Painting and gardening over Easter

Hope you all have a safe and happy Easter. I intend to spend my days in the studio and a little gardening.
 It is great to have 4 days off work.
 Doesn't happen very often in my profession, so  I'll be making every minute count. 

A wonderful surprise

Imagine walking into your office to find this box!!
The lovely people at Hilbarn awarded me this box for my contribution
to their competition (to name their van).
I love the winning name. Maurice( with French accent).
I will enjoy this magnificent produce. Thankyou Hilbarn. 

The garden studio

This lovely rose garden leads to my studio through those french doors.

In summer i paint with them open and we enjoy cups of tea on the porch looking at these beautiful roses.

This lovely garden is called Elsies garden in memory of our beautiful Mum.

The little statue in  the pic is very old, we just paint him white. My Mum asked me to call him Philip and I did.

I dont know if Jude knows that!

Soon the roses will all need to be pruned right back but at least i will be able to get in and weed then.  Its a prickly business with roses.

I love this garden, it brings me such pleasure and the perfume is divine.

Every picture tells a story

A few years ago a few of my girl friends and I  had a reunion weekend at Low Head. We hired a large cottage at the old Pilot station and had the most wonderful time catching up. We had a long hike along the coastline. I did a series of quick sketches and over the next few weeks did little paintings. I gave each friend a painting and am happy to say all of them hang in their homes to remind us of that great weekend. This picture belongs to my  childhood friend Anne.

Friday nights

After a busy week, these days we like to pull up an old couch and sit by the fire. Can you remember doing this when you were small?  I can. We had a lovely Grandma with a lancashire accent. My Dad would run a quiz and of course there were easy questions for me!!
Those fires are imprinted on my memory. Perhaps why I have to keep an open hearth.  I hope you have memories like these. 

I love tea pots

Today i visited Cathy from Re Cycled Relix and purchased cheerful and very colourful handled cutlery for my retro picnic set.

I just had to have a pretty vintage tablecloth and a small toffee tin.  If you saw my house you would wonder why I collect more things.

Whilst there, I fell in love with the little tea pot with blue lid.

I think I need it!  Mind you I have lots of tea pots. Perhaps we could pop this one on a shelf at the shack for those cosy cups of tea by the fire!

Just the thing after a brisk walk on the beaches..

last year whilst on holiday in SA, we stayed at a retro shack with no tea pot. I went on a hunt through McLaren Vale and could not find a tea pot to donate to the shack.

My how lucky we are to have you Cathy. I think I could find something for every need in your great shop.

I recommend Cathys shop, its a treasure trove of memories and surprises. Be warned...........you wont come out empty handed!

Le Cafe

I love lunch dates with my husband.
One of our favourite little haunts is this cute cafe on St Georges Square here in Launceston.
The owner is an artist - I love her work.

The cafe is French inspired and for half an hour we sit and chat and could be in Paris!