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.

drawing + reading + watching

It feels nice to start drawing again after a tiny hiatus. Pic: sumi ink and artline pen.

An update on reading over the summer break: I finished reading Franzen's new novel Freedom while I was at the beach and loved it. What a humungous read about the double-edge sword of 'freedom' in modern life! There's an interview with Franzen here on npr if you're keen to know more. I'm now reading Auster's Sunset Park and while it's also very good I can't help comparing it to Freedom because it's still fresh in my mind. Not very fair to Auster is it? Sorry about that Paul!

On films: I saw the totally quirky Life During Wartime last night. Amongst the cast is the brilliant Allison Janney (ex West Wing) who was superb in this. Be warned though, this film is not for mainstream taste buds. It's totally OTT out there but enjoyable as a critque of contemporary American life/relationships in a kind of campy, deliberately overacted way.

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.....