Bloom Magazine. Issue 20.

India Flint

Iris Velghe

Iris Velghe

A present.

From my beau.

So so gratefully received.

Bloom magazine.

My head is in the clouds.

Colours rich in pigment

Inspiring me.

Botanical extravaganza.

Every page a rainbow,

I feel like I am sitting in a pot of gold.

Jenny from Yarn Soup kindly asked me to answer a few questions for her, you can see the interview here. 

Thank you Jenny.

x

Ai Weiwei

Tate Modern is worth a look in at the moment. 

Gauguin is of course showing there, however I can't tell you anything other that what I learnt at school about him, as tickets are for timed showings, and we couldn't wait around for a couple of hours. ( Those wanting to go, book a few days in advance online here.)

However what did delight was Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds, over 100 million seeds spread across the floor of the Turpentine Hall. They have cordoned it off so the public can not crunch their way across it, as intended, but it still didn't disappoint. You could sit on its vast perimeter and play with the seeds from the vast carpet that you could reach. 

When you look at it as a whole, you are unsure what it is, and then as you look closer and touch the seeds you can see that each seed has been handmade by an artisan, rather that being mass produced, Ai Weiwei has relied on the knowledge and ancient craftsmanship of the people from the city of Jingdezhen, who supplied Imperial porcelain.

Ai Weiwei talks about growing up in China everyone was so poor, that a sunflower seed was a treat in your pocket, to share with friends. Sunflowers also have cultural bearing too, during Mao Zedong's revolution Chairman Mao was portrayed as the sun, and the masses of people where sunflowers turning towards him. Ai Weiwei remembers the sharing of sunflowers a gesture of human compassion, providing a space for pleasure, friendship and kindness, during a time of extreme poverty, repression and uncertainty.

You can also leave a video message for Ai Weiwei in a sectioned off area of the hall, he will select some to answer which will be broadcasted on the Tate website each month.

If you have a few minutes spare, I urge you to watch this wonderful video he made for the Tate Modern, showing the making of the Sunflower Seeds. 

It gives another meaning to the label 'Made in China'.

Showing until 2nd May 2011.

Go see!!!

Shine

'Shine'  

A painting I finished today.

Excuse the funny angle, I was trying to show you how reflective it is. 

When light shines on the gold leaf it makes it look like everything is floating.

I am slowly pulling everything together for the open home studio.

Slowly but surely I am getting there.

I will not have time to finish everything I want to, but I am giving it my best shot.

Diego Uchitel.

Just found on Design Relevant.

Like sculpted clay

blended colours

crisp lines

soft edges

beautiful.

I have a few stolen hours to paint now, and this has put me in the mood.

Hope you get some time too.

Happy Weekend.

Preparing for the open studio in a few weeks.

Here is something I am working on today. 

I love the feeling when it just flows.

I also love my fingers when they are stained with paint.

Nice feeling, hey?

Some days I need music, other days I can fly by myself.

Some days I need music,

other days I can fly by myself.

Here is my new painting, the one that almost made me blind.

Staring in no particular order;

Papilo ulysses

Automeris randa

Tosenna splenida

Odonata

Doxocopa cherubina

Thasus gigas

Pareronia valeria

Plectrodera scalator

I thought I was done with butterflies for a while, and then this little lovely arrived in the post...

I never set out to paint butterflies, in fact I never set out to paint. 

I find myself pulled in.... all I wanted was a happy name for my blog.

Found

Found on ebay.

I wonder how many eyes have stood and looked at these.

It is so old, the butterflies have faded and wings have fallen off. 

Like broken dreams, they have been left to fall.

Unscooped they sit at the bottom.

Others are still proud, showing their glory.

Something to treasure.

Up high it will hang.

Way up.

There.

Magic.

Busy day

A few more joined the band today.

Hoping to complete the whole painting by the end of the week.

Picking pumpkins and sorts this weekend with the kiddy winks.

So excited.

Some days

A new painting,

first of many new bugs.

Some days I need music,

other days I can fly by myself.

Tumblr love

All here.

Doily flowers

My sister bought me black doilies.

So I made flowers. 

My mother in law said she couldn't take her eyes off them.

I made a fair amount.

I could make a few more.

You can find the tutorial here.

I found them via Poppytalk.

Happy folding.

Gorgeousness from Anthropologie.

With four minutes to spare this morning, I popped into Anthropology. 

This is what I found. 

Always a visual kick. 

My heart wanted that teapot, my pocket put it back.

My husband will be happy.

Liliroze

Once again, the fabulous Liliroze.

Feels like Pre-Raphaelite heaven to me. 

Spare grandmother anyone?

I can honestly say that if I had a grandmother I would think about selling her to acquire one of these stunning mirrors. I saw them a few months ago in Anthropologie, and it was perched up so high on a shelf there was no hope a small lady such as myself leaping that high. 

Can you see it, right up there?

Today I found out they are made by Huw Griffith, who restyles antiques for fancies like Paul Smith, The Hospital Club and Designers Guild. Stunning, I will have to add one to my never ending wish list.

I went through a stage of scratching the back of mirrors to remove the mercury, I still have a couple around the house. As you can see, I stuck old photos behind them and lined them with ribbon and glass beads. I stopped making them, as I was worried I would get mercury poisoning!

Do let me know if you happen to find a spare grandmother......

Liberty Print Love

You may remember my last visit to Liberty's resulted in me buying fabric and trims, this is unusual for me as I am not that great at sewing.  I developed a fear at the age of fifteen, during my O level Needlework exam, where by we had to make a babies dress complete with smocking! The needlework teacher had never given us a pattern let alone taught us now to smock. So my love of sewing kind of ended there. 

I didn't let that stop me, and so I thought I would show you what I made with the Liberty print. (by the way you can buy it worldwide from their site here.) 

I covered this MDF Love sign I found in a craft shop. This was tricky, until I worked out it would be better if I cut strips and glued it with pvc glue. I hung it in Matilda's room.

She also inherited her brothers jumper, so I cut out a heart and yes, I did sew it on. I have to say it sat in my lounge for at least three months before I got round to do it. I did it one day while watching Dillon play tennis, I was a little embarrassed by all the interested mothers waiting to see the final result. But to be honest I thought it had to be now or never, as she is growing and the jumper was not.

And these cushions..... that I didn't make. No not me, my lovely mother in law did. I gave her the bits and a drawing, and she was off, she is so talented, and she didn't grumble or even bat an eye lid when I mentioned I needed....errrr, six. 

I keep thinking I am going to add a couple of buttons here and there, but I reckon thats at least another three months down the line.......

Squirrel food.

All three of us round the kitchen table, trying to draw a pine cone. It doesn't matter that none of them resemble a pine cone. What matters is that we had a go and we were together, scribbling, singing, rhyming, eye spying together. 

Sometimes time is hard to find.