kai samuals-davies

I really love these paintings by San Francisco based painter Kai Samuals-Davies. I recently bought a selection of beautifully printed cards from him and have them up in my room. I have been teaching myself oil painting this year its both wonderful and frustrating and I have a long way to go but that can be a nice feeling too.

Dukkah

turn this...

into this...

with this simple dukkah recipe

spring?

I don't know if it is just our freezing house that makes winter feel like it goes on and on, but I do see some signs that things may be turning a corner. I took the children to our beach house for a night recently and all the Jonquils and Daffodils were out and the Japonica hedge was spectacular. We also picked a huge crop of limes from our small but mighty lime tree and froze the juice ready for margaritas in the summer. Bring it on I say bring it on.

it is ok to be smart

birch pollen

 crystal flowers

crystal flowers

Ooh I just found this great blog It's Ok To Be Smart all about science and interesting things which led me to this tumbler page for the FEI company full of beautiful images from under an electron microscope, makes you think doesn't it?

... it also confirmed why parasites gross me out

 head lice agghh...

hydrothermal worm ... nooooooo!

thankfully this one lives at the bottom of the ocean.

baby rattle

turn this...

into this....

with these wooden baby rattle instructions

penny plain

Last night I went and saw an "adult marionette" show by Ronnie Burkett called Penny Plain. That makes it sound a bit sexy but it was just a not for children production all about the end of the world and a blind woman waiting for the inevitable demise of everything.  I know it is a bit John Malkovich of me but I do like a good puppet show, it may tie back in to my love of tiny things. Years ago I used to go see the Cosmic Bicycle Theatre do wonderful productions in a tiny room on the lower east side and I think something about the storytelling got under my skin. Anyhow the puppets in this one were quite amazing these shoes would be about as big as an AA battery which deserves a round of applause in it's self I think.

abc giveaway

I am giving away a copy of my alphabet book of original animal illustrations hand painted in watercolours, pen and ink. 
A mix of animals from the air, land and sea.One for every letter of the alphabet. 

It is off set printed on beautiful 100% recycled paper stock in Melbourne Australia. 
15cm x 15cm or 5.9 " x 5.9 "
Hand stitched binding done by me 
One letter and animal per page, 28 Pages of Alphabet fun.

woo hoo leave a comment to enter!

simplicity

turn this...

 into this...

 with this 

simplicity chocolate cake recipe

the fly trainer

the fly trainer

close up of the fly machine, complete with half done up fly ...ops.

Today my older son created the most intricate and wonderful game. He made this uniform and called him self the fly trainer. He had on ear muffs, binoculars, a magnifying glass, a plastic saw "sword", a green wind up butter fly to attract the flies to a slinky around his waist which was a "fly machine for the naughty flies to go in and they came out the other end good again", a helium balloon tangled in the slinky, a chair to stand on and two well trained flies that sat on the light above him and flew around just like he told them to.

Ex Voto

When I was twenty one I moved to Mexico to nurse a broken heart and work as a nanny in an embassy there. It was a strange and wonderful time and I am still so in love with the country and hope to go back one day. As part of my research I have been looking at Ex voto painting, it is a style I find mesmerising and come back to every few years. The narrative elements and the open ended story telling especially with my rusty Spanish leave so many questions and sets my imagination going. I love the scope of the miracles, some are so pedestrian and some so wildly biblical and all equally worthy of a painting giving thanks that everything worked out ok this time around.

And here are a few more, oh my what happened here!

I love this divine intervention in the wrestling ring

and if my spanish is right this one is giving thanks for letting us have the opportunity of happiness together. Please correct me if I am wrong!

leather purse

turn this...

 into this...

with these leather purse instructions

a few things I have been making lately

A present for my niece for when her new baby brother or sister arrives 

I should have done a before photo its quite a difference.

A bunch of balloon party favors

A flock of mechanical butterflies 

American folk art museum

I lived in New York for a few years and one of my favourite places to go was the American Folk Art Museum. I was lucky enough to see an extensive show of Henry Darger's illustrations which sill remain some of my favourite art works. I am researching a new project and just had a wander through their archives which are worth a look if you are into folk art. Look at that beautiful perspective in those landscapes, I love it.