Autumnal Leaves

A watercolour design of Autumn leaves with a tiny hint of 60's mod style.

Robinia Leaves

A watercolour painting inspired by the lush green canopy of the robinia trees growing along the back fence of the garden.

Spring Garden season

Perhaps my favourite thing about leaving the city and doing a 'tree change' has to be the continual inspiration of having a rambling country garden to plant and nurture (and paint of course...) I'm part of a committee organising an on-going series of Open Gardens in my local district - the first of which is taking place in November in Rushworth, North-Central Victoria. Our weekly meetings generally end up being entertaining discussions about plants and gardening rather than strictly following an agenda!

I took these photos at one of the local gardens that will be featured on the Saturday. I love the colour palette of reds, purples, yellows and whites, and those poppies were stunning in real life. I remember this house from my high school days - back then it was rented by a few young P.E and Maths teachers and featured waist height grass and a couple of scraggly pepper trees! Now the garden is planted with a great mix of drought tolerant native and exotic species, from cottage garden favourites through to native bird attracting grevilleas and wildflowers endemic to the area. I have included a couple of the local wildflowers on my poster design for the event - the yellow everlasting daisy and billy button.

Papery Goodness - Blog Hop

Aside from the spacious rooms and rambling garden, one of the things I have most enjoyed about moving back to the country and into my great grandparent's farmhouse has been the large stash of ephemeral papers and early 20th century books at my disposal. A few months ago I started painting on the deliciously thick parchment-y paper found on the inside covers of long forgotten novels and texts; the watercolour paint just sinks in giving a lovely softly mottled effect.

In one of the farm sheds, my great grandfather and granddad kept these rather unique hanging filing systems. 

Everything from old Cheque Book stubs, hardware shop accounts, livestock sales and purchases from the local haberdasher were speared onto a wire and suspended from the rafters.

I have gone through a few of the dusty and bug eaten stacks, but my favourite finds are the decorative bills and accounts from the early 20th century with elegant hand written script. I have scanned in some of my favourite pieces and incorporated them into my stationery designs.

My shoe box filled with receipts for the accountant doesn't have any of the appeal of these aged papers!

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here. 

Majo Bautista / Tona Bell / Louise Best / Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner / Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly / Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts / Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul / Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer / Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas / Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu / Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood / Amelia Woodbridge

Thinking Pink

Making patterns with Opera Pink and Winsor Red watercolour paints.

Cool blues on a hot day

I seem to go through a tube of Ultramarine Blue water colour each month! This is a snippet of a new series of summer inspired ceramic designs I'm working on at the moment.

Red gingham

The worn gingham pattern on this illustration is a scan from the cover of my great Aunt Lucy's recipe book 'New Australian Cookery Illustrated' c.1950. Rhubarb Betty or Pineapple Up-side Down Loaf anyone?

Anenomes

I planted these mixed colour anemone bulbs last year. I might have to make time for a bit of flower painting this week - I think these could be perfect subjects for a watercolour and coloured pencil textile design....

On my desk

A fresh bunch of watercolour florals.

Cottonbox Kids website has launched

The new Cottonbox Kids bed linen collection is now online at http://www.cottonboxkids.com.au

Worldwide shipping is available too!

Textiles by Mary Schoeser

I love a good textile design reference book and Textiles: The Art of Mankind by Mary Schoeser is a must have for any admirer of the wonderful world of decorative textiles.

Covering textile art and design from around the world and through the centuries, the book meanders through diverse subject matter such as Indian woven silk fabrics from the 15th Century, the sinuous and elegant line work of William Morris' block printed furnishing fabrics, densely stitched robes worn by Turkmen tribal women, through to the brightly coloured brocade weaves of 20th Century Guatemalan dress fabrics. These examples are just a tiny slither of the vast selection of beautifully documented textiles featured in this wonderful tome - and I call it a tome as it is one very heavy book, beware Ikea shelves! Over 1000 images reveal the beauty and variety of textiles in stunning detail.

