tea circle in two

Tea Circle is finally available in print form. And in two colours. It's taken me a while to get around to transforming this sumi ink illustration into prints. So here they are. I also have a green version but am still not happy with the colour so I might just leave it at two.

Thanks for those lovely comments about my botanical sketches [last post]. I'll gradually keep adding to them and may post an update to the digital album once I have more completed. I love drawing plant life. The lines and shades and tones and squiggles and swirls all add to up to some crazy nature activity. Fascinating stuff.

Am deep in reading for the PhD. I'm loving it but the more I read the more I find to read. Still it's a luxury and I'm conscious of it and thankful for it every day. I might be deluded but am hoping not to give up reading fiction over the next three years. So many people have said that it's impossible to keep reading fiction while doing a [non-fiction related] PhD. That would feel like cutting off an arm to me. So I'll keep reading fiction at night and see how far I go. Am reading Siri Hustvedt's The Blindfold at the moment. Very intriguing.

Harvest xmas market

Melbourne folk, this little market at the new better-than-gorgeous, super beautiful new Harvest Workroom is going to be full of goodness. One day only: Saturday 18th December, 10am-5pm. 512 Lygon St, East Brunswick.

Come along and be part of this crafty magic to launch the new Harvest Workroom. It's going to be a great chance to buy your loved ones unique presents and to support local makers. There will be craft, clothing, homewares, textiles and music stalls, as well as fun activities like "print your own wrapping paper" and craft activities for kids.

There will be 2011 Mizu Designs calendars on sale as well as a selection of my giclee art prints. So if you're the kind of person that likes to avoid postage costs [who doesn't?] come purchase these in person and experience the joy on the day.

hens

rose tea

egg for you

And then there were hens......

What wonderful paper/ink/stationery-related goodies will I find in Kyoto this trip? And how much can I stuff into my bag on the way home?

Please note: all purchases from the shop between now and the 28th October will be shipped on 29th.

zen and minimalism

I've been having fun designing this new giclee print. I just love the whole feeling of ikebana. Shop fronts in Japan have the most gob-smackingly gorgeous ikebana arrangements in their front windows. It makes me want to run away in horror from the front of some Australian shops because they just have no idea. Not all of course. But some seem to have never encountered the principles of shape, line and form or the symmetry and balance of ikebana. Or the concept of minimalism.

I suppose those of us in Melbourne could head off to Ikebana Melbourne for some lessons to help rectify this sad state of affairs.

This photo by markfountain52 on flickr taken on the streets of Kyoto is the kind of thing that makes me swoon.

framed

Big Blue is a giclee print I made a while ago but forgot about! So here it is framed. It has quite a bit of texture to it because of the Japanese chiyogami paper I used in making it.

And these 2 lovelies from Yellow Monday are going to 2 little people in my life who are just crazy about dogs. Aren't they just delightful?

I might be finally screen printing this today because it's wet and cold (what's with the cold weather here in November???) and very much an indoors day. Celistina's blog has been inspiring me no end with printing projects.

brunswick bound

It's been a hard week as I've been sick with a virus that has knocked me around pretty badly. I'm not a very good patient.

Something that cheered me up in the midst of my sickness is that Brunswick Bound, a bookshop that is simply sublime (and located in my old neighbourhood) will be stocking my cards and a small range of giclee prints from today. Thanks guys!

go west!

Yes, that's right, a range of my giclee art prints are now available at William Topp in Perth. Check out their lovely shop on William St all you peeps from Western Australia (if you don't already know about it). Australia is one very large country so it makes me super smiley and happy to have my prints stocked all the way over across the Nullarbor!

loveliness

Wilkins and Kent of Brunswick St, Fitzroy (Melbourne) will be stocking a small range of my giclee art prints in their gorgeous homewares shop as of this weekend. Which is so lovely because I'm often asked through my online shop if I have a real shop in Melbourne so people can come and have a look at my work. And given I don't, this little partnership is a good thing.

I just have to share this great little Sydney based textile find with you. Publisher Textiles have a warehouse studio in Leichhardt and if I lived in Sydney I'd be standing on their doorstep every single Saturday for their open-to-the-public days just so I could feast my eyes on their printed textiles. All printed with eco-friendly water based inks. They do wallpaper too. If you want to see a fun little video they made of them printing on their long table click here and then go to 'who'. When you see how much work they put into printing each textile piece you can really understand the prices designers have to put on their work.