” my mind is like the autumn moon

an emerald lake – pure, clean and bright

there is nothing with which it compares

tell me, how can i explain ?”

Hanshan

It should be a great warm weekend for very long lunches in the garden, picnics in the park, and walking, sun baking on the beach.

On Sunday visit the first Tum Tum Tree Lane market.

PHOTO COPYRIGHT ROEL LOOPERS. WWW.PROFILEPHOTO.COM.AU

.

.

.

I learnt to use the partial color effect on my photos from this tutorial.

See the rest of my DevianArt gallery here.

Water droplets in my garden

A bumblebee in my garden

” it is time to start living the life you have imagined “

Henry James

Today has been a grey old day in Amsterdam, but I’ve been continuing with some colourful papercutting to keep the grey at bay.

In stark contrast to the peaceful monochromatic winteriness of the wolf and bear cards that I blogged about earlier in the week my papercutting has taken on a positively summery direction, colour bursting at every seam.

I’ve raided my paper stash – of Japanese origami and washi papers, saved gift-wrap and envelope security patterns, ticket stubs and other ephemera – collected over many years and in many different places…

i ♥ paper

envelope security patterns

… and I have been cutting and layering them to create what I’ve dubbed ‘rare blooms’ (as each papercut-thread-and-sequins-concoction is very much one-of-a-kind).

It’s a completely addictive activity and so much fun!

On the subject of fun… tonight we’ll see Scout perform at the Occii (I think its small size will make it the perfect intimate venue for her, always in my past experiences, intense & exposed performance), and tomorrow we’re off to Brussels (just a hop and a skip across the border) for more musical fun in the form of the Toutpartout festival @ Botanique (can’t wait! Although I’m gutted that The Cave Singers and Jason Molina have had to cancel due to illness – get well soon one and all!).

In between all the excellent music this weekend I’ll be participating in the Etsy Holiday Sale (I’m thankful for modern technology and the virtual ’shop’, which allows me to be in more than one place at once . My small garden of rare blooms has taken root over there.

Whatever you’re up to this weekend, I hope it’s fun-filled and colourful!

I’m always so surprised and honoured when I get photos from my friends who travel.  Ending this week of BROWN are photos taken by my dear friend Laura Bombier on her recent trip to Namibia. Laura is an internationally acclaimed award-winning photographer, who’s work spans the globe.  When I asked her to send pictures of anything brown, she said, “the only thing that isn’t brown is the sky”. Here she shows us the beauty of brown.

Yummm!  Thank you Laura!

A great example of how this brown glass tile backsplash grounds the lower cabinets. Courtesy of Google images.

Very comfy and sexy at the same time.  Courtesy of Google images.

This weekend I’ll be working on a loft in Old Montreal and I’ll show you pictures.

Next week’s colour is a hot colour this season!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Cheers!

Well blonds are usually said to be more attractive.
Since ice age they have been more wanted then normal brown haired girls.
With ages to come natural blond hair and blue eyes will die away.

They will meld in with the brown haired to create a Grey mix;
The children born with this ‘no color’ unattractive hair will bleach and color their hair, trying to feel pretty.
As time goes the chemicals will kill their hairs and a new generation of hairless people will be born…

I love blue…

I dunno why… but I love it so much

blue is my world…

blue is my heart…

blue is my dream…

I love blue sea…

I love blue sky…

Just back from a most stimulating weekend up at the Woolaballoo yarn stall at Harrogate, with Lucy Bush and her lovely mother, Anne. This year I opted to do the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate with Woolaballoo, as they have all our yarns and are doing a stellar job of selling them. I was lucky to meet quite a few loyal knitters at the stall and together we put together some beautiful individually chosen colour combinations, particularly for the Sarah sweater and the Judith vest. It always makes me happy to see other knitters playing around with my wide range of colours and using it, just as it was meant, as a colour palette of yarn to be inspired by. It was lucky that I decided to do the show with Woollaballoo this year, as I went down with the most horrendous tummy flu shortly after arriving in the UK, which knocked me for six, and no food for three days. I was very happy to have Lucy and her mum organising the stall and the running of it.

