New year, new series

I love January, hibernation month, spending time indoors - this year playing with ink and drawing.
I've really enjoyed sketching gorgeous flowering jasmine teas in glass. Studying majestic miniature underwater worlds.
Drawn and painted large-scale.

Great present from my sister-in-law.Thanks, Suzi!

First painting sold

I've been experimenting with inks and oil pastels in my Jasmine series over the past few months. I've loved layering sumptuous colours in different media in dozens of studies.

Huge jasmine flowers suspended in water become surreal floating landscapes with depth.

I've sold my first finished Jasmine painting, after many many studies and it's gone to a lovely home in Belfast! 

Floating Jasmine

Summer shows are now over and I've loved getting back to playing with paint again, inspired by colour saturation on the west coast of Sweden.

Here is a preview of my new series 'Floating Jasmine' with underwater flowers in luscious colours.

I'll soon be back in Flux Studios working on my new silver collections, ready for autumn. Revving up for a summer of creating.

Jasmine Tea

At last we made it to Ping Pong, the Chinese restaurant at Southbank which I've often walked past and wanted to go to. The range of dim sum was excellent, we sat out in a heated terrace and I loved the flowering jasmine tea. Served in large thermos glasses, they kept the heat in constantly. 

It reminded me of the first time I had this tea at Huxingting, the oldest teahouse in Shanghai, back in 2008. You could get flowering jasmine tea in the UK a few years ago, but it was not as easy to find it back then. Not a problem now - another sign of China emerging in London.  

Flowering Jasmine tea at Ping Pong

Flowering Jasmine served in glass teapots at Huxinting Teahouse 2008