arty treats

Yay yippee yay, look what came today! The talented and thoughtful Janet of Lavender Loft fame sent me a print of one of her fabulous "elegant lady" drawings.... and I am delighted! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Janet, in the comments on the decor post last week you said you wondered if it was my house, and then realised it was a clients.... yes it falls into the "I wish" category! We live in a little post-Victorian historic cottage, and have neither the space, budget or freedom to do alterations (need permission from the heritage foundation to do anything radical to old houses). So it is not in the same league. But we love it and are very happy here.

So I thought I would show you our bedroom, and you will see right away why I am delighted with the arch lady and thought she will look great in there!............

The room is all white except for the pink walls below the rail behind the bed and next to the cupboards. Everything else is black and white, or neutral. And that mozzie net is not just decorative, we have hectic mosquitoes in summer and it comes in handy! So now you know where the lady will be living.... thanks so much!

While on the subject of drawings, I found a wonderful book in the library recently.

Most South Africans are nauseatingly proud of the fact that JRR Tolkein was born here, even though, to be honest, he only stayed till he was 3, when he returned to England with his mother and brother. (His dad died while they were there on holiday, leaving them in a financial pinch, so they had to stay with her parents)

I have been crazy about his writing since I was a young teenager, and have read Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit and the Silmarilion several times, as well as many biographies on the man. But somehow, the fact that he was also a really talented artist and illustrator never sank in until I found this book. I adore his style, and was actually reminded of Janet's work while I was enjoying it.

These really appealed to me... he was an avid newpaper crossword fan, and used to doodle all over his newspapers with coloured ball point pens......

Here are some of Janet's, is it just me or do you also see how in tune these two are? Janet, you are in exalted company girl... if you still have any doubts about how good your art is, just think of Tolkein, because I think you two are kindred spirits!

...Tolkein,
...Janet


And now for something completely different, but still arty in a way... well creative anyway!
What do you do when you are trying to change your lifestyle, after year and years of living on take-aways which provided practically intravenous cholesterol? But after a while the bunny food seems so BORING? Well, you make it look pretty of course!

Neither of us felt like meusli AGAIN for breakfast on Saturday, so I whipped up this little Norwegian Salmon and tomato open sandwich on soya/linseed low GI bread, on a bed of baby spinach, baby button mushrooms, mange-tout peas, roma tomatoes, spring onions and cucumber with avocado oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice for dressing. Note the his and hers olives, he likes green, I like black! We really enjoyed it, maybe I CAN do this bunny food thing after all, it is like a creative adventure finding new ways to serve leaves without dying of boredom!