Monday Food Group - French

Rhonda's French onion soup was a hit with us all.....

A selection of Salmon en croute, Leek and cheese quiche, vegetables pithiviers with tomato sauce, French peas and Chicken in a white wine sauce.......

Followered by Banana tarte Tatin and Pear and almond friands. Rhonda's creative home and beautiful garden was our venue with much foodie discussion around the table.....

June school holidays

Early one the morning with fog hanging low, three little boys were up very early.....

The vintage cowboy tent was hung over the kitchen table.....

And three little boys had cubby fun......

By lunch time the cousins and parents and Aunty Nat had arrived and we all enjoyed a hearty soup and home made bread lunch.....

Sophie, our masterchef helping prepare a ricotta tart for dessert and it was delicious.....

The night finished with Dan being wrestled by all the boys.....

And the kids posing before some of their art work - simple family fun.....

On the wall - ideas for new prints

Having to work towards a combined print exhibition later this year I have started to tape up some ideas on to a sheet of brown paper currently hanging on the kitchen wall so its in my view daily.....

Monoprinted this fox on to some a plastic sheet and will use this as a guide for a drypoint etching.....

And this black cockatoo.....

After beginning it was time to sit down with a friend and have coffee and cake - a fruitful morning.....

Drypoint, etching and collage workshop

Weekend workshop started with Glen Skien explaining and showing us how to achieve a few different techniques......

Saturday was full on heads down playing with ideas.....

All of us had  gathered together different materials to work with and this old battered family ornament was my staring point.....

 

Glen sharing some thoughts.....

At the end of day 2 we were all exhausted but inspired to have a go at putting the finished images into an artist's book.....

Antique printmaking stamp set

Kim brought back this little stamp box set from Holland as a gift.....

The inside has tiny letters and numbers + a beautiful artist's stamp.....

These brass stencils I purchased at a local antique market.....

Working on a set of prints as yet unfinished featuring the fox and also our local black cockatoos.....

This monoprint has a very faint drypoint etching of an owl at the very top.....

Early winter morning light

Dawn has broken and I love the early winter morning light coming from the fireplace.....

The distant hills shrouded in a grey mist.....

And the light starting to shine into the kitchen - a new day always brings light and hope after darkness.....