News from Spring

I thought I would swing by to update you on few things I have been up to lately. After a holiday visiting family in the country, Camping at Wombeyan caves followed by a relaxing few days at the beach, we returned refreshed and ready for the lead up to Christmas... maybe.

I recently joined Illustrators Australia, I'm very excited to be part of this great resource for Illustrators. You can see my little page over here.

I painted a piece of timber for the "9x5 show" for the Illustrators Australia CARNIVALE exhibition. I was inspired by a past trip to Venice and Padua. If you happen to be in Melbourne you can visit the 9X5 Exhibition at SPACE 39, Lvl 2, 39 Little Collins St, Melbourne. Opening night is this Friday the 9th November 6pm-9pm.

Last Saturday I made the long trek into the Blue Mountains to "Pinerolo" Margaret Hamilton's children's book cottage in Blackheath. She runs courses on children's book publishing among other things. It was so lovely to be swept up in her enthusiasm for the books she has created over the years and all the amazing writers and illustrators she has worked with. She was also joined by renowned illustrator Wayne Harris who showed us many of his award winning books and and the original illustrations he created for them.

I enjoyed Margaret's extensive Owl collection, original collections of artwork from many amazing artists including one of my former tutors Tony Oliver. I didn't get a chance to have a good peek at her book collection.

Inspiration

Enjoying looking through old photos that I took near my former home in Perth. Inspiration for current work. Reminiscing about a beautiful place that I once called home...

Visit to a maze park

Home Inspiration

Just discovered this sneekpeak on DesignSponge which I love. We all know how much I love green and I have also been loving reds, orange and blues lately. I love the mix of old and new in this place. Somehow it just looks fresh.

I must admit I have been loving frames made from recycled bits of wood recently (like the ones in the bedroom) I think I am a frustrated beachcomber.




And the nursery has been done in similar colours to ours. We have done the green wall again like in E's room with orange and red accessories. I can't wait to finish our house someday. It is currently so far removed from my vision for it that I am secretly embarrassed whenever anyone visits!

Inspiration for picnic wedding

My sister is getting married in August and the wedding planning is ramping up. Here are some inspiration photos we have collected of similar wedding ideas. The colours will be white and red with a bit of pink thrown in.

Decorations by Pixieart

Cupcake from unknown source, sorry!

Forks for a picnic by Liz Banfield. We have found some bamboo cutlery online.

Bread baskets by Nicole Davis.

Roses by Morgan is cool

On making things

I was thinking about a conversation I had with a friend the other day, on having time to make things... and I realised something (which is probably quite obvious really)... That the best friends you can have are those that encourage you to improve or grow. Friends can do that in different ways, they can listen to you or comment on your life / actions (in a positive way) or empathise, or share their philosophies on life. Friendships can go through "seasons" too, so stick with them if you can!

What I was lamenting was the fact that I don't find the time to make things because I used to be able to find hours at a time to paint or create, so I would wallow in a creation or creations for maybe even a whole day (much to my husbands frustration). Now I struggle with the fact that my creative hours have turned to minutes at a time. I was asking said friend how she found time to create and she told me that she had to change her pre-concieved ideas of the outcome. She doesn't think "I have to create this perfect object that I have in mind, I'm just going to create because I need to, to stay sane!"

I loved this idea from Jenny Sue and this post by Penny and this post which I happened to read not long after this conversation. It also got me onto thinking about my life and current stresses too, my bad back and all the things we want to do to the house. I just need to step back and realise there is no hurry, I can spend an half an hour to an hour gardening instead of two and maybe my back won't get so bad, it doesn't matter if we don't get everything done, so do it by half.

One thing I know is that I have to be creative in some way, it doesn't really matter what it is, I can cook, decorate, draw, paint, collage, make jewellery, sew, do web design, you name it. At the moment it is cooking. Today I made healthy pear muffins and pumpkin soup! Oh and I made playdough shapes with E!

My current to-do list (much shortened version)

finish hand quilting E's quilt!

