Vision & Inspiration
Photography : Manu Jobst {StaticMovement}
Manu Jobst is a visual artist and dancer that works in many mediums. Chameleon-like, she changes her materials and output to suit the vision - but there is still a core view on life that ties all of it together. Born in Germany, with a German...
The crafted object : Claire Baker {ceramics}
The patina of age, delicate patterns, fragments from life and fragments from memory. Claire Baker's ceramics are curiously intriguing, whimsical and just a bit theatrical. Inspired by the darker side of Victoriana, and in particular, Miss Havisham's wedding...
Photography : IonAnthosPhotography
Flowers whisper secrets only the mist can hear. Quietness is at the heart of Jolanta Zychlinska's photographs. Devoid of distractions, her minimalist images allow us to contemplate each form and texture, and always a sense of depth. There...
Surface design : Sonya Romeo {lee and allan design}
Sonya Romeo's designs are handsome; clean lines combine with classic shapes to make repeats that are fresh, yet familiar and comfortable. Inspired by her day to day surroundings, her patterns take in elements of nature and of family, filtered through the...
The crafted object : Natalia Milosz-Piekarska {jewellery}
It was a few years ago in Melbourne that I first came across Natalia Milosz-Piekarska's luminously coloured jewellery. I was intrigued by her painted surfaces and tactile shapes; her very organic forms reminded me of some kind of mysterious, shy yet friendly sea...
The crafted object : Marianne Anderson, jeweller
Marianne Anderson loves books. Working her way between historical and technical sourcebooks and her own sketchbook, she teases out ideas of traditional ornamental forms and what makes them meaningful. Glasgow seems then the perfect place in which to base...
Photography : Alison Pouliot ~ fungi
I am SO happy to be able to welcome back my dear, dear friend Alison Pouliot, who just also happens to be a fabulous photographer. I've already featured her work here before, way back when this blog started. Alison trained in ecology and science, and this has...
Surface design : Danny Ivan
Danny Ivan's work is gorgeously colourful; multiple warm hues overlaid with soft textures. While much of his work has geometry and digital glitch as its basis, he also demonstrates some fabulous drawing skills, especially with his illustrations of animals -...
The crafted object : Jess Dare {jewellery}
Jess Dare's work sits in that eloquent space between complexity and simplicity. Her colour palettes are clear and bright, her shapes are deceptively simple, and her compositions have an easy sense of balance. But it is the subtle touches of visual texture that...
Surface Design : Sophie Honeybelle
Mixing up surface design influences from the 1960s and 70s with traditional Middle Eastern mosaics, and reinterpreting them through vector illustrations, results in the clean geometries of Sophie Honeybelle's patterns. Grids - vertical or diagonal...
Surface design : the Sheila Bownas archive
Chelsea Cefai went to an auction one day in 2008, and came home the owner of an entire collection of more than 200 mid-century surface designs. The artist was Sheila Bownas. The collection is the work of English designer Sheila Bownas,...
Photography : Jane Linders
Jane Linders is fascinated with the slick shapes of Airstreams, old shopfronts and the oddities along the highways across America. She loves exploring alternative photographic processes, such as High Dymanic Range (HDR), polaroid transfers and infrared. What...
The crafted object : Meredith Woolnough – textiles
Meredith Woolnough's textile works are just so goshdarn beautiful. Inspired by nature and old lace, it is their intricacy and fragility that draws me in, and it is their vibrant textures that hold me there. It is the ephemeral nature of...
Surface Design : Ceramics as canvas
I'd like you all to give a big welcome to my guest posters today, Lesley and Harriet Stevens of Decorque - a family-run business based in the UK specialising in home decorator wares and accessories. Take it away Lesley and Harriet! * Surface pattern on ceramics is...
The crafted object : Fi Hocking – nuno felt
Fi Hocking is a feltmaker and artist living in Eumundi, a lush little piece of hinterland on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. Earthy richness is a hallmark of Fi's felting too - layer of colour upon layer, with little embroidered details and textures that are...
