this morning..... seeing the rainbow through the rain
This morning my alarm went off really early. At 6am. That is early for me. I know some of you jump out of bed at 5am or earlier - but I don't. And, most importantly, neither do my kids (yah to that!!). Sam and I got up and wondered why, oh why do people actually get up at that time of the day. I looked at the sky; yes, yes. I know why people get up that early. Beautiful to be awake in the morning when the early colours are starting to shine through, and the morning birds are calling.
I was up early for a breakfast business meeting in town. For some ideas to spark and start things happening. And yes - oh yes. Some good things. We'll see, of course, if it all gets caught up in red tape of local council, or if things can move along and make some changes in this town of mine. I'll talk more about it at another time.
For now I just wanted to show you my view while driving into town this morning. I felt like I could almost reach out to touch the pot of gold in that shimmery field.
It was also lovely to see Ms Helle - in all her vivacious cynical glory!
colour playing
How to generate your own colour palette from an image. I don't use photoshop - but if you do, then you probably already know how to do this is. If you don't - then visit here for the tutorial, then here to get to the color palette generator.
So much fun. I'm addicted already. I have seen these around the web, but never knew how to do it. Yah!
{The image does have to be online - but all my good ones are mostly on flickr or my blog or instagram(search petalplum) anyway - so that's no worry for me.....}.
{books} colour inspiration
Going through the shelf of library books; making sure I've read them all before they go back.
Lots of beautiful rich lush full colour and pattern inspiration here. Images above are from Shannon Fricke's book "Sense of Style - Colour". Images below are all from Tricia Guild's "Pattern".
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
{collecting} fuyu
this beautiful tree sits quietly in our garden.
going through it's seasonal changes moment by moment.
providing cooling shade during the hot summer months.
loosing it's leaves to allow sunlight for winter.
it's autumn now.
the leaves are turning.
the colours changing.
the fruit.
oh the fruit.
we sit at our kitchen table
and spot bright orange balls of colour
amongst the leaves.
some too high to reach.
left to the birds.
{Sam's going to hate me putting this photo up, but I do think it's fuzzy enough to be ok? Plus, I just wanted you to know the fruit picking help I have around here!! The fuzzy in the centre of the photo is my camera being cold in the humid/cool/wetish mornings around here; she takes a while to warm herself up. Some of the fuzzy photos are turning out with a beautiful moodiness.}
We got out our ladder and climbed up to pluck the firm round fruits from the branch. Persimmons. This is the variety known as fuyu. Can be eaten firm, or soften more. None of us here in this house actually like persimmons; but I must admit that I have been thinking of the other variety (known as hachiya), which is squidgy and stringy, and not at all what I like to put in my mouth. So - perhaps I really do need to retry this fruit. Not now, though. These few we collected we taken this weekend past to Grandma's house (Sam's mum), as she does really like them a whole lot. I hope she gobbled them up with a smile on her face!
If you happen to have a glut of persimmons, you could make them into a jam, I believe. But we had only a few fruits on the whole tree, and even less that we could reach with our ladder.
This tree will turn from green to yellow to orange over the next few days and weeks. Even now as I look, I can see more yellow leaves on the bigger tree, and the little tree has less leaves than last week. For some strange reason, the little/younger tree has shown it's colour earlier; Sam told me he saw the other day a big gust of wind come along and shake a big handful of leaves from the little tree. Isn't that a lovely little image to this about. {Have you read this book? We love it, a good one to add to your Autumn reading list.}
pomegranate
i bought this yesterday, with the intention of photographing it alongside some amazingly purple potatoes.
instead i took it the studio, and ate it. i took these few photos before my camera ran out of batteries. (of course, on the day i remember to take my camera and to take photos it decides then to run out of batteries. they're on charging now - so hopefully there'll be some studio images this week).
this tea pot (coffee pot?) is Nina's. it sits in the kitchen in our studio. soon she will take it away with her, when she leaves on her overseas adventure. i forget who it's by - the artist. but isn't the design just quite lovely. and the colours.
i've got a geranium in my sketch book from many years ago, that i've been looking at this weekend past. perhaps there'll be a geranium print in our collection. most probably, in fact. but not quite yet.
i thought a few things about pomegranates, while i sat on the back steps at the studio. in the quiet. and the hot hot day (it's rained now, this evening, so the night has cooled down).
i gobbled the precious little jewels of colour, the bursts of popping juice. threw them into my mouth in quick handfuls, and enjoyed the lusciousness of them. and the colour.
i even stamped a print onto the kitchen (linen) tea towel. that bright intense jewel red actually printed purpleish violet. we'll see tomorrow if it stuck, or is only a faint impression of colour.
i dreamt of planting pomegranate trees on the land, but perhaps it's too wet there, so i can have them to pluck from a tree. to eat at the jewels. to mash them into my summer drinks. to sprinkle them over my salads. to use them to dye my fabric. to photograph them. to sit and think about the beauty of the pomegranate fruit.
do you know the story of Persephone and the three pomegranate seeds she ate in the Underworld, when she was kidnapped by Hades? i surely would have spent the rest of eternity in the Underworld, and not running in the spring fields, based on the amount of seeds i ate today. (some interesting reading here, here, and look for Bullfinch's Golden Age of Myth & Legend at your local library, an absolute favourite of mine.)
arquitectos del aire
This is where we will be this weekend.
