Wednesday 6 April 2011

The Spice of Life

 Gazanias - 'Treasure Flowers' in progress
Brush pen mosaic on canvas
5" x 7"

Something different again. I'm still calling this a mosaic, although the tessellating technique has been very different with this piece.


I'm so pleased I've discovered Gazanias. They totally deserve the name 'treasure flowers'. All the colours and combinations I've used are true to life, and there are more I haven't used. I've stylised the form, but the variety is accurate, too. Some have pointed petals, some rounded; petals can have four or five colours in them or just one and that bizarre blue and purple example in the bottom left corner is another fantastic variation.


There's still work to do. I'm undecided about leaving white space on this one. I'm tempted to keep layering blooms behind until I've filled the canvas. What do you think? The leaves are a fascinating silver which I don't feel would work well here.


100 Stories for Queensland, including my short story, Cake, will be released worldwide on May 3rd. I was very pleased to discover that my name is on the front cover. Click this and look down the left. There I am!

Like the Gazanias, this anthology promises to be a richly diverse collection of uplifting stories from all over the globe.

And I'm pleased to announce that, in my spare time (mums, try not to wee when you laugh), I have become a Bookworm Babe. My fab friend Maria has set up a 'little' (so we thought until we had to close membership and establish a waiting list!) book club. We're in our third month, but we've only just been named and made official through the library. We're a very eclectic bunch with rather conflicting tastes in reading matter, but that's just what I want from a book club - motivation to read what I would normally pass over.

This month we're reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (catchy!) by  Mary Ann Shaffer and I'd love it if you wanted to read along with us and let me know what you think. You've got until May 2nd to finish it.

[Edit: It turns out The Bookworm Babes are at the back of a 50-book club queue for The Guernsey business, so this month we are actually reading Cassandra's Disk by Angela Green and the word on the street is to not be put off by the cover!]

And finally, if you've ever felt you've made a fool of yourself or looked ridiculous in some way, this will reassure you you are not alone.

Vive la difference!




5 comments:

  1. Your artwork is beautiful. This particular piece could be a tablecloth or pillowcase or simply hang front and center in the living room of a well loved family.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, fill the canvas with layers of flowers, I think you want to make it feel very abundant.
    thanks for sharing
    martine

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just discovered a thing called "Spoonflower:, I think that's what its called.
    Its sort of a bit like Etsy, but artists go there with designs and have fabric made. When I saw the above painting I thought about how beautiful it would be as a surface design!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with Martine, the canvas should be filled with a riot of colors,
    a celebration of the gazanias diversity. Another flower that is akin to this flower is the Zinnia, nice names don't you think? Zinnias also have a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Beautiful Lunar!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you everybody :o).
    MSB I love the idea of creating a fabric thing with this design...
    Martine, you're right. These flowers do have a fantastically abundant feel.
    Valerianna, I'll take a look a Spoonflower, thank you.
    Ramona, I'll let you see the final riot :o). And I'm totally with you about zinnias; all the daisy family, actually.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...