three

The succulent blossom design is back.....
This time I've printed it a bit differently with 3 succulent blossom motifs to one block so it's quicker. These were block printed on natural linen and will eventually become tea towels.

succulent blossom en masse

It's really interesting how doing something repetitive for a long period of time can be strangely meditative. And I think it has to do with your frame of mind at the time and how you choose to see the task. This 1.7 x 1.2m piece of light-weight cotton fabric took me hours to block print my succulent blossom design yesterday afternoon, but oddly enough I enjoyed it. I didn't focus on my aching arms or the time. Instead I just went with the flow. I thought I might stop half way through and do the rest today but once I got into the rhythm it was strangely addictive. And moving about the fabric also kept me warm when I knew the room was becoming chilly. The hardest part was navigating a hungry cat who kept getting under foot for about the last 40 mins.

Then I baked an apple cake and had a glass of red as a little reward.

blossoms in repeat

Succulent blossom repeat in gorgeous blue

Succulent blossom repeat in rust red

Succulent blossom repeat in teal-grey

You might already know that I'm a bit obssessed with the weird and wacky shapes of succulent blossoms. Recently I designed a repeat pattern based on one of my favourite blossoms. I've been playing with colours and when I repair my large, but very broken screen I hope to screen print these onto fabric. Which of these three colours do you prefer?

blossoms and dragonflies

There was a good frost on the ground this morning but despite the cold wattle trees everywhere are still managing to push out their lovely yellow blossoms. At this time of winter there is nothing more cheerful than seeing this piercing yellow colour all over trees in the streets. I think they're getting ready for spring. Or maybe they're just a little early?
Like these dragonflies. They're definitely early. All sketched up on drafting film and waiting to be cut out for screen printing on fabric. Which will happen this weekend with a bit of planning and luck.

things that grow in spring

A small digression from creative blogging today. I've been distracted by our plum tree which is now almost in full bloom. Spring is here! Our neighbour's two massive almonds tree have also blossomed and look absolutely gorgeous in her front garden. I especially like the early morning light on our plum blossoms. The tree glows in the dawn light and makes getting up early almost pleasurable at the moment. Almost..... And our friends' sheep, Curly, gave birth to twin lambs 2 weeks ago so we know spring is definitely here when the sheep are lambing. Curly had one male and one female lamb (pictured) and they've been named Larry and Mo (short for Monique I'm told). We got to visit the little ones yesterday and Larry was so kind as to let us pick him up and give him lots of cuddles. They are both so incredibly sweet and almost make me want to move to the country.