Although my new illustrated New Zealand Gardening Calendar (with moon phases) for 2015 will not be available to buy until later this year, I thought I would give you a sneak preview as I am pretty chuffed with how it turned out. Published by Live Wires NZ Ltd and designed by Tanya Wolfkamp of ‘Wolfkamp & Stone’ the A4 sized calendar features NZ native and garden plants with the occasional NZ bird on solid coloured pages, wire-bound and hung by a wire loop so no curling pages! These photos are of the proof calendar, the production calendars will be printed on beautiful matte paper stock so the colours will be lovely and chalky.
Above is the cover showing a medley wreath of some of the inside motifs, below one of my favourite pages; dahlias for February when the New Zealand Dahlia Society has it’s annual North and South Island Dahlia Shows. Below is a vase with some of the dahlia varieties I grow which I used to illustrate the calendar.
Above are snippets of all the pages, with September showing the whole page. I spent the best part of a day working out the solid colour palette before I started on the illustrations. I wanted it to be a fashion home accessory as well as a calendar so looked to Resene’s 2014 colour and Karen Walker ranges, as well as forecast apparel fashion colours, as a starting point.
Above, one of my favourite plants (no they are not weeds!), the humble nasturtium next to the painted illustration I used in the calendar. Below His Majesty Max IV commanding half my desk space!
If you are a NZ retailer contact Live Wires for orders, or if you are wanting to purchase it, contact your local bookstore or gift shop and ask them to order some in from Live Wires NZ Ltd.
