whooa, Hello.... it's been a while!

Hey belinism peeps! 

This blog post has been a number of years in the making. It’s hard to put the ‘missing years’ into words. To say that I didn’t feel myself and have had to in many ways rebuild myself more than a few times in recent history is an understatement. With naught left to do but pick myself up, dust myself off and keep going, I am ready to try to catch you all up.

However, before I begin my tale of lows and highs, I want to thank you for being here and reading this post. When I started belinism, it was purely in the spirit of happiness and contentment. Obviously, I had no idea that my aspirational goal of happiness and contentment was about to be tested, big time. I wanted happiness and contentment and I wanted to give it to the world. I felt as a creative and a maker I could achieve my goals by making people smile in the morning while they inhale their first cuppa. It was really that simple and it meant so much to me. I could never be more grateful for the support belinism has received over the years, from fans, customers and the beautiful peeps at the Maleny Peace of Green Gallery, my artist comrades. So again, thank you for just being here, you light my world.

Sadly, as some of you may have noticed, my last post on Instagram kind of left things hanging a bit. This wasn’t deliberate, I was just a desperate person trying to make sense of how to move forward. I felt brokenhearted pushing belinism. I didn’t feel like I had it in me to keep moving my little crafty business forward and it was crushing me. I always intended to pick things back up where I left it however, that is not the way it has played out.

After the medical dramas of 2018/2019 I felt exhausted, I was over hospitals, treatment, fatigue and the general headspace of constantly being in that environment. It just didn’t seem to end. My doctor proposed I’d have to travel some kind of nail-biting roller coaster during my initial treatment, so I was expecting that, but I didn’t realize I may never be able to leave the amusement park, and as you can imagine I was very over the rides…

Due to the highly physical nature of running a ceramics studio, I decided to take a break from everything and return to uni. Firstly, to study business marketing at UniSC and then creative arts at UniSQ. I returned to uni mainly to get my thoughts in order and to heal physically. I didn’t expect to love studying as much as I did and felt incredibly grateful to have the time and space to push one of my other creative loves forward. So I picked my paintbrushes back up and painted like my mental health depended on it.

Slowly I made my way through Uni, graduating last year (2023) with a Bachelor of Creative Arts Hons (first class). I was also incredibly fortunate to receive a university medal by achieving a grade point average of 7. This was very unexpected and is a testament to the power of positive distraction. To say I was blown away was another understatement. I was just happy to have paint under my fingernails again!

Whilst doing my honours study, I became very interested in the emergence of generative AI technology. I felt a shift in how the world was turning, not just in the creative industries but in many different aspects of our lives. I began to feel like this was something I needed to understand better. For this reason, I have decided to return to uni to round out these studies with a Ph.D., while pushing forth with a new career in visual art.

So, with that said, a lot has been happening. I am currently at a place in my life where I am offering myself grace and allowing myself to grow in this new artistic direction. This isn’t the end for belinism, I still feel the same way I did back in the early days and still want to make people smile with my creations.

One of the challenges of getting belinism functional again is that last year we had to make the hard decision to move from our beloved Maleny address. Ticks annoyingly got the better of me and Jon found employment 3 hrs from Maleny, on another mountain top - Toowoomba. Jon and I fell in love in Toowoomba 32 years ago and he proposed to me at Picnic Point, it’s brought back a lot of lovely memories for us, so it’s not too bad. We were still very sad to say goodbye to our Peace of Green Family and Maleny-ian friends and miss them all terribly.

My belinism ceramic studio is still in boxes until we get our kiln wired in our new place and as such I cannot promise mugs or stock anytime soon, but you never know what the future looks like. I also invite you to keep an eye on my belinism Instagram as I upload some of the ‘belinism’ type sculptural work I made at uni during the coronavirus.

