Hand drawn for Tigerprint

I have just sent in my entry for the Tigerprint Hand Drawn Competition. This phrase was used on a Victorian "calling card" which would be left by a Gentleman at the lady's household hoping to gain her attention. I have made a modern version using one colour. The dress, frills and lettering are cut out, I would add a real blue bow and a few sparkly gems to create a sofisticated result. It would be ideal for a Valentine or Anniversary card. Hope you like it

Oh really, I had'nt heard...

Today is one of those days like it or not that you will probably remember for the rest of your life. Finally The Royal Wedding is "happening" and then we can back to normal life again.

I will remember today because I had to go to work (no holiday for us in Italy) and because I got drenched twice (good job William and Kate did'nt decide to get married in sunny Italy). Luckily the important part of the ceremony just happened to be in my lunch hour so I managed to see some of the splendor on TV. Most of the rest I heard on the radio whilst driving around in my car!

So this evening I have been catching up on all the news and photographs of the event. To end my day I have been doing some virtual shopping and choosing ONE Royal Wedding souvenir which I would love to keep. The competition was tough but I have surprised myself by choosing the above set of toys "Happyland Royal Family" available from Mothercare for 15 quid. At the moment it is out of stock but I just love it!

I do regret not being in London as I would surely have bought loads of tacky souvenirs from the street vendors, like plastic fridge magnets or such. Anyway all you lucky people (who had the day off work!) heres hoping you made the best of the celebrations and waved your flag if you have one!

Happy Easter to all - Buona Pasqua a tutti

As a young chiid my only concern at Easter was exactly HOW MANY chocolate eggs I would receive from friends and relatives... and it was always lots and lots.

Nowadays I find myself wishing that chocolate eggs could grow on trees and then I would plant an orchard!

Happy Easter and happy harvesting!
Buona Pasqua e buona raccolta!

Winter Landscape Tea Towel by Sarajo Frieden

You could begin to think that I have a thing about tea towels. But I can assure you I would never dry my pots with this lovely tea towel by Sarajo Frieden it is just soooo sumptuous! It is available to buy at Third Drawer Down, is in 100% Linen, Limited Edition 1000 and costs $40.00. This work has just won it's place in the highly prized American Illustration book 30. 

A little bit about the artist - "Sarajo Frieden works and lives in Los Angeles in a studio bordering Thai Town, Little Armenia and Koreatown. Here she finds inspiration in the simple hand-painted signs and variety of cultures and languages which surround her. Fine, folk and decorative art, Persian miniatures, Shaker trance drawings, Japanese ukiyo-e, and Hungarian embroidery can be found wandering through her images.

Her work is daily reminder that the ordinary is often extraordinary and nothing is what it seems. Sarajo Friedned uses open ended narratives, folk tales, abstraction and the juxtaposition of discordant images to give form to the human experience. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles, San Diego, North Carolina, Minnesota, New York, Rome, Venice, Naples and Australia."

I also had a look at her Web Site, lots of lovely stuff there to see.

REBUS is the word

"Rebus - a representation of a word or phrase by pictures, symbols etc, that suggest that word or phrase or its syllables,"

In my previous post I could'nt remember the word to describe the idea behind my T t'owl tea-towel. Of course it was easy but at that very moment my brain was in overload, doing 10 things at once as usual and maybe in two lanuages... thats my excuse anyway.

Just to demonstrate that I've understood the concept heres another one. Its quite good fun to play around with letters and images to create words.