Begonia Leaf

I did this print directly from my begonia houseplant. It has huge architectural leaves, green with silver spots on top, red below. I might try to do some prints that capture the amazing colours, but I also liked this one for the beautiful shape. I love leaves. 

Local Fuchsia

Enjoyed doing this picture in gouache over gouache used as watercolour, on handmade Indian paper. The paper is from L Cornellisen in London, a gorgeous art materials shop. Choosing an unusual paper for a project can really jump start you creatively...try a coloured paper or an unusual texture, this one is a very thick, off white, textural paper. The flowers grow in an amazing garden down the road from us, which is always perfect and full of flower and colour right through the year.

Second Hand September

Second Hand September is going well! Mainly because we are in the process of buying a new house so are too busy to shop....I am hoping to pop into the charity shops this weekend though, as I now have weekends off work!
The only piece of clothing I bought this month was a green quilted jacket from ebay, although I also made a hooded sweatshirt and set of pyjama shorts. The jacket is by Nuage which I think was an inhouse brand by Debenhams in the 90s.

Bonus Sushi

Bonus photo by Alistair of arty sushi plate at CJ Yorokubi. 

Inspiration

A blog I often look at had an interesting idea today: list things that inspire you. They could be objects, places, collections...here are things that inspire me...

Books: I read a lot

My favourite place: Duthie Park Winter Gardens

Plants in people’s front gardens

‘This is Colossal’ the art website

Those conversations that throw up crazy ideas that you actually want to do

Stuff I see when driving in the car, often buildings

Poppy Print

A print featuring poppy heads from my friend Anna’s garden. I did this on brown paper, which gives an effect I like, although the ink doesn’t stick as well.

Seasonal Nails

Every new season I treat myself to a seasonally themed nail varnish. Spring sees a bright, fun colour, summer a pastel, autumn a warm colour and a dark colour in winter.

My favourite brands are Opi and Essie as they have the best colour range. This autumn is the brilliantly named Mrs Always-Right, a warm pinky red. Summer was an aqua colour. 

I dont like frosted colours as they show up my grooved and dented nails and metallic and glitter polishes are a nightmare to take off and have that repellent gritty feeling. I like to have colours on my toenails and clear fingernails as my fingernails have a hard life from my work and from art projects. 

Cyanotype

I love my cyanotype sun print kit. Wandering happily along the cycle path stuffing interesting plants into my handbag to test out on the paper. You need something with an interesting shape, which will squash reasonably flat. This cow parsley looked beautiful. The sun exposes the image from shadows on the paper and then you develop it by washing it in water in a sink.