Our New New Plymouth House

Sometimes you don't realize how much you love a place until you can't be there anymore. For my whole life I had taken New Zealand for granted. Growing up in such a beautiful place had in many ways blinded me to its charms but seven years ago I moved to Perth and suddenly I experienced the most severe homesickness. That feeling never really went away but recently we were able to move back and what a wonderful homecoming it has been. I can't explain the joy I felt to look out the window of our motel and see the waves crashing along the beach, the sky in a constant state of turmoil and the lush green of the New Zealand bush.

Next Friday is settlement for our new home in New Plymouth. I can't believe how lucky we were to be able to own the incredible Victorian villa. Many villa's these days have been so transformed inside that they look like they have come straight from an Ikea catalogue.  The period features have been ripped out and it seems these places have lost a part of their soul along the way. Luckily this house still retains much of it's original features. It is groaning with Rimu, even the skirting boards are 30cm high! The garden is enormous compared to our last house and it boarders onto a park. I can't wait to start working on the interior and Nik is excited about the prospect of many garden rooms!

Our House In Perth

We loved our house in Perth so much. It was our first house and a blank canvas on which to experiment with our garden and interior. It was incredibly hard to leave this wonderful oasis, each colour, plant and piece of furniture was painstakingly chosen to bring harmony to the overall scheme. It took five years to transform the house from an everyday 1960's brick and tile to a little slice of heaven in the heart of the city. We are very proud to have come so far with our knowledge of gardening and decoration and can't wait to move into our next house and see where our inspiration leads us next.

Front gate before

Front gate after

Front garden before

Front garden after

Patio before

Patio after

HOUSE INTERIOR

Living room before

Living room after

Kitchenette Before

Kitchenette after

Dinning Before

Dinning After

Bedrooms before

Bedrooms after

New Detash!

I couldn't resist this Edwardian applique and these little silver buttons. Right now I am beginning to explore a new look which incorporates simple black dresses, boleros, applique and tribal jewelry. It will give me a chance to be a bit creative and enjoy the process of watching a piece develop. 

I just had to get this it's such a fabulous antique belt in great condition. Luckily for me it is a large Victorian size. I would like to embellish it a bit, I'm thinking some vintage metal trim and applique with a leather backing for support.

I really like chunky bracelets so I wrapped some vintage material around these two and embellished them a little. They look beautiful with the right outfit.

Antique Ottoman 1800s Red and Gold Embroidered Velvet Vest

I am so excited about my newest purchase. This antique vest was possibly part of a fortune tellers outfit! It is so beautiful that it doesn't matter if it wasn't. I love it anyway. 

(Gail if you are reading this it came from another Gail!)

A Place Of Beauty

Each of my works carries with it a piece of my life, reflecting the time and environment in which it was created. They are all incredibly personal and special to me and I am deeply honored when the work becomes a part of the narrative of other lives as well. It is with the greatest thanks to my dear friends Grant and Tasha that I am able to post this precious image of their collection. Their home is a monument to wonderful art, eclectic and soulful and completely reflects the warm and enthusiastic natures of their new owners. What a privilege it is to see these pieces happily situated and I'm sure very much loved.

On a summer evening I sat in our garden and wondered if Vincent Van Gogh might have seen something like this all those years ago.

Jeanne d'Arc & Le Mort d'Arthur

It was a very emotional challenge to read the last words of Joan of Arc or I should say Jeanne d'Arc. It seems callous in a way to use the anglicized version of her name when she loved France so dearly and was persecuted so horrifically by the English. It is easy to read her life as if it were a fairytale of sorts but it is incredible to think that this young woman actually existed, that places in France remain to this day which were important to her. 

Joan's birthplace is now a museum. The village church where she attended Mass is on the right behind the trees.

Now it is time for something a little different. Le Mort d'Arthur read in reverential memory of Edward Burne-Jones.

Thank goodness for the internet

It has been a very busy time for me over the past year with my preparation for my show. Sometimes my only release is to turn my mind off and press 'pay now.' I am therefore very glad that fantastic little shops like Boudoir Queen exist. I didn't have time to post when I was getting ready for my exhibition but I love my new acquisition this stunning one of a kind 'Countess of Castiglione' skirt.

Joan of Arc In Her Own Words

I am incredibly excited. I can't sleep and just finished a beautiful novel on the life of Edward Burne-Jones which I highly recommend. 

My first painting for my new collection is to be a small portrait of Joan of Arc in the Tudor style. I know a lot about her life already but if I am going to add a rich symbolic layering to the painting I will need to know her story down to its tiniest details. To that end I have just downloaded Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words to my kindle. How fascinating to hear her own interpretation of her life's work translated from her own trial transcripts. There is always so much that can colour an authors representation of their subject and I hope that this way of looking at Joan's life will give me a kind of insight that I just couldn't attain from any other source.