Lilac Rose

Hello and welcome to my first ever page of blogging. I can't say I will become a frantic or fanatic blogger but, more of a haphazard one only blogging when there is something interesting to share.

So, who am I?

Sunflower Quilt for NEC Quilt Show Birmingham. 2009

My name is Maria I am a textile/ mixed media and enthusiastic sketchbook journaling artist who enjoys working with colour as it is a strong influence in our lives capturing our emotions feeding our imagination. In July 2012 my daughter Shona and I started our first website together to showcase all of our work. This was not as easy as first thought because after much pondering and endless list making of funny and interesting names more pondering and getting a little bored and as I was eating a banana yogurt, I suggested we call it paint brushes (we use these) and yogurt pots (we use these) and get started so, our web name was born !! www.paintbrushesandyogurtpots.co.uk

Candy-floss pinks. Getting ready for our first joint exhibition at Earlsdon Library, Coventry. 2010.

Unfortunately as the days and weeks all rolled into months and life got busy (Shona at Coventry Uni) me at work + everything else we did not spend enough time driving our page or connecting it to other sites/artists/blogs.

 Making a quilt to enter in to an exhibition at the NEC & Colour inspiration from my garden.

One sunny afternoon taking a break from journaling, sketching, reading, washing, dinnering and garden looking, daughter with a year of uni life empowering her was feeling a little disgruntled with the website and so, once again out came the lists (arty people keep every scrap). She also added more names making it even harder to choose to!!!

After much pondering and even more time spent pontificating which one would suit us we settled for Whimsical Wonders. HOORAY - so now we can begin again.

My main inspiration for my work has come through my delight in gardening, as I enjoy creating movement, Colour and balance within this evocative and ever changing area.