Started out in Brisbane where spring has arrived - upping the humidity and the sunshine, and making working in my tin studio equivalent to being cooked in a steamer. It is very hard to see what you are printing when you are sweating salt into your eyes. And the paint dries really fast, so, early morning and late afternoon are the best times to work. I've been experimenting with screen printing trees, fruit, vegetables, flowers and sushi images on both plain and eco- dyed cotton fabric and am quite pleased with some of the results.
I am also doing more screen printing on paper to increase my stock.
("Winter tree" Scrren print. $50 AUD plus postage and handling. A3 size)
Inside the much cooler house, I have been incorporating eco-dyed paper, photocopies and embroidery to create some mixed media.
And knitting madly. This hat uses beautiful Noro silk, mohair and lambswool yarn, Silk garden, and a Sara Fama pattern called "Circle Squared".
And this one uses Ultrasparks alpaca and wool yarn and a Coloursparks pattern called "Peruvia Slouch Hat".
We also visited Eumundi Market on the Sunshine coast with a friend and got lots of inspiration from other artists. Of course, I also had to buy these fantastic, bright, mismatched socks. Much easier than knitting them myself!
Then it was off to Victoria, where I joined my daughter's family and some friends in Healesville for a great lunch in a restaurant which had this great display of boot planters,
a play in the park and a stroll through all the craft shops. It is beautiful in Victoria on a sunny, spring day, with flowers and leaves bursting forth. We wore t-shirts, made daisy chains, and succumbed to adding to our fabric stashes, bemusing the men, who seem to feel that it isn't reasonable to add to to the stash when you already have so many unfinished objects.
I was staying in Rosanna, and went for an early morning walk where I discoverd this rather original postbox outside a house with a really interesting array of masks under the eaves.
......... a long patch of bush in the suburbs to enjoy, alongisde dogs and their owners, little children and the local birds - galahs, native mynahs, rosellas.
Then, I collapsed with some mystery bug, and was nursed by my good friend, Derica, till I felt well enough to be driven over to Mt. Gambier, South Australia for a quick visit. It was a very picturesque drive with the startling yellow canola crops in full bloom, cottage gardens bursting with colour, lambs butting at their mothers, llamas.
My son's gorgeous wife, Jess, and sweetie pie, Dylan, showed us around Mt. Gambier, and Derica fulfilled her yearning to be a vulcanologist by exploring the lakes and sink holes, attending a show at the local art gallery, and reading every sign she could about the area.
More knitted caps. This one is made with Jo Sharpe Silkroad Tweed.
I had to make up the pattern for this bright little number as it is based on one I bought years ago, and it is made from Biggan Design merino.
Of course, spring in the south is always unpredictable, so we weren't surprised when we went from wearing strapless dresses to rugging up with jumpers, coats and scarves when a cold front, with gale force winds and rain blew in. My lovely son drove me back to Melbourne and when we stopped for petrol near Ballarat, it was 4 degrees and freezing! We picked up my husband from the airport and he suffered culture shock from the contrast with 27 degrees Brisbane.
Travelling to Bairnsdale, we watched snow falling on the alps. Beautiful but Brrrrrrrrrr!
Turns out we had just missed seeing my niece, Jessie, and her daughters. She gave my mother-in-law this charming portrait of her little baby:
Haven't finished my travels yet. Wonder what I'll see next?! And wonder what the weather will do?!
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