opening night

What a night it was! So many lovely people came to have a look. I was thrilled to see some very old friends and catch up with people I hadn't seen in a while. I made some fab new friends too, which is always a very lovely thing. Much fun was had by all! Here are just a few pics of set-up and opening night (excuse the poor picture quality please!)
Top to bottom:
*All Set - finally finished set-up at midnight the night before opening!
*Set-up in progress - with so many small pieces, set-up was a little tedious, but I really enjoyed the process.
*Opening night - That's me on the right, with my friend, the ultra-talented co-exhibitor Lauren Kenny on the left. Lauren is a super fab photographer and you can view some of her work here.
*Beautiful flowers - I was given these very gorgeous flowers, aren't they the most amazing colours? And wrapped in brown paper... simply stunning.

a little green

It's set-up night for the exhibition, and there's been plenty of last-minute things to do today, but I just had to stop for a little while and take in a bit of the beautiful sunshine this afternoon. I noticed all the fruit in my garden ripening nicely with the warmer weather, but thought I'd share with you a few snaps of some of the little green fruits before they get big and juicy! I think they are pretty cute! Here we have (top to bottom) :
*Walnuts - have you ever seen a walnut growing on a tree? I hadn't until I moved to this house! In fact, I was totally stumped as to what kind of fruit this was until I noticed the dried shells all over my back lawn... unfortunately I don't get to harvest these babies as the cockatoos get every last nut JUST before they are ripe! Next year I plan to prune the tree so it's small enough to net.
*Lemons - can't wait to slice these up and pop them in a beer on a nice hot evening! Or perhaps make a yummy lemon slice.
*Crab Apples - How cute are these mini apples? Come Autumn, they will be bright red and look stunning on the tree through to the start of winter... that is, if the birds don't eat them first!
*Kaffir Limes - these warty, wrinkly fruits have no juice but the grated rind and leaves are AMAZING in Thai cooking.

top tissues

Do you ever get sick of the SAME OLD tissue box designs? Fuzzy baby animals, photographic flowers, seashells... if you are anything like me, the complete lack of fab designs must really make you frustrated! Well friends, I got such a lovely surprise while doing the grocery shopping the other day... have a look at what I found! NO WAY!! Funky retro patterns have finally made their way onto the tissue boxes at my local supermarket HURRAH! These are Quilton brand, and they have a new range of designs out called 'Modern'. About time... well done Quilton.
Perhaps I'd better stock up before they run out?!

nearly there!

Yay - exhibition artwork is nearly finished! Here they are, elevated on cups and dishes while the last coat of varnish dries. Now all that's left to do is sign the backs, varnish the backs and attach the wires. It will be a tight finish (maybe a late night or two!) but I'm feeling good about it.
Ok ... better get back to it then!

my textile shop

Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend.
I've been super busy getting exhibition work finished, and it's beginning to really come together - yay! I've also been busy working on a new project... I found a new initiative called envelop which I think is just great! Envelop is an online print-on-demand platform where illustrators can create, promote and sell high quality cotton items to textile lovers worldwide. Once you have been approved as a contributor, you are able to create all sorts of fabulous items using their templates. Pillow covers, aprons, table runners, oven mits, tote bags, and more. To begin with, I've added six pillow covers to my shop - hurrah! SO much fun!
Above is a little peek at three of my designs (front and back). There'll be lots more in store soon, so keep an eye out! You can visit my envelop store here please do stop by for a squiz!

essentials

Do you ever have to rely on the sheer power of calories to get you through your day or your week? Sometimes, the sugar gods need to be worshipped, and once appeased, everything seems much, much calmer! Today is one of those days, friends, and my sugar-bomb of choice is the slightly chewy but oh-so-delicious dark chocolate bullet mmmmm.
I just love these gorgeous retro espresso cups too, which I bought from Target many years ago. It's going to be a good afternoon!

artwork in progress

I thought I'd share a little peek at how the exhibition artwork is coming along... I'm pretty happy with it all so far! The pieces of timber were cut to size last week with the help of my father-in-law (and his wonderful selection of power tools!). I had a small hiccup when the first lot of prints came back from the printer looking disastrous (all the blue was green and the textures had disappeared) but the problem was soon sorted and the second set of prints was perfect! I sanded all the timber edges over the weekend and stuck the paper down yesterday. I've just now finished sanding back the paper, so now all that's left to do is the varnishing. It's been a really fun process so far, and really exciting to try something new and experiment a little. Getting very excited about opening night Friday week!

blogged!

Hello all! I hope you had a great weekend.
This week has started off in a very exciting way - with a fantastic article about my products on the Babyology blog! You can view it here.
The lovely Suzi has written some very kind words about my work. What a thrill it was to wake up and find her fabulous article up there this morning! Thank you Suzi!
This afternoon I'll be getting stuck into my artwork for the upcoming LOVE:COLLIDE exhibition, as there are only 8 days left to have artwork finished - yikes! I'll post some pics of the progress very soon.

music for inspiration

Do you have a favourite album or artist that you like to listen to when you get creative? Or maybe while you do the housework, or the cooking? Well, my brother has put together a collection of fabulous tunes for me and it has become my new favourite 'creative-time' album! It's a collection of upbeat loungey, jazzy, retro songs with a lovely twist... they are mostly Japanese and have a quirky edge that just gets me inspired every time! He's called the album 'Natsuyasumi' (Summer Vacation) and you can download it here... I highly recommend you do! Have a lovely weekend, see you Monday!

busy bees

This week has been a busy one! After a morning of solid work, I made a cup of tea and sat on the back step in the sunshine to re-charge my batteries. And look what buzzed by to get me inspired! These little bees were going crazy around the flowers, working, working, working. Such incredible little creatures... so i grabbed my camera and snapped away. These little guys are collecting pollen from the lovely white flowers on my garlic chives, and my favourite ornamental flower - the rusty foxglove.

lovely lillies

Since I started work at a local flower farm six weeks ago, my house has never been without a vase or two full of lovely lillies - orange, yellow, white, pink... Just look at the amazing colour of these beauties - the most vivid cerise - stunning!
I have them sitting in my entry way. After a hard day's work, it's lovely to come home to a big vase full of these cheery flowers and their amazing perfume. Happy days!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Honey Jumble! I thought I'd kick-off my very first post with a sneaky-peek at some pieces I'm working on for an up-coming group exhibition called LOVE:COLLIDE, opening Jan 29th. You can view the invite here. Please do come down if you can, opening night should be a heap of fun! I will be exhibiting a total of 18 pieces - my biggest exhibition yet - yikes! I plan to decoupage these images onto timber boards for something a bit different... Fingers crossed it all works out!