about how many we can afford, so please, send me your release forms and artworks! we’re printing/auctioning ALL OF THEM – All of the pieces that were offered to auction are being auctioned, unless the artist withdraws them or doesnt get their release form or high-res file to me in time. So please – if you havent been in contact with me, flick me an email so we can get things sorted. the artworks are beginning to arrive, and look even better in person

Daily prizes were sent out yesterday – with some exceptions, either because of lack of an address or lack of a prize, some of them are still coming in – so look out for them! hope you all like them, and i’m reminded again how much i love giving stuff away enjoy, you earned them

Tabac Bar on the 5th November! see you there!

yay i love giving things away!
finally, we have the prizes confirmed!

First prize is a years subscription to the NZ Art Guild, courtesy of the NZ Art Guild and Sophia Elisa (their Manager and one of our judges)

Second prize is a some free sessions with Peak Pilates and Physiotherapy, a fantastic physio service (which i’ve been using for the last year and a half, and getting SO much out of) The reformer table they have removes the option of compensating, helps posture and improves core strength, & their physios and instructors are all lovely

Third prize is a compact digital camera, kindly donated by Paul Broadhurst, Proprietor of  Harvey Norman Wairau Park

I’ve spent most of the day fitting odd shaped prizes into wrongly shaped packages and will be sending them out tomorrow (which means they’ll go out on monday) I still dont HAVE all of the daily prizes – or all of the addresses of those who won them, by the way! but those i have are packaged & will be sent asap – please let me know when you get them ok. (and excuse me for the handwriting, my hands dont feel like working today)

Please send in full res copies of the pieces to be printed, & let me know what size you want them – & send me signed entry forms! i need them asap, as without them i cant sell the pieces so we’re printing them for nothing. Will keep you in the loop as much as i can!
xo
Nix

Here, at long last (& after many photos trying to get the color reflection just right) is the piece we have been donated by Exosthetic Labs & Jared Holland. This will be displayed and sold in the charity auction at Tabac Bar on the 5th & is SO worth getting a look at in person.. the colors change from every angle  & shift of light & the detail is just sick & awesome & i’mgoingtoshushnowandjustshowyouthedamnpiece.
*ahem*

The Icon of Frustration

yeah like i said.. picture entirely does not do it justice. the naked eye can deal with multiple reflective surfaces and sources of light so much better than my camera can (admittedly i just used my compact, my big shiny ones would possibly do a better job.)
come see it in person and realize the awesomeness!

sizes are: top edge 10cm, bottom edge 16cm, height 22.5cm

the judges have spoken,  and the results are:

FIRST PLACE

Grae Burton: see the planes and learn how they fly

SECOND PLACE

Sam Wheeler: the price of power

THIRD PLACE

Jojo – Broken but Ok

SPECIAL MENTIONS:
Sandi Clapperton: Surrender

Rachel Donnelly: Can’t break the chains but the chains wont break me

The judges have been discussing back and forth since the competition ended, and i know the decisions were every hard for them to make – which should make everyone very proud! Nice work guys & CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS!!
love you all
Nix

I cannot believe it’s the 10th of October already… The things sleep deprivation and stress can do to your brain! Thanks to the lovely Sandi we now have  a brand new bed, we picked it up last saturday,  and this week has been an interesting mix of mammoth amounts of sleep (14hours+) and nights of barely any which somehow screws you up more than not really getting any sleep at all. I still have a pile of things to do higher than my house, and the stress from the last month is showing on trav and myself (he’s been fantastic but we’ve been trying to think this week when we last got a day just to ourselves and we honestly cant remember. month of painmonth… Plus a month or more in bed sick before it. Not so good).

Anyway,  I’ve finally cobbled together enough time to write a blogpost, in between timed stretching sessions. Trying to get my body used to moving in wierd directions again – and standing up – which has become a struggle. I’ve perfected the art of the nonchalant lean, yes… But nowadays  my saunter towards the nearest wall has become less of a saunter and more of a stagger.  Then sleep!  Hopefully.

Firstly, all t shirt and hoodies have been sent and/or picked up now, so if you haven’t received yours please email me! The feedback we’ve been getting has been great, both on fit & comfort and I know my hoody is so damned warm that i’ve barely taken it off since i got it. We’re going to have  the mens & womans shirts and the hoodies on display at the charity auction, so you’ll be able to see quality before you buy.  I’ve already had a few people interested in ordering based off seeing mine, but we need to get the same numbers to put an order through so it’ll take more than a few! Thanks so much to James for sorting them out for us. They’re freaking awesome & I will luff mine for ever serves as good proof to my addled brain that you dont all just exist in my mind! (yes, I  know….But its late & I’m tired).

The daily prizes I was told we’d get last week are now apparently arriving on Tuesday  which I fervently hope they are so I can finally send them out! I’ll either go in & grab them or get my lovely  Trav to.  I’ve got a specialists appointment on wednesday FINALLY (been waiting since april) so need to have things sorted for that. Then I’ll get them out to you as soon as I can – I have  most of the addresses I’ve requested now so if you havent sent it to me please send it & if you have  then dont stress – I’ll get them to you as soon as is humanly possible!

The judges are still deliberating, I’m afraid to say. There’s been some difficulty this year with the theme as the pieces have to be on theme to be eligible . There’s been a fair amount of back and forth about which pieces are and which aren’t which has taken extra time up. I was hoping to have them out a week after the comp ended, but rest assured I’ll be after the judges until they come to an agreement and have the results to the winners and up here as soon as they let me know. Promise.

Congratulations to Ella Kane for winning the peoples choice award by a landslide! She’s also had a piece about her written in her local paper as well so double congratulations.
Lastly,  I’ll be emailing and reminding you all tomorrow but I need  signed release forms for me to be able to auction your works. Considering we still need to get a lot of them printed before we can hope to sell them – and that takes time – I need your release forms, or notification they’re in the mail as soon as possible. For those with physical pieces rather than digital, we have somewhere to store them until the auction but please be careful with packaging as we’ve had one be damaged while being couriered already. Please email me for a delivery address and I’ll get a page about the auction and performers we have lined up for the evening at Tabac Bar on the 5^th November as soon as possible (hopefully tomorrow, so long as I’m functioning for long enough.)

I’m sorry information has been sporadic this year… its been as frustrating for me as it has been for you. I have plans for things to establish for next year so the event is not so reliant on one person (this year its been carried by James Bennett and Abigalewitch, in the forums especially, but I’m the only one knows how to do the website thing so it hasn’t crossed to here). I’m hoping by this time next year I’ll be climbing back up again  instead of still sliding but as you all know,  there are no guarantees and no certainties. So I’ll do my best to make sure this site, competition and organisation don’t fail.

As always, much love to you all
Nix