Amococo is part of Out of The Box festival that has been running all this past week at Southbank, The State Library and Art Gallery in Brisbane.
If you live near to Brisbane, then I suggest a visit to this place this coming long weekend. If you don't live nearby, head on over and watch the video.
I love the name Arquitectos del Aire :: Architects of Air.
The luminaria are inflatable sculptures filled with natural light. Coloured plastics filter light in, creating a womb-like environment. Influenced by nature, geometry, light, cathedrals, the design....
"… takes Moorish architecture as its starting point and then, as Gaudí did in Barcelona a century or more ago, turns it into something highly organic and distinctly ambivalent. Not that Gaudí would have recognised it. What Parkinson has done is treat the inflated object as an immersive art experience, in which light, sound and architectural form combine.”
Hugh Pearman, Sunday Times*
{anything that relates to Moorish, Gaudi and Barcelona must be something truly special}.
*quote from AOA site.
~
I've been tumbling lots these past days.
Not feeling much words.
Mainly 'cause I'm working lots on business planning and such things.
Of course, there's a million images that are making me happy and content and uplifted and inspired.
All over the place.
Do check out my tumbling, if you feel like.
the colours of delicious-ness
The whole of Brisbane is sprinkled with rainbow colours.
We went to the Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens this week (no photos -sorry, too much with two kids, no pram and a big picnic bag!). But everywhere we looked there were rainbow colours - colours of Spring. When we sat eating our ice-cream (choc for the boy, strawberry for the girl) we looked at could see the golden cane palm (which really are golden), the red, pink, maroon canna lillies, the purple, pink and white roses, the flowering cacti, the tall tall tree in full yellow bloom, and the little yellow and orange daisies. And then all the different green tones as well. I'm going out again next week, and will remember my camera.
The skyline, everywhere you drive, is dotted with the purple of jacaranda.
I'm imagining it with our ferns, in shimmery iridescent silvery white. As a skirt. Maybe next week I'll get to that. Today, I'm printing white smoke on the berry hemp and the black hemp. (If the kids are *helpful*, and let me get a little work done!).
We will be at the Boutique Market tomorrow 8am - 1pm at Portside. A lovely family day out.
we picked these on our walk yesterday
they are now brightening up our bathroom.
cheery and sunny and happy.
anyone know what they are? sunflower, daisy... they grow on a really big rambling bushy thing.
today I am...
thinking about the washing on the line
listening to new music, linked from a newly found blog
writing patterns
tidying up my sewing corner
enjoying the thought of some sewing tonight, once the little ones go to bed
ordering more fabric
researching more fabric options
organising orders from the Craft Show
updating mailing list - thank you to all our new red seed studio friends
sitting at a tidy desk (thank you Sam)
thinking about what I'll make for dinner; again
enjoying these photos from my camera, that surely Ari took one random evening - see the rest here
drinking hot cocoa in my favourite mug
Inspiration :: red, pink, orange
1. palm seeds in red, 2. magnets, 3. Pink, 4. Flowery Smock embroidery, 5. Whimsical embroidery, 6. pink avocados, 7. fox pin1, 8. Cards & Wrap, 9. winged red bird ornament, 10. Cherry Blossom Sky, 11. Untitled, 12. Felt vessels, 13. three cups, 14. Resize of Picture 106, 15. you are beautiful too, 16. gift from my friend, 17. The Greatest Love, 18. ribbon1, 19. wednesday {37} the bee, 20. drop, 21. Untitled, 22. Untitled, 23. no emotion2, 24. Untitled, 25. books, 26. "Heed My Warning" Quilt, 27. star jewels, 28. new tacks, 29. The Remains, 30. detail :: front + inside, 31. love, 32. Watching The Rain Fall, 33. bromilead purple, 34. new outfit for Annika, 35. "Red Furry Monster", 36. palm seeds with red + blue
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
A few favourites - some my own, some yours, or theirs. I've never done this before, using other people's photos on my blog - if any of you mind, then please let me know and I'll delete them.
This took me ages to just get all the links, so I don't think I'll be doing it again in a rush. It was actually hard to pick pictures without seeing them all together.
The cooler weather is happening here in Brisbane. This red will warm me up. Thank you for keeping me inspired.
I have seen a lot of lovely green out there this week, and might head in that colour direction soon.........
breakfast conversation :: fruit mythology
In our house, we have quite a few breakfasts (and morning tea, a couple of lunches, and at least three afternoon snacks, before pre-dinner nibbles, and then finally dinner). Yesterday, Ari and I had breakfast number 2, after Sam had gone to work, and Mishi was having her morning (half an hour!) nap.
