The sweet and pure beauty of the common camellia. 

Her soft white petals open wide, layer by layer in the warming sunlight, revealing gentle whispers from within. 

She sings a song in soft-scented harmony with her petaline cupping, a song not heard, but smelt. 

Her sweet perfume brings forth a smile on the face of her spectator as she blows a fragrant kiss.

It’s late afternoon on Lake Orr in Varsity Lakes and a lone pelican glides gracefully through the water. On the surface, it appears to slide through the water as if on a conveyor belt, leaving only the smallest of wakes behind.

Serene beauty. Nature at its wonderful best.

This piece comes with a heavy heart.

This is one of the beautiful Black Swans that graced Lake Orr’s shores, Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast, Australia. Sadly, in late November 2023, Poppy, as she was affectionately known, was injured by a Bull Shark, which are prevalent in the lake. Locals rushed her to the local veterinary surgeon, but sadly she could not be saved.

So, in loving memory of Poppy, seen here with two of her four cygnets, the proceeds from the sale of prints of this artwork will be donated to a Gold Coast charity to help save the Black Swans under threat from many things.
Please help this noble cause and purchase your print today.

Ahhhhh. The inspiration that comes from the simplest of places.

This is one of a collection of posters inspired during a recent trip to Oamaru, a small but exciting town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Oamaru is known for its ‘steampunk’ vibe with many restaurants and bars capitalising on the theme.

While visiting one of these eclectic bars we were served prosecco in these wonderful traditional champagne glasses.
(champagne flutes we introduced later in the 20th century).
With my iPhone set to portrait mode>stage-light, I took some really nice shots.  These are the results. These are ‘as-shot’ on the iPhone, with just a tickle in edit mode. The glasses feel very vintage, so I took them in the glorious ‘Art-Deco’ era with the addition of some fun quotes to create a retro fun poster feeling.
So why not pour yourself a glass of your favourite bubbles and reflect on the quotes.

Enjoy.

They can stand alone, or be collected as part of an ongoing series.

Ahhhhh. The inspiration that comes from the simplest of places.

This is one of a collection of posters inspired during a recent trip to Oamaru, a small but exciting town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Oamaru is known for its ‘steampunk’ vibe with many restaurants and bars capitalising on the theme.

While visiting one of these eclectic bars we were served prosecco in these wonderful traditional champagne glasses.
(champagne flutes we introduced later in the 20th century).
With my iPhone set to portrait mode>stage-light, I took some really nice shots.  These are the results. These are ‘as-shot’ on the iPhone, with just a tickle in edit mode. The glasses feel very vintage, so I took them in the glorious Art-Deco’ era with the addition of some fun quotes to create a retro fun poster feeling.
So why not pour yourself a glass of your favourite bubbles and reflect on the quotes.

Enjoy.

They can stand alone, or be collected as part of an ongoing series.

Ahhhhh. The inspiration that comes from the simplest of places.

This is one of a collection of posters inspired during a recent trip to Oamaru, a small but exciting town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Oamaru is known for its ‘steampunk’ vibe with many restaurants and bars capitalising on the theme.

While visiting one of these eclectic bars we were served prosecco in these wonderful traditional champagne glasses.
(champagne flutes we introduced later in the 20th century).
With my iPhone set to portrait mode>stage-light, I took some really nice shots.  These are the results. These are ‘as-shot’ on the iPhone, with just a tickle in edit mode. The glasses feel very vintage, so I took them in the glorious Art-Deco’ era with the addition of some fun quotes to create a retro fun poster feeling.
So why not pour yourself a glass of your favourite bubbles and reflect on the quotes.

Enjoy.

They can stand alone, or be collected as part of an ongoing series.

Ahhhhh. The inspiration that comes from the simplest of places.

This is one of a collection of posters inspired during a recent trip to Oamaru, a small but exciting town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Oamaru is known for its ‘steampunk’ vibe with many restaurants and bars capitalising on the theme.

While visiting one of these eclectic bars we were served prosecco in these wonderful traditional champagne glasses.
(champagne flutes we introduced later in the 20th century).
With my iPhone set to portrait mode>stage-light, I took some really nice shots.  These are the results. These are ‘as-shot’ on the iPhone, with just a tickle in edit mode. The glasses feel very vintage, so I took them in the glorious Art-Deco’ era with the addition of some fun quotes to create a retro fun poster feeling.
So why not pour yourself a glass of your favourite bubbles and reflect on the quotes.

Enjoy.

They can stand alone, or be collected as part of an ongoing series.

Ahhhhh. The inspiration that comes from the simplest of places.

This is one of a collection of posters inspired during a recent trip to Oamaru, a small but exciting town on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Oamaru is known for its ‘steampunk’ vibe with many restaurants and bars capitalising on the theme.

While visiting one of these eclectic bars we were served prosecco in these wonderful traditional champagne glasses.
(champagne flutes we introduced later in the 20th century).
With my iPhone set to portrait mode>stage-light, I took some really nice shots.  These are the results. These are ‘as-shot’ on the iPhone, with just a tickle in edit mode. The glasses feel very vintage, so I took them in the glorious Art-Deco’ era with the addition of some fun quotes to create a retro fun poster feeling.
So why not pour yourself a glass of your favourite bubbles and reflect on the quotes.

Enjoy.

They can stand alone, or be collected as part of an ongoing series.

The early morning mist shrouds the famous statue of David, by famous artist and sculptor Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known simply as Michelangelo. This ethereal representation is an enhanced image I took in Firenze (Florence), Italy in 2015.

The history of the statue of David begins before Michelangelo’s work on it from 1501 to 1504.
With a height of 5.17 metres (17 ft), the David was the first colossal marble statue made in the early modern period following classical antiquity, a precedent for the 16th century and beyond.

The biblical figure David was a favoured subject in the art of Florence. Because of the nature of the figure it represented, the statue soon came to symbolise the defence of civil liberties embodied in the 1494 constitution of the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the political aspirations of the Medici family.

Kōkako

An exercise in watercolour wash, pen & ink and designer’s gouache during my studies at Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University) School Of Design back in the early 1980s.

A New Zealand native bird. Often referred to as ‘The Lone Ranger Bird’ or the ‘New Zealand Crow’.

Māori myth refers to the Kōkako in several stories. In one notable story, a Kōkako gave Māui water as he fought the sun by filling its plump wattles with water and offering it to Māui to quench his thirst. Māui rewarded kōkako for its kindness by stretching its legs until they were lean, long and strong so that Kōkako could easily leap through the forest to find food.

The kōkako appears on the reverse side of the New Zealand $50 note.