The Power of Vulnerability

My cousin let me know about this talk by Brene Brown over at Ted talking about the Power of Vulnerability. Very inspiring and fascinating talk for everyone to watch.

Kale

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Doi Inthanon (Thailand's highest mountain) for a day trip which culminated in a visit to Naphamethanidon. At the Wat, there are amazing manicured gardens of domestic plants including the most extraordinary display of kale plants.

Tiger Tiger!

A few weekends ago, we went to visit the Tiger Kingdom here in Chiang Mai with some visitors from Australia. I was initially a bit hesitant about going as I had heard that the tigers are drugged etc but when we got there, we saw nothing of the sort. We had a wonderful time!

The baby tigers were so cute!

Very active - just like cats at home, they love to chase things.

Beautiful animals

Play fighting with each other

Flying Tiger in action

Muppet Cupcakes

I would've loved to have had these at my birthday party when I was kid. (Actually, I wouldn't mind having them for my 40th in a few months LOL!) The Muppets were a big part of my childhood experience and seeing these cupcakes brings back all those happy memories...

From Cupcake Occasions UK courtesy of Stella & Henry.

Wini's Living Room!

My friend Wini has posted a picture of her living room on her fab blog ArtLoveJoy featuring the artwork of yours truly. I love the cabinet and styling!

Photo by Wini Dougall.

Diary of a Somebody

You can tell how much work I've been doing - virtually none going by my recent posts!! The Financial Times in the UK has a mini website called 'How to Spend it' which is fascinating reading. The Diary of a Somebody column follows the lives of some of the world's best design gurus - Tricia Guild, Anoushka Hempel and Ilse Crawford through a weekly diary.

Copyright Designers Guild

PS: There's also some other great columns to read but I haven't checked these out yet - I have a commission to finish!!

Cufflinks

Here's a great gift idea for the (business)man in your life! Check out the shop by Gr0glmann.

All images from Cufflinks

Online Magazines

One of the great things I've discovered recently is the growing trend of interior/ lifestyle magazines that are being published online. Perfect for me as I don't have access to my usual array of mags and I am also trying to buy less stuff. OK - I said try, I didn't say how successful I am at it!

If anyone can recommend any other titles, please let me know:

Matchbook Mag

Lonny Mag

Australian Ivy & Piper

Adore Magazine also from Australia

Macaroons

These taste as good as they look. One of the unexpected finds in CM was discovering macaroons (as good as Paris) and bread from the patisserie at Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi.

I can feel another macaroon painting coming on!

Kate Spade Illustrations

How cute are these illustrations by Jenny Bowers for Kate Spade? The perfect balance of whimsy, humour, chic and 'je ne sais quoi'. Kate - I would love to work with you on a project sometime in the future too (even though I am not a girl LOL).

All images copyright Jenny Bowers

Piggy Love

How adorable are these pigs from German design duo Yvonne Fehling and Jennie Peiz of Kraud. I want one especially as I am born in the Year of the Pig.

Copyright Kraud

 Images from Kraud.de

Japan

It's been so sad and heartbreaking to see the devastation caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Japan is such a wonderful country and is one of my absolute favourite places to visit. With the recent floods in Queensland, the snow storms up in the northern hemisphere and now this - you have to wonder what is going on in the world with the weather?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all our 'friends' there.

Natori a month before

Natori - now. Images from NY Times.

Domestic Life

We bought some delicious locally grown strawberries at the markets yesterday.

I thought M's red slippers co-ordinated perfectly.

Crepes with Strawberries & Canadian Maple Syrup

Desk Snapshot

I'm working on a series of dragon cards for 2012 - The Year of the Dragon.

Preparing the scales

Finished Artwork

Mary K

Fashion Designer Mary Katrantzou's first collection featured digital prints (taken from old issues of Architectural Digest and World of Interiors) on her wonderfully tailored clothes. I think this is one of the best examples of digital printing. So simple and yet so clever. I also love the trompe l'oeil interior details - check out Style.com for more pics.

All photos from style.com

Bells

I am loving these bells and chimes here in Thailand.

These antique bells come in all shapes and sizes

They make a lovely chime when the wind blows

These leaves can be engraved with messages

A really wonderful idea (I saw at a monastery in Phuket) is to create your own wishing tree. Get all your friends & family to write a message on their own bell - it can be for you or for themselves.... well wishes, hopes and dreams etc. And when the wind blows, the tree literally sings to the world!

Only Martha!

I was reading Martha Stewart's blog the other day and enjoyed seeing her take on Chinese New Year. How cute are these 'rabbit' eggs! I wonder what she'll do for the 'Year of the Dragon' next year?

All images from Martha Stewart

Lovely Surprise!

Our landlord here in Chiang Mai surprised us the other day with a set of personalised monogrammed towels. What a great housewarming present - we wish all landlords were like this, don't we?

The pink is very appropriate LOL!

Mango Magic

Mango Season has officially started here in CM. Our local eatery has started serving my favourite Thai dessert - Fresh Mango with Sticky Rice & Coconut Milk. Divine.

The sign says it all!

A taste of heaven

Be Inspired Blog Hop - Part 2

Please have a look at my talented friends who participated in the blog hop yesterday. It is interesting to see how each of us work and interpret ideas. I also noticed that there have been a few artists who have inspired them, that have also inspired me too! 

Sue Zipkin

Sharon Sowell

Brenda Pinnick

Phyllis Dobbs

Joanne Sharpe

Monica Lee

Beth Parker

Aaron Christensen

Vickie Lea Studios

Shelly Kennedy

Robin Pickens

Terri Conrad

Jane Maday

Molly Smith

Jennifer Goode

'Be Inspired' Blog Hop

As creative professionals, we are constantly inspired by the world around us. For me, this includes travel, food, shopping, movies, feelings but also being inspired by other peoples’ works. This is normal and happens all the time. The problem occurs however, when people think it is OK to blatantly copy other people’s work and/ or also pass it on as their own. This is not acceptable and breaches copyright laws.

I am a member of the Copyrights – Artist’s Rights Group through LinkedIn who is committed to educating and promoting the importance of copyright law. In the USA, there have been some quite serious cases of artists and manufacturers who have copied other artist's works and passing it on as their own designs. If you’re an artist or designer, I encourage all of you to join this group today and help spread the word.

To help promote the importance of copyright, we are all blogging today by showing some examples of our work and how/ who we’ve been inspired by. It is OK to be inspired by other people's work but not OK to copy it. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting links to other artists in the group. It should be exciting to see how everybody works - I find the creative process fascinating!!

I found this photo from Stylemepretty.com and loved the balloons floating in front of the tree.

A client loved the original painting of mine on the left and wanted me to do something in similar colours but different. I made it more Asian and less tropical like the original.

I found the card on the left from Bangkok Station (artist unknown) and loved the idea of a patterned background. It's been done countless times before but it provided the spark to do something for The Year of the Rabbit this year.

I am always inspired by food and what I'm eating!!