I managed to get up on the Saturday afternoon after several long standstills on the motorway for roadworks! But it was all worth it. The Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show is definitely one of my favourites. Not only is it situated in one of the most picture perfect Victorian spa towns you can imagine, with the best shopping possible and a lot of good restaurants, but the show itself has such a variety of exquisite craft exhibitions on hand. Houston-based Cindy Hickok’s masterful machine embroidery of selected bits from famous artists’ best known works, from the renaissance until our time, had me completely gobsmacked. Her mastery of the machine and getting all these famous characters perfectly reproduced in an entirely new setting and with hilarious captions to go with it – very much tongue in cheek – had me back there twice slowly trailing every picture. I could have bought the lot, had I had the money!

Then I saw the knitted boat, yes, that’s right, the fabulous art project put together by the Sanford Goudie Gallery at the Customs House in Tyne & Wear, UK, by knitting a coat and a sail for a boat and putting it to use in the water!!! The knitting had been coordinated by very colourful knitting artist Ingrid Wagner using her enormous knitting needles. I also saw US based Tom Lundberg’s exhibition of beautifully machine embroidered artwork in the form of condensed sized badges, very skilfully executed. Lastly I ran into the embroidery duo Jean Littlejohn and Jan Beaney, whose fabulous embroidered wall hangings I was already admiring last year at the main exhibition. There they had a lot of pieces inspired by the Australian bush, which, of course, struck a special chord with me.

I’m now back in London again working on a plethora of new designs and ideas. I don’t know quite what to prioritise as they all are as much fun to develop and knit – several children’s garments, a shrug for a wedding in Adelaide in December and some commissioned work to get ready for deadlines. But it is all fun and I am brimming over with new ideas. London is a very stimulating place for me to be, as a designer. The enormous variety of art exhibitions, beautiful parks and buildings, theatres and movies make my inspiration soar.

* Dewi magazine, June 2005

The debut opening of Roy Petley’s gallery in London caused an uproar in the West End, with people seen queuing down the street to get in. In fact, that wintry October night saw so many people in the gallery that the fire department responded four times to heat alarms going off in the building.

Roy Petley (photo: Titania Veda)

This dream of an art gallery began many years ago by a boy abandoned to a children’s home. Trapped in a dark and dreary world, even the beatings by his guardians could not curb Roy’s irrepressible spirit. “My escape was painting and drawing, the reality was horrible. I quite liked the fistfights but I didn’t like the beatings,” he confides. Becoming the first ever to receive a scholarship at the children’s home at the tender age of sixteen, Roy left for Brighton University but after his first semester he decided to go to Florence in the arms of a beautiful woman. His thirst for the foundations of art, well-drawn, well-coloured and well-painted works naturally drew him to the Italian masters of old; Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Several years later, after living through his work in Italy, he returned to his homeland, England. There, he exhibited on the Green Park railings, a then melting pot of would be artists.

A chance meeting with the Duchess of Kent was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with the British royal family. The late Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales are collectors of his works, the late Queen Mother being particularly fond of his Norfolk landscapes. A whirlwind romance with an adoring public commenced, with sell-out shows following him wherever he went, from London to Barbados, Dublin to Dallas.

To satisfy his love of beautiful sports cars, three Alfa Romeos, engine red Ferraris and an E-type Jaguar once decorated his backyard. He even appeared on Good Morning Texas, flanked between William Shatner who “was on before me trying to promote a video game for Star Wars”, and a piano-playing-pot-bellied-pig who refused to perform. “It wouldn’t play the piano because it was camera shy”, Roy deduced.

Roy’s rags to riches story caught the eye of both the BBC and Sky Television, resulting in documentaries on his life and his art, and forced a change on his outlook on life. “I used to have people lining up to buy my work – but once the BBC did their documentary on me, they ended up banging on my front door trying to buy a paintings, it became a nightmare!” he exclaimed. Once dubbed the Best Dressed Man in London, this sort of major publicity was not in line with Roy’s solitary nature. In the early nineties, he chose tranquillity over fame and moved to a lonely farmhouse in the south-west of France. “I left England to become an unknown, to have a peaceful life”, he said. He quickly applied his energy to rebuilding his new-found home, which was soon to be featured in House & Garden, Homes & Gardens and Interior magazine.

the last of the sun by Roy Petley (courtesy of Petley Fine Art)

An impressionistic painter, he finds inspiration in his surroundings. In the summers, he is often found by local fishermen knee-deep in water, drawing models draped in flowing white dresses and adorned with wide-brimmed hats that Roy is known for collecting, or painting his neighbour’s children licking ice lollipops in his rose garden.

