Since we’ve had breakfast and tea in Paris, chatting with old men about the delights of Corsica and an after lunch laze-about in the Jardin Du Luxembourg in the afternoon: now it’s time for a late night stroll in Amsterdam, through the canal district. On this wander, we might see some of Amsterdam’s funny crooked buildings, find a stylish old wooden dinghy, peek through the window of someone’s beautifully decorated home, find some cool boutiques, and stop by a canal to take in the incredible view.

So come on, let’s see what we find along the way - but mind your step, the cobblestones do tend to jump out at you every now and then in the dark…

i thought we should linger in paris a little while longer, perhaps catch some sun and unwind for the afternoon. would you like to? except this time you have to guess where we are (i will put the answer in the comments so as not to drive you crazy). so click on the play button below while i transport you to one of my favourite quiet(ish) sanctuaries of paris…

So welcome to my first post of this special series called soundscapes…

To listen, just press play below the photo and come with me to Paris, for the moment. Enjoy…

Above, a little patience in a bowl, from the very sweet Paloma’s Nest.

this eight petal flower pinhole piece from heather smith jones. stunning.

and i love these delicate slim lined pouring vessels from up in the air somewhere.

Well, I made it back onto my bike over the weekend, but not without trepidation. Thank you for your awesome ongoing encouragement, it has helped so so much. This morning I was on my way in to a meeting - in a taxi - and I can tell you, my heart was in my throat every time we passed someone on a bike. But this driver was a good one and was very cautious. Phew.

I have so much to share with you this week, but it is also a frantic week of productions so let’s see how I go. Right now I am moodboarding, tomorrow I will be sourcing, the next day cooking, the next day shooting, the next day… well, catching my breath I imagine. I will be back here every moment in between. See you then!

Oh yes, and as I always like to end, I hope you have enjoyed this installment of…

While last Friday I was smacked to the ground by a taxi, this Friday my hands have been drawn by the sensational Esti! What a wonderful day it is!! Yes these are my hands, enhanced and decorated by Esti. I am in awe of her drawings, and I feel pretty special that she has interpreted my hands in this way - look at the swimming fish in the detail. Wow.

I must admit, I was pretty reluctant to send an outline of my hands as when I drew them, I felt like I was giving away a piece of my soul. I am super conscious of my hands, for so many reasons. One being that my fingers are quite long and even though my mother always said how wonderful that was, I always felt like a bit of a freak. But even if I did give a piece of my soul away to Esti, she just gave it right back to me, and that piece is more beautiful and unique now than it ever was.

Click here to read and view Esti’s full post.

Thank you Esti, you have totally made my day.

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Well folks, I am about to jump on my bike again for the first time since I had the accident. I am pretty scared, to be truthful. I didn’t think it had affected me so much but apparently it has. But today there is no more procrastinating as I have so much work to do, I’ve sort of piled it all up into one day, the last day of the week, and now I have to race around and pick up samples and props for next weeks shoots. i feel like a bit of a baby, being so reluctant to get on the bike. But here goes nothin’. Wish me luck out there!!

So where was I… oh yes, my obsession with the work of weavers! Another weaving studio which I am smitten with is that of Kelly Stewart and Kenny Nix - the lovely couple who have created the Gene Straus Design Weaving Studio. They have an extensive online gallery and I have been perusing it over the past few weeks, imagining them looming away, coming up with new ideas and fashioning loose threads into woven treasures. There is such a personal touch to their website - writing about how each piece was formed and what it was formed from - you see, Kelly and Kenny create rugs from tossed away clothing and scrap wool selvages. There is so much work to strip the fabrics into usable threads, let alone the amount of time and energy into creating the designs and starting the production, making each of their handwoven rugs unique yet so affordable.

What you see above has been made from old denim jeans which I think is just amazing. I imagine this rug on white wooden floorboards at an entrance way. In fact, I imagine alot of their designs in white spaces, creating warmth, depth and texture. Weaving old into new - I love it.

Click here to peruse their collection.

“A TibetSydney hand-weave isn’t a rug; it’s a story. A story where one becomes part of the narrative… Here it becomes a calm controversy of textures, palette and meanings between the occidental and oriental, futurism and antiquity, noise and contemplation, skin and intellect…”

I have found I have become so fascinated in the art of weaving - it is such an art, and just the sight of a loom makes me a little giddy. The TibetSydney showroom in Queens St, Woollahra is not only an inspiration for it’s weaved creations, but is also an interior masterpiece, created by famed architect Donavon Hill…

I first learnt about TibetSydney in Vogue Living, and I remember drooling over the images and carefully digesting every single word…

And I remember thinking, how does something so ‘everyday’ like a rug, become so evocative, so rich and layered, so full of depth. And I thought - it is culture. It is influences. It is one’s personal experiences and attachments as an artist that is interweaved into each piece, creating and weaving stories into each creation.

