giant succulent blossom

Last weekend it was a hive of activity around here. A friend of mine swears people are possessed with a wave of creative energy as the moon is waxing (building to a full moon). Anyone who was out and about on Wednesday night this week would have witnessed that big, beautiful, luminous moon hanging low in the eastern sky. It was full or close to it. As I was cycling home (north) I found it near impossible not to look to my right (east) and stare at the moon. It was so, so, so lovely!

I think my friend was right about that creative burst. I was drawing and designing, cutting stencils and printing like a fiend all weekend. And it was so much fun!

So here's another product of that rush of activity. Giant Succulent Blossom, Black in 100% linen (this one is oatmeal). Those of you who've visited this blog before know how much I'm obsessed with succulents and succulent flowers. Here's more proof of that!

Along with the new banksia pod designs, these tea towels are also now in the shop.

What have you been making lately?

2012

The succulent flowers in the back garden are in bloom again. Some have even started drying out and fading to pink (from orange).

The new year is here and I'm feeling quiet. I'm resting, reading, gardening and playing lots of spelltower. I also just did a huge driving trip up north totaling 4ooo kms. That's a of lot of music listening and singing time!

So 2012, year of the dragon. What do you have install for us all. Eh?

succulent thoughts

The end of summer is a funny thing. The garden starts changing, mornings are darker, the birds get up later (a good thing as we have some noisy ones around here), even the cat sleeps in :) And the season of serious chai drinking begins!

I rescued these succulent blossoms as they were beginning to wither and dry out on their plants a few days ago. When they're fresh they have a beautiful orange colour, but when dry as you can see here, quite pink. Am I a bit of crazy woman for having dried out succulent blossoms, old seed pods, and driftwood all over the house? Other people have fresh flowers, me the deader and more dried out the better. I love the way their stems go a boney-white, a bit like Georgia Okeefe's paintings of cow bones dried out in the New Mexico desert sun. I just love that washed out look.

Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, Georgia O'Keefe

I quite like pressed leaves and flowers too. Here's a quick wikihow link to flower pressing in case you're keen.

Are you a fresh or dried flower person? And are you a collector of things?

light, joy + year end

I love the play of light and shadow at various times of the year in our living room. These are dried succulent flowers in case you are curious.

Have a great holiday season everyone. Take it easy, be safe, happy and of course a little bit indulgent. See you in 2011!

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.

light

Late afternoon light. That first pic is of one of our apricot trees in flower (growing in a pot). A friend grew it from seed!

I just love early spring weather.

Are you doing anything special today?

all things blossom-like

And this is what the block printed succulent blossom fabric was used for - pajama pants. And not even for me I might add.

Speaking of succulents, I was mezmerised by the light and shadow play on my living room wall a few mornings ago. Dried succulent flowers (a different kind to those in the pjs) were responsible for the lovely shadows. Don't you just love autumn light?

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.

succulent flowers in red

Succulent flowers in red block printed by hand on cotton/linen blend fabric.

I had a lot of fun printing this piece. Unfortunately the light in these pics (especially that third one, what's going on there I wonder) makes the base fabric look slightly pink. Rest assured it's not. Instead it's a lovely natural shade. More like ivory. I have a piece printed with the succulent flowers in black ink that I'm tempted to sew into a skirt. I like the idea of using it in one panel at the front and perhaps the rest of the skirt in a dark light-weight denim. Sewers out there - is this idea a bit crazy?

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?

test run

A test run of the succulent design block printed on a natural linen/cotton blend. Pics are in B&W but I did use black ink. I still have to work on removing some of those textural bits that pop up with lino printing although I kind of like what it adds here. When I see a whole lot of the succulent images together in black like this it reminds of how the Australian bush can look after a fire. Have to go rest now as still not feeling super great and it's very hot today. No fires though as far as I know.