The author Mary Schoeser writes: 'Over the past forty years, the first hand sight of hundreds and thousands of examples has convinced me that textiles are beautiful, inventive, expressive, and more. They reveal the human compulsion to engage with texture, colour and storytelling. They record our ever-changing feelings of play, joy, wonder and profound thoughtfulness. They preserve skills, encourage creativity and represent continuity'.

Themes covered in the book include Impact, Ingredients, Structure, Surface, Added Dimensions and Imagery. By juxtaposing historical and contemporary textiles from around the world, the author highlights an unbroken story of skill and invention stretching back thousands of years.

Textiles: The Art of Mankind by Mary Schoeser is published by Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2012.

From Holland

One of my favourite kid's design blogs is DecoPeques from Spain, and each week they send out a condensed newsletter of highlights from the blog. Today I spotted a few of my textile designs alongside these beautiful beds from Saartje Prum that look as if they belong in a fairy tale. So many Dutch homeware companies manage to combine quirky & kid friendly design down pat!

A box of goodness

The other day my Dad walked into my studio carrying a box bearing my name and address (as I live in a remote rural location the mail is delivered only three times a week and all packages have to be picked up and signed for from the local general store). I couldn't recall ordering anything on-line of late, so this was quite a surprise. 

The lovely Mona from Cottonbox had sent me a sample of all of my new designs for Cottonbox Kids. 

Herbie and Bonjour the cat were my volunteer but very camera-shy models!

Aviator bed linen by Cottonbox Kids. The watercolour textures of my artwork have been faithfully reproduced on a kid friendly cotton base-cloth.

Secret Garden by Cottonbox Kids

Secret Garden cushion and bed linen

You can visit the Cottonbox website here!

http://www.cottonbox.com.au

Flowers on a friday

And a butterfly for good measure. Happy Friday!

'Aviator' bed linen design

Hot off the press (or in this case, printing table) is my design for bed linen,

 'Aviator' by Cottonbox Kids.

Bi-planes, monoplanes, jet fighters, cargo planes and bombers all take to the sky for some aeronautical adventures. These magnificent flying machines from the first few decades of the 20th century have been hand drawn and painted in intricate detail - a perfect bed linen design for boys who admire these wonderful early feats of modern aeronautical engineering. Many of these robust aeroplanes can still be seen performing at Air Shows today.

The 'Aviator' design is printed on a lovely 100% cotton, 225 thread count base cloth, and is available in single and double quilt sizing.

Quilt Cover sets, set of 3 wall canvases and cushions are now available from 

www.cottonbox.com.au

Inspired by....Dufy

With Baz Lurhmann's adaptation of  The Great Gatsby about to hit our screens, I found myself delving into a favourite reference book - Art Deco Textiles - The French Designers by Alain-Rene Hardy. Dufy's wonderful floral and pictorial designs and skilful repeats always inspire.

The French artist Raoul Dufy (1877 - 1953) was encouraged to design fabrics by the great Art Deco era couturier Paul Poiret. In 1911 Poiret set up a small textile printing studio to produce Dufy's lively and dramatic patterns, which were incorporated to great effect into his clothing designs.

Coat, 1911
Paul Poiret 
Textile design by Raoul Dufy 
Ivory and navy block printed velvet with brown fur trim and gold metallic mesh-covered silk closures.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Such was the success of Dufy's collaboration with Poiret, less than a year later the artist was offered a contract with the Lyons silk firm Bianchini-Ferier. Between 1912 and 1928 Dufy designed over 2000 patterns for dress and furnishing silks, and linen and cotton furnishing textiles.

The Harvester, c.1920

Design for printed linen by Raoul Dufy

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Roses, c.1925

Design attr. to Raoul Dufy

Les Tuilleries, c.1920

Design for woven silk by Raoul Dufy

Fleurs, 1918

Design for block-printed cotton by Raoul Dufy

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Jungle, 1922

Design for woven silk / wool by Raoul Dufy

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Venice, c.1920,21

Design for woven silk by Raoul Dufy

V&A Museum