More little birds

A lot of my pictures so far this year have included little birds.  On my post Christmas visit to Hillandale Gardens there were a lot of little birds around and masses and masses of butterflies flitting between the flowers.

Him Indoors says that the inclusion of little beasts in my work brings them to life.  I tend to agree.

Anyway, here is another selection of small, square bird pictures.  Some of these have gone to a lovely home in NZ.  Some will be going into my forthcoming shows in April/May.

Little bird pictures

As him indoors' has said: "your pictures are livelier with some beasts in them".

And so I have made a series of little pictures with birds.  From the top: NZ fantail, firetail finch, fairy wren, silver eye or wax eye.

New seed packet designs

New seed packet designs: from top: Phlox, Lupins and Bronze fennel.

Coming soon to Sarah's seeds

Playdate at Hillandale: Jan 3

 

On Thursday I took a drive out to Hillandale Gardens & Nursery, in Yetholme, NSW to have a playdate with my good friend Sarah who owns and operates the garden/nursery with her husband Andrew.

It was a lovely day.  The garden changes almost weekly and Sarah's thoughtful and fabulous plantings means that when one plant stops flowering or dies down, there are plenty more to take its place.    Everything is organic and the work is done entirely by this hardworking couple to transform a derelict and overgrown mess into what must be one of the finest cottage gardens in NSW. 

 

Butterflies and birds were out in attendance and we were joined on our tour of the garden by the resident dogs: Snowy (loves her tummy rubbed), Lily (a little timid mop), and Pixie (the nutty Pomeranian).

Not all was play.  The serious business of discussing the next sets of seed packets and plans for 2013 were undertaken in Sarah's office: the potting/seed shed.

 

Have a great weekend all.

More pictures

 
 

 

More images of work completed in December

The studio this week

 

Christmas is almost upon us.

A frantic time of year for so many but for me, a chance to spend time building up a new body of work and to work on new ideas.

I am loving the blue and white lotus bowl that is on loan from my sister in law.

Happy holidays everyone.

One year on

It's a year since Mum passed.
Although it is a little sad, hers was a life well spent and absolutely filled to the brim.
Today is about remembering those wonderful times.

Yvonne Therese Marie Malpas (nee McMahon): 25 Jan 1920 - 12 Dec 2011.

Festive baking

It's Christmas time again.  So the past few days have been spent in a frenzy of gingerbread cookie baking, decorating and packaging.

All off to my corporate and not so corporate clients.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Impromptu Show at St Vincent's Hospital

 

An out of the blue email last week saw me hang an impromptu show at St Vincent's Hospital, Paddington Sydney.  It was lovely to be back - I always have an appreciative audience there.

My work is up until 13 December.  As it is a public space you can pretty much go and view the pictures any time of day or night until then.

Gabby Malpas in the Australian Art Review

...aaaaaand it's published.  This is the November/December 2012 edition.

The cover image is called 'Poppies and teapot', and was a finalist in the 2011: National Trust Still life Art Prize.

Here is a link to download the article as a one page PDF file.

Have a fabulous weekend all!