Stamps

Visiting Shizue on Saturday made me want to have a go at making some handmade rubber stamps. The process is simple enough, draw your design on an eraser or carving rubber and carve out the image. What I had forgotten is how fiddly it is. I usually make larger stamps. However practice makes perfect and I shall go invest in some more erasers today.

Boxes

These are some boxes I'm working on for a good friends daughters as leaving presents. I am sort of obsessed by polka dots at the moment, they are appearing everywhere in my work. One of the things I always was uncomfortable with in my fine art work was my desire to decorate. It was an impulse I kept in check but which I'm very much enjoying at the moment.

Petit Morpho

My friend Shizue has a wonderful shop in Central which sells handmade rubber stamps and has wonderful exhibitions of local and international artists. Petit Morpho was a big inspiration to me and I'm very pleased to say that Petit Morpho will carry some of my Prints, original art works and my Notecards.

Hong Kong is full of little shops and businesses tucked away in buildings hidden from view. It's one of my great pleasures to explore and find these places.

Petite Morpho
506 Commercial House
35 Queens Road
Central
Hong Kong

Image from Petite Morpho

Time for tea

As a reward for working so hard and getting my cards in a shop some friends are coming round to have tea, cakes and a good catch up chat. I have made Rhubarb custard cake , Rhubarb tart and Banana choc mini muffins.

Rhubarb custard cake

3 eggs
3 tablespoons of milk
1 1/2 cup of sifted cake flour
1 tsp of baking powder
3/4 cup of sugar
185g of unsalted butter
Rhubarb chopped up (enough to cover the top of the cake)
Sugar for the rhubarb (again lots if you don't like it tart)
pouring cream (a tub is more than enough you just want to cover the rhubarb)

This recipe calls for a mixer and you bung everything at room temperature in and mix it all together. Not having a mixer I did it the old way and creamed the sugar and butter. Then added the eggs and then the flour and baking powder.You could add some vanilla extract but I didn't have any.
Pour into a cake tin they say 9x7x3 inches.
Then on top of this put your chopped up rhubarb, sugar and then pour over the cream. It looks a mess but bakes well. The only thing I would say is make sure the cake has room to rise as mine overflowed a bit.
Cook for about 40 to 45 mins at gas mark 4. It is suppossed to be ready when the skewer comes out clean, but as its a custard cake a bit of skill and judgment is required.

It was agreed that this cake was yummy.

Just Green

My friend Helen has an organic shop on Lamma, called Just Green which is well used by my family. She has just opened up another store in Central also called Just Green which is at 52 Graham Street in Soho. It's a lovely shop and I'm pleased to say that my cards will be for sale there. Above are my display pieces. Hope Helen likes them.

New Print

This is anew version of the lino cut stamp from yesterday. I have printed it on heavy watercolour paper , hand coloured it and finished it off with my small island chop. It's only small but I really like it. It will go up in the shop soon.

Butterfly stamp

This is my latest stamp. It's a lino cut which I have mounted on cardboard so I can stamp it. I rather like it. I am using it on the calico fabric wallets for the notecards in my Etsy shop.

Baby Praying Mantis

Walking home yesterday I spied the lovely knobbly fruits on this tree. Only when I looked at the photos later did I spot the baby praying mantis. Bonus!

Giant Elephant Leaves

Elephant ears or Colocasia esculenta grow wild all over Lamma. Some of the food shops use the leaves to line baskets.
Apparently the scarab beetle is closely involved with the pollination of these plants crawling over the flowers and distributing the pollen to its male, female and this plant also has a spare parts. The scarab beetles are often seen at this time of year sleepily crawling across the paths. Now I know why.

Orange Parrot

This is a Heleconia psittacorum 'choconiana' or Orange Parrot heliconia. They grow in great abundance in my garden to my great delight, and mostly all year round. At the moment I have a large bunch of these in my house along with some 'San Francisco' . It's one of the great joys of a sub tropical garden having plants like the heliconia's but also all the plants which are house plants in other parts of the world growing out of control here wild .

Everyday in May

I have been neglecting my Every Day in May drawing commitment. So here is my make up sketch.

To print or not to print

With all this work on the computer I have to say I am really missing printing. However the Etsy shop is up and running and I have started setting out my wares. Tomorrow I shall start setting out the fabric pieces.

