Showing posts with label orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label orange. Show all posts

Friday, December 6, 2013

Amelia Herbertson - an Orange Friday Friend.

I'm in love.....with Amelia Herbertson's art!
Seriously how sweet is it?
And she is the sweetest person too.....read on.....

Who are you and what do you do?



My name is Amelia Herbertson and I am an artist living in Orange in regional NSW, Australia.
I like to paint with watercolour and gouache, as well as use fine tipped ink pens to create intricately detailed patterns. 
I turn my artworks into art prints, greeting cards and gift tags. 
I am also a print maker, and have a range of bold colourful lino prints and lino printed greeting cards.


Who or what inspire you?
 I am inspires by old children's books and have a large collection of them. I scour book sales and op shops for them and my favorites are from the 1950's and 60's. I love the style and simplicity of the illustrations. I also have drawers and boxes full of paper ephemera - postage stamps, scraps of vintage gift wrap and wall paper which I also love to look through for inspiration. 



Your signature or favorite item.
My "Big Bird" lino print.
It's my largest print and has been my biggest sellers over the years. I really love that design and I think it is probably the most recognisable of my designs.


What do you most enjoy doing?

I most enjoy sitting at my desk with a cup of tea and a fresh sheet of paper and my paintbrush. 

I like to get lost in my thoughts and lose track of time. 
I don’t get to do this as often as I would like, as I have to take care of all the other aspects of running my tiny business.


How did you start along this road? 
I have always been creative and loved to make my own greeting cards when I was a kid.
I have never had a proper 9 - 5 job and this just seemed like a natural progression.
Years ago, when I was still at school and first discovered design blogs, I came across the work of artists who sold their work on a (then) little webite called Etsy, and I thought "I want to do that." Seeing them doing it made the possibility of being an artist seem more available to me.
I began drawing in a sketchbook every chance I could and learning as I went.
It took me a long time to gather the courage to show anyone my work.



5 things you would say to other new artists/crafters/home businesses.

  1. Work hard and keep practicing. Make new things as much as you can and keep at it. It can seem daunting at first but just do a little bit everyday and you will get there.
       2.Make mistakes. Don’t be afraid of failure. You will make mistakes (it won’t be the end of the world) and you will learn from them. Every single artist/maker/business owner you admire has made plenty of mistakes to get where they are.
3     3. Be true to yourself. Don’t listen to others who try to put you down for being brave enough to take a risk and try something that goes against the conventional way of making a living. Prove them wrong!
4     4. Don’t give up. You will want to give up many times but remember that you will have always have ups and downs and things will get better again.
            5. Have fun. The most important thing to remember is that you are doing this because you love it, so remember not to get bogged down in the little things and enjoy it! 




I regularly (well, twice a year) catch up with Amelia at the Millthorpe Markets and her stall always look so fabulously enticing.



You can find her here -
www.ameliaherbertson.com
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmeliaHerbertson
https://www.facebook.com/AmeliaHerbertsonArt

ps. I apologise for the font-strangeness and the uneven layout but I'm having all sorts of problems with my blog today. I feel like I'm shouting a bit and I'll try and fix it up later.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

An Orange weekend








Photos above are at our favorite winery in the Orange region - Patina Wines.
There is an enchanting garden walk with all sorts of old-english flowers.
It's well worth a visit.

Then we found a fig farm.
Unfortunately the figs are not quite ready but we met the charming Mr Bradley of Norland Figs.




Some unusual farm sheds.

Last stop for a late lunch on the terrace at Brangayne Winery with a fine view over Orange and a very fine tipple of sauvignon blanc.



Monday, December 3, 2012

Ooops! I've been away for a while. I've been wine tasting.

All the Christmassy stuff caught up with me I'm afraid.
No - not Christmas shopping....haven't started that yet!
But all the Christmas markets and fairs.

Did you hear me say that I was going to be more organised this year?
Did you believe me?

Ah, well! I'll get there....

So last weekend I had one of the biggest fairs of the year....but I'll blog about that another day, and we usually stay in a nearby town which is well known for it's wineries.
Mainly these are small boutique wineries where you can go and taste their wines at the weekend and the trend seems to be here that the tasting "rooms" are in the actual houses of the winemakers.

