And OMG what a refreshed version of myself I am after 43 hours SOLO in Melbourne for the wonderful Bo Kitty’s book launch and Otto & Astrid at The Fringe! I have been living in the dress below that I scored in the Romance Was Born sale as it just compliments so well everything I have been doing with my flower paintings!
If you’ve been following on socials, you’ll already know that I was asked to exhibit my newest flower series – still a partial work in progress entitled: “FLOWERS ON YUGAMBEH COUNTRY”, at the 19 Karen Gallery spring brunch. I painted my Eucalpt themed piece live and exhibited the first 5 works from the series on the walls, all the while celebrating artisan goods from Basque Cheesecake & Champage and Silk Laundry.
This series of paintings was conceived in the wake of The Voice – which for those of you outside of Australia, was a vote we had last year on whether or not to appoint an Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander voice to parliament to advise on matters concerning our first nations people. Shockingly, a majority of Australians voted no to the voice, and in utter despair at the spectrum of apathy to racism this highlighted in our nation, the idea for this series was born.
A study in the native flora of the area upon which I am lucky enough to live; the area known by local Indigenous peoples as Yugambeh Country – the paintings each represent the native flowers growing from the coast and beaches, through the mangroves, freshwater areas, grasslands and up to the mountains, eucalypt and rainforests where the little farm we live on lies. I wanted to remind people of the traditional owners and custodians of this land, which always was and always will be Aboriginal land. Hence the title of the series, loud and clear: FLOWERS ON YUGAMBEH COUNTRY.
The event was a wonderful family affair with my mum being over to visit from the UK and my Mum-in-law, Sister-in-law and aunties-in-law in attendance,
I drew much of my research on native species from this area from the wonderful book Mangroves to Mountains, which Chad purchased during his Horticulture studies and which I highly recommend.
I also created a colouring in black and white print (pictured above), which is now available to buy on my website store – you can hang it as a print (it’s printed on the same eco bamboo 300gsm+ paper that my A4 prints are on) or colour it in yourself.
I am delighted to let you know that my flower mugs are now available to order!
Featuring details from 4 of the artworks from my series: “The Interloper”, they all feature a selection of Australian gumnuts and come in 4 colourways – pink, green, yellow and red.
And in other rather exciting news – I have a range of limited edition 50cm x 50cm 100% silk scarfs now available for preorder!
Choose from 2 designs from my brand new FLOWERS ON YUGAMBEH COUNTRY series – Eucalypt (Hibiscus) or Mountain (Paper Daisies). Scarfs are in production as we speak, are going to be in VERY limited numbers, and will be shipping out soon!
Don’t forget you can still get my limited edition hand-detailed A3 prints from my In Bloom flower series here. Still plenty of time for international orders to ship out for Christmas gifting!
In the meantime I will leave you with this Aussie Hallowe’en image I just created in celebration of my little family’s favourite holiday! Wishing spookiness and sugar to you all!
Love and Rainbows,
Sarah x