The bag above was done last week when my hands were still inky. I miss it. And I know it looks like an apron. I have done aprons but not in this style. Though looking at it now I wonder why. Next project perhaps?

All happening

So the prints cards and postcards are all here and I have opened a very rough and ready Etsy shop. It's all happening!

Can you tell what it is yet?

It's starting to look like it's supposed to. There has been a lot of Union Jack art around here lately.

Rabbit

A lot hopefully to do this week. This means it is a perfect time for me to slide into a stupor of fright at the thought of change. If you see me looking rabbit in the headlights you'll know why.

However my mantra of one day at a time holds true and to that end here is a sketch from Sketch Crawl and the corresponding work in progress.

Sketch crawl

Here is the very quick sketch I did. I'm actually working up another sketch into a painting. I shall reveal that when its at a later stage.

Sketching

I think I'm loosing my marbles. I was sure I posted yesterday but it seems I didn't . Crazy.

A lovely morning today however was had sketching with Roz and her sketching group. I shall post the results tomorrow. If I remember!

More butterflies

After a day spent drawing and painting I feel refreshed and ready for more. So today I'm off to get supplies. I leave you with some of what I was working on yesterday.

Heliconia pendula

I am painting, printing and sewing all day today. What a treat.

I'm also hopeful that my order of cards will arrive . That will mean more skills as I set up an Etsy shop. If you dont know what Etsy is here's a link. Its the most amazing online craft market. Easy to get lost in it's vastness.

The picture is my Everyday in May drawing. It is a Heliconia pendula from my garden.A much nicer name than" Lobster Claw" I think.

New Things

The muse has visited the whole clan. With me sketching away Z has started setting up his own still lives.
Mine is a new image I'm working on. I have worked up this sketch to a painting, acrylic on board and will soon to be a card and a print I think.

Everyday in May

I have joined up to a drawing group on Flicker. The link to that is on the left. It's a good way to make myself sketch everyday. So far I have managed the challenge. However I have yet to do a drawing for today.

Here is yesterday's.

The lurgy

The boys are both home from school today with temperatures and nasty coughs . Cue pretty picture and a hope everyone is well tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. For me that means a large cup of tea in my favourite mug and home made cards.

New Stamp

This is the new stamp I had done. I'm thinking of using it as a chop on the back of the cards and also maybe on the prints? What do you think?

Thunder and Lightning

It's a wet and wild morning here. The garden is flooded and the fuses blew.
The kids have a very skewed view of rain from growing up in the sub tropics their first reaction was " Is school cancelled? ".

My sample cards came yesterday and here is a little sneaky peaky before I get the production rolling and start selling these babies.

Iris's

The Iris's have bloomed twice this year. They always seem to me the herald the change from spring into the moist fugginess of early summer.

Looking at these pictures reminds me I have been meaning to paint the iris's for quite a while now.

Chinese Opera

Every Tin Hau Festival we are treated to Chinese Opera on Lamma. The football pitch is transformed into a huge structure made from bamboo and aluminium sheets. In the evenings the shrill vocals and clanging cymbals float across the valley.

Along the walkway to the ferry large colourful flags are erected on bamboo poles. I've been drawing and painting these flags for years so here is a photo of the pier from yesterday and a painting from about 15 years ago.

Printing

I studied Printmaking at college. I always loved the whole process. The mixing of inks how they sounded , how they felt. Screen ink should have the consistency of runny custard. They were oil based inks and now I'm using water based. Same but different.

Lychee's

The first Lychee's of the season always a happy day in our house.

I have lived in Hong Kong on and off since I was 9 years old but I have only recently discovered the covered hawker fabric market at Sham Shui Po.

Its a magical place, with fabric which I assume are the left- overs from factory orders piled high to the corrugated roof. I left with some treasures, and made my way home by bus and foot down the busy Nathan road and on to my favourite method of transportation the Star Ferry.

It was packed with tourists enjoying the sun setting over the harbour and I sipped my soy latte and breathed in the happy and excited atmosphere .

Moths

Here's a page from my diary. I have been very taken with butterflies of late and I'm in the process of having some Butterfly cards printed. These are actually moths which may or may not become their own pictures.

This whole post is of course a is a homage to Geninne's fantastic journals. If you haven't visited Geninne's art blog I suggest you do so immediatetly . After you've looked at this of course.

Oh and it was my Dad's birthdaty yesterday. So happy birthday Dad.