I haven't been this excited since...

I picked up a prize for designing the Pick 'n Pay Design a Bag Competition! .... since I had my kids! ....

Ok well that was a bit of an exaggeration,

but, anyhow I collected my Shwe Shwe inspired stationary from the printer today, and I am besides myself with delight. I wrote about them earlier here. It will be listed on Etsy by this weekend, and I want to do a giveaway on my blog as well, I thought a gift pack containing cards and a jotter.

So keep in touch and enter, I assure you you wont be disappointed. Details to follow.

Oils forever!

Prints of these little paintings are going to be for sale on Etsy this week, hop on over to my shop and have a look.

The originals were small - 30cm x 11.5cm painted in oil on masonite. The prints will be printed on A4 size paper. I love the warm spicy colours.

Listed on Etsy tonight

Tonight I am listed on an Etsy Treasury, here, thank you Lori. I found her wonderful photography on Etsy, here. Have a look. These are 2 of her pictures.

Shwe shwe me baby!

When my husband travels with his work to Mozambique and Tanzania he is always instructed to bring home fabric for me. I love it... the girls, not so much - he won't bring then bags of fabric again in a hurry again, but that is another story for another time!!

I have kept these in a basket waiting for inspiration! Last night I had it. These will be stationary before long! I just love the crisp clear designs of these wax worked fabrics and they have such evocative names. Nida Nzitom Kitinge 100% Pamba Tanzanian Giga Wax No1015 is one, yesterday I bought some manufactured under the Chaka name, like shwe shwe, but I know not, because real Shwe Shwe Fabric has the 3 leopard logo printed like a watermark on the back. The original company from Great Brittain, had a 3 cat logo and it is much a part of our history with reports of its being here form 1672.

Drawing inspiration.

Working, as I do, alone in a studio can be quite lonely, without the inspiration of others. This week I have happened on some truly amazing work on the internet. Work that has inspired and challenged me.


Have a look here, at Jezze. Her brooches made from fragments of ceramics inspired these artworks that I painted on shale fragments which came from a friends garden when they replaced their patio! Small, simple and recycled to boot!

Inspiration shared!

This past week I have been trawling the net - as usual - but have been so inspired by what I have found and I want to share some of these wonderful blogs and sites with you.

Drawings by Esti

First up was Esti, she lives in Bilboa, draws, takes pictures and writes. Go there and be inspired. her drawings are so simple yet they speak to one so effectivly. I love the combination of collage and pen drawings, simple yet saying much.

Drawings by Heather Jones Smith

Next, Heather Smith Jones' blog is just so different from Esti's, simply a record of life, the mundane pleasures that make up all of our days, recorded.

Hope you are as inspired as I was. I will over the next while add to this record of inspiration.

There be GIANTS!

Each day I drive across the neighborhood to drop and collect my girls from school. There are some beautiful trees along our way. Today I stopped and photographed them. Like old dames they stand proud, dressed in finery only nature could create.

The tree in the middle of the road has bark that swirls around the truck - how did her skirt get so wind swept? Or the majestic gum around the corner, her trunk pitted and scared, but utterly beautiful. In the schoolgrounds are a row of figs. Trunks, thick, stocking'ed ankles, standing as matrons along the fence.