Plant life

On my desk: pot plants from my front veranda painted in watercolour with pencil details ready for scanning. 

Purple (magenta) haze

This jungly mass of bougainvillea is slowly taking over the old pepper-trees on either side of it. I love the purple blooms.

Painting Geraldton Waxflower

A fantastic florist has recently opened in the nearby regional city of Bendigo. Frankie O's Flower Emporium grow a variety of Australian native flowers on a farm just a few kilometres out of town. This week there were big bunches of deliciously lemon scented Geraldton Waxflower in white and pink tones, perfect for painting a design in watercolour.

Painting the Nardoo

Nardoo is a common and widespread fern found across inland Australia. The fern appears after significant rainfall, producing spores on the damp mud of billabongs, lakes, rivers and flood plains as the floodwaters recede.

I collected a few specimens to paint from the swampy, mosquito infested old dam at the back of the farm yard. Now the temperature is heating up, the dam is most likely home to a dreaded brown snake or two!

The fronds of the Nardoo are slightly hairy, and resemble the four-leaf clover. I painted this design using a wet on wet watercolour technique in a palette of greyish and golden greens.

Rococo reds

A little snippet of a rococo inspired textile repeat painted in watercolour. 

Mock Orange

The sweet smelling fragrance of the mock orange bush is wafting through the open windows of my studio today - delicious!

Rosy pinks

I am in love with Winsor and Newton's 'Opera Rose' watercolour paint at the moment!

Inspired by foxgloves

These colourful foxgloves have been blooming in my garden for weeks now - they were well worth the long wait.

Although the foxglove rates as a favourite flower for many, there are surprisingly very few textiles and wallpapers featuring this beautiful motif in the interiors marketplace. 

One designer who has tackled this difficult flower is UK designer Louise Body.

Pictured above is Louise's printed wallpaper panel Plant Life Set 2.

Detail of Plant Life Set 2

And I love this Foxglove printed linen fabric too.

French Ultramarine

A floral textile design work in progress in a favourite shade of blue. 

Hop-bush painting

Another work in progress - today's painting subject is the Wedge-leaf Hop-bush, a medium sized shrub that can be found growing along the roadside of my farm and throughout the local forest. The winged, apple shaped capsules start out in a shade of lettuce green, before gradually ripening to a deep crimson colour in springtime. My ancient wildflower reference book mentions that the name 'Hop-bush' was given to the plant by early European settlers who used it to make beer.

Grand gold-rush style

The streets of Ballarat feature many graceful Victorian buildings, built from the immense wealth generated from the surrounding gold-fields. One of the grandest examples from this era is the recently renovated Craig's Royal Hotel on Lydiard street. 

I couldn't resist taking a few photos of the ornate Victorian wallpapers that feature throughout the property. I'm sure William Morris would be quite at home here!

A floral filled Friday

The sun is shining, the summer flower beds have been dug and planted (dahlias, marigolds, salvia and delphiniums),  and the garden is slowly coming into bloom. 

My desk is happily covered in pages of floral watercolour textile designs. 

The foxgloves are beginning to flower after what seemed like a very long wait (I planted these seedlings way back in February), so I will be adding this rather tricky but very beautiful flower to my long textile design subject matter to-do list!

A bunch of inspiring floral related blogs have caught my eye of late and are now firm favourites (and keep me returning again and again to my local nursery....)

Flowerona is a wonderful celebration of all things flower related by UK based Rona Wheeldon.  Rona regularly interviews talented artists and designers who are inspired by flowers. A lovely read.

101 Florals is a collaborative pattern project by US based designers Lindsay Nohl and Llew Mejia. Filled with interesting and innovative floral pattern goodness.

Cecilia Fox is a newly opened florist shop located in East Brunswick, Melbourne. The owner, Melanie, blogs about the goings-on of her floristry business and what inspires her creations.

Lindsey Myra is a Melbourne based florist, artist and designer who has recently established an urban cutting garden. Beautiful photography and a great eye for colour combinations.

Enjoy your weekend!

Crabapple and cherry blossoms

Apple, pear, crabapple and cherry blossoms, all ripe for the painting!

Green glazed tiles

Here is a watercolour pattern inspired by the green glazed decorative tiles of Hong Kong and Macau.