Surface design : Njeri Designs {Virginia Kamau}
Deeply influenced by her childhood memories of growing up in Nairobi, Virginia Njeri Kamau produces surface designs of rich colour and vibrant form. Flowers are everywhere blooming in fresh profusion, bold and lyrical. "Nairobi was so untouched and brilliant...
Photography : Bialakura
Little textured details that nobody notices. Shapes and colours and textures. Did I mention textures? Bialakura's images are ripe with texture - crisp and soft, smooth and flaky, organic, hard, sharp and prickly; they invite you to touch. ...
Surface design : Emily Rose Lambert
Emily Lambert has long been fascinated with indigenous American culture. Perhaps that's curious for someone from the UK, but it also fits neatly with her other loves - animals and nature, texture, colour, pattern and narrative. She has only JUST...
The crafted object : Leigh Martin ~ knit
Leigh Martin loves plants. In fact, she admits she is obsessed with them. "My education, career, and artwork revolve around this love, and there are few things that I love more." Except perhaps knitting. While she has been knitting since college (mostly garments and...
Small biz : Lix Hewett – fresh biz {starting a new venture}
Welcome to a very brand spanking new section in tractorgirl, called Small Biz (check the menu item at the top there!). In this space I am intending to share all the excellent small biz advice I have come across, as well as lots of how-tos, gained over the many...
Milestones!
***UPDATE: Winner is announced below!*** As some of you might know, I hit a big milestone on my Facebook page - 1000 likers!! I'm a bit in awe that there are so many of you that like my work. All of what you see over there are things that I've made...
Photography : Susie Loucks – wildlife photographer
I first came across the extraordinary photography of Susie Loucks a while ago, when I was looking for images of seabirds. These are images of wild animals, in motion. To capture such an image means an immense amount of time and patience are...
Colouring my day : White Chalk
I hope you've been enjoying this musical interlude, while I've been concentrating on other things for a short while. This is the last in the series featuring music + colour, I'll be back on Monday. Julie x * White Chalk : PJ Harvey I could not leave...
Colouring my day : Underwater Love
Yes, Underwater's not a real colour, but it is evocative of a certain section of the spectrum. And this track is so seductively good, I couldn't go past it. Smoke City : Underwater Love * {Sandra Darling via here} {Sivan Royz via...
Colouring my day : Golden Brown
Continuing on with my short interlude, I've got some more beautiful craft, surface design and photography, themed around songs with colour in the title. I hope you enjoy my selections. Julie x Golden Brown : The Stranglers The Stranglers are...
Colouring my day : All Neon Like
As you might know, I'm taking a kind of mini-break from the blog - but not disappearing completely. For the next little while, instead of full interviews with artists, I will be sharing a bunch of beautiful craft, surface design and photography, themed around...
Colouring my day : Purple Haze
As you might know, I'm taking a kind of mini-break from the blog - but not disappearing completely. For the next little while, instead of full interviews with artists, I will be sharing a bunch of beautiful craft, surface design and photography, themed around...
Colouring my day : Fade to Grey
Hi, I'm taking a kind of mini-break from the blog - but not disappearing completely. For the next two weeks, instead of full interviews with artists, I will be sharing a bunch of beautiful craft, surface design and photography, themed around music (thanks Annaig for...
The crafted object: Helga Matos – woven textiles
Helga Matos was born in Brazil and grew up in the Amazon Rainforest. With such an incredible backdrop to her childhood, it is no wonder that it has greatly influenced her creative work. She says it is a constant source of inspiration for her woven textiles. She...
Surface design : materialsgirl {Callie Langham}
It's easy to see that Callie Langham is captivated by texture. She layers up her images, surface upon surface, enhancing their graininess and coarse weaves, to become deliciously, visually tactile. Working under the name materialsgirl, it has only been in the...