Self-taught, Roy experiments with all mediums, disclosing how he changes “mediums when I want to change my mind-set”. At his leisure, he moves effortlessly from pastel to oil, watercolour to sanguine. He speaks of each medium with equal passion, stressing on the ability to draw well being essential when working with any medium, particularly watercolour – “There is no changing it…there is only one chance”. He continues on saying, “watercolours are my reference for my oil paintings, an oil painting becomes a fuller version of the watercolour on a canvas.” He describes how Degas used to work with charcoal before drawing in the pastel, but prefers himself to draw with colour immediately. He is also is quick to illustrate that “pastel is a dusty medium and after a short period of working with it, I am always happy to return to my natural medium – oil.”

The subjects of Roy’s works are as varied as his mediums, drawing upon inspiration from anything and everything – portraits, still life, cityscapes and landscapes have all felt the touch of his brush in his paintings. “I usually have an idea of what I want to do before I begin, I see the world through my paintbrush and palette – all that remains to do is to recreate the image that I see in my mind.”

Whether it be landscape or still life, light and shadow are the basis of his works. There is a certain light and youthfulness, a grace and joyfulness that emanates from his paintings. He depicts an untouchable innocence that is reminiscent of childhood and days gone by. Although it may seem an old-fashioned and romantic world, this is Roy’s world as it exists today. Each painting draws you in, engages you with its subtle colours and soft lines.

sunlight in the dark canal by Roy Petley (courtesy of Petley Fine Art)

It is said that once you have had a show in Cork Street, you have made it in the art world. Having exhibited in galleries on the street for over a decade, Roy had reached a point in his life where he wanted to give something back. In his youth, Roy himself had approached gallery after gallery, carrying his portfolio, and had been turned away. In later years, the same galleries would beg him to exhibit with them – he wanted to provide artists with the opportunities he never had, with “a gallery they can trust, where artists feel comfortable”, where the open doors and laid back atmosphere would encourage artists – especially the younger ones. In the autumn of 2003, he did just that. “I started up the gallery because I was really fed up with how artists are treated”, he explained.

Petley Fine Art sets itself apart from other galleries because as Roy proudly states, “this is the first time an artist has owned a major gallery promoting work other than his own”. True to his word, Roy has raised the bar for the whole area by filling his gallery with only the finest paintings and sculptures from an international pantheon of artists. “We have famous artists, infamous artists, and also young artists just starting out in their careers – regardless of where they are in their careers, it is their talent that attracts us to them.”

It is this refreshing concoction of artists that gives the gallery its lively character and explains why artists enjoy exhibiting there. Neil Forster, an artist of Petley Fine Art and an established portrait painter whose sitters include The Prince of Wales, speaks highly of the gallery. “I thought this gallery opening in “the” art street of London and offering art with no over-intellectualizing or posing, is so refreshing that it must in time be one of the most visited galleries in London.”

Roy is also quick to point out that a lot of effort has been made to ensure nothing distracts from the paintings. His long-standing motto being, “the art is foremost, the gallery secondary and all emphasis is on the artists”.

Filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm, Roy floods his gallery with the same vitality he fills his paintings. Now with three galleries spread across Europe, Petley Fine Art seems to be going from strength to strength. As for Roy, does he miss the good old days when he was a struggling painter? “Well,” he laughs, saying, “I have artists ringing up at 4 AM telling me their problems with their wives who are jealous of their models. One artist calls up and says can I come see you now? I think, what’s going on here?”

