I made this collage while we were living in New York for a few months. My favourite thing to do was to walk from our apartment on Central Park West across the park to the Met and choose a less popular room of paintings, sit on the floor and just stare at them. I learned so much about painting from staring at these beautiful things. Prints of this collage are available here.
Vintage mugs + antique shakers Kate found = 70s Swan Lake
These are two little moments in my kitchen & bedroom that make me happy. Two or three of the vintage Hornsea dishes are relics from my honey’s childhood. Over the last 3 years we’ve collected dribs & drabs whenever we happen upon a thrift shop, and a few pieces we found in a junk shop in Brisbane, Australia. My friend Kate found the little swans in an antique store in Vancouver. I painted the insides of the cabinets ICI’s Dusty Millar to compliment the lovely rusty 70s orange.
Venus + my old piggy + Sofia Loren = Ancient Hollywood Glamour
My delicate necklaces hang on a slightly ill-proportioned Venus de Milo (with head!) porcelain knicknack I found at Value Village. I like that her head is too small for her buxom body, and she’s got a certain swagger, especially draped in jewels. I think she’s trying to show up the gorgeous & always glamourous Sofia Loren next to her. Tough competition, I’d say. The woman’s waist was barely bigger than her neck.
I realised a few days ago, that today is the 12th anniversary of one of the most frightening and thrilling days of my life: the day I flew to Africa.
So here begins my memoir in doodles, of little me at 20, on what turned out to be a very formative experience (to say the least). I’m going to have fun going through my “Africa Journal”: a dog-eared, tatty bit of rice paper that was my most constant & loyal travel companion. The above is a drawing from that journal, my over-land route scribbled over a National Geographic rip-out, and the last stretch of Sahara as the sun went down on the way into Nairobi.
I know I’m not alone, but I loved Slumdog Millionaire. How could you not? The beauty and the ugliness together, the disgusting and the uplifting … what a gorgeous film. If you haven’t seen it yet, stop reading this, put down the mouse, and go to the theatre. It’s worth it.
I’ve been looking at this painting, titled Hope, a lot lately. Storage is an issue, so I’ve hung a lot of older pieces round the house. The more I look at it, the more I see. She started out as my friend Frances, and grew into this little person. I’ve kept her as she was the first of the Girls series, and the most surprising for me.