In the meantime… you are welcome to join me on my new creative journey. I have set up a new website and Instagram account for my new work, currently displaying mainly oil paintings. Therefore, if you think contemporary surrealism sounds appealing, interested in my exploration of new technologies in the creative industries, or watching me grapple with my general existential crisis over the new wave of artificial technology whilst discussing the end of capitalism, pop on over! I’m probably going to be as bad as blogging in the new site as I was in this one, however, I will post regularly to my insta account :)

While I am on the subject of new work… I am excited to have an exhibition running throughout April, (details in flyer below, Toowomba Council website or on my website). I am mainly showing oil paintings in this exhibition however, I have been playing around with 3D modeling and 3D printing and I am crossing my fingers and toes that there will be 3D printed work on display too. I 100% want to see my ceramics, oil painting and 3D modeling/printing get together to make babies. I’m working on it and you guys will be the first to find out so bear with me for a little bit longer. I’ll be back here stronger than ever :D

I really don’t know why it has been so emotionally hard to reconnect with my belinsim audience however, I feel relieved to have finally writen something down in way of an explanation. Life doesn’t always turn out the way you want or expect it too and sometimes the only thing you can do is roll with the punches and roundhouse kick your way back up!

Thank you for reading :)

with love and happiness

Belin

Hope you've had a Fabulous February!

I’ve had a busy month away from the studio. Something popped up earlier in the month that had me positively glowing with modern medicine :) It’s a new problem, maybe relating to my breast cancer or maybe not. I haven’t any real news or answers yet other than it slowed me down physically and mentally. I’m sure everyone who either has gone through, or watched someone they love go through, a cancer diagnosis knows that it’s all the ‘little things’ that pop up that really wear you down. Good news is that we’ll have heaps of pictures (ultrasounds, CT scans, PET scan) to look back on :o Hopefully we will have more of an idea of where things are at by the end of March. My truly lovely medical team are finding out just as much about my body as I am (I’m just full of surprises).

But in the meantime… I have been able to get out some new stock, yeah!! There are mugs, vases, little hanging oddsocks and new little happy pots available in my shop now.

Join my newsletter to get this months 10% discount on hanging pots (expires 25 of March). Every month I aim to reward subscribers with discounts on different products. So if there is something you have your eye on, subscribe and a discount code will eventually pop up :)

See you next month!

In health and happiness

belin x

Hello 2019!

…and we’re back! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends over the holidays.

I’m so excited about this new year. There were so many things I wanted to do last year that I had to push back. Now I finally get to work on all those crazy and fabulous ideas! So I welcome the new year with loving eyes and a broad smile, thrilled that you’re here too :)

I feel so fortunate to have had such love and support. My local peeps with hugs n chats n stuff. There was one guilty pleasure you guys helped me indulge. I love seeing cute the photos you take! It truly does “warm the cockles” that someone loves their new new piece enough to share it with their friends. More smiles must help the world be a better place, right? Here are a few of my favourites from last year…

Photo credit Instagram profiles: @definatalie, @melanie_augustin, @delia.twiss, @pixelsandpicas

Photo credit Instagram profiles: @binrow, @melwhite76, @vincethepug, @greenplantgal

I love the way you guys have styled my little pieces, I wish I could hire you all as stylists!

One other thing I want to share with you from last year is this commission. I was approached to make a piece for a very special little boy. Some of you may have seen images on my Instagram account of this being created in February last year. It was such a special piece to work on and I hope that this urn brings some peace to Mum and Dad when they think of him.

So… what’s been happening in the studio so far this year?

I been playing with these lovely slab rolled platters. Some of them were screenprinted directly onto the rolled slab. Some were under-glaze tissue transfers that we made here in the studio. So many ideas… Jon keeps talking about colour and lustre but we haven’t even fired the other test platters yet lol.

I’ve only had enough time and space in the kiln to fire this ‘yoga pose’ platter but I was very impressed by the crisp detail. Left - Full platter. Right - detail (can you find from where?) I have just been playing around with images I created during chemo, now I am hoping to create some designs specifically for my slumped platters. I will be developing these ideas over the next few months in between trying to build my hanging pot and mug stock back up.

