Grabbing the Muse by the Throat

 

Exciting news - my book is born!!

 

 

 

It will be a week or two yet before it is available online at The Book Depository, Amazon and other online stores.

Everyone who leaves a comment on this post in the next week will go into a draw to win a free copy of my book!!

All of the violas in this photo have since disappeared but I have some others still  flowering happily. Today I used this photo for reference for the watercolour and pen sketch below. I can see now that the colour I used for the leaves makes them look a bit anaemic, but I'm very happy with it overall.

 

 

I did the one below a couple of days ago from life. I have always known these violas by the common name of Johnny Jump-ups and they are favourites of mine. If my memory serves me right, I once read that they also have another common name which is the longest in the English language - "Meet her in the entry, kiss her in the buttery" How rustically divine is that!?

 

 

 

Egg-beater

                                                              Pen and watercolour

This is the first sketch I've done for a while so I felt a bit rusty when I got out my sketch book this evening. I went straight in with the ink pen and made quite a few false starts with the perspective. But it's amazing what can be covered up with some strategically placed rendering. This egg-beater is battered but beloved, and hails from my childhood.

I have finally finished writing the book I have been working on for nearly three years!!! I can hardly believe it as it seemed I would never get to the end of it. In recent months, every ounce of my creative energy has been devoted to working on it. The editing process has been incredibly intense and time-consuming; hence my absence from painting and blogging lately. The official publishing date is the 20th July so hopefully it will feature in my next post.

 As much as I've enjoyed many aspects of writing the book, I will be very glad to be free to move onto other projects. Getting a book over the last hurdles is all-consuming and I've really missed having a life outside of it these past couple of months.

I've barely had a moment to spend in the garden other than to pluck rogue snails from my miniature garden and re-locate them to hopefully tastier and more robust parts of the garden. They've eaten the miniature "lawn" to the roots. I hate to kill them but I may need to harden my heart. The snails I pluck afresh are beginning to look familiar. I think they are able to move much more quickly than they let on!

 

 

 

Thankfully, the snails don't like to eat moss so that is looking very lush. And just look at these  exquisite little pink flowers!(you may need to click onto the photo to get a good look!)

 

I'm looking forward to revealing all with my book very soon!!!

                                 

Small Joys

 

I've recently created a miniature garden using only Australian native plants. I made the ceramic toadstools with my own fair hands.

 

 

 

 Australian natives are perfect for miniature gardens as many of them have the most delicate flowers.

 

 I caught these miniature villains in the act, but before banishing them to the far reaches of the garden I did a photo shoot!

 

 

Another garden under construction

 

 

                                                               A Stylidium garden
                                                                               

 

                                      My one small foray into painting over this past month.

 

My sister's book is now available on Kindle as well as in print form from Amazon and The Book Depository.

 

I am getting ever closer to finishing my own book. The cover design is almost complete and I am doing the final tweaks to the manuscript. It has consumed me of late but I realised when looking through my recent photos that I have had some very pleasant interludes amongst the toil. Some of them I caught on camera. There must be something in the air as many of my friends have been bringing out their most fetching tableware!

 

 

 What I thought was to be a catch up for a simple cup of tea one day turned into an elegant repast.
                                    
                                          

Another friend had recently inherited some beautiful old china

 

 

Another day was an al fresco lunch on a friend's balcony with the prettiest pavlova served for dessert.

 

 

And a recent afternoon tea to celebrate a friend's kitchen renovation.

 

 

                                   It's always worth taking the camera along on a bushwalk.

 

 

 

                                                           And on a beach walk!

 

 

Surfers at sunset.

Short but Sweet in Melbourne

 

                                                Flinders Street Station  13cm x 19cm
                                                                   pen on paper

 

 

This week a spur of the moment opportunity arose to accompany my husband on a business trip to Melbourne for two nights. Once he'd left for work the morning after our evening arrival, I trotted off to catch a tram into the city centre. I had been very pleased that fellow art blogger Helen Cooper was able to meet up with me at very short notice. I have admired her work for quite some time and it was wonderful to be able to meet up with her in person. She is such a lovely person and we had a great day together, first we indulged ourselves with tea and cake at the Hopetoun Tearooms in the Block Arcade. I was lucky to get photos before too many people were around. When I visited Melbourne in summer a few years ago there were long lines waiting to get a seat and hordes of people taking photos of the cake display.

 

 The Block arcade was built in the 1890s and its wonderful character has been retained throughout the years.

 

Helen showed me around town for a bit and then we made our way to the art gallery. I was pleased that the wonderful display of handmade poppies remained from the Anzac commemorations from the previous Saturday.

 

 

 

 The gallery was hosting the WW1 Centenary Exhibition

 

http://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/whatson/the-ww1-centenary-exhibition/
which was very moving to see and then we enjoyed viewing the general painting collections. I particularly love seeing the Heidelberg School impressionist paintings.

We had a very late lunch in one of the cafes in the Block Lane which feels very European. It was so nice to have Helen's company for the day.

 

I did my sketch of Flinders Street Station the next day when I sallied forth alone. Afterwards I visited a lovely haberdashery shop in one of the old arcades and then trotted up to the Victoria markets.

 

 

There is a lot of character amongst the modern in Melbourne. By early afternoon it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with my husband and make our way to the airport for the flight home.

 

It was SO cold in Melbourne - real winter weather in the mid-teens Celsius. Perth has been getting a bit cooler but it had been in the high 20sC exactly one week before I flew to Melbourne. Having to wear a scarf and boots was quite a contrast to the previous week when I had my last swim at the beach for the season. I had bought myself a cup of coffee and a piece of cake from the surf club kiosk and made the most of the beautiful weather before the autumn temperatures arrived (which they now have!)