This is something I hope to achieve in my own work, in whatever medium it takes. The idea of weaving one’s cultural experiences and intimate moments into an everyday artefact makes an interior sparkle with life.

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Click here to read the story narrative of the TibetSydney rugs, and the inspiration of the designs.

I will never forget, because my store was not exactly child friendly. But these children were so well-behaved - surrounded by loads of strangers, in a frenzy of chatter and bustle as cushions, tables, clothes, and jewellery were being ogled and passed over the counter. Sophie and I connected on that one fleeting first meeting, and looking back we see that our chance encounter was perhaps, no chance at all.

I tell you all this because it is my meeting Sophie that led us both to meeting Tenpa, and both of us individually yet concurrently, developing a special connection with him and his family.

Fast forward to today, and Sophie and my other dear friend Leona, recently returned from an incredibly sacred journey to Tibet with Tenpa, his sister Thongga and their father who is known to many as Rinpoche, but who I call pala (father, in Tibetan). The journey was perilous as the risk of Tibetans travelling back to their own country can be fatal. I was distraught when they all left, and I sent them my positive thoughts every moment of every day they were away. I hung on to every email Tenpa was able to send me to tell me they were all safe, and I was a wreck when I would receive mail that sounded tentative and less than reassuring. But they all arrived home safely and live to tell the tale.

And here it is…

Sophie has complied this incredible book filled with stories and events from the journey, including her stunning photographs and the journey details through the eyes of pala, Tenpa and Thongga. I have been lucky enough to have sneak peaks over the last few months as the book has been developing, and I will give you only five words to describe it: intimate, captivating, intriguing, heart-breaking and inspiring. A must read for not just those interested in Tibet, but anyone who has a heart.

I am so excited to announce that Sophie has given me the go-ahead to offer the book for pre-order. Just email me your name and contact details and I will put you on the list for the first books off the printing press in August. The aim of the book is to raise awareness of the Tibetan situation and hopefully raise some money from sales.

The book will initially come out of Australia but we’d like to offer the book all over the world, and in lots of languages - so if you are interested to volunteer translations or to help subsidize a print run here in Europe or America, please let me know.

Thank you Sophie, for creating such an incredible body of work, and for sharing it with us all.

As you all know, I spent the weekend pottering around the boat, fixing and organising, getting things done on my ‘houseboat to do’ list. One of the things that has been bugging me for a while was my desk area. I had been blu-tacing things up on the wall since I’ve been here, trying to create a moodboard of sorts, and eventually everything just kept falling off - it was not unusual to be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of papers and notes falling, creating a domino effect of falling items on the desk which, akin to my way of doing things, were all carefully balancing on top of each other (oh I hear my mother’s voice right about now, with the rolling of the eyes - she always had a strong dislike to my style of blu-tacking things to my bedroom walls and balanced things precariously on top of one another… don’t look Mum!).

And as you also know, with rentals you can’t hammer nails into walls. But this has never deterred me from claiming a space as mine and this weekend I came up with a system for getting as much of my inspiration on the wall above my desk as possible…

I used the wood trimming as my frame, and unscrewed a few of the screws just partially, wrapped some twine around them, screwed them back and tightened them to create a criss cross of strings around the window. Then I pegged all my inspiration and notes, ribbons, drawings and cards to the string…

What do you think? I am loving having everyone’s cards, gifts, and work on display. Do you recognise a few? The bird illustration card is from the wonderful Joetta when she sent me her My Heart Wanders submissions. The yellow square is a Tibetan prayer flag given to me by my aunty sue…

The artwork on the left is an abstract cityscape of New York, and is the incredible prize I won on Lynne’s blog. The competition was to name the artwork and as soon as I saw it the name “city talk” came to my mind. And I won! So here is “city talk” in the flesh, from the very fabulous New Mexican artist Sage McKee. Thank you again Lynne and Sage, I am totally in love with it. The photograph in the middle is one of David’s of which he wrote all over the back of as a card for my birthday (super sweet). The black and white print on the right is actually a poster of my Dad. He was a Judo Olympian way back when (I know, this fact has never made it easy bringing my dates home to ‘meet the parents’!) and i just love this poster of him doing Judo moves with his pal Peter Paige. The photo above that is from the Aymara catalogue and reminds me of my Mum, so beautiful. And the pic above that, well you all know, that’s of my favourite island retreat!

Above is “the desk” in situ - so you can see where it is on the boat. It is the perfect spot because from the front door in the kitchen you can’t see it which keeps the space looking clean lined, and it is not until you walk down the stairs and into the main living area that you see it to the left. It is such an inspiring space to work at now - i often glance up at it all and dream away, finding inspiration in the colours and textures, stories and memories.

I will show more things that I created this weekend, but for now, I hope you liked this snapshot.

xx