Today's inspiration...

 I've been visiting my Mother who has been very ill in

hospital in regional Victoria and have returned home

needing something to lift my spirits and so, have turned

to things that inspire me, including (above) recent cuttings

on my studio table, along with a new acquisition, Maria

Sibylla Merian's "New Book of Flowers" first published in

1680 and reprinted as this tiny book in 2003,

Prestel Verlag, Munich, Berlin, London, NY, 

A detail of my son Rory's Year 11 drawing (I think it's a self-portrait

but he may not agree). Yet to be inked in and watercoloured...

Colin's last job in the city before his contract ended -

he project managed this 'tower' called Zen, just

near the Victoria Market in Thierry Street 

Nautalis Shells - Glass art designed by 4-5 year old children

under the guidance of Suzana Zaper, at the University of Melbourne's

Early Learning Centre(ELC) where I work,

and made by Philip Stokes,a wonderful and very generous

 glass artist/ownerof Philip Stokes Studio Glass in Richmond
http://philip-stokes-studio-glass.myshopify.com/

A beautiful collage, ("A Bird fixing it's Feathers")
 by a student from Templestowe Primary School,
made during "The Sanctuary Project",
co-ordinated by Christine Healey,
Education Programs at
Heide Museum of Modern Art 
www.heide.com.au

Tulip mania

 Three days of pinning and 'Tulip mania' begins to take shape

on my studio wall.  On the table lie the fragments of pink and orange

discarded textiles, which make up my pallette

I'm pinning one petal at a time, rather than (as previously)

working over the whole image simultaneously.

I'm enjoying watching the image emerge from nothingness...

 This is the detail of Maria Sibylla Merian's 'Flowers in a Chinese Vase' c.1670 

that I am reinterpreting in other people's discarded needlework. 

Before she devoted her life's work to observing and painting the metamorphosis of the insect,

Maria Merian painted flowers - many of them for embroidery patterns.  

I've chosen to interpret only the tulip at the top of the bouquet, which Maria has depicted fully open,

as if taking its last breath of life.  As winter leaves and Spring enters it feels appropriate

to be embarking on a new body of work which reflects on historical flora painting.

There will be an insect accompanying this work, but not a butterfly....

 And here I am with the work in the studio September 2012

Only two petals undertaken thus far...
(photos of me and my tulip by Gavin Hansford)

Day 6 progress on 3rd petal

Day 7 progress on 4th petal

Days 8-9 progress continues - slowly!