Monday, January 30, 2012

Artist Love - Lulie Wallace

    Hello! How are you?

Today, I'd like to introduce you to the work of Lulie Wallace.

Vibrant American artist, Lulie, studied art at the College of Charleston,  
earning her Bachelor of Arts in painting.

 Lulie and her husband Harrison - (Oh and Abe the Labradoodle!), live and work in the Charleston area, of South Carolina.

       I love these floral paintings - Lulie describes them as having an
      'alien quality'..."not the kind that travel to earth in UFOs,
but are the objects that, at first glance, appear to be everyday objects, but upon a closer look, are distinguished by uniqueness and   character".

About her paintings Lulie says "My aliens take form in a
lime green tabletop, a magenta shadow, or in vibrant teal
greenery.
 A painting of flowers in a vase is an obvious subject matter to
most collectors or observers, but what I want my art to achieve
 through color, shape, and texture is the balance of uniqueness,
character, and honest materiality".

Lulie's palette ~ like a work of art in itself!

Lulie's art blog can be found here. 
Her shop is here

Love,
Sally xox

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Milk & Honey

Hello everyone!  Happy Australia Day!

If you are in Australia, how have you spent the day? We have been reading, playing (the boys), de-cluttering and having a good old Aussie BBQ!

... Anyway, I was thinking that today is a great opportunity to share with you, a celebration of our life here, (it's coming up to ten years since my husband and I immigrated)!
I love where I live, so when I won a fabulous photo shoot from the awesome photography studio Milk & Honey, {courtesy of Bondville}, I wanted to use it to have a visual reminder of our happy times here. I've enjoyed many an hour with my boys, at our various favourite local parks. Several of them have fabulous views, so I chose one that is quintessentially 'SYDNEY' with it's views of the city, the Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge and myriad passing boats, (including the lovely old Sydney Ferries). We've had many a picnic at this particular park!

Matthew took our photos, the boys thoroughly enjoyed the shoot and I felt relaxed and at ease too, even though I usually hate having my photo taken!
He even rewarded them with the hugest, stripiest lollipops they had ever seen, which were apparently also the yummiest too!!

I was thrilled with the results, and so were my husband, and my family in the UK, whom I surprised with prints as Christmas gifts. My favourite was the triple matted story of three prints which was part of my generous prize. I also bought hubs a fantastic little bound book full of images, which meant being able to take home 18 of the fab shots!

  I'd love to share some of the wonderful pics with you here.










ahhh, I do love my boys so!!


Steph, over at Bondville has also just shared some of the pics - you can see her post here.

I thoroughly recommend Milk & Honey - so if you'd like to see more of Anni and Matthew's fabulous photography, you can visit them on Facebook or at their website or their blog.

Thanks to Steph, Matthew and Anni, {three lovely, lovely people!}

Happy Australia day to all!

Love & hugs,
Sally xox

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tangerine Tango...

Pantone Colour of the Year - Tangerine Tango - such a fab, energetic colour.

{here}

{here}
{here}
{here}
{here}
{here}
{here}
{here}

love,
Sally 
xox

PANTONE 2012 Color of The Year:

Pantone 17-1463 Tangerine Tango

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Spotty, Dotty, Spotty, Dotty, Spotty, Dotty....!!

This is just so fabulous! It's an interactive art installation, at the Queensland Art Gallery, where kids can get involved with creating art in a gallery and watch it come to life and evolve.
 I know two little peeps who'd have loved to join in on this...






{images from Colossal}

Queensland Gallery of Modern Art  {GOMA}

(19 November 2011 – 11 March 2012)
"Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most significant and influential artists working today. When she was a small girl she started seeing the world through a screen of tiny dots. They covered everything she saw – the walls, ceilings and even her own body. For 40 years she has made paintings, sculptures and photographs using dots to cover surfaces and fill rooms. Kusama calls this process 'obliteration', which means the complete destruction of every trace of something.
This summer the Queensland Art Gallery ǀ Gallery of Modern Art invites children and families to take part in playful works of Yayoi Kusama by participating in The obliteration room, a popular interactive installation first commissioned by the Queensland Art Gallery for Kids' APT in 2002".
© Yayoi Kusama / Image courtesy: Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
Yayoi Kusama | Flowers that bloom at midnight (detail) 2010 | 

... And I thought what we did with sticky dots was fun!! ... 

Well actually, it was - it's a great simple idea for a non-messy craft for kids (fabulous for taking out to a restaurant for instance!).




All you need is paper, a black texta (Marker pen / felt tip) and a pack of coloured sticky dots,
(I bought mine from my local discount variety store).
1. Draw a large simple shape eg a kite, or a fish perhaps, or maybe an umbrella, (we did, amongst other things, an octopus), then let your little one loose with 'colouring-in' the picture with dots.

The ideal age is probably 3-5. (It worked really well for my 4 year old).

This post has made me fancy some bright, spotty dotty 'Smarties'!! haha!
Off to raid the fridge....

Love,

Sally xox

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

At our house - we are getting ready for a party....



TJ is turning 5 on Sunday.
Wow, my littlest man is going to be  F I V E !!!


{image & shirt}
yay!
Party time!!
We love a good party, it's the cake, the pinata the fun with friends, the fairy bread...the kiddos love it all (oh and of course a present or two adds a touch more pleasure!).

He has chosen a SEA themed party.
Here's some of my inspiration - next week I'll show you what I decided to make!!! I have promised a pinata and a homemade, themed cake is now a tradition for us.

{I'd better start making / planning etc tomorrow methinks - it's only 4 days!!!! EEP!!

and how cute is this...?!!


{above images from via Pinterest - here}
see you soon.........
Sally xox