Pansy and butterflies

Another (slight) obsession of mine is fabric....and how can you not with this gorgeous stuff!! I had a few scraps of this butterfly fabric left after cutting out a skirt pattern, which I faithfully hoarded away. A little while ago I was perusing through this amazing book I have called Painting with a Needle by Young Yang Chung. I decided I wanted to embroider something over a patterned fabric, so I picked a simple flower motif and dug out the butterfly fabric scraps. It took a while to finish because I haven't embroidered anything in an age, and I'm not sure what you'd do with it if not stick it in your arthouse sketchbook, but never-the-less I am quite please with the result.

Some architectural details

The sketchbook project is coming to a close....only two days left, so I've been getting busy putting some more "faces in the crowd" down on paper. I've just realised some people who check out my book at the Art Library might be sad to find there isn't a single portrait to be found in it. I hope they like my take on the theme anyway.


The first picture is a quick pen sketch of a window I saw in Beacon Hill, Boston on my recent holiday. I would so love to live in this suburb, I thought it was just gorgeous with the narrow streets, old buildings and big trees. I was really taken with a few of the details in the houses....like ornate metalwork on the front stoops, curved facades and shuttered windows. I was visiting in the fall so I also had the pleasure of lots festive decoration. This window really took my fancy...the pumpkin and flower decoration added a lot of colour to my day.



After a few mostly black and white spreads I thought it was definitely time for some colour again!! This is a picture I've been meaning to do for quite a while - and luckily I'm really pleased with the way it came out. First, the colour. I finally got around to the lime and magenta combo, yay! I was at the National Gallery of Australia on the weekend and remembered why I love this combination so much. There is an Andy Warhol painting of an electric chair in these colours. Such a horrid subject, but an incredibly (to me) appealing painting.
The nuts and bolts detail is from a bridge in a small town in New Jersey. I was there many years ago now, visiting with a friend, and was very taken with an old footbridge. I'd post the original photo I took too but it's from back in the day when I used a (non-digital) SLR and black and white film.

Colorado Aspen

I think stands of aspen and birch so serene...and soothing. I love being in them at any time of the year. In winter they are ghostly and still and create amazing shadow play on the snow. Spring "leaf out" is a phenomenon I think I'd never grow tired of. Watching the leaf buds form and waiting in anticipation for the emergence of green after so long surrounded by a bleached landscape. And if you don't pay attention you can miss it, you can go outside at lunchtime with no change, then home in the afternoon to find whole mountainsides are covered in glorious colour. Summer is laying under the trees in the dappled shade listening to the shake and rustle of leaves. And glorious autumn, all that yellow! My particular joy is walking tracks in mixed forest...the carpet of gold that winds its way through stands of spruce...really quite magical.

Although I have wanted to draw aspen and birch for a while now I've always been a bit afraid to. About not getting the mood or detail right. Today I swallowed my pride an gave it a go.....I was trying for mood more than anything. I'm not sure how I feel about the outcome but I am very pleased to have finally tried. I started with watercolour, then added some pencil and felt tipped pen detail to the foremost tree. Next to work on some autumn trees!!

An attack of Christmas spirit

A couple of weeks ago a few of my crafternoon friends got together to make Christmas cards, I was psyched about it as I haven't made chrissy cards in years. I decided that to make mine suitably rustic (and to reconnect with my inner 5 year old) I needed to make my cards using potato cutouts. I got all my supplies - most importantly potatoes, lino cutting tools, a sponge, cards, and paint. I ended up with shiny red and green cards and silver paint. I had a lovely time, drank lots of tea and chatted lots, and did succeed in cutting a potato snowflake and potato christmas tree....but the blooming things didn't stamp very well. I'm not sure if it was the shiny cards, the metallic paint, the very new potato (sort of damp), or all of the above.....?? I gotta admit I was a bit dispirited that my cards looked lame and so gave up.



I had an attack of Christmas spirit over the weekend and decided to have another go. I pulled out this weird rubber lino stuff made by speedball from the bottom of my making box and got carving.








I also switched from the the metallic paint to plain white. I was stoked with how they turned out so I started printing on everything....I made cards, wrapping paper and labels.
Not bad for one lino cutting. All this Christmas spirit inspired me to dig out my decorations and string them up in my lounge room. To top it all off, I made the family Christmas plum pudding....and used some of the 5 hour cook time to write in some cards : )

Catch up time

It's well and truly time that I hustle and get some sketches going....here are the last additions to my little sketchbook.


The winters in Alaska are long, long and dark and cold. You could tell when spring had finally arrived because the birds would pass through on their northern migration. The ponds and lakes had only just lost their ice cover but the birds would all cram in and find a spot. I adore the sound of Sandhill Cranes honking as they fly overhead....spring and life.


I don't think I have much more to say than - flowers, lino cut, bright colour. Me, happy camper.






What seems like an eon ago my Dad and I visited the local architectural junk shop to buy a gate. I'd never been in anyplace like it before....a really crumbly old terrace house with all rooms filled with rows and piles of doors, fire places, toilet bowls, windows, door nobs, floor boards and ....gates. After being hidden for a few years behind some greenery the old gate was recently unveiled again. I think my Dad and I chose really well - I didn't realise the simple style of the gate until I sketched part of it. I hope that junk shop it still around....I'd like to poke about and see what treasures I could find.


My nephew loves all things automotive so for his birthday I made him a lino cut Racer dude birthday card. I liked the little racer guy so stuck him in my sketchbook too.