It's so lovely to sit down with a (not quite) three and a half year old. He is a wonderful conversationalist, funny, generous. We love those simple moments of doing everyday things, and putting a little specialness or ceremony into it. I had a cup of tea, Ari had warm honey milk. He chose the cups for us to use, setting them out on his little table.
When I frothed his milk (with a great little whizzer we got for $3.49 from the supermarket), he told me I was like a cap-a-machino person. ie: a waitress. He likes playing that game - I set the table with a pretty cloth, and serve them like in a cafe.
I also had to show you these beautiful images of a pomegrante we had this week. Ari doesn't like them (but, truthfully, there is a lot that he doesn't like), but Mishi really loved it. Picking up the teeny little juicy jewels with such delicate fingers. I love pomegrantes for so much more than their flavour. They are like treasure, mystical, luscious. Remember the story of Persephone who only ate three seeds, while in the Underworld, with Hades, and was therefore made to stay for three months of every year down in the depths of the Earth. While her mother, Demeter, mourned her loss creating Winter. Then rejoiced and danced throughout Spring and Summer, when she returned.
I had to leave you with this tender, precious, heart-melting photo of my two special little creatures. Mishi leant into this hug so enthusiastically, and they both stayed there for more than a few moments. True love between brother and sister. Also, she has started saying a word that sounds a little like brother ("bo bu" or something like that). Or, are we just romantacising it?!
weather the weather be fine or weather the weather be not
I just wanted to quickly show you the weather we have been having lately. Endless rain, and in some parts of our country - lots of flooding. Our city dams, which have been at scary low levels (down to almost 15% last year), are finally getting a small bit of relief. Thankfully the city council is not lifting the water restrictions - just easing them. Though, honestly, I do not know how people can use as much water as they do. (I say this, smugly, knowing that we fall into the smallest water usage in our area, even with washing cloth nappies!).
After torrential downpours yesterday, where Sam had to ride home on his bicycle, it was warm (think muggy) and sunny today. Yesterday and today we were blessed with glorious afternoon skies.
And, while I'm talking about skies - the other morning, at about 5.30am, the sky was the most magical honey colour. Pouring in our windows. Both kids were drawn to peering out the windows at our bed, as soon they woke up. Stretching out to soak up the colour and magic. The whole sky was overcast / cloudy, the sun was reflecting across it all. Within only minutes it was back to grey clouds. But lying in bed for the few moments of quiet before getting up to go to yoga, I thought and thought about the Joni Mitchell song where "the sun poured in like butterscotch, and stuck to all my senses".
fractured light
Not too many words tonight. I'm enjoying the quiet (inside my brain - kids asleep) + the stillness of the night + the possibilities of the furniture rearranging I've been doing during baby lulls today* + what that rearranging means*. Just lots of photos.
:: My favourite Derwent Colour Pencils ::
:: Ari's chalk + potato soup ::
:: Lavender flowers from our garden +
old man's beard moss Ari brought home for me ::
:: Stonefruit blossom Sylve picked for me yesterday.
I'm loving it in this simple vase ::
*Hopefully more on this, with inspired photos tomorrow... bindi-eye + tie-dye
We got these quite a while ago, at the elephant installation at the APT5, and Ari just pulled them out today. He looks in the mirror and talks to himself about exactly where to put the bindis. I really like the different placements he does, choosing the colours with particular care. Sometimes - if she's nearby - he puts them on Mishi as well. Which is special for me to see, as sometimes I think he isn't very interested in her. Well, she sometimes is an inconvenience to his life. And that makes sense to me :: he was used to having me all to himself, now he has to share, and she normally gets preference (based on basic NOW needs). He wears these little fabric bindis right up until bedtime. 
:: Finally, some tie-dying today :: 
We cut the calico up into smallish pieces, I'm not entirely sure what I'll end up sewing with all the bits, but I just wanted more scraps for Ari to play with. :: Some we put rubber bands around ::
:: a few we drew on with candle wax ::
:: I tied some coriander seeds up in one ::
:: a few we drew on with candle wax :::: I tied some coriander seeds up in one ::
with the idea of the Japanese art of kanoko shibori dying. I have a vague thought that there is a dying process using rice tied up, rather than the sewing, puckering, intensive work it looks goes into any piece of shibori fabric. 
Anyway, regardless of my very humble and quick efforts I quite like the results. The seeds made little round patterns throughout the other lines. So next time I'll try to make it stronger and use more seeds, tie it tighter. Not have a time frame dictacted by two little kids!? Thanks Sam for being there and helping as well - and enjoying! 
:: My hands are red tinged, despite the gloves ::
colour week
I've just found that Kayte is doing a ::color week:: and thought that it would be lovely to join in. Ok, it is already Wednesday, and I'm going to be busy for the rest of the week - so :: I've done all the colours in one day.
It's looking a lot like Summer around here :: But, here in Australia, its actually Winter ::
Monday :: RED :: maple leaves
Tuesday :: GREEN :: agave plant
Wednesday :: YELLOW :: wattle
Thursday :: ORANGE :: grevillea
Friday :: BLUE :: winter solstice-day sky