Trapping inspiration, mystery guests and the only cheap grocery.
Also a trinket box shaped like a croissant.
Hello, it’s great to
see you here!
Editor – Phoebe Tully
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Reporting live from my first new couch ever.
For a variety of reasons, I have lived without a couch for about four months. I had my last one for 10 years, and it was secondhand when I got it. When I moved to Brisbane, it was time to let that “heirloom” go – and I just hadn’t gotten around to replacing it.
My new apartment is small enough that it’s not immediately obvious that there was nowhere to sit apart from the dining table… until you looked around for somewhere to sit and realised your two options were both made of navy Nylon and came from Bunnings.
So out with the camping chairs. Last weekend I somewhat optimistically got into my Mazda 3 to pick up an outdoor sofa from Freedom Furniture (it fit once it was out of the box and considerable sweating had occurred). I loved it online, and when I got to the store, it was over 50% off in EOFY sales and that is destiny, my friends.
A few bamboo palms and a coffee table later, and I have a little oasis that is still nice to sit on in July (thanks Brisbane). It’s already played host to a dozen good conversations, more than a dozen negronis, and my dogs absolutely not believing that dogs don’t sit on furniture. Couches aren’t just furniture; they’re traps for friendships and sunshine and the sorts of chats you just don’t have when you’re facing each other across a table.
Creating art traps.
This year I’ve really been trying to remember that I am a creative person. It seems obvious to others, but to myself, I adopted a thought that I was more “strategic” or “left brained”. Yes, even though I sing, I dance, I have a collection of art history books on my coffee table, I cook, I spend hours upon hours styling and re-styling my apartment… I’m just not that creative, you know?
Perhaps you’ve tricked yourself too.
YouTube recommended this video to me recently, and the title, as was intended, grabbed my attention, which is no easy feat these days. “The drawing advice that changed my life".” 3.2 million views.
It’s a lovely little video and I’m going to completely give away the ending, sorry. The advice is this: draw the same thing every day. That’s how you get better. Because, fundamentally, you got started. You take away the indecision of what you’re going to draw, or when you’re going to draw, or the fact that you are not already the best drawer in the world even though you only started on Sunday.
I remember coming across a video from Elizabeth Gilbert during Covid, where she showed her dining table was covered in paper, paints and other art supplies, considering she wasn’t able to cook for anyone:
"I can eat my food out of my lap with a bathroom towel over my chest as a bib, eating cold spaghetti and watching episodes on my iPad of The Great British Bake Off just like a normal human … So I decided to turn my table into what I'm calling an 'art trap'.”
Getting started trips so many of us up in all areas of our lives – health, work, relationships, business, finances. But an art trap is there for any time inspiration strikes; we can take action. Everything is there, ready to go.
You may not be into watercolours, but I think the concept can be used anywhere:
a calligraphy pen and ink bottle ($) laid out on the dining table next to some practice pads
a cute trinket box ($) that you pop coins into whenever they’re in your pockets or wallet
a pad and pen on your bedside table to sketch your dog before going to sleep each night
a pinned note on your phone for your business ideas, not just your groceries or potential cat names
a small stack of origami paper ($) in your car’s glove box
a regular weekly coffee meeting with a work mentor, so you’re in thinking and reflecting mode between visits
a book in your bag for reading in the doctor’s waiting room instead of scrolling through Threads or whatever it is we’re using now
a new couch to trap hours of lolling about on a Sunday afternoon with a coffee and then a cocktail and then a herbal tea
DO | host a mystery guest dinner – invite half the guest list and ask them to bring someone along. This is actually a genius idea, if I do say so myself.
MAKE | apple sauce for future roast pork dinners (maybe to serve at your mystery guest dinner party) – apples are so cheap at the moment! Maybe the only thing that’s cheap at the moment!
READ | Hating Alison Ashley – Robin Klein
WATCH | Up in the Air (2009)
LISTEN | Zoe Foster Blake’s Low Key & Lovely playlist