march of the teapots

And then the teapots began to take over.....She was found breathing (just) and buried deep beneath a pile of tea leaves.

Or at least that's what it feels like at the moment with these new giclee prints. It's like I've overdosed on tea (preferably earl grey) and it's done something to the creative part of my brain. Anyway, I've put a paler version (more retro green-blues) in the shop and am toying with putting this much brighter one in soon. I like the desert feel of the orange and vivid blues. It seems to echo images of our current Australian drought. The funny thing is it finally rained in Melbourne last night and is threatening to hail as I write this.

kimono cards for Readings

I was knee deep in my stash of vintage kimono fabric today making a new group of cards for a Readings bookshop order and thought I'd take a few shots of their gorgeous colours before I stamp them with my hanko and pack them with their envelopes. I'm always amazed at the gentle beauty in the old style kimono fabric.

The kimono fabric comes from Kyoto and here are some of my favourites:

They'll be available along with a range of my hand printed woodblock cards in Readings, Carlton late next week. That's in Melbourne in case you were wondering.....

three pots of tea

Gosh 2 posts in one day! Just wanted to share this new giclee print of mine with you. It will be available in the shop soon. Promise.

random niceness

Some good news. Brunswick Street Bookstore in Fitzroy (Melbourne) now stock a range of my cards :) The thing I love about this bookshop is that it's open from 10am-11pm every day and great for popping into after eating out in Fitzroy.

And thanks to the lovely SJ I have a computer to use for a few weeks :)))))

Sweet Amy from Moyou has tagged me. I've been tagged before so I won't go tagging anyone else. Here's my tag info:

four places I have lived: Kyoto, Perth, Sydney, Mackay (not in that order)

four movies I can watch over and over: this is a hard one as I don't usually watch movies more than once.

four places I have been on holiday: Cambodia, Spain, New Mexico, Vietnam.

four websites I visit daily: recently I've been reading: design for mankind (love, love, love this blog); decor 8; creative thursday; all things considered

four favourite ways to spend a sunday: cooking and eating pancakes for breakfast with friends at my place; bike riding along the Yarra River; picnicing in a lovely park; reading a good book in bed.

four places I would rather be now: I'm ok about being here (Melbourne) right now but other places it would be fun to be are: Kyoto (I miss my second home); New York (going soon :); camping in the Alpine National Park (Victoria).

jezze's prints

A little while ago I discovered the work of Jezze, a South African screenprinter. I just adore this particluar print of hers: 'girl with mud in her head part 1'. There's something really earthy and lovely about it. You can read more about her work and inspiration on her blog. She also makes gorgeous blockprinted cotton tape like this:

life's little challenges

We were burgled a few days ago and our laptop and cameras were taken. I wasn't going to bore you with it but thought it might help to write about it here. It's just stuff, I know, but it's the invasion of space, our home, that feels so wrong. I am a lazy back-up person and so they took the laptop along with a whole lot of irreplaceable computer files, including personal digital photos. Grrrrrrrrr. They also took my 10 year old much loved SLR which holds a lot of sentimental value to me. And they tipped our home upside down looking for cash and expensive jewels, none of which we have. Oh and they smashed a window to get in too. Our poor cat, recovering from being missing for months and a deep wound under her arm, was in the house when it happened and probably nearly died of fright. It's making me paranoid about open doors and windows but I have resolved I am not going to live my life in fear and will try to live as before, with the addition of a new house alarm. This is the third time in my adult life that I've been burgled. The last time was 12 years ago so it's been a while. I think that's because 7 of those last 12 years were lived in Japan where burglary rates are low.

Thanks to all those lovely people who've sent me messages of support. It's really nice to be reminded that people are mostly good, and that the ones who did this have bigger problems in their lives than I can ever probably imagine.

fragile, floating

A new 3-dimensional piece of mine. I've been wanting to make my woodblock printed dragonflies 3-d for a while and today they can finally fly (well, at least float). I love their fragile quality. And I also happen to love 3-d paper art.

Any feedback on this little piece is welcome. And if you like this little one, I've just put it in the shop.

things that make it worth getting out of bed for

Some days I'm just astounded by the generosity and spirit of the creative blogging community. It seems that there are some wonderfully supportive people out there who really want to help others build their working lives in creative fields. I'm talking about the roadmaps series just started on design for mankind with the help of decor 8 and creative thursday. These gels are sharing their experiences (and those of many others) in how they were able to make changes in their lives to eventually become self-supporting in various fields of creative work. It's so wonderful to tap into their advice and to draw strength from their support. Especially, if like me, you've made some big changes already and want to keep inspired and strong on the journey.

And then I stumbled upon some beauty (via bloesem) from round robin press:

I'm a sucker for beautiful, arty cards like this from Shannon Lowry in Austin, Texas. It sure beats a lot of the tacky mass produced stuff I see for sale in newsagents in Australia.

More joy on the card front (I have a lot of friends with birthdays coming up so I'm a bit stuck on the card thing at the moment) from sea spray blue adapted from her range of larger sized prints.