Sweet summer berries

It's summer, although the weather is not always reflecting that! I'm all for living by the seasons, so we have been doing plenty of summer stuff. 

Ducking to the beach whenever the smallest window of opportunity presents itself.

Eating meals outdoors.

Staying out to see the sun set.

Wearing thongs.

That sort of thing. Have you been doing summer stuff?

Here's a few snaps of what's been going on around here...

  

GLORIOUS sunsets, and helpful cats in the garden...

Big, bad tomatoes, but still green sadly...

weird pods (after Zantedeshia Lilies, commonly known as Calla or Arum Lilies) and funky patterned leaves

  

And beautiful ripening strawberries. Of course they taste better than store bought...they taste like summer!

This got me thinking about using berries in wedding flowers. Berries like unripened Blackberries (green)  and Privet berries (any shade between lime green and frosty blue/black) are readily available to florists and often used in bouquets or compact table arrangements. I've also used cut limes and branches of cumquats in arrangements before. Here are some brave botanics designs I've made up in the past - 

 lush looking spray of Delbard roses, tulips, anthuriums, lotus pods and figs

 rosehips included in a buttonhole for the lapel. This one below is Snowberry - the most beautiful, whimsical little berries with a blush of pink or green on them. So pretty, and I saw some just this week as I was driving out of a friends' driveway....

 this bouquet from Martha Stewart of course!

And finally, summer time means more time with the kids and we have had some lovely, lovely moments and relaxing days with the boys. Last weekend Bryn came with me to the markets and in the middle of the shopping decided he would buy me a bunch of flowers!!! 

"with my own money, Mum."

What a sweetheart, I have to say this kids' emotional intelligence is through the roof.

XNarelle

Tropical Canberra

Things are weird here to be sure.

As I dont have a wedding this weekend I have been pondering the weather - and been grateful I haven't had delicate flowers to care for, manipulate and transport. It has been positively tropical here in Canberra...weird...clear, bright skies in the morning then a slow and accumulating stuffiness until the mid afternoon, when banks of gruff clouds appear to the west or south and threaten a storm.

Empty threats usually, but tonight some real rain after several hours of build up, and a 360 degree light show. The severe weather which the Bureau of Meterology have been issuing warnings for: large hailstones, flash flooding, damaging wind. Last time we experienced a storm like this our most treasured cat* disappeared and our outdoor terrace area was torn up by hail. So I've put the cats to bed already.

Anyways...the weddings. I have been thinking of the flowers which provide that real lush, tropical feel to a summer wedding and have included some of them here. The reality is that many of these are commercially available to florists (and punters) almost year round - Dendrobium Orchids, Vanda Orchids, large broad leaves and the like are generally greenhouse farmed crops. 

For a really authentic tropical wedding you would be requesting frangipani, hibiscus, gingers, heliconias, palm husks and berries but we dont do those sorta weddings in Canberra! 

One of my favourite floristry stories comes from when I was working for the most fabulous Juliet Justice in Balmain and making and learning so much. At the crack of dawn we would unpack a van load of flowers fresh from the markets and make up a long list of arrangements for corporate clients - this particular week using tropical stuff, freighted in boxes from north Queensland like this vibrant, long lasting Crab Claw Heliconia.

To my surprise and delight, when I grabbed a stem I found a tiny brilliant green tree frog tucked neatly into the cavity of the "claw". Still alive but probably scared out of its wits, we popped it into the closest bit of garden - I dont know how well adjusted it would be. So cute, and such a good memory! 


I am off to listen to the rain pounding....
XNarelle
 

* of course we loved both of our cats equally, but Princess Lea was most treasured because she was SO unlike a cat, and so unusual. We have never had a cat with a personality like hers, and we never found her after the storm.

latest wedding album from a lovely local bride

Canberra has some really lovely venues for photography if you are after a relaxed, rustic tone. Plenty of grassy plains, meandering pathways, hillsides, heritage buildings in various states of grandeur or disrepair and lots of rural textures - timber, stone, corrugated iron etc etc!

 

Without further ado, here are some of the lovely images from a recent wedding I did for a Canberra bride and groom. The photos are by Mel Hill Photography http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150360596563588.372360.47867988587&type=1

and they do such a great job of portraying the relaxed atmosphere and the beautiful settings.

The bouquet was to be full and blowsy with old fashioned style roses - so was made of open roses, David Austin roses and Lisianthus.

Lists of lists...

Today has been an odd day, I have a list of reasons why.

There's been pain ( I managed to pull something in my back), disappointment, sadness and tears....and that's all just been me and I am not usually a drama queen! 

I let some people down, who of course forgave me and have then been thinking about my Nanna, who passed away a year ago tomorrow. I wont forget in a hurry wishing Bryn happy birthday as he woke last year, knowing that I had such sad news to tell that same morning.

