Don't forget to Vote!!

Click on the bunny to vote and find out more about this special online show !

Happy News

I'm very very happy and honoured to be able to announce that my entry was one of ten nominated for hands on judging in this years Australasian Creative Design Awards and the theme for this years awards were 'Celebrating Beatrix Potter'.
Although, like so many, I'm ever-so-fond of  Beatrix Potters wonderful characters and their stories I had decided from the out set to try and create an Australian character but in the Potter spirit. 

As we live in Tropical North Queensland the rainforest was a good place to investigate and low and behold I discovered there lives a diminutive little creature known as The Musky Rat Kangaroo.

This little mammal is the smallest and most primitive kangaroo in the world and has several features that reflect lifestyle and body form of their tree-dwelling ancestors. Most kangaroos are active at dawn and dusk, resting during the day, however Musky Rat Kangaroos are only active during daylight.  At night they retire to a nest made from leafy twigs which they gather and transport in their short prehensile tails.  Rain forest fruits are their favourite food.  In good times these seeds and fruit are often scatter- hoarded or buried haphazardly, then later dug up and eaten. Of course not all seeds are recovered by the Musky so this actually aids in seed dispersal and contributes to maintenance of the rain forest ecosystem. 

Musky Rat Kangaroos are unique in the kangaroo world because they give birth to twins and sometimes triplets, the young joeys spend about 21 weeks in the pouch after which they are evicted and spend more time in the nest where they are suckled by their mother when she returns from foraging.  Musky Rat Kangaroos are only found in large remnant patches of tropical rainforest, and today their populations are believed to be vulnerable but secure.  They have a distinct musky scent and go about their business on the rainforest floor gathering fruit and seed that lie among the leaf litter.

So I imagined my Ms.Musky-Roo dashing about, very busy indeed, wearing her best hat of course, and dashing back to all those children with a large basket full of favourite rainforest fruits.
Ms.Musky-Roo is 9 1/2" (24cm) tall (a true life size).  I hope you like her, I had a lot of fun.

Ms. Musky-Roo

All the entries are now available for you to view and to vote for your favourite in the Peoples Photographic Choice, voting continues until June 1st,  so please visit here to vote and see a wonderful collection of work.  All the entries will be available for purchase from June 1st and winners of the hands on judging will be announced on June 5th.

The Australasian Creative Design Awards always offer a wonderful challenge for artists.  Many thanks and congratulations must go to Sandi Smith for creating these awards and her diligent care in ensuring their integrity.

Congratulations to everyone,

And a thank you to Martin Cohen and Julia Cooper for their great little book Rainforest Animals (Created, published and printed in Cairns)

Beary happy hugs,

Robyn.

Friends hop in for a snack

These young wallabies hopped into our front garden this morning for a bit of a snack.  After all our wet weather over this last rainy season our trees and shrubs in the front garden have just gone wild and so are providing good camouflage and habitat for all sorts ! 

 And speaking of All Sorts I've got my dye pots out and planning some colourful sessions for some petite bears heading off to The Gold Coast International Teddy Bear Fair in June.

 



  I haven't been idle over the last few weeks though and managed to finish and meet the photo deadline for the Australian Creative Design Awards 2011.
This is a very exciting event and the chosen nominees are subject to hands on judging of their work by three independent judges who each write a critique on the piece  for the benefit of the artist.
 The ACD Awards have attracted entries from around the world and I'm so looking forward to seeing what every one has come up with following this years theme, in honour and celebration of, Beatrix Potter.  All the entries will be up for sale at the 3rd Annual Online Ball starting on June 1st. 

Click on the banner below to find out more about this wonderful event.

Trust you are having a happy and creative week so far!

cheerio for now,

Robyn.

In my garden this morning

It's a beautiful morning here, 30 degrees C or 85 degrees F depending on your location, a little bit cloudy and a gentle breeze so I took a little stroll around and found we have some lovely flowers blooming even though it is the start of autumn here!


Ixora, the little Sunbirds and butterflys love this



Spider Lily



Golden Penda, this is Cairns floral emblem

Grevillea Fire Fly - more Sunbird food



Native Lilly Pilly



Bromliad - the little lizards enjoy the water well in the center

Another beautiful Bromliad



Ground Orchid





Bush Allamanda



Which has brought me around to reminding you about the up-coming 'Blooming Bear Show',

there are seventy five Teddy Bear Artists from around the world taking part so it's bound to be a great show for collectors, have a look at the show preview at http://www.teddiesworldwide.com/.



Meet Buttercup who will be at the show too
' with bells on' !!!

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Beary hugs, Robyn.

After the Valentine

A big thank you to Sandi Smith, Ess D' Ess, for organising another successful  TBACA  Be My Valentine On-Line Show ( the third).  I have this little person still waiting for her lover ... maybe it's you ? You can see her on my web-site now.




Cherie





Thanks Sandi , this was a lot of fun and your hard work, to pull it off,  is well appreciated !!!

Be My Valentine a Sneek Peek

Here is a sneek peek of my three bears who will be ready for adoption at this years third annual TBACA Be My Valentine Online Show. There will be 32 International and Australian artists participating and definitely a show NOT to be missed!  The show will open on Friday 11th February at 8pm Australian Eastern Daylight Saving time, and closes Monday 14th February at 8pm Australian Daylight Saving time.

A little footnote about Cyclone Yasi

Our garden has taken a bruising, but other than that everything else here is intact after cyclone Yasi belted into the Queensland coast with the eye crossing the coast about 150 to 200 kilometers south of us last Wednesday night and rated a category five as it did so.  It is heart breaking to see the damage so many have suffered who were in the direct path of Yasi and it will certainly be a very long recovery road, and some may never recover.  We were very well informed about Yasi  and were preparing three days before the cyclone arrived but nothing can really prepare you for the incredible power a system like that has.  Here's hoping there are no more like that in the pipeline but we have been told we could expect another within the next two months. Miraculously all the little birds are back in business in our garden and the bad weather has brought on a flush of beautiful Birdwing and Ulysses Butterflies !!! Amazing !  we have their caterpillar food plants growing in our garden.

Cairns Birdwing



Ulysses





and thank you to my friends for their kind thoughts and words of support during our Yasi experience.

Beary best wishes, Robyn. 



A little bit of Cheer

Here are some pics I took this morning while visiting our wonderful Cairns Botanical Gardens, where we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the little restaurant there to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  It is always such a pleasure to walk around there and enjoy the beautiful gardens and environment.  We needed a cheer up too, as the last few weeks have been devastating for Queenslanders in the path of the flood waters, and it seems Queensland is not alone as flood waters now also create havoc in the southern states, Victoria and Tasmania.  We have been very lucky here so far and only experienced plenty of rain  in Cairns, but our hearts go out to those down south who are feeling the full force of mother nature.



Footpath leading into the gardens





This little swamp hen came flying out of the garden in a great flurry so I'm surprised the shot isn't more blurry!





Time to head home.



Hope you enjoyed the flowers, beary best wishes till next time, Robyn.