News from Spring

I thought I would swing by to update you on few things I have been up to lately. We went camping at Wombayan caves with family, followed by a relaxing few days at the beach, and returned refreshed and ready for the lead up to Christmas...

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 went 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 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 we once called home... Still feeling a bit homesick.

Visit to a maze park

Inspiration for a 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

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.

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

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.