exhibition delivered

yup.

The exhibition was delivered last Thursday at 10am.

Only two hanging booboos... one was framed upside down and one I'd signed twice...

now just need to buy booze and bake the cakes for afternoon tea

and some more pictures

Since him indoors will be incapacitated for a while, there will be no more scans so I took these pictures of the last two paintings I finished.

These are done my old style: a selection of Indian paper sewn together in a sort of patchwork then painted on. Because the paper is a lot more absorbent, the edges of painted things spread a little bit and are softer in appearance.

I also add found items, making them quite 'collagey' pieces.

Have a good weekend all.

Sallet - Salad pictures

Have I shown you these?

I do love salad vegetables and the reddy goodness of tomatoes and radishes.

'Sallet' is an old english term, I've included old european vegetables but of course tomatoes didn't appear on the scene until the 1500s.

Have a lovely weekend all.

Oh dear

Not a creative post.

Him indoors had a motorcycle accident today. Took on a 4WD and lost.

He has 2 compound fractures in his right leg, a mangled foot, a broken hand and some cuts. It could have been a lot worse but still a bit of a shock.

Here is a picture of his bike - before the crash.

and Summer Hibiscus... I looooove hibiscus

And here is my range of Hibiscus. These are all 24cm x 39cm, watercolour on paper.

It's peak hibiscus season here in Sydney again. There are these fantastic blooms on nearly every street corner, hedge and roadside bush.

The only problem is as soon as you pick them they fad and die so you have to paint them within a day to capture them.

As you can probably tell my very favourite shades are the pinks and peach tones. Of course there are some stunning stunning reds and purples.

... but I'm building up to those.

February Exhibition - some scans

Some of my favourites for the Art at Home show in Balmain, Sydney from 4 - 14 February.

These ones are the larger size: 39cm x 57 cm.

They are all watercolour on paper.

More tomorrow and I'll put them up on the website as well.

Have a good weekend all!

Nana pants - take 2

I managed to make 3 pairs of long pants (with pockets), and one pair of shorts from 5 metres of pale blue self stripe cotton fabric and a length of elastic.

I also managed to make a pair of long pants from a metre and a half cotton remnant in a dark blue self stripe. There wasn't enough fabric to make pockets for this pair but you get a smoother line without.

I've learnt the following:

• It's OK to adapt your pattern to fit the amount of cloth you have - self stripe fabrics are fine because there is often no difference between front and back.
• For elasticated waists, it's probably a nice idea to put in some inpromptu darts in the front and back so you don't end up with a huge bunch of fabric around the waistline.
• Add in a button or bow in the front - so it's easy to tell which way is front.
• My pattern had tapered legs so I widened them by following the line of the fabric weave cutting in a straight line rather than tapering in, from the crotch and hip parts of the pattern.

Well I'm stoked with this effort. The stepdaughter, sister, mother and a niece will benefit...

The next step is to try this out on some funky batik surfer shorts....

really good creative presents

I haven't made these myself but thought I'd show you what my talented friends have made or sent...

The top image is of a little zip top blue makeup bag, jewellery bag or purse made by my friend Tanya in NZ.

The second image is a little fold-over wallet made by my friend Diane in the UK.

The stitching and attention to detail in these little bags are just amazing - beautifully done with lovely little touches like a little flower label inside the blue bag and the pretty ceramic decorative button and vintage trim on the wallet.

The third image is of a fabulous new ideas book - blank paged notebook from Paperchase. I miss that store for browsing and ideas....

Aren't I lucky?

Nana pants

A little while ago I found a 'Simplicity' pattern for basic elasticated pants and shirt. I'm pretty sure it's the one I used in 1985 to make a variety of brightly coloured pants I wore as an art school student.

I bought about 5 meters of self stripe blue cotton fabric and made three pairs of 'Nana' pants and a pair of shorts.

Why Nana pants? They're loose, they're to wear around the house or even to bed and they have pockets - very important to put tissues and stuff in.


Back to work today