Getting inspired

I've often found that some of my best inspirations for a painting are right under my nose.

I was wandering around one day wondering what to paint and cursing my Muse for deserting me, when I passed by the display cupboard in our sitting room, and realised that in there was a painting waiting to happen.

All of the subjects in the watercolour above have been collected over the years from various places on our travels.

So the flat basket from Egypt, the small tagine pot from Morocco, the brass coffee pot from Bahrain and the little tasselled woven hanging from Saudi Arabia - were all waiting to be arranged and lovingly painted.

I used mostly Winsor Newton watercolours with accents of coloured pencil for the finer details and called the painting "My Favourite Things".