About Elizabeth

 

I’m Elizabeth, an Australian girl who grew up living all over Queensland, and then took off for the coffee and culture of Melbourne. Scarlet Words is my blog, and mostly exists to share stories and links to interesting stuff I encounter in my online travels. I love discovering interesting blogs and bloggers from around the world, and reading feedback of the people who find themselves at my site. If we haven’t met yet, I hope you’ll say hello.

I’m a singer and pianist, with a particular interest in contemporary/pop styles and jazz improvisation. I am an eternal beginner guitarist, and play many other instruments with varying levels of success. My collection of instruments is constantly expanding, and a wonderful source of inspiration.

Photography is my other creative passion, and I love to share the images that I capture on this blog. My photography portfolio site lives at Scarlet Arts, and I keep a badly-neglected account over at deviantART too. I like to dabble in painting and sketching, although I don’t think I’m very good at either, and other crafty pursuits. I keep paper journals, and have a potentially unhealthy addiction to specialty papers. I love to make handmade cards, beaded jewellery and altered books.

I belong to two brown-eyed boys: my boyfriend Tim, and a little dog named Harry. I’m lucky enough to have some truly wonderful friends and plenty to be thankful for. I hope you’ll enjoy reading my blog.

Things I love

Rain, puddles, cold weather and Winter clothes. Boots, mules and kitten heels. Fresh air, water and vegetables. Novels and art books. Design and B&W photography magazines. My iPod. Mellow, acoustic songs. Melody, harmony and modulation. Originality, bravery, integrity and honesty. Jewellery – chunky silver, fine gold, and czech glass beads. Chocolate. Soy milk, chai tea and home-made bread. A perfect steak. A perfect beer, or glass of red wine. One-on-one time with my friends. Markets, and op-shopping. Galleries. Window shopping. New pajamas, and fresh bed sheets. MAC makeup, Issey Miyake. Sushi. Altered books. Snow, and bare trees. Seasons. Singing. Melbourne, Boston, Byron Bay, Cairns, Pt Douglas, NYC, Nassau and New England. Clam chowder. String cheese and curly fries. Tulips and roses. Clear nailpolish. Candles and thunderstorms, especially together. My puppy’s warm belly, and his tiny wet nose. Stationery shops. Fountain pens. Fishtanks. Framed photographs. Printed t-shirts and online window shopping.

Tools of the trade

I love to read about the tools and processes used by other creative people. Here’s what I use.

  • Music: Fostex MR8-HD digital recorder, Audio Technica condenser mic. Yamaha U2 upright piano, Roland and Yamaha keyboards, classical and acoustic guitars, xaphoon, violin, viola, nagori drums, bongos, harmonica, tenor recorder, melodica, mandolin, and more hand percussion than any one person could actually need.
  • Photography: Nikon D200, Nikon F80, Nikkor lenses, Cokin/Hoya filters. SB-600 Flash. Nikon Coolwalker, Sandisk CF cards. Skate shoes, and a fully-charged iPod.
  • Art: Prismacolor coloured pencils, Prismacolor Verithin pencils, Prismacolor markers. Soft pastels, charcoal, acrylics, watercolours. Specialty and scrapbooking papers, stickers and magazine cuttings. A5 journals, especially Moleskine and Roma Lussa. Ephemera of daily life, such as receipts, brochures, labels and notes.

 

100 things about Elizabeth that you didn’t really want to know but she just went right ahead and told you anyway.

(A work in progress)