I have such fantastic memories of Nanna, who I think was a real stand out woman for her time. I was lucky enough to have some time to sit with her and record some of her stories and opinions in the year or so before she died, I might have a listen to them again tomorrow. As far as I can remember Nanna had an answer to everything, and it certainly was never good enough to say it's too hard, I can't or maybe not. She was a do-er, that's for sure and expected the same from others. Along with my parents, I would count her as one of the "forces" (my cousins will be laughing!!!) that shaped me. I miss her lots and many, many times when things crop up in the day to day, I think to myself - I wonder what Nanna would have done?

So, I love lists...every day... and am taking a leaf out of some other blogs to write a list of recent good things. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves! They are in no particular order.

• minutae in the garden. There is good and interestng stuff everywhere. I have even started a wish list of things to plant.

• school holidays...enough time to relax AND to do stuff, like make curry puffs and satay sticks on a whim!

• a lovely goodbye gift from a workmate. And lemon verbena in the garden to make tea from.

• the promise of the ocean next week...rain, hail or shine.

I have other lists of course -  lists of books to read, lists of recipes to try, lits of music to get from itunes, lists of "things" to save up for, lists of ideas for when I start my new job later in January. Also a shopping list for cake ingredients...my littlest man will be 9 tomorrow...time flies.

Happy New Year. X

endings in the gallery

A weird week, as it was my last official day at work on friday before a beautiful break with few plans, and then my new job next year. Did you know about my last show in the gallery?

It was crazy and a bit risky, but all turned out for the best and was such a high note to finish on. When I curated WALLWORKS, I invited a little group of artist to come in and work directly on the gallery walls - paint, draw etc and this is what they came up with.

The Drifters by Paul Summerfield

Here's what happened to my office - 

and here's what happened to the store room - 

Wall Works, a constructed wall complete with windows, doors, letterbox and eventually  a pile of discarded items including a TV, by Byrd and Hoon.

A 'bilateral' drawing (using both left and right hands drawing the same thing at the same time) by Tess Horwitz, which produced some lovely, interesting marks

An epic, story-like mural Loves Last Lesson, by Mariana del Castillo, Alex Asch and Gus McGrath consuming one entire wall of the gallery!

And the ghostly falling figures of Nicci Haynes, both on walls and floor!

I feel like it was such a boon to be given license to curate a show like this, and an honour to work with the artists on the project. Each time I stepped into the gallery to check up on them, it took my breath away and I will be grateful to them for contributing to WALLWORKS, which inadvertantly became my swan song at ANCA.

I will also of course, be grateful to the "painting guy", who begins his resurfacing work on January 11.

XNarelle

Sea Change

That predicted time of change and turmoil has hit (see previous post "Its been a while") and things are amping up towards the end of the year.

I have grabbed the bull by the horns and resigned from my job at ANCA  www.anca.net.au, to take a position as Gallery Coordinator at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in the new year.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tuggeranong-Arts-Centre/233189360075720?sk=wall

It is a completely different arts organisation to ANCA and I will miss all of "my" studio artists, but will be really pleased to focus on gallery stuff rather than arts admin for a change. The new job presents significant challenges, but also has an office overlooking the lake!! It's quite a lot closer to home, so this move is a conscious shift towards a simpler routine and a smoother daily existence for us as a family.  

And...all things going well, I will get to ride my push bike a LOT more often (around the lake in my lunch hour for example), which is one of my favourite things to do. To celebrate, I am going to get myself one of these helmets-of-awesomness by Danielle Baskin on etsy.  http://www.bellehelmets.com/helmets/dusk.php

 Anyways, Rhys and I took a trip to the folks down the coast on the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the sea change, even just for one day! We helped them put up their tree, which is not over the top, despite the light up fibre optics at the ends of the faux pine needles! 

 We are spending Christmas (a few days) with them this year, which is a departure from the norm and after some beachcombing were struck with a moment of brilliance - a low key, natural kind of christmas tree for home - also something of a departure!

The boys were a little sceptical - they still like the annual fight with boxes of fairy lights, tinsel and stuff, but Mark was whole heartedly on board and I certainly felt like a change and the chance to hone it down to something like a breath of fresh air.

It's rather minimal, but I think we pulled it off! Natural, airy and quite low key, with lichen covered branches, shells strung on with twine, a few wooden ornaments and mini baubles. The first time I caught a glimpse of it across the room I had a lovely sense of calm - that breath of fresh air I was looking for!

I did add some fabric pom-poms, and then I got to thinking about how cool that would be another year - a completely pom-pommed tree! I saw a great window display in Melbourne years ago, and several variations on the theme on the internet.

 

How cool!

XNarelle