colours from today

listenings of late: Beirut

Err sorry bout the adds.

australian life

How amazing is this flower? Hakea laurina or pincushion hakea is a West Australian plant and has been a steady favorite for me through all my horticultural years. In each garden I have created over the years it always gets given prime position, but for some reason they don't grow for me even though they are easy plants to establish for everybody else! I will keep on trying because I love it so..

I keep on doing little drawings of botanical life existing around me. This is another fab west aussie plant Calothamnus, the flowers of fine red filaments burst from little bulbous buds that occur low down on the woody branches of the shrub. One of those typical australian plants that on closer inspection just blow you away with its beauty.

summer wedding 09

The table arrangements were pretty wild and fun. Inari requested tuberose for her bouquet and I added fluffy white chrysanthemum and sprigs of Eucalyptus victrix buds. Thank you Ellie Henderson for the great pictures.

celebration

Some flowers I made for my sister yesterday. She's a bit clever - now officially a law chick. Congrats radish!

birdy buttonholes

Last summer I created wedding flowers for two amazing artists Inari and Shaun who share their lives with a very special little orange and green parrot called Diego. The feel for the decorations and flowers was to be lush, wild and colourful, and to include feathers. Each of the buttonholes were to be little individuals as you can see - it was a lot of fun.

I will post more flower photos of the wedding soon. It was the first opportunity I have had to create wedding flowers and there were lots of them! My good friend Carolyn helped to design and make them, and my family (and Carolyns!) were all summoned on the day to help out- cheers all!

All of the above images by Ellie Henderson- thanks!

wahey!!

Ok, so I am waay over excited but just have to tell you I have scored a job with the lovely lovely ladies at Podz florist in the Perth hills! This local florist shop caught my eye straight away when it opened not yet one year ago for its fresh, earthy and original creativity. The space and creations coming from within really stand out from the rest, so the opportunity to learn from these guys is really exciting for me!

Images above are from the Podz florist website

shadow

salvaged hydrangea

I managed to snip these aged flowers from the plants at the nursery I work at on weekends, just before they were given a hard cut to rejuvenate.

morning walk

piaf opening night

Noongar elders welcome us and burn a grasstree to open the festival.
La Fura Dels Baus a production company from Spain started the show with this giant wheel with acrobats inside. It was driven through the audience creating waves as people rushed to get out of the way.
Then this web of acrobats in white suits, that was apparently 70m above ground swung out above us. With fireworks!
I am quite proud of my mobile phone for taking these shots!

crunchy grass

The bush near us on the scarp has turned all the colours of our summer - grey, copper, lime green and bleached. The kangaroo grass has turned the most beautiful coppery colour, when I get hold of my camera again I will take some pictures.

oldies but goodies

Boronia, Berzelia, Vanilla Grevillea, and a couple of different Leucadendrons.
Yellow Ranunculus, Leucadendron, Vanilla Grevillea and Berzelia.

flower pop

Mock arrangements created for a summer wedding in '09. The brief was for a feeling of lush abundance and just a little bit wild. I am generally not a huge lilium fan, but these were fun. Hoping to show more images from the day soon.

coaster cut-outs

My dad gave me a scroll saw for my birthday a few years ago and I don't get to use it as often as I would like. I have found some more old coasters at the op shop recently so I am going to make some more of these. Each set has a different usually dodgy image which I sand off just to leave a hint of what was there.

pink and grey

This week I will have some time for playing with old pictures and making some coaster cut-outs. These are some I have been working on.. Above is using a picture of Hakea laurina, one of my all time favorite WA flowers.