Libertad

I'm bang in the middle of preparing for my 3 minute stint at the Liberty (Libertad in Spanish if you're wondering) London open call for designers 2014 this Saturday, thinking about what to take, what to say, what to wear, what will the weather be doing...ad infinitum!  So of course, my mind wanders to what inspires me, what keeps my creative buzz going and of course I just love nature!  So here are some more images of my recent trip to Andalucia. No doubt I'll be up 'til the small hours pondering the rest!

Don't know what this tree was but I loved the flowers!

The awe-inspiring gorge at Ronda.

Roof garden

My son's first Spanish artichoke - yum!

In Japan...

Just before my holiday in mid-July I had some great news.  My wallpapers are going to be on sale in Japan!!!  WALPA are a very cool wallpaper distributer with four lovely stores (2 more opening soon) in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.  I'm hoping they like my organic designs and buy lots and lots!

I'm almost ready to send off my lovely new sample books...

A little taste of Spain...

I really cannot believe I haven't blogged for a whole month!!!!  It must be the holidays - oh yes it is! We started the holidays with a trip to Andalucia in Southern Spain, staying in Gaucin, a beautiful mountain village with white walls and terracotta rooftops.

Amazing view of Gibraltar and Africa from the apartment.

I have to say, we had an amazing place to stay.  Such is my interest in interiors, that I stumbled upon Sylvia Felix's gorgeous and extremely comfortable apartment using a load of keywords on google - can't remember them now but they were probably 'holiday', 'apartment', 'luxury', 'interior design', 'artists'...you get the picture I'm sure.  Anyway, Gaucin is full of international residents, artists, photographers etc, and the most friendly local population you can imagine.

Genalguacil sculpture trail.

Imagine who has been though these doors over the years...

I'm always on the lookout for beautiful flowers!

Our favourite beach near Tarifa - kite-surf central!

And relax...

An amazingly empty beach near Sotogrande, a nature reserve allowing migratory birds fly safely to Africa

The apartment was on the upper floor of a two storey house and had THE most incredible views over the half hour drive up the mountain, the Rock of Gibraltar and clear views of a very close Africa beyond, with the twinkling lights of Tangier at night.  Magical.  If that wasn't enough, dozens of booted and long toed eagles drifted on the thermals over the house every day, and we watched shooting stars from the balcony at night.

It was lovely to relax but I can't travel anywhere without checking out an exhibition or two, and loved the permanent collection of Joaquin Peinado's work in Ronda, which had a great little exhibition of Picasso prints on display.  I love to buy a little bit of art too, and picked up an etching by Grabados Somera which is intensely detailed and beautifully printed.  Just what I needed to reboot my energy and come back with loads of new inspiration!

Etching by Grabados Somera