matouenpeluche

Merry Christmas everybody!

 
I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy and fulfilling holiday season. XXX's Sam.

Hashiguchi Goyo

I have recently been admiring the sublime work of Hashiguchi Goyo a Japanese artist born in 1880. He was actually born Hashiguchi Kiyoshi but he later changed his name to Goyo after the magnificent goyo pine tree in his Father's garden. His father, incidentally, was a samurai and amateur painter.

(All images from Fujiarts)

Goyo produced 14 woodblock prints during his short life: he died in 1921 at the age of 41 after having suffered ill health for a number of years.

Looking at his work, I feel mesmerised by the calm beauty of his compositions. The detail of the fabrics he painted and the joyous colours are truly something in my opinion.

You can find out more about him and his work here.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and that it is not too hectic in the lead up to Christmas Day!

Clyde the cuckoo.

Gosh! Pardon me for the extended blog absence! Last week was the final week of school which got a bit whirlwind-esque to say the least! After school broke up I went to my Dad's for a bit of R 'n' R. However, I'm back home now and it is officially the first day of my two week break!! Yippeee!!

I got back from my Dad's midday today and the first thing I needed to do was draw!!

This young lad above is my drawing of an Australian Golden Bronze Cuckoo. They live along the eastern coast of Australia and a bit over in Perth (which is on the west coast). His name is Clyde by the way.

What really fascinates me about cuckoos is that almost all of them have this distinctive striped chest. I think it makes them look very smart and dapper!

Here's a photo of a real live Golden Bronze Cuckoo taken in Queensland. What a sweetie!

(Image from here )

I have this young chap available in my shop here.

I hope everyone is well and relaxed and I look forward to popping in to check out all the blog action I've missed this past week!

Happy Monday!

Hello Monday! Here are my two weekend drawings. The top one is Hazel and her friend - the "friend" being a butterfly. Nobody knows the butterfly's name except Hazel. They go everywhere together.

The other drawing is actually available in my shop as an original and as a small print! It is a Sydney Seagull merrily flying off to Bondi Beach to try his luck at getting some hot chips from either the locals or unsuspecting tourists.

Hope everyone had a delightful weekend! I managed to get a large twig in my eye which caused me a few hours of anxiousness to say the least! However, all is well now, touch wood, whistle!

Bats and Apollo: Shadow Shot Sunday

Happy Shadow Shot Sunday! The top shot is of a flying fox mid-siesta in the Botanic Gardens. As he was sleeping, he was slowly twirling around. I managed to get his contented smile though in this shot. The bottom shot is part of The Archibald Fountain in Sydney's Hyde Park. This is a fine art deco fountain commissioned and paid for by a prominent Sydney identity, J.F. Archibald. It was built after he died as a memorial to him and he insisted that the artist be French as he was an utter Francophile and also because he wanted to commemorate the alliance between France and Australia in World War I. The artist chosen was Francois Sicard. It was completed on 1932. Below you can see the entire fountain in all it's art deco glory.

In the centre is Apollo and he is flanked below by the goddess Diana and the god of Sacrifice for the public good, Theseus (with the minator). There is another group which represents the bounty and goodness of nature. 

Shadow Shot Sunday is an awesome meme set up by that fabbo top gal Tracy of Hey Harriet! Everybody can submit a SSS and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Friday's fur-day!

Isn't this boy (?) just too much! Love! I think snow leopard's are the pin up boys of the wild cat family. Don't get me wrong, I adore all pussy cats but I think snow leopards have a certain je ne sais quoi. Ah! Maybe it's just me!

...and I'd just like to say a huge "Hello" and "Thank you" to Kathleen of Kitty Stampede fame for posting about my work this week. I'd also like to strongly urge everyone to go over and check out her fabulous blog if you haven't already done so! It's full of pussy cats doing extraordinary things and also pussy cats just being effortlessly gorgeous! 

I leave you with part of a Cartier advertisement (a leopard too I think) my eagle eyed boyfriend found for me this week.

Audrey Hepburn's dresses and accessories go under the hammer.

Dresses and accessories from Audrey Hepburn's collection, 36 items in total, went to auction yesterday and sold for 270, 000 pounds! This was 170,000 pounds more than expected! There were dresses from her iconic films such as "Roman Holiday" and an ivory satin dress  she planned to wear for her wedding to James Hanson which was later cancelled.

Apparently, all the clothes are exceedingly petite as Audrey measured 5ft 7 inches tall with a bust of 32", waist 22" and hips 34"

Sorry I missed it - although I'm not very good at auctions - I tend to get paranoid the auctioneer is looking at me and I freeze up least he think my blinking eyes are me bidding on something outrageously expensive!

You can find the full story and photos here!

Angelic Angelica

(All images via here)

Did you know that Angelica Huston is the third generation of her family to be in film and the third generation to win an oscar? Her father was the famous film director John Huston and her mother was a famous Italian-American prima ballerina. Her grandfather was Walter Huston a character actor in Hollywood from the 1920s - 1940s.

I've always thought she was very striking to look at and I've always admired her acting.

Happy Tuesday (already?!) tout le monde!

3 for 2 SALE in my shop!

King of the castle...

Ah! The sweet, dulcet tones of the melodic Australian Cockatoo! Anybody from Australia and anybody who has been to Sydney and has had the pleasure of listening to a cockatoo will know I am being deeply sarcastic here! The cockatoo's call is the most abrasive, screeching, ghastly sound on the planet and yet they hold a special place in every Aussie's heart. Their name is often shortened to "cocky" and boy are they that! So confident and full of chutzpah! As a matter of fact I'm listening to a lone cocky screeching like a madman in the park down the end of my street right now. Bless!

This is my Shadow Shot for this week. Shadow Shot Sunday is a fantastic meme set up by that all round good gal Tracy of Hey Harriet fame! Anybody can enter and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Happy Sunday mes amis!!