Nellie Windmill

I was inspired to create this collage paper by the artwork of Lynda Andrus. Unfortunately, there are no longer any photos on her website of the specific pieces that were my inspiration, so I scrounged together a couple of images from the interwebs. Her pieces evoke memories of childhood and were created using candy wrappers.

I’ve had a bit of a drawing breakthrough in the past couple of days. I’ve begun experimenting with drawing with straight lines. It’s astonishing how much difference it makes.

I haven’t made much progress in the studio in the last couple of months due to a spot of travelling, an emergency dash to Denmark for unexpected visa related issues and some health bother. Also, I had to re-paint the eye section on the big owl after completely ballsing it up the first time around. The little guys are my obligatory autumnal colours paintings of the season (although I’m in danger of it no longer being autumn by the time I finish them).

I love a good background painting tutorial, don’t you? This technique will leave you with a yummy, distressed, sepia-toned background. It is absolutely forgiving as you literally can’t do anything wrong.

As I write this, there is a fog out the window, enveloping Denmark (yes, we’re in Denmark and it’s a long story), except for the little autumn tree nearby, dropping it’s leaves at Nettle’s feet. I’m lovingly nursing a beautiful children’s book with autumn leaves on the cover, which has come all the way from Paris. I was so inspired and delighted by the children’s books I found in Paris that I bought two of them, which I am well chuffed to be sharing with you here.

I’m very excited to announce that this little guy is available in the “Owl Lover 2012 Calendar” over at My Owl Barn! It’s a truly inspired concept —- 40 artists have contributed an owlish piece of art, which means people can customise their own calendar by picking and choosing their 12 favourite images and can then print it off completely free of charge!

I was never one of those little girls who dreamt about what their wedding would be like or about having babies (some things never change), yet I did often and longingly fantasise about one day having my own home. I dreamt about only buying beautiful things for it, of painting it interesting colours, I even drew sketches of it. In fact, the first career dream I had was to be an architect.

A new and interesting shift is taking place in my mind. I’ve noticed there are subject matters that I’m consistently obsessed with. I’m falling in love with the idea of focusing on them, one at a time, and exploring them to their fullest extent.

Last winter whilst we were house sitting in Wales I updated my bio on the “My Story” page with this: “We’re still travelling but we’re beginning to dream of home, and nesting, and the life that’s waiting for us back in Australia. Instead of longing for quaint mediaeval European towns, my heart goes thump when I think of long dinners with friends, buying a house and making it a home, and regular trips to the library. We’ve reached the tipping point of our travels and are coming out the other end.”

It has come to my attention that I haven’t blogged about our trundles since May, so this post is going to be chock full of photos! Since my last Vagabonding Executive Summary, we’ve toured Scotland, fallen in love with York, and been trapped in Belgium. You can currently find us gorging ourselves on bread and cheese in Paris.