succulent design in progress

The one good thing about having a 36 degree day is that you don't have to sit on your lino to warm it up and make it soft before cutting. In this heat is cuts like butter. I've been feeling a bit off colour but decided to start cutting this design today anyway. It's a pen and ink drawing based on some photos I've taken of succulent flowers. When I'm feeling up to it I plan on printing it onto some fabric. Somehow I don't think that's going to be tomorrow - it's forecast to be 37 degrees. A bit to warm for printing even when you're feeling 100%.

garden surprise

Can you believe this garden marvel? A small round green not overly pretty succulent plant that can produce such an enormous and utterly lovely white flower. That stem is about 12 cm in length! I've been watching it grow over the last week or so. This plant only blossoms about every 1-2 years so finding it in full bloom this morning just made my heart sing.

take a stroll

Allow me to take you on a little tour of what's happening in my back garden. The spring onions flowered. And then we ate them all up.
The succulents are looking quite handsome. Some have flowered. Some are looking very busy and stripey.Others are looking very pretty. Almost edible.
Some are lovely and green. They make me feel cool on a hot day. And ones like these have a lot going on in their homes.Some are looking very soft and gentle.And others all perky and bright.

lazy days

I'm not getting much printmaking done but I am walking a lot down at the creek and taking photos of plants and flowers and things that inspire (these photos are of flowering succulents from my garden but taken from underneath). I still feel quite lazy with the holiday break and am not doing a whole lot except recharging the batteries in a very pleasant unproductive kind of way. But tomorrow might even be picnic-worthy weather so that would be something.

I saw a wonderful film yesterday - Vicky Christina Barcelona - a new one directed by Woody Allen. If you knew how much Woody has annoyed me over the years with his films you might find it a little surprising that I really enjoyed this one. What's not to love about Barcelona? Beautiful city! Makes me want to go back there right this minute except it's winter in the northern hemisphere and all my fond memories of Spain are summer ones. I loved Penelope Cruz in this too - she makes a very good crazy Spanish painter. So Woody you have redeemed yourself for the moment. Keep making films like this and Match Point and I'll consider becoming a fan.

For paper cut devotees take a look at this sweet little animation found through Heather's blog, skinny laminx. The work involved in making something like this is just astounding.

pink

A teeny tiny flower from a succulent plant in the garden. Well, ok yes, I did tweak this one which is why it's so fluro-like. Is it just too weird? I must confess to liking this kind of hot pink colour in a flower. (by the way, the natural colour is a softer pink).

summer

The succulent in one of my big pots is flowering again. I love the gentle orange colour of these flowers.
How can things that survive in such dry conditions produce such loveliness?

Puss still isn't home (see previous blog) but I'm trying to be a bit buddhist about it and accept that we can never really possess an animal and that their time with us is sometimes very fleeting. You know, the non-attachment stuff....but I swear it's harder to do than to say.

I've got to share some beauty from the Grampians National Park. We went there for my birthday just before we moved. This area is just stunning. The wildflowers were out because it was early summer. Check out that Kangaroo Tail (the plant with the tall, black stem). If you want to get a better look at the view and a sense of how high up we were click on the image to zoom in closer. It's pretty amazing.

more succulents in the garden

Look at these little beauties! This gorgeous pot of colourful succulents was given to us last weekend our lovely visitors from NSW. I've added them to my table collection outside the backdoor and this little grouping sits right in the middle because of all that colour! I can't wait to see what kind of flowers they'll produce.

cactus flower one day wonder

When I woke up a few days ago, I noticed that one of my succulents just outside the back door had overnight produced this amazing looking flower. If you look closely you'll see why this is a wild and beautiful accomplishment of the natural world. That huge white flower came out of the small, round, green succulent on the left (the one with the small white spikey dots all over it). And the most incredible thing is the flower only blossomed for one day and then it collapsed, suggesting the force of pushing it out into the world for that short time, was all it could muster. It was a wonderful thing to have witnessed. I'm always impressed by the gorgeous and unusual range of flowers that succulents produce from their spikey and sometimes rubbery bodies. I have another in my kitchen that is quite ugly to look at, yet when it flowers, pushes out bright pink little buds all over it's round prickly base. I think I might even make a print with some of the flower images someday.