Finish the quilted coasters I'm making for my sister

Finish blocks for my friend's son's birthday

new website for my friends business

Potty training book for E in Aussie wording and doesn't talk about buying a new potty (we already have one)

Finish the book I am writing

Table runners for living room

Placemats for the dining table

Rug for Ethan's room (Handmade Home)

Door stop (from Crafty Minx book)

Sketches for children's books

Make a Colouring book

Things to make

There is a tutorial to make this mirror on Design Sponge, I'd like to make one. Luckily my Mum has some leatherworking tools!

The forest wall art is sold at Freedom Furniture. I want to make something similar using three wood panels, painting them white and carving out some trees. I want to paint our fireplace a green colour ( I think) and hang them there.

I want to make similar cushions using some of my cherished fabrics from Cloth, Ink and Spindle and Umbrella Prints. Photo from the home of Shelley and Stephan as seen on the Design Files. I also love the old ladder in the background which holds picture frames.

And because I think this would look lovely with the other things pictured here, a vintage lamp - I would love to find one similar!

Found on the Design Files from Lyn Gardener's White House - photo by Tim James.

Artist - Maira Kalman

I recently discovered this excellent artist Maira Kalman and read her NY times blog in the pursuit of happiness and an interview with her. I instantly felt some affinity with her art. When I was in highschool I would sometimes paint picures quite similar to hers; bright colours, a bit naive, quickly painted, at the time my style was somewhat influenced by Chagall and Matisse. Also I have recently been toying with the idea of painting a lot of "brain dump" sort of pictures for my blog, rather than using so many photos and using hand written text like Penelope Dullaghan and Jenny Kostecki-Shaw.

Red and green

Beautiful parrot perched in our Japanese maple. He was very friendly and curious.

Strawberries in my mother-in-laws vegie patch.

Hunter Valley Gardens

These gardens are just filled with goodness! They are themed in different sections such as Formal garden, Asian garden, Indian Garden, Italian garden, Storybook land (for children!) etc. These photos are just a small section of these amazing gardens. I was really inspired by the Asian and Indian sections.

This table design reminded me of the tables we saw in the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy.

The Indian Garden and mosaic garden were gorgeous. I had never seen an Indian style formal garden before this.

Indian Mosaic Garden, it smelt like Curry plant, the blue bush in the foreground. I bought some of the curry plants to take home and try in our garden.

Loving this sneakpeak

Sneak Peak on Design Sponge by Cathy Robin of Heath ceramics. These are the sort of colours I want to use in our home. I love green and I'm looking for that perfect cream for some dark rooms, to hopefully brighten them. We also have lots of nooks and cranny's in our home, so we plan to build in some shelving at some stage in the future.

Art Gallery of NSW

Today I went to the Art Gallery to check out the Archibald Prize, Art Express and other exhibitions on there at the moment. I was especially impressed with the Korean Dreams exhibit. It was all in the dark to protect the delicate artwork, so I could hardly see the detail. I also managed to pick up three of Flossy P's beautiful greeting cards, which I will most probably frame.

Picture by Flossy P

Pommegranates

The other night with my family over for dinner, we picked a pommegranate and popped some seeds in sparkling wine. The next day I gave some seeds to Ethan, and to my surprise he gobbled up the sour tasting seeds!!

Natural Inspiration

Friday was a very busy day, but I took some time out to take some photos to inspire some patterns.


Grevillea leaf with pretty colours.


This native grass has a pretty purple colour.

Some more Perth beauties

I am happy here in Sydney, but... I really do miss the place.

Coffs Harbour

One of the highlights of the trip for me was a visit to the Butterfly house in Coffs Harbour. I think butterflies are so fascinating. I just love the tropical landscape on the north coast of New South Wales and Queensland.

The next day we visited the little artistic community of Bellingen. We had a delicious lunch at the Gallery Cafe. It is so beautiful in the hills around that area.

back from the beach

Every summer my husband's family get together for a holiday at Burleigh Heads in Queensland. We haven't been for 4 years because we were living far away in Western Australia. But this year we are living closer and managed to spend a week in the sun and surf. We would have liked to stay another week to unwind fully but we had a good time. Ethan had a blast!! He loved the sand and water but he may have eaten some sand! The sun umbrella in the right hand side of the photo is about 60 years old.