Special mention by Jen Francis, Interiors Addict blog owner

Another fun #7vignettes completed! This Instagram challenge is run by Jen Francis who runs the blog Interiors Addict and who is currently flitting around Europe and America. Despite this, she still found time to post and this month, judge, the #7vignettes challenge. Each day there is a theme and it's incredible to see how each participant interprets them. The winner was the wonderful Angela Steyn an interior designer from Australia. Angela puts together the most beautifully edited photographs. Somehow she knows just how many items to include in her compositions and in the most muted calming tones.

A few of us competing in the challenge got a special mention (including moi). Have a look at their lovely galleries - so amazing to see how creative people can be:
@madebyciel
@kerrieanne4artonparkdesigns
@_fridays_child_

 

Instagram community

Over the last few weeks I have been kept busy with Instagram. There are loads of challenges to participate in and I have found them to be huge fun.

• #7vignettes, a monthly 7 day challenge with themes provides by Jen Bishop, who runs the website Interiors Addict 

• #ELPminimal run by Sarah from Emotive Light Photography who's love is food photography. Each Sunday Sarah provides a theme for participants to post an image with three items or less. A number of my photos have been featured.

 

 

 

A Happy peaceful Easter

 

Ink and colour

A trip to the art gallery to spend the day lino cutting and printing proved a rewarding way to spend a day.

 

A blank page stared back at us at our work benches and thankfully some warm-up exercises viewing and sketching artworks in the gallery for inspiration, freed up the creative juices. We made the first cut and printed the base colour. But pulling my first print was rather disappointing. I figured though that there is always a plan B and incidental results of creative efforts often bring new delights.

 

moana & bird

My inspiration was Stephen Bambury's Red/Black/White - a square that inspired me. Being a lover of all things font, I decided to create a koru/lower case letter 'a' with the four colours. But this proved abysmally unsuccessful and so I started picking away at the lino surrounds. By the time I layered the second colour,  it seemed a bird head emerged out of the chiselled shapes. Totally unplanned but a 'relief' there was some design emerging. Entitled moana & bird (moana = ocean). Can you spot the vestige of an 'a'?

 

Drying creations and a room filled with happy printers.

Mati Rose class, signed and sealed

So excited as I have just registered for  Mati Rose McDonough's daring adventures in paint and life online course. I mentioned Mati Rose's book in an earlier post after coming across it at my local library.

So looking forward to doing her course after Christmas. I was blown away to see her offer a course online and for such a reasonable price. Her paintings are whimsical and fun and her use of colour fresh and light.

Will need to sharpen my pencils and clean my brushes...

 

Rustic collage

Preparing for the Craft Harvest market on Saturday the creative process kicked in and inspired me to upcycle some more rimu from a friend's old staircase. Bits of paper that I would normally throw away also suddenly came in handy  as materials for collages. The creative process is a slippery thing. It strikes when you least expect it. Some lino printed fantails that didn't work for one project seem to have found a use as well.

Built beauty

It was so pleasing to see our local Auckland Art Gallery | Toi o Tāmaki receiving international acclaim at the World Architecture Festival and being awarded Building of the Year.

This free public space is open 364 days of the year and is a bubble of refuge from urban routines. Many an hour is spent wandering around through its spaces soaking up inspiration.

Below, a part of Choi Jeong Hwa's Red
Plastic flowers, wire, dead tree
Commissioned 2011, supported by Molly Morpeth Canaday Trust

Photo by Nigel Adams 2011