Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

How fascinating are the powers of the imagination?

Can you imagine walking along and looking at young Eucalyptus (gum tree) nuts ~ pictured below ~ only to then create a complete fantasy world. This is exactly what Australian author May Gibbs did. She created a make believe world that would have generations of Australian children fascinated by her imagination. It is a world filled with fears and excitement and adventures both extraordinary and everyday, a world peopled with small creatures, the real mixed tantalisingly with the imaginary. Best of all, it is a world so unmistakably Australian that all who read it know that magic exists in the land, as close as the bush is to their back yard.  

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie is a series of books written by Australian author May Gibbs. They chronicle the adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. The central story concerns Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and their adventures along with troubles with the villians of the story, the “Banksia Men”. The first book of the series, Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie: Their Wonderful Adventures was published in 1918.

The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie is one of Australia's best-loved children's book.

Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie was combined with its two sequels, Little Ragged Blossom and Little Obelia in 1940 and since then has never been out of print.

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the gumnut babies, are the main characters of the story and are modelled on the appearance of young Eucalyptus (gum tree) nuts. The female gumnut babies, however, have their hair, hats and skirts modelled on Eucalyptus flowers.
May Gibbs based some of the characters and scenery on the plants found in the bushland of Bunbury, Western Australia, where she played as a child.

Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

The "big bad" Banksia Men are the villians of the story and are modelled on the appearance of aged Banksia "cones", with follicles for eyes and other facial features.
I have to admit this Banksia cone does catch my imagination as to a possible villian with all those eyes ~ or could they be mouths?



Banksia grandisBull Banksia
Photo: Martin Pritchard BDEC

May Gibbs...."we came to a grove of Banksia trees and sitting on almost every branch were these ugly, wicked little men that I discovered and that's how the Banksia Men were thought of."

About the Author....
In 1881, her parents Herbert William and Cecillia May Gibbs emigrated to Australia settling first in South Australia prior to moving and settling in Perth, Western Australia six years later. Both her parents were amateur artists and encouraged May to draw and paint from a young age. They were not disappointed. At the young age of 12, her illustrations were published by the West Australian Bulletin.
She studied in London where she obtained experience as a contributor to newspapers, magazines and books. She returned to Australia in 1913 and settled in Sydney where her adult career as an illustrator & cartoonist grew strongly.
Aside from being an artist, she was also an entrepreneur. She produced handmade calendars for sale by a number of retail outlets. She cut out her designs from sheets of printed paper and created calendars of all shapes and sizes. It was during World War I that May Gibbs produced her unique Australian flavoured postcards to boost the morale of Australian troops overseas.
May and her husband , J. Ossoli Kelly, moved into their waterfront cottage, Nutcote, designed by a renowned Sydney architect, B.J. Waterhouse. She lived in this house until her death, with her lovely gardens, were she drew much inspiration from.
The art of May Gibbs is full of charm and diversity, ranging from cartoons and portrait sketches to her Australian bush babies. She drew her inspiration from her environment including that of Nutcote, her home for over 40 years in trendy Neutral Bay on the north Shore of Sydney waterfront.

Illustrated Children’s Books of May Gibbs
Her enchanting stories of bushland adventures has continued to entertain children of all ages from the first edition of Gumnut Babies published by Angus and Robertson in 1916. What followed was a cavalcade of tale from Boronia Babies (1917), Tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (1918), Little Ragged Blossom (1920) and Mr. and Mrs. Bear (1943).
Apart from her books, she also drew a regular cartoon strip known as Bib and Bub and several children’s colouring-in books for playtime. Considered to be an early environmentalist, her first major adventure of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie appeared with the message: "Humans, please be kind to all bush creatures and don’t pull flowers up by the roots."
Many of the designs by May Gibbs have been incorporated into retail merchandise, from postcards, journal diaries and calendars, to curtains and wrapping papers.

I think you'll agree she was an incredible woman. When I see the gumnuts whilst out on my walks, I am immediately reminded of her cute drawings. I haven't as yet had the opportunity to look through one of her books but I intend to soon.

I hope you have a marvelous Monday... ; D

A & E trauma for my Camera.....

Apologies that I never came back with a finished painting yesterday but it wasn't a good day really. Everything I tried to do just either didn't work or was a waste of time. Don't you just hate those kind of days....one step forward, three back!

I've also been very accident prone and suffering from dropsy. You name it I've dropped it over the last week. Imagine my horror in a beautiful kitchen equipment shop I swiped two lovely glass bowls from their display.

Visualise the four shades of red I turned when all the shop assistants and shoppers looked to see what was all the commotion and who caused it!

Thankfully they were so kind saying it was an accident and didn't charge me. {Perhaps they deserve a separate post ~ they have fantastic products}

I even dropped my camera whilst loading the car up after one of my outings. I was stunned and just looked on with horror.

It was like road kill....all its inners spilt across the tarmac. Half of me thought ah ha...now for that new camera but then this little Trojan has served me so well. I wanted to take a photo but dah....obviously couldn't. Carefully I picked up all its parts and rushed to the emergency room back home.

I fiddled and tweaked until it resembled something like it used to....ie bottom hanging out, scraps and scratches but mainly all bits where they should be.....

Then came the test....would it actually work again??? Nervously I ventured out and started to snap away. It was a tricky start but then everything appeared to have recovered from the trauma. Phewph...

Here's some pics after the accident

Banksia Spinulosa

Or more commonly named ' the toilet brush'

Bottle brush plants are evergreen trees with dark green leaves and red or pink flowers. The flowers are elongated at the end of branches and are comprised of short spiky petals. These flowers resemble a brush used to clean bottles with, hence the name bottle brush.

On with the walk....

I love the fact that there are weeping willow trees here.

I think they look so beautiful hanging over the water, gently swaying in the breeze.

It was rather warm so this shaded area was very much appreciated by both myself and Muffin.

Anyway, I'm away today to a creative craft workshop so I hope that I've left all my clumsiness behind. I'll let you know how I get on....

Have a fantastic weekend. Enjoy ; D

Sunshine and Showers.....

I spent most of today outside...you guessed it...a beautiful sunny day at last. It has been really quite cold lately, so it was good to get outside and do a little gardening with the sun warming me.
I had planned to tidy up the debris left from my trawl last weekend through the boxes of old photographs but as they say when the sun shines.....

Here's a glimpse of a few of the packets, albums and boxes.

How we managed to pay the mortgage on top of all this film developing...I wonder? I think the waiting for the processed results was traumatic too...sometimes days....can you imagine snapping something now and not seeing the results immediately? Sometimes by the time you went back to the shop to collect them, it was difficult to remember what you'd actually snapped!

As you can see...both Muffin and Zac aren't impressed that their play area is taken up by all this rubbish. They don't get to leave their toys lying around....shocking!

This photo is one that I've had in my mind to find for some time.

It goes under the heading 'Life in Brunei'

Gone are the days that my son volunteers to help in the garden.

Apologies for the quality....I just took a photo of the photo {if you get my drift} just to show you.

How cute....

And here's another from my memory bank....

Such sheer joy at being out in the tropical rainstorm. The temperature would be in the high 30's so what better way to cool down and have fun....

Now that's rain!!!

It's nearly the weekend {again} so remember to make the most of it and seize the moment.

Whether your wet or dry....

Enjoy ; D