Hello beautiful humans! I’m currently sitting in the sun with a couple of jumpers on listening to sheep baa, roosters ‘doo-da-loo’ and bees buzz. The calm of this place where I’m so lucky to live truly soothes my soul after the madness of Uluwatu and Ubud (Bali). I returned at 6am two days ago and in my less-than-one-hour-sleep delirium was seeing magic in everything. Despite it still being a little chilly, spring is most certainly in the air and I’m enjoying the optimistic yellow of the acacia blooming in our backyard.
I did have a wonderful time in Bali with my sister Acacia (famous author of the Australian Animal A-Z Book). We’d never been on a holiday as just the two of us together before and it was an excellent sister bonding trip. I felt like we were kids/teenagers again sharing a room, giggling and making up nonsense stories. What a treat! I was also super inspired by the Indonesian art and culture. On our final day, we visited the Agung Rai Museum of Art and I was truly blown away by most of the artworks and stone carvings. There were a few times that my mouth literally dropped and an audible WOW escaped my lips when I walked into a room. I’ll be sharing my sketchbook and photos from the trip here on Substack soon, so keep an eye out.
VLOG
SALA Exhibition
Yes, that’s right! This year I’ve decided to join the thrum of SALA (South Australian Living Arts Festival). I’ve beautifully framed my four ‘birds with personalities’ (which you can see on these sketchbooks). The exhibition opening is this Friday the 2nd of August (4-7pm) and I’ll also be running a free ‘nature journaling’ session at the event. Why not come along?
Art Classes
Classes at Stangate House and Garden start this Friday! I’m running a 3-week birds drawing/painting sessions. Wander around the beautiful gardens and be inspired by the birds/flowers you see to use in your artworks. Come along on the 2nd, 9th and 16th of August… all 3 if you’d like to work on a larger artwork or just 1 or 2 sessions for a smaller painting. Book in here.
On August 10 (2-4pm) I’m running a Winter Flowers with Wine and Nibbles at The Cedars class and on August 11 another ‘Step-by Step’ Bird painting class with tea (this time we’ll be focusing on the red-browed finch (book here)).
Term 3 homeschool classes at Norton Summit start next week - you can book here.
If you happen to be unable to visit one of my classes in person, guess what? You’re lucky day has finally come! Paid subscribers here on Substack will now receive access to exclusive art-class videos and ‘how-to-draw’ sheets. This month we will be playing with watercolours to create ‘bizarre birds’. This is a fun class in which you will learn some basic watercolour techniques and let the watercolour guide the outcome of your artwork.
Australian Animal A-Z Book
Thank you so much to all the lovely people who purchased by A-Z book this month and received a free copy of The Grand Banksia Adventure. What a delight! This month I’ll be giving away a greeting card with every book sold so that you can easily gift some interesting facts and art to your loved ones. I’ll wrap the books nicely and even write in the cards for you if you want to send the parcel directly to the recipient. Don’t forget that I’m donating $5 from every A-Z book I sell online to the Bob Brown Foundation. Check out my A-Z book here (good Christmas gift).
My focus animal from the book this month was the Echidna. These are very cute little marsupials, but don’t be fooled, they are actually ravenous killers of the night! Learn more here (plus a free colouring page).
E is for Echidna
Hello beautiful people and welcome to Lesson 5 of ‘Aussie Animals’ - Echidna! I’m often shocked by how little people know about Australia’s animals. Of course, everyone knows about Kangaroos and Koalas… but what about an Antechinus or Dunnart? See a video of me talking about the Echidna
New Prints
I finally got around to listing all of my Australian animal prints on my website! The quality of the paper is now far-superior archival giclee so that they will last for hundreds of years. As a little bonus, you can purchase them now for 15% off with the code GICLEE .
Colouring Sheet Giveaway
I love emus! I hope you do too. This month’s free colouring page is of this spiffing emu, I’d love to see your beautiful creations via return email. Download it here.
Real-life Mail!
I’ll be sending out a very special ‘mini-print’ in the real mail this month. All of my lovely paid subscribers will receive the print which will be protected in a ‘Will the Wombat’ greeting card (bonus)! If you’re interested in receiving this special gift, all you need to do is upgrade your subscription.
With love and a dose of whimsy,
Zinia