Looking forward to a New Year!

Some greenish tones to bring in the New Year - my great grandmother Lucinda's painting in the dining room of my grandparent's farmhouse, and my Christmas present to my sister-in-law to be. 

The painting I've been working on for my cousin's New Year's Eve wedding has been added to my failure pile. I managed to spill a large splodge of red paint on it last night just as I was painting the finishing touches. Hopefully a card with a photo of the offending artwork and a gift voucher for framing will have to do for now..... Whoops.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve and a glass of champagne or two. (I will be for sure.)

Happy 2012!

One (or two) for the library

These two titles - A First Book of Nature and Outside Your Window, written by Nicola Davies and illustrated by one of my favourite St Jude's artists - Mark Hearld, will definitely be winging their way to my bookshelf when they are released in February 2012.

A Christmas Bush

 Just in time for Christmas! Here is my textile design featuring the Christmas Bush Ceratopetalum gummiferum. 

 This particular Christmas Bush (quite different from the Victorian Christmas Bush) is generally distributed in the open forests east of the Great Dividing Range in New South Wales. The bright red sepals and green foliage of the bush are a lovely native alternative to the Poinsettia as a Christmas table decoration. 

Gouache and Gum Leaves

Today's textile design subject matter was collected in a quick walk around my local park. I had to paint these pretty quickly as the gum leaves dry out and change colour in just a few hours. Luckily there is an ample supply around here (as I eye off my neighbour's lovely flowering gum through my window!).

Christmas colours from the Australian bush

My lounge room resembles a jungle at the moment - I'm in the midst of a series of textile designs with Australian wildflowers as the subject matter and I find it much easier to draw from real life than from photographs. My favourite design so far is of a deep red kangaroo paw, and the bunch I bought from my local fruit shop are still looking good two weeks later. They sure can drink though - I have re-filled the large vase they are sitting in about 3 times!

For a bit of design inspiration I made a visit to the RBG Australian Garden at Cranbourne, where the Kangaroo Paws were putting on quite a show. I think a big bunch of these will make a great table centrepiece for Christmas Day lunch.

 I would love to make a visit to Western Australia to see these beautiful wildflowers in their natural habitat. One day.....

Inky goodness

I haven't tended to use a lot of inks in my previous textile design work as I always found it a little tricky to keep the colours separate for screen engraving. Digital printing has put an end to such considerations, so here are a few favourite inky, blotchy, colour packed fabrics!

The beautiful floral designs from Scottish company Bluebellgray have made a big splash since their launch into the marketplace in 2009. Each design is hand painted by Fi Douglas in the Bluebellgray Studio, and then printed onto cotton and linen fabrics using state of the art technology, ensuring that each brushstroke is accurately defined.

Bluebellgray curtain panel

Fold Unfold is a digitally printed table cloth by designer Margrethe Odgaard. 

Margrethe has highlighted the folds a tablecloth may have after being stored in a cupboard.

A fabulous painterly scarf from the pattern mecca - Anthropologie.

Dawn to Dusk Scarf

And an eye-catching 1920's style painterly floral chair.

Blythe Chair from Anthropologie

This digitally printed floral scarf is from Liberty's Autumn Winter 11/12 collection.

The Silver Carnation Berry Garden scarf features carnations in magical colours on a silver silk ground.

And my favourite design from the Liberty collection - a beautiful botanical print in tones of blue set against a black background.

Blue Winter Floral print silk scarf by Liberty of London.