life in b&w

Some garden produce: brocollini, lettuce & thyme. Not much else is growing this winter except Italian flat leaf parsley, some sage and rosemary.

The speckled light pic is of a peace lily which is in flower and I don't seem to be able to stop photographing it!

Last pic is of my boo, sunning herself yesterday in the lovely winter light.

Carving continues but is slow going as I'm distracted with thinking/planning for the trip to Arnhem Land coming up. The northern heat will be a bit of a shock coming from Melbourne winter at this time of year.

What are you drinking at the moment? I'm sipping some black Daintree tea and it's good & strong. I have to really stop myself from drinking too much hot chocolate at this time of year. But I will make Stephanie's double choc brownies later today. A rainy winter's day just screams out for them.

light + new york + weaving

Winter light + hipstamatic seems to give the house a lovely soft glow.

Congratulations New York! This is an important win for many reasons even if I personally have views about marriage more aligned with Elizabeth Gilbert's. But it's all about choices and having them. So yay NY!

On a totally different note have you seen the promo for IOU Project's fair trade for weavers? How fantastic is that?

dash

Swirls of dashes in repeat on paper. I'm testing the repeat before I commit it to fabric.

This recent cold weather has found me cooking and eating apple, rhubarb and pear pudding with fresh cream. I'm not sure there is anything better on a cold night. Except perhaps the pea and ham soup that was eaten before it.

And speaking of foodie things I recently had the joy of eating the best eggs benedict ever at the newly opened Aquarium Cafe, 382 High St, Northcote.

Have you seen 'I am Love' (lo sono l'amore) yet? If not, do! You won't be disappointed. It's epic, it's gorgeous, it's Italian and it has Tilda. What more can you want in a film?

light

Happy winter solstice to everyone in the southern hemisphere (and happy summer solstice to those in the north)!!! From tomorrow we will begin to have longer days with more daylight. Although I love winter I don't mind having a bit more light once we pass the solstice.

Here are some more pics of our new wild fennel art piece from Spacecraft. They also have a blog now.

blossoms and dragonflies

There was a good frost on the ground this morning but despite the cold wattle trees everywhere are still managing to push out their lovely yellow blossoms. At this time of winter there is nothing more cheerful than seeing this piercing yellow colour all over trees in the streets. I think they're getting ready for spring. Or maybe they're just a little early?
Like these dragonflies. They're definitely early. All sketched up on drafting film and waiting to be cut out for screen printing on fabric. Which will happen this weekend with a bit of planning and luck.

change

Today is the last day of winter.
This was the sky this afternoon with a storm brewing.

Spring begins from tomorrow.
The wattle trees are in flower everywhere.
Bright yellow-gold, a visual feast.

circling in red

I've been printing with my lino block winter trees again and I must admit it's been fun experimenting. The winter light is quite poor today so that explains why this photo is a bit dark. But it's fitting really, don't you think, with a winter tree image?

Something interesting from the International Printing Center New York (IPCNY). They're calling for new prints for their Autumn show (that's autumn in the northern hemisphere of course). All the details about the kind of prints allowed and deadlines are here. I feel quite happy to say I even know where the IPCNY is as I searched it out in Chelsea last month when I was visiting New York. It's located in the back of an amazing rabbit warren of a building in the art gallery precinct. It's not easy to find but I did get the sense that they're doing really nice things for artists on a really low/non-existent budget.

And if you're in Melbourne this weekend come along to the Melbourne Design Market and Projekta 57. They're going to be a great events.

snake bean

This incredible-looking curly flower belongs to a beautiful vine growing across the entrance of our front veranda. I've heard someone say it's a snake bean vine but I don't know if that's true or even the botanical name for it. At this time of year it's heavy with flowers like these, so curly and smooth and very sweet smelling. I've been asked many many times about this vine and the flowers by people passing on our street. One woman even asked me for a cutting so she could try growing it in her garden. I don't know if she ever succeeded. Very soon, as autumn decends on us the vine will drop everything - leaves and flowers - and will look half dead and very scraggy when winter comes. Each year in winter I look at it in its sad state and wonder if it will regrow. And each summer, without fail, it does. This year we've let it grow and grow and there were days when I arrived home and parts of the vine had reached out and extended its arms to the house walls, the front doors and windows. Like "The Day of the Triffids". It hides and protects the front of the house from the world like in the wonderful children's book "The Secret Garden". It rained last night (a rare but wonderful thing) and today the flowers on the vine are damp with droplets of water.