001
I have favourite shades of many different colours. One day, when I am running the world, there will be lots more colours.
002
If my house was on fire I would take my dog, my journals, DVD backups of my photos and my camera. Most of my sentimental stuff gets pasted into my journals, or ends up there in the form of a photo.
003
I am accident-prone, and am always bumping into walls and doorways. Luckily, I don’t bruise easily.
004
I adore thunderstorms, and love to turn out the lights and listen to the rain. Unfortunately, I always end up having to put loud music on to distract my shivering dog from the thunder.
005
I wish I could sew. I would make a lot of bags, skirts, and stuffed toys.
006
At any given moment there is a song stuck on repeat in my brain. This ranges from Awesome to Seriously Annoying, depending on the song and how long it’s been looping.
007
I am a girl who needs 8 hours of sleep each night, or I turn into a green-faced, wart-covered troll that eats children. It’s awkward.
008
I have an unhealthy addiction to specialty paper. I’m not all that keen on scrapbooking in the traditional sense, but I love turning beautiful paper into cards or pretty pages in my journal. The spines of my journals hate me.
009
Unless I can find the perfect card in a shop, I prefer to make them.
010
I am afraid of big harmless spiders, but not the little deadly ones.
011
I drink 2-3L of water every single day. I’m pretty sure I was chronically dehydrated for most of my teens, and now I can’t drink enough of the stuff. I carry a water bottle with me wherever I go.
012
I wish somebody had taken me aside at the age of 14 and told me that that perm was probably not such a good idea.
013
I’ve never really found the number 13 to be unlucky. I’m not particularly superstitious at all.
014
I’m not big on astrology either, but I do fit the description of a textbook Pisces.
015
All my friends happen to be inspirational people who are incredible at what they do.
016
My dog has learned words and phrases without my conscious effort. He eavesdrops when I’m on the phone, races to the bathroom mat when I mention the shower, and hides when I even think about bathing him.
017
I wish I was vegetarian, but I just don’t want to live in a world without steak and bacon. I am weak that way.
018
My life plan is simple: accidentally invent something really cool, that financially supports me for the rest of my life.
019
My favourite things to drink: water (sometimes with lemon juice and mint leaves), chai lattes, sweet milky tea and apple/blackcurrant juice.
020
In highschool, my best friend and I kept a list of words that sounded funny. Like snorkel.
021
I am a night person. I become creative, inspired and productive after about 10pm and end up sleeping too little, or too late.
022
I am in a perpetual state of de-cluttering and purging. A couple of times a year I will get rid of a huge pile of things that I don’t need, but I still own too much “stuff”.
023
I am scared of big insects that fly, like grasshoppers and QLD’s giant cockroaches. It is partly due to a dream I had when I was five years old.
024
I dream very vividly, especially just before I wake. Sometimes I have conversations with people and have trouble remembering later whether it was real or imagined.
025
Despite the way that came out, I am actually quite sane.
026
According to the internet, I am ENFP.
027
I prefer Coke to Pepsi. I prefer water to either of them.
028
I want to learn how to play upright bass. This probably won’t happen, since I have tiny little hands and they cost a fortune.
029
I want to learn how to play the clarinet. However, seeing as wind instruments send my dog into a fit of spontaneous howling, this probably won’t happen either.
030
I think I’m a pretty good cook, and I enjoy it when I can take my time.
031
I wear glasses sometimes, because of a slight astigmatism. My vision is a bit blurry at all distances, but I can get by without my glasses without any trouble.
032
I have a 100yo grandmother who still lives independently and cooks for herself. For her 100th birthday she got a letter from the Queen, Governor-General and Prime Minister. Let’s hope I got those genes, hey?
033
I am a slave to shoes. And bags. But mostly shoes.
034
When I was a teenager I fractured my coccyx. One of my friends pulled my chair out from under me as I went to sit down, and I landed hard on a concrete floor. Hurt a bit.
035
Aside from that, I’ve never broken any bones.
036
I’ve never had any fillings or braces either – I’m really lucky to have straight teeth.
037
I let my parents think that I believed in Santa for at least 3 years after discovering the truth. It seemed profitable.
038
One year my brother gave me a dirty brick for Christmas. It was wrapped in about 30 different layers of paper and boxes, and he really made me think that it was going to be something special.
039
Ten years later I reciprocated with a CD that I found for $1.50, Pan Pipes Play “The Bee Gees”. He tells me it is now holding up a grand piano somewhere.
040
I have somehow made it to this point in my life without ever taking a drag of a cigarette.
041
I don’t like to gamble, and I find casinos tacky and sad. Even the “good” ones.
042
I will never skydive, bungee jump, or do anything else that involves me throwing myself from a great height towards the Earth. I think my fear of heights is completely rational.
043
On the other hand, I’m really looking forward to my first flight in a hot air balloon.
044
I am really clear-headed and rational in an emergency. I’m good at taking a deep breath and seeing what needs to be done.
045
I think grapes are pretty awesome, but I like them best when they’re frozen. I keep a stash in my freezer.
046
I would rather be too cold than too hot. I go into mourning when Summer hits.
047
I love IKEA more than I like to admit.
048
However, I love balancing it out with things that have a story. Etsy is my playground when I have some cash to spare.
049
My favourite musicians are storytellers, like Lior, Ben Folds and Regina Spektor.
050
I wish I had been exposed to jazz from a young age. I think I’d have pursued my career in music further if it had already been running through my veins.
051
Sometimes I wonder how I’d have turned out if I had been born 100 years ago. I honestly can’t imagine life without a mobile phone or music in my pocket.
052
One of my teachers predicted that I would one day be a foreign diplomat.
053
There are enormous gaps in the literature I have been exposed to. It’s something I hope to correct, just as soon as I figure out where to begin.
054

I can’t really read in bed, because it puts me straight to sleep. It’s really annoying.
055
After a year of catching public transport I can finally read on trams and buses without feeling sick.
056
I am suddenly able to sit backwards on trams without feeling sick. I have no doubt that there’s a connection.
057
I am a big list-maker. There are examples of this all through this website.
058
059
060
061
062
063
064
065
066
067
068
069
070
071
072
073
074
075
076
077
078
079
080
081
082
083
084
085
086
087
088
089
090
091
092
093
094
095
096
097
098
099
100

 





This page has the following sub pages.