Showing posts with label Images de Plumes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Images de Plumes. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Wonder of Colour - Slugs, Gems, Buttons, Beads and Feathers


A friend emailed me photos by a brilliant underwater photographer, David Boubilet www.daviddoubilet.com and I just have to share with you this fascinating photo of what I imagine are sea slugs. Aren't the colours just mind boggling? I adore them and they are such an appealing pair!

While writing about colour I have to introduce a wonderfully talented friend who lives with her husband in a lovely house, built by him -  a glorious unspoilt rainforest hideaway behind the Sunshine Coast.  She is Renee Blackwell of Renee Blackwell Design (www.reneeblackwelldesign.com) and in the peaceful surroundings of her bush studio, she creates exciting and unique jewellery using gemstones, ethnic beads and buttons which she seeks out from all around the world. Her designs are so striking and many of the colours combined are beautifully subtle, so that they can grace any attire. Be sure to look at her website and her blog.


Rings created from vintage German and French Metal Buttons (Brass and Pewter) set in sterling silver.



         






Right
Swarovski Crystal
Vintage French Button 1940's
Vintage Bronze German Button
Set in Sterling Silver

Left
Top:Dark Smokey Topaz
Middle:Picture Jasper
Bottom:Fossilised Dinosaur bone (found in the Australian outback!)  cut and polished and set in sterling silver.


Of course I must mention the breathtaking colours I find in feathers which I employ for my Images de Plumes. They never cease to make me wonder at nature. Here is a collection of just a few in a picture I sold in Tasmania recently.



Elegance - dressed with the feathers of an Emu, a Peacock, a Rainbow Lorikeet, a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, a Cattle Egret and a Pheasant Coucal together with the hair of a Turkish Swimming cat.


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

TASMANIA IN THE SPRING


A garden path lined with bluebells, forget-me-nots, azaleas and silver  birches.

Tasmania in the Spring surpassed all my wildest expectations! I felt I was back in my homeland of England  with the abundance of bluebells, daffodils, jonquils, tulips, azaleas, trees laden with blossom and much more, all amongst green rolling hills and vales or in verdant gardens. Add to all that the elegant Georgian houses and buildings - it was sublime.  Not so sublime were my dashed hopes. "You will find the art world Tassie-ccentric" a friend told me just before I set out for my selling holiday in that fair isle. Indeed it is, for although I found many wonderful shops and galleries filled with the excellent work of Tasmanian artists and crafts people, no one wanted my Images de Plumes  because I was not a local, I was from the "mainland". I was treated with great civility and interest and indeed admiration, if I may say so, but I was graciously turned away as "we cannot make a precedent, we only sell the work of Tasmanians". I still can't make up my mind if it is admirable to be so supportive of one's own, or very insular and limited? Anyway, everyone should visit Tasmania in the Spring, where the b & b's are so welcoming and comfortable and the fish is a diner's delight.

Fields of tulips in northern Tasmania
In Sheffield  there are a number of buildings covered in wonderfully executed murals.  A competition is held when artists display their murals in a park to be judged and the winning one is added to the town's collection.  To wander through the town discovering these treasures is a delightful and intriguing experience.


A Sheffield mural
There seems to be so much artistic talent to be found in Tasmania. One town is making its name with developing topiary in its gardens as can be seen here with this elephant and baby.

Never one to miss a feather for my collection, I did very well with Peacocks who seemed to be moulting profusely whenever I came across them, which was quite often. This splendid chap obliged and you can see from my Priscilla in Peacock that they are turned to good effect.

Images de Plumes created with Peacock and Wompoo Pigeon feathers