Thursday, April 2, 2009

A Little Bit Of Everything

"Voyage Of Seven" with a hint of mystery. Who are they and where are they going?
This is a bird design I did some time ago in pen and ink but I thought it would look nice coloured digitally.
This is my pen and ink "Winter Messenger"
Found some beautiful wrapping paper in John Lewis today. They have some great designers working for them.
These three images below are all pictures I bought from craft fairs over a period of years. They are prints of batik work by Jane Hickman. Jane creates the most wonderful batiks of mostly flowers but I particularly love her bird images. She has another bird image on her website so I may get that one to complete the quartet. I have always bought her greetings cards when I see her exhibiting as it is an inexpensive way to collect her work, but I would love to have an original batik. You can find her website here.





I found this yummy image on Etsy shop "Wilkintie". It is a limited edition letterpress print of an illustration by Klaus Haapaniemi who is a Finnish designer living in London. It has a beautifully folky feel to it. Wilkintie who is Carly Hargreaves and Niels Oeltjen can be found here and have some very nice letterpress prints but this is definitely my favourite.
This is another image by Klaus Haapaniemi. It is a plate of a set named Taika which is Finnish for magic. His illustrations on the dinnerware items are certainly magical. You can see some more of his work here. There are some quite amazing Scandinavian designers around these days.

I have been impatiently waiting for the white blossoms to appear but they are still in bud when I last checked. I couldn't wait any longer so I have posted some of my old blossom pictures from last spring. I will take some new ones when it is time for them to appear. I will have to wait for a sunny day though because photos take in sunlight are so much better.




Cheryl Tall is a ceramic artist with a wonderful sense of the quirky. Her work is delightful and she obviously loves creating figurative pieces with embellishments and all sorts of things like buildings and birds on their heads (just up my street really). Her work is characterised by the fantastic textures she creates. Her website here shows a lovely display of her craft. "Tunnel Vision" (3rd picture down) is my favourite. I love their expressions.

Kiln Goddess
Prima Vera
Tunnel Vision
The images below are the paintings of talented Scottish artist Deborah Phillips. Deborah is herself the daughter of an artist and she first exhibited her work at the age of 14 - amazing. Her work speaks for itself but she creates beautiful colours and wonderful textures in acrylic. Of course she does have the advantage of having the glorious Scottish scenery on her doorstep. She has quite a presence on the Internet but her own gallery has a very comprehensive display of her work and can be found here.

Dunure Rooftops
Big Trees At Borgue
Ardgilzean Barns
Golden Glow Near Glamis
Wheeling Gulls Over Scurdie Ness
Velvety Blue Mountain
Spring Song
Angus Farmstead Dusk
Snowy Angus Flock
Wintry Morning Moon
Well that week went quickly. I still have my cough and cold but improving slowly. Thanks for the good wishes. This virus rates as definitely the worst one I have had excepting when I had influenza a couple of times. I just hope it doesn't decide to come back as they sometimes do. Unfortunately I have passed it on to a few people and they are not amused, but what can you do?

18 comments:

  1. Hope you're feeling a lot better now Cathy. Your Winter Messenger is my favourite of your pieces this week closely followed by the photos of the blossom with such a glorious blue sky!! I really like the batik birds - looked on her site but couldn't find the other you mention:( Aren't those acrylics by Deborah Phillips superb? Love the colours and textures she uses. Thanks for sharing your finds!
    Hope you have a good week!

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  2. Love your new work and so glad to have seen the work of Deborah Phillips. This was a great post--thanks!

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  3. Hi Caroline. Yes thanks I am feeling much better now. That blossom is amazing isn't it. It looks so beautiful against the blue sky.

    If you look on the site again it is under Greetings Cards - Jane Hickman - and is about six pages in. It is called Purple Pheasant. I would like to get it as a print though, to match my other prints although I could frame a greetings card if it was large enough.

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  4. Thanks Elizabeth. Deborah Phillips work is really lovely.

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  5. Glad that you are feeling better. I enjoyed the work of Deborah Philips, I think it's her use of color that attracts me. Also Jane Hickman's scarves are wonderful, I couldn't pick just one. The patterns on the figures in your "Voyage of Seven" are so intricate.

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  6. Delicious artwork here! I love all these photos! I do wish I could pick up some of that great John Lewis paper, too. Really pretty.

    Happy you are feeling better!

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  7. Love "Winter Messenger"! The Batiks are beautiful and Deborah Phillips' work is wonderful! Thanks Cathy.

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  8. Thanks Holly. I get the chance to see Jane Hickman's work for real when I go to the craft show where she exhibits in August. I will be sorely tempted I can tell you...lol.

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  9. Thanks very much Pamela. I wish I could design like that and go and work for their design team.

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  10. You are very welcome Robyn. I still haven't got over seeing those gorgeous pods on your blog yet. I think I have fallen in love with pods...lol.

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  11. Thanks very much Elizabeth. That is very kind of you.

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  12. You blog is always a treat for the eyes. Thanks so much for these delightful posts.

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  13. Hi Cathy,
    As always a joy to visit your blog. All of your colorful drawings and pictures are very uplifting. I especially like your apple blossoms. The blue sky backgroud is stunning. You certainly know how to work with a camera.
    Happy Easter.

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  14. Ahh, it's a good challenge for the old immune system to get busy and get us over a bit of a sniffle. Just imagine you were doing everyone you infected a favour!

    Happy spring Cathy and thank you so much for sharing photos of one my most favourite things - blossom! Pictures of blossom, not to mention the real thing (oh, the fragrance!) do it for me every time. Delicious!

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  15. Hi Phyllis. I enjoy photography but not as much as art. There is so much to photograph at springtime especially although we are having a bit of a wet and dreary Easter weatherwise at the moment.

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  16. I like to think so Helen but I bet they don't agree..ha ha. Glad you like the blossom. We have masses of it around here but unfortunately it is with us so briefly and even briefer if the weather is windy.

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