garden moodboard - april 2013

I'm joining in with Karin and Åsa again with a monthly moodboard - a collection of seasonal flowers, and foliage from the garden. 

cow parsley • a little yellow flower from the rock garden (?) • geum • chaenomeles • a little pink flower from the rock garden (?) • cherry blossem • euphorbia • alkanet 

Do you know the names of those I don't?

long time coming

I've wanted this tin a long time. I've seen a few of them over the years but always priced at more than I'd like to spend, till last Saturday when I bought this one. It's a little worn, but I just adore it and the man I bought it from at the car boot was so nice, one of those folk with a few stories to tell, that's what I like on a sunny Saturday morning.

nature in the home

Joining in with Lou's 'nature in the home' series. A selection of flowers from the garden - there are so many out there now, a new surprise opening up everyday! 

lately

• coffee
• work at home lunch [smoked salmon and capers followed by marmalade]
• small gap
• looking up
• building site
• Royal Festival Hall
• Royal Festival Hall
• sunset on the south bank
• rainbow over the Thames

Images from my Instagram feed, follow me @nicekindofblue

garden treasure

Do you find things in the garden when you're digging? We do. Mostly bits of rubble and flint, worms too of course - Tit and Pie are straight in the hole after them. But sometimes we find treasure, well little things I keep, these things.

the creatives - ana montiel

Welcome again to 'the creatives' - a series I'm running here on the blog, introducing you to some of my favourite artists and designers, sharing a little of their work and asking them a few questions. This time I'd like to introduce Ana Montiel. I'm a big fan of Ana's work, I find it incredibly refreshing, and a little dreamy at the same time. I love her use of pattern, graphic shapes, typography, as well as the pretty colour palette she uses.

So Ana, please tell us a little about yourself and what you do? 
I'm originally from La Rioja (Spain). I moved to Barcelona to study Fine Arts when I was 18 and after 11 years living there my boyfriend, our cat and me decided to relocate to East London. I've always been very curious by nature and pretty self-taught in many ways. I'm all the time exploring, trying new things for my art projects, client commissions and life in general. I love cooking and I'm also quite hooked on gardening. The other day my boyfriend and I were cleaning and tidying up the little pond we dug last year in our backyard and found more than 10 frogs in it. I totally love the countryside vibe your life can have in some London neighbourhoods :)

What's the first thing you remember creating and how old were you? 
No idea but a photograph comes to mind of a 4 year old me painting a canvas placed on a small easel – this photograph appears in this video that Tea Time Studio made about me.

What are you working on at the moment? 

I'm working on some big format canvas paintings for my Visual Mantras project, I'm also making ceramics, drawing with ink and collaging, starting a couple of commissions for clients…

Where do you look for inspiration? 

Everywhere. Inspiration is all around – and inside us. 

What are your favorite magazines, and blogs? 
The Plant, Apartamento, Lula, The Gentlewoman, Frieze, Fine Little Day, I'm Revolting, The First Mess, Have Cake Will Travel, The Selby, Sight Unseen… the list could be endless!

If you could collaborate with anyone (living or dead who would that be)?

I'd love to create a crazy and colourful collection with Elsa Schiaparelli, that would be fun. Also would be amazing doing something together with Buckminster Fuller – such an inspiring man!
 
Do you sell your work? If so where? 
I have my online store and also some stockists around the world sell my wallpaper and other items.

Where can we find you? (blog, website, twitter, instagram, etc.)

• Ana's website
• Ana's shop
• Ana's blog
• Instagram @anamontiel
• Twitter @anamontiel
• Pinterest

Thank you Ana, for taking part in this little series and giving us all an little insight into your work and what inspires you. 

Do take a look at Ana's website's to see more of her work and enjoy meeting her in the video she mentions above - it's really lovely.

london

We took a day off work the other week and headed to London, we had tickets to see Light Show at the Hayward Gallery. I couldn't take pictures there, but this sums it up rather well. 

If you get a chance to go, you should it's so enjoyable!

these two

Tit and Pie, they make my heart sing! They really are the cutest things. 

