New watercolours 1

Sweetpea, 2012, watercolour and crayon on 425 gm Bockingford paper, 27.5 x 18.5 cm, ZAR 1000

Yayoi Kusama's powerful botanical imagery 2012

Flowers to paint

 

Striped Amaryllis, grown in Prince Albert 2012

Seedpod, 1999

Seedpod, ink drawing with crayon, 1999

Portrait of a Cyclamen, 2012 - in the year of the Dragon

Portrait of a Cyclamen, 2012

Oil and acrylic on canvas

70 x 90 x 2 cm

Lilium Duchartrei, 2012 - in the year of the Dragon

Lilium Duchartrei, 2012 

Oil and acrylic on canvas

80 x 100 x 2 cm

"Seedpod" drawings on German beechwood boxes, 2012

"Seedpods", 2012

Mixed media on German beechwood boxes

10 x 10 x 3 cm each

Microscopic Nature Photos

Hippocrepis unisiliquosa by Rob Kesseler, Wolfgang Stuppy, Madeline Harley -

more beautiful than jewellery, more perfect than man-made - courtesy of Mother Nature

Nomadic Mohair at Maison + Objet, September 2012

Three floor cushions snapped up by European buyers, and the red rug next to the bed making a statement  ...

Nomadic mohair for Maison + Objet, Paris, Spetember 2012

"Gourd" reversible mohair rug

 "Compass" mohair floor cushions

"Hooks" mohair floor cushion

Prestine Piuva Tree, Brazil

Nature is just extraordinarily and unashamedly beautiful ...

Wings of Life

Rarely seen by the naked eye, WINGS OF LIFE allows you to experience the most intimate intersection of the animal and plant worlds, the mystical moment where life regenerates itself over and over again.

What motivates them?, I would ask my scientific advisors. “It’s all about risk and reward” Why? “Because they want to survive.” Why? “So they can reproduce?” Why? And one scientist pondered it deeply and replied “Nothing lasts forever, everything in the universe wears out.” That blew my mind. Because at that moment I realized that Nature invented reproduction as a mechanism so life can continue as a force of energy that passes through us, a link in the evolution of Life. 

WINGS OF LIFE presents the unsung heroes of the global food chain. You will witness, as never before, fantastic journeys that are full of wonder, drama and beauty. Theirs is a fragile ecosystem, essential for sustaining life on the planet. Now threatened by mankind, this is a chance to see their world as never before. Visually stunning and emotional, the story is told from the flower’s point of view. For the first time ever, you will witness a world hidden from the naked eye—and it will be an experience you will never forget.

- Louie Schwartzberg, cinematographer, producer and director of WINGS OF LIFE, due for release in 2012

*bhlo- blossom, flourish - final drawing

9 Swiss Alpine spring flowers - each 1.13 x 1.03 cm, 9 m in total length

Guest Collection for Avoova

Display in the Bree Street, Cape Town store

*bhlo- Leporello drawings

 Chinese folded paper "leporello" books

Planted grass velvet walls at Dilston Grove, 2003

 

 A beautiful project in an old church by Ackroyd & Harvey, 2003

*bhlo- Drawing details

Gentian - Gentiana acaulis

Details from latest *bhlo- drawings, Switzerland

Struwwelpeter, looking for the botanical name...

Dwarf Masterwort, or Hacquetia Epipactis

*bhlo- Details of pencil crayon drawings

 

Cranesbill Alpine Geranium

Edelweiss

Excerpts *bhlo- leporello

Osteospermum "Whirligig", part of the leporello book series and symbolising loyal love ...

Pencil drawings for *bhlo- project, Switzerland

Working with fine Faber Castell water colour pencils, details of the large drawings of 9 symbolic flowers on Arches 300g water colour paper for my botanical research project .....

Weaving in Architecture: Peace Bridge by Santiago Calatrava

The Canadian city of Calgary has welcomed its newest addition spanning the Bow River, the red pigmented 'Peace Bridge' by Valencian architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava. The single span helical footbridge gently arcs across the water, sheltering users with a glass roof along its 126 meter length.

Mirror forest figures

Extraordinarily beautiful and mysterious mirror figures in a British forest, by Rob Mulholland

New Watercolours

Portraits of Lathyrus (Sweetpeas), watercolour on Arches paper, 41 x 31 cm, Private Collection, Germany

Ancient Plants Resurrected from Siberian Permafrost

www.livescience.com/18559-ancient-plants-resurrected-siberian-permafrost.html

How amazing is this: a 32,000 year old Silene Stenophylla seed producing such an exquisite flower! This is the oldest successful regeneration of a living plant from ancient tissue. Nothing beats the power of plants...

Phenomenal Japanese three dimensional weaving

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/19198/ultraviolet-3d-woven-japanese-textiles-by-hosoo.html

Count down to Design Indaba Expo 2012, Cape Town March 1-4

It's great to be finalising my new baby mohair sofa pillow and cushion collection for a return to Design Indaba, together with the Cape Craft and Design Institute - some of the new cuddly weaves, just in  time for the southern winter

Bloom II Exhibition, Casa Labia, Muizenberg/Cape Town

 Jean Grose: Amaryllis, watercolour

 Ian Garrett: burnished, pit fired pots with floral motifs

"Bloom" - exhibition bannner

Learning from flowers

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the fast-growing, brilliantly bright sunflower offers guidance on how best to gather solar energy. Read more here:

http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/60746-sunflower-inspires-more-efficient-solar-layout

Sally Arnold + Karoo Star Interiors are following 

http://66squarefeet.blogspot.com/

- written by a smart woman with a small balcony and a big vision