Once home to Anne's Grandmother, then converted into a garage for a prized EH Holden, when we came to
Fairy Wren Cottage the building that is now my Garden Cottage Studio was derelict. Over time, Michael gutted the building, clad it with rough sawn Tasmanian Oak, installed salvaged windows, made a double glazed Tasmanian Oak exterior door and matching Tasmanian Oak screen door, laid new sustainably sourced Tasmanian Oak floorboards, insulated, plastered, installed dado panelling (wainscotting), made a bespoke Tasmanian Oak kitchen with an Australian fire clay sink, added solid lengths of Tasmanian Oak shelving in the kitchen, painted, tiled and made cabinetry for the bathroom, made shelving for drying flowers and herbs, insulated the verandah ceiling, and added a new hand railing and verandah decking boards, plus refurbished a Blackwood and Celery Top timber work table and made a daybed.
Now a beautiful, light airy space to create and many years in the making, it feels a little like having a cubby house but now it's a grown up one.
My photography lovingly focuses on capturing the beauty of nature and our country garden.
I only take photographs here at Fairy Wren Cottage either in the Garden Cottage Studio or out amongst the big old fashioned garden that my family and I have planted. Like I've mentioned before, you could say my photography is literally from the ground up.
Sowing seeds, planting bulbs, trees, bushes and plants, nurturing and caring for them, then photographing them.
The love and care is sum of the parts of my photography.
~ my garden cottage studio~
~ my garden cottage studio~
I love sharing the Garden Cottage Studio with Liliana, our daughter. We have flowery garden projects that overlap, like growing a large selection of flowers throughout the seasons. Walking around the garden together, Lil carries the trug and garden snips. We decide what is ready to pick and take the flowers and foliage back to the Garden Cottage to arrange. I favour big blousy flowery arrangements that include anything and everything from the garden. Lil loves experimenting with tea cup size arrangements. Little floral worlds big enough for a fairy to live in. Peaceful, meditative moments, quietly playing with flowers at our respective work tables.
"When we are in the Garden Cottage arranging flowers, it is like we are in our own peaceful, little, flowery world.". ~ Lil.
We also have our own projects and the Garden Cottage Studio is designed to be a multi purpose space to enjoy. There is a rotation of herbs, plants and flowers on the drying racks in preparation for dyeing. Lil has planted her own dye garden - research for her Honours year at Uni where she hopes to be studying the history of textiles and how it relates to gender history.
I love sharing the Garden Cottage Studio with Liliana, our daughter. We have flowery garden projects that overlap, like growing a large selection of flowers throughout the seasons. Walking around the garden together, Lil carries the trug and garden snips. We decide what is ready to pick and take the flowers and foliage back to the Garden Cottage to arrange. I favour big blousy flowery arrangements that include anything and everything from the garden. Lil loves experimenting with tea cup size arrangements. Little floral worlds big enough for a fairy to live in. Peaceful, meditative moments, quietly playing with flowers at our respective work tables.
"When we are in the Garden Cottage arranging flowers, it is like we are in our own peaceful, little, flowery world.". ~ Lil.
We also have our own projects and the Garden Cottage Studio is designed to be a multi purpose space to enjoy. There is a rotation of herbs, plants and flowers on the drying racks in preparation for dyeing. Lil has planted her own dye garden - research for her Honours year at Uni where she hopes to be studying the history of textiles and how it relates to gender history.
