The 3 of us had a walk in the bush last night and Brian showed me why these huge ferns are called silver ferns . . if you shine a light up under the leaves - they turn silver. Beautiful.  So - here I am in New Zealand. At the moment I am staying with my friends Alysn and Brian Midgelow Marsden on the Tawharanui Penninsula, just inside the Tawharanui National Park over looking Christian Bay.   Kotare House It is a beautiful house with incredible views of the sea in the front of the house and the bush behind. The weather can be a bit like where I live in Ireland, 4 seasons in 1 day. But generally there is a lot less rain!!! Alysn runs an Airbnb from the house, if ever you are traveling on the North Island, I can't recommend this place enough - check it out. Kakariki Room in Kotare House    View over Christian Bay.      View over the bush with Brian terraced raised beds. The planting around the hous...

 Nicki Heenan painting in my field overlooking Fodra and Ross bays.  It has taken a while to settle into my new home and area. I have been very happy so far, but have been struggling to find a purpose for my being here. Whilst it is wonderful to live in an area of such outstanding beauty with incredible views, I have had a growing feeling that I need to share it.  Having an Open Studio every few weeks and doing AirBnb helps . .  but!    My house and studio.  I met Nicki Heenan last year when she was doing a residency in the Burren. We had been friends on Facebook for a while, but it was so good to actually meet her. Nicki does a residency in Ballinglen, Mayo in Ireland every year as well as exhibiting regularly in Ireland, so I asked if she would like to stay with me for a few days on her way up the coast and throw some ideas around. We both managed to find dates that matched and she arrived this week.  Nicki mixing her pain...

Gorgeous newspaper faux chenille  It takes a lot to winkle me out of my life on the edge of the world. I thought long and hard about leaving for a few days to teach in Inverness, but thought it might be fun so I put Poppy into my wonderful dog minders and off I tootled. I'm SO glad I did. The C.A.T. group have been meeting for many years and because of this they are a fabulous group to work with. They are an absolute joy. Great fun but they also work hard.     The group working away on the first morning painting up their Bondaweb. The 2 day workshop we decided on was a combination of A New Starting Point and Newspaper Faux Chenille. They wanted to have some fun, not worry what anything looked like. This took the pressure off and the group enjoyed playing and going with the process.    Starting lay up the 'backgrounds' and 'prettys'.  A New Starting Point involves working with painted newspapers, old maps, books . . . The proc...