This can be a little disconcerting at first and you feel like an intruder....or a bit naughty, but it is really quite lovely especially at a winery we visited for the first time on Saturday - Patina, fine wine...with layers of distinction.


As we drove in to the house yard I noticed a sign to the garden walk.
Ooooh, I was sold!

There were also spectacular views from the house...of Mount Canoblas which looks over Orange, and gorgeous pastoral vistas.






The garden has only been 8 years in the making.
It is amazing!


There are stone steps and winding paths.


Sweet little touches.


It's a real "English" country garden carved out of the harsh Australian countryside by a couple of Americans.
Which just goes to show what you can do!




There are also waterfalls!


and rambling roses.


I also should tell you that we loved the wine.

You can visit Patina at weekends or for more information here is their website.

Friday, August 26, 2011

A spot of remodelling/recycling

 As you may know I'm fond of recycling/remodelling/reusing creations that do not sell.

Sometimes just the threat of this fate is enough to result in someone to (unwittingly) buying the piece!
However not this one -

 It's a really bad photo that I took on my market stall one day...I don't think I ever listed it in my etsy or madeit shops.
It did have a matching bracelet and earrings...long gone!

 But I do still love the orange branch coral and the czech glass shell beads and the little acid green czech glass beads. so I draped it around my wrist and "yes"! it could be a very bold and unusual bracelet!


 Then with some of the leftover orange coral drops I made a long necklace on a chain - tres chic!


I think they are still very summery and beachy. We'll see how they go!

Are you getting in the mood for summer and planning your summer creations?

Friday, June 25, 2010

Mad about orange - new Monday madness post!

As part of revitalising my blog I'm now having a Monday Madness theme!

Treasury day will be Tuesday!

So the first of my Mad Monday posts is here - I'm just mad about orange!
Aren't you?




I'm not sure how this happened, but I was fatally attracted to orange beads when I went bead shopping at the Quilt and Craft show.



I love these smooth orange howlite beads so much i just wanted to make a big bunch of them into one huge necklace!


Intsead I managed to control myself and make just one simple strand.
These howlite beads are dyed, but I love the complexity of colours with some being quite green and others are brown.
A wonderful effect.

Of course orange is a wonderful companion to turquoise, because blue and orange are complementary colours.
They are on opposite sides of the colour wheel.


Here I have combined some dyed turquoise howlite rectangles with orange coral.

Also quite simple, but I am letting the colours do the talking.

Then it's time for a more thoughtful design.
I love assymetric and random designs and this is what I came up with.


The rhyolite and ceramic beads sit at the side of the necklace, and the orange beads take centre stage!
Pretty pleased with this so - one more for the road!


Similar design with green and yellow agate and an oval ceramic bead.

What would you wear these necklaces with?

This dress would be perfect -



Accessorize with this bag -


And if you need some more orangeness in your life -








If you want some more orangey ideas you could check out Beadsme's orange and poppyseed treasury!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wednesday wishlist

This week I wish for a vibrant brooch to brighten up my winter coats -





Some warm happy gloves -



and boots - 'cus i love boots!


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wednesday wishlist

What is it with me and bright colours at the moment?

Is it beacuse it has been raining for 2 weeks?
Or does my mood need uplifting?
Am I trying to relive a past life?

Who knows!

Anyway I just fell in love with this vibrant cushion.
It has gorgeous Indian fabric and hopefully I'm heading to India this year, so maybe this is a taste of thing to come?


I was looking for something completely different - isnt that always the way? - when I found this stunning orange bag by tippythai.

There are so many lovely styles of bags in tippythais shop - I'd like one in every design and every colour.

But this one is the perfect summer colour and weight.


OK - something elso orange?

Well this is probabyl on the red side of orange - but how delightful is this brooch?
There are lots of really cute things in this shop and it has the best name - "inmybackyard"!



I'm so happy with my wishlist this week!
See it has lifted my spirits already - think I'll go for a skip. tralala!
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