Thank you for joining me for my first monthly blog of the year. I hope you have already had a great start to the year and I look forward to making you smile in the days, months, years to come :)

Oh and I just wanted to let you know that I have turned the comments off in this blog. I had so much spam on my old blog, it made me quite frustrated. Please feel free, if you wish to comment in my facebook or instagram page, I can interact with you there free of spamminess.

In health and happiness

belin x

Season's greetings my friends!

Wow, it’s hard to believe we are at the end of the year already! I have to say though, I am really ready to say goodbye to 2018.

Thank you 2018 for giving me many gifts. Mainly the gift of gratitude. I have honestly never felt so grateful in all my life. It’s a bit cliche’ but sometimes it takes something dramatic to happen in your world to shake things up a bit. Encouragement to stand back and look at the bigger picture. I never really knew how much I appreciated my life, family/friends, my creativity and my optimism. That was 2018 for me :) I promised this wouldn’t be a heavy blog…So with that said, lets charge our glasses and say hello 2019!

Before I head into holiday mode (and for those wondering were their mugs or cups are), here are a few snaps of the last batch of 2018 mugs travelling around the studio. Wet weather held the process back a few days as they sat quietly in the kiln trying to dry out… As I type, I’m still patiently waiting to open the doors after their glaze firing… might have to wait until Christmas morning to see how they went, how poetic. Lovely shiny pots from Santa :)

I am going to take time off, from now until the first of January. I will be sending out remaining orders but plan to spend most of this time reconnecting with family and friends. I have exciting things I want to do this year with my illustration work. Screen printing onto clay, making screen printed tissue transfers with under-glaze and a couple of other little fun side projects I’ll be sharing with you. It’s gonna be a fun year!

So from me and my family to you and yours, have a very happy holiday season and all the best with your endevours for 2019! Thank you for supporting me throughout 2018 xx

Busy season while going slowly

Yep, busy season, slow human… working really hard on not doing too much post treatment. Now that both chemotherapy and radiotherapy are words relating to my past, I’m very keen to kick it back into full gear but please bear with me for a bit while I take time to get back to full speed.

After saying that, I am going to have one kiln load of cups ready for Christmas!… I hope… I’m very nervous about committing to serious time frames at the moment. My stockpile has been depleted this year and I know some of you have been patiently waiting for mugs to show up in my shop.

For those collecting mugs, this will be your last chance to grab a 2018 cup or mug. I was really looking forward to carving 18’s this year into the bottom of my tableware pieces. Quietly disappointed there wont be more out there but 19’s are pretty fun to carve too. I will be trying my very best to get these last 2018 mugs out the kiln by Christmas.

If you want to order 2018 mugs :0 please click here or on the image below…

As Christmas is coming, I’ve vowed again this year to purchase seasonal presents as handcrafted and as local as possible.

I was in a chain store recently and was disappointed at the customer service offered by large retail outlets these days, line up like cow, shuffle to the front of the cue, serve yourself… I know you’ve probably experienced it all before. It just feels a little cold. It makes buying items from small production makers more special. I love buying handmade. I love the whole experience. I know that when I am talking with the seller, I am also talking to the designer, maker, marketer, admin and postage staff/person, etc.. I am talking to someone passionate about the product they are selling, that they care about it and they know everything there is to know about their product.

I strongly encourage looking around at your local markets when shopping for gifts this year. Etsy have a section where you can view local markets in your area, you can also filter local products to purchase without travelling to a market. There’s bound to be something handcrafted in your local area, wherever you are in the world. Let’s keep our own local communities thriving, especially at this time of year!

Speaking of handcrafted, local markets, I had a BALL at the Brisbane Etsy Made Local market last month! I wish I had some more photos to share but as usual it just gets sooo busy. Quick shout out to ‘La Plume De Fleur’ for making my beautiful flower crown. I was hoping to have a little more hair before the event but just happy I made it there in the end. Thanks to all you gorgeous people who dropped in to say hello and picked up some little belinism goodies. Your support is much appreciated. I love you guys!

…and of course much gratitude to the BEML event organisers, I really do look forward to this event. It always has such a wonderful vibe and such an awesome tribe of fellow marketeers.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and stress less December, don’t forget to smile every chance you get :)