Petley Fine Art
9 Cork St
London
W1S 3LL
+44 207 494 2021
http://www.petleys.co.uk/

.

so I did print off a load of app forms & spent a bloody long time on Sunday filling just 2 of them out!!! Think I did a pretty good job on them too – not sure how it’ll go coz they are both well paid HR jobs at a university, but hey I can honestly say I gave it my best shot
Had a slight problem on Monday morning when they called to say the file I uploaded with the form (my personal statement) was all screwed up & encoded!!!! *PANIC* so I had to leg it home, email files to work, sort them out on the sly & sneakily email them over! Was touch & go but I managed it just gotta play the waiting game…

Got a few more to do over the weekend – will put effort in again & keep fingers crossed!

Okay so work! Yeah I’m totally choka I’m doing my original job, plus new stuff off new boss & much more stuff from old boss’s very demanding replacement!! It’s almost twice as bad as it was before I opened my big fat stupid mouth *lesson learned methinks*

Then today…the IT manager emailed me asking questions about reporting for a mobiles email campaign – one that’s already gone out btw!! So as per bloody usual we are playing botch job catch up as opposed to planning things out properly!!! So I replied to the email in a sarcastic tone, with slang & my annoyance in there to boot…assuming I was replying to the IT manager! I stated how it was *technically* possible to do them daily, however, it’s a ‘bugger of a job’ and how I ‘didn’t have the time’ and also that the reporting was a ‘joke & totally not technical like it should be’!! And yes you’ve guessed it he just forwarded my email onto the client/customer *shocked doesn’t even come close*

So now not only do they think I’m an unprofessional tw*t, they know it’s possible to do the reporting & want it daily – IT manager just agreed to this!!! Fucking wonderful yeah? So this is gonna take me about an hour a day, it’s such a laborious and dull job and I really really could do without it right now!!

So of course I tore him a new one felt kinda good even though he seriously didn’t get why I was mad, and even tried to blame the whole thing on someone else (the person who set the deal up originally) WTF!! I’m mad at the bell end who forwarded an email that was so fucking obviously not meant for customers!!!! I answered him not the customer!!!! Aaaaarrrrrrgh!!!

On a happier note I lost a pound at slimming world today not wonderful I know but as they say in the dieting community it’s my ’star week’ so difficult to lose.

Gonna dye my hair this weekend – back to brown! I do like being lighter, but it’s so expensive to get highlights & it’s not light enough right now (too much like my natural colour & that’s just boring!) So dark I go gotta remember to wear more make up or I’ll end up all emo

Also I’ve decided on my fancy dress outfit for Boxing Day in Wigan I was gonna do She-Ra, then a snowman, then Snow White…then tonight I had a truly genius idea!!!!

Star Trek

All I need is a red tunic dress, boots, badge & communicator! Soooooooo excited now, gonna be awesome! I’m such a geek lol

.

Today I took a little day trip to Presteigne – a very pretty little town, almost on the Wales-England border. One of the nice places to see there is a warehouse of oriental carpets. They have hundreds – all sorts of sizes, from the size of a hearth rug to carpets big enough to cover the drawing room of your local stately home. There’s a variety of designs and every colour imaginable – all piled and stacked and rolled.

Here’s one in the process of repair:

And here you can see the edges of several carpets, all in a pile:

There’s something I call the ‘abundance effect’ – it’s when my eye is caught by a display of something, and the variety of colours is dazzling. It can be a pile of yarns, lovely fabrics, glass vases. I remember a breathtaking display of silk scarves in a shop in Venice. I look for ages, drawn to that purple, this blue, this wonderful pink, this vibrant green. I decide to buy one of whatever it is – but as soon as I pick one up, although it’s still lovely, it loses something when it’s not part of the spectrum of colours. Removed from the context of the display, although it is still beautiful, it loses its impact. And then I realise that I don’t actually want a silk scarf or a glass vase – what I want to take home is a little bit of that abundance, that colour.

So it is with these carpets. Even if I could afford one (which at the moment, I cannot) I wouldn’t be able to choose. What I love is the abundance of colour, texture, shape and design. And fortunately, the owners of the carpet shop are happy for people like me to come and enjoy that for nothing.

There were more lovely things downstairs … and I’ll tell you all about those tomorrow.

as in “would you like a cup of tea?”
“that’d be lovely.”

Holga 120GFN, Kodak Portra 400VC

#4: Dupioni

the poem will follow I suppose.