Pie might only look small but the other day he showed us all what a big strong boy he is. When a male Mallard landed in the garden with a fancy for Tit. Pie went straight in for a fight, had a little tussle and then flew the Mallard away to the river. By the time we got over to the riverbank Pie was telling three ducks that this was his patch and his girl, he chased them off down river and then swam back to us for some tomato and a little cuddle before being reunited with Tit! What a little cutie! 

[in case you're wondering - when we first got Pie we though he was a she, I can't remember when we discovered his true sex, but if you've just read the post where I introduce him you'll see I referred to him as a her!] 

hanging out in margate 3

I mentioned back here that we visited Margate's Shell Grotto. The grotto was first discovered back in 1835 and has been an attraction ever since. It's all a big mystery, no one knows anymore than that, though there are of course plenty of theories as to how and when it came about and what the patterns depict. It's pretty amazing, I came away with a head full of ideas for a little shell cavern at the bottom of our garden [have I ever mentioned my shell collection]! 

If you're heading to Margate you might like this post too. 

home

I love spending time at home, inside and out. Though now that the weather has brightened we've been in the garden every chance we get. The lawn had it's first haircut of the year on Sunday and instantly the the garden looks in good shape again. 

hanging out in margate 2

Over the Easter weekend we visited Margate [you'll find part 1 of our adventure here]. On the Sunday we popped in here, the Turner Contemporary. 

• Juan Muñoz's sculptures
• the foyer with Michael Craig Martin's book [I was too busy trying catch the pages turn to notice some chap had popped into shot, and too hungover to capture the pages turing, did I mention I'm partial to a drop of Kent cider]
• the cafe
• Rosa Barba's moving sculptures
• the gallery

lately

• fruit from the supermarket, flowers from the garden
• my beautiful birthday bouquet from D
• nibbles with a drink
• mailboxes in South London
• seats on the overground
• a night out
• Wheler Street
• brutalist architecture in Crystal Palace

And in case you missed the next instalment of the creatives series a little interview with Hazel Stark you can find it here.

hanging out in margate

Over the Easter weekend we spent a day and a night in Margate. Our aim was mainly to visit the Turner Contemporary art gallery [I'll share that in another post]. As well as that we had a nice time just hanging out and relaxing in Margate's old town; mooching around the many retro shops and galleries, drinking delicious Kent ciders and ales in The Lifeboat, as well as sampling tasty local pies, smoked fish, and of course we couldn't resist a few cockles. We also paid a visit to the Shell Grotto somewhere we didn't find out about until we arrived in Margate, but well worth a look [I'll share that in another post too].

In other news, I've another post in the creatives series coming up in the next day or two so keep your eyes peeled ;-)

beasts of london

I first heard of these beasts that reside in Crystal Palace years ago, back when I actually lived in London, but for whatever reason I didn't make it to see them till now. This collection of dinosaurs and extinct mammals were unveiled to the public way back in 1854 - you can read more about them here. We visited last Friday, it was bitterly cold and they looked a little out of place in their maintained park surroundings, but I imagine come summer when the tree ferns have sprung to life they might look a little more at home. 

lucky bunnies

I just had to share these beauties - if only you could all have a taste too. I can't believe how many beautiful eggs D and I received this year. Our sideboard looks like a fairytale of chocolate! Or did at least - I managed to snap this the other evening before too many were gobbled. 

And with animals in mind, have you seen these portraits by Yago Partal?

lately

• a favourite dinner [smoked salmon, cream and pasta and broccoli]
• morning light in the bedroom
• morning light wakes the dollhouse
• pretty dishes in the cupboard
• a work from home lunch [smoked salmon, and potato salad]
• Somerset House
• waking up to snow again
• [coffee, sausage rolls and scotch egg] at Gog Magog Hills

I seemed to skip showing these last week, I must have been caught up in celebrating my birthday. Hello to my new followers, I'm so pleased to welcome you over here :) This is where I share my favourite instagram snaps under the heading of lately. You can follow me on instagram too - my name is nicekindofblue. 

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I celebrated my birthday last week, I kept the fact it was my birthday to myself so to most people it might have seemed like a normal day, but to me it felt pretty special. Showered with love from the closest of friends and family - those special people who keep the date in their diaries, I thank them all for making my day!