This post is dedicated to a brilliant little company based in Australia, Poppies
For Grace. I have spent a lot of time in various parts of Australia over the last
few years and am always on the search for new and exciting things.
Shown here are:
Emma Morgan for Poppies For Grace Pigeon Wreath Card,
Mornings Like This Tag and Joy To The World Card.
I collect greetings cards, and over the years quite a few Poppies For Grace cards
have ended up in my collection.
A few years ago I purchased a writing set and a neat little envelope of
stickers to go with them, I write a lot of hand written letters to friends and
wanted something different to send them that stuck out in the post. I also came
across a boxed set of greeting cards, shown in the first photo with the white
envelope (this is my last card).
These designs are long considered vintage at Poppies for Grace, but they still
make the letter sets and have a very similar one ‘small rose garden writing set’
if anyone would like a similar set to my one. My writing set is called ‘in the
garden’ and the sticker set is called ‘Flutterby’. I bought these years ago and
they have remained tucked away in between my books, but now that I have
found them again I shall use them straight away.
I love the linear illustrations, the joined up handwriting and the sweet little
animals and birds that adorn their products.
Poppies for Grace have a great website where you can buy all manner of
beautiful things and a blog as well.
They have a couple of stockists over here in the UK, so I hope that we see more
of their work over here in the future.
Drawing: An Australian Bilby
A recent drawing of an endangered nocturnal Australian animal, donate and help save the bilby by clicking here!
Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Wildflower Country: For those of you that have not had the chance to look at their first book, I highly recommend it.
There are few other places on earth where flowers are so all pervasive, so varied and as sumptuous as in southwest Western Australia.
Rainforest Country: I am so incredibly excited to get my hands on this book.
In Rainforest Country Kaisa and Stanley Breeden bring their photographic innovation and vision to Queensland’s tropical rainforest — with striking results.
Few places in Australia are of such pivotal ecological importance as the tropical rainforests of northeast Queensland. Stunning in their diversity and vigour, they tell the story of flowering plant evolution. Rainforest Country captures not only the moods and cycles of this unique area, but its very essence.
(image from Rainforest Country)
Check out more from their new book on their website here
I visited the Australian Museum recently and had a look at their wonderful
displays in the hall of bones, insect, bird and skeleton galleries.
Some of the oldest exhibits in the museum are the stuffed animals, I particularly
like reptiles and so these crocodiles and snakes were very interesting.
The insect gallery was fantastic there were so many examples of different
species of beetles, moths, butterflies and other minibeasts.
The Museum is a fantastic place to visit for information, inspiration and a great
place to draw.
In the Studio at Sparkk
Here are some quick snap shots of some new samples I have been making in the Sparkk Studio. I have also been digitally printing some larger lengths of the designs from the ‘Wild at Heart’ collection that Sparkk will be showcasing early next year and will be available by the metre as wallcoverings or textiles on a variety of basecloths. Shown here is the Mara and the Fritz basecloth.
Head on over to the Sparkk blog to see what we have been up to!
New Photography
I have been busy taking photos of all of the new samples I have been printing
in the studio over the past weeks. I have put more of the lovely new
photography on my website.
Event: New Designers Part 1 2011
I exhibited as part of Leeds College of Art at the first week of New Designers at
the Business and Design Centre.
It was such a fantastic opportunity and I met lots of like minded individuals and
excellent designers across a huge range of disciplines.
Here is a quick snap shot of my display wall in the Leeds College of Art stand
at T4.
‘Wild at Heart’ wallpaper stickers
I have been experimenting with a number of the illustrated animals and birds that I have drawn. These digitally coloured creatures have been printed and die cut to make stickers. I have always loved stickers, and admire the work of interactive wallpaper artist Rachel Kelly’s use of stickers within her wallcoverings. These little guys could be used to personalise my wallpapers!
Drawing: Koala
I just finished this little koala for my ‘Wild at Heart’ wallpaper series.
Australia & my camera.
I picked up my old SLR on a recent trip to Melbourne (and Perth) and took some photographs on a black and white film. Here are some of my favourite photographs from the trip.
