hello friends,

i look forward to this new year and seeing you over at my new blog.

julie xxx

p.s. thank you so much for the birthday greetings!!

shelly, our big baby turns 6 today...

we wish you all of our love, joy and health always, always.

daddy, mummy, ella and the car xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Today theres a change in the air. Autumn is on its way.

Have a lovely weekend :) xx

This weekend we took a trip to the port in Tel Aviv - the sea breeze was wonderful.

I enjoyed the different structures found in the area and of course some people watching while eating breakfast was more than enough to put a smile on our faces.

I found some inspiring scenes for painting too.

Have a great week x

these last few days i have really wanted to take out my sketch book and draw - without much thinking... i like the simplicity of the black and grey. it is not so easy to conquer the blank white page... but i will.

some favourite recent finds:

Unfortunately, we on this corner of the globe are not celebrating the beginning of autumn quite yet. We took a walk along the port in Jaffa on the weekend. The sun was scorching, the sea was shining and although there were no people around, the heat prevented a feeling of peace.

But september 1st marks the first day of school for Shelly.

It was quite a different experience from my first day a school all those years ago.

It took us a while to decide which school to send her to but i am very happy with our decision.

Among other great things, the school puts a big emphasis on art and music - i was happy to read Heathers post last week where she says "The workshop facilitator said 'arts are the single most important thing for children, from the time they can hold a crayon into their teenage years.' " And as Heather says, i too am happy to believe this.

So i wish all the 5 and 6 year olds beginning school today a wonderful year!!

A couple of months ago on a bad bad day, i received a parcel from a dear friend. Kelly wasnt to know that her box of sweet thoughts would be the only thing to make me smile at that time. So here is a long overdue thank you for this gift of chocolate (unable to photograph of course!), a new lavender key ring (after i lost my keys and Kellys beautiful key ring), a crocheted doily which I LOVE!!! (Im not even sure if Kelly made this herself) and a set of delightful cleaning cloths (which seem way too pretty to clean with. If you would like to check them out - take a look here. There were a couple of other lovely things inside which reminded me of England :) all wrapped and packaged so beautifully.

Thank you so much Kelly for being such a lovely friend. Also, than you to I for my gift of British tea which i have missed so much :) xxx

with the summer nearly over, i am yearning for some quiet and a cooling down of the heat.

im looking forward to making plans and new beginnings. i wish you all a lovely weekend.

below are some links to wonderful work you may like to discover.

As I mentioned in my last post, urban structures are my major inspiration at the moment. They have been for a long time. These images are of the building opposite where i work. It is a typical old apartment block - but everyday i find myself staring at it. I love the shapes, textures and the different shades which for me make up an abstract painting.

I just drew this rough oil pastel sketch and im quite embarrased to show you it (it went in the bin straight after scanning it in!) but it was important for me to get something down on paper.

With these ideas in my mind, i really like this set of images - especially this shot.