God/Goddess of Home Decor Grayson Perry. If you haven't heard of him I'd be surprised, although my partner did say "Who?". Winner of the Turner Prize in 2003 and he of 'A House for Essex' fame. "Perry’s rentable collaboration with FAT Architecture, located in Wrabness near the coast, is a modern take on the traditional wayside pilgrimage chapel, and has been conceived as a tribute to fictional “secular saint” and artist Julie Cope." Also he of the fantastic socially and hist

Basket and lemons - lithograph printed by the Curwen studio - Mary Fedden Love, love, love her work! The line quality in her drawings, that subtle gentle draughtsmanship with such attention to detail. Known best for her still life paintings, Fedden always carried a sketchbook, had loads of them - most artists do and I'm no exception - and worked from her sketches in her studio, never painted away from it, not even a watercolour. #art #artist #moirarae #moiraraecarter #moiraca

“Frog” by Matsumoto Hoji from a picture album, “Meika Gafu”, 1814 My all time favourite Japanese print by Matsumoto Hoji. Those of you who know me, know I love an original print and that Japanese wood cuts are a favourite ...I also love a good poem and haiku are brilliant wee gems of literature. The perfect illustration for one of the most famous haiku by Japanese poet Bashō, composed in 1681. Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto Old pond frog jumped in sound of water #

In my last blog in this series I mentioned that I'd happily stuff Sargent's 'Carnation, Lily,Lily, Rose' under my coat and steal it away while a really good friend caused a distraction ...well, this is another in that genre. Except that that the friend in mind is Elaine, and we'd have fought over who was doing the distracting and who was getting away with the painting! Which would have been a challenge as it's in the Tate. Why did we both love this so very much - we loved the

Yes, I know, not everyone's cup of tea, and my best friend Elaine was suitably unimpressed when I asked her to join me and Mum on a visit to: “Picasso: Painter and Sculptor in Clay” at the Royal Academy in 1998. But, by the time we left she'd changed her mind - Mum had too! I fell in love with his ceramics on a birthday trip to Bonhams with a friend from work, many, many years ago - a goats head dish was up for auction - it may have been this one! And here I go again - freed

Victor Pasmore - printer and painter - you gotta love the bold shapes and choice of colour. Click on the image to find out more about Victor Pasmore and see more of his stunning work. #art #artist #moirarae #moiraraecarter #moiracarter #print #printmaker #victorpasmore #Inspiringartistoftheday

With the new website up and running I thought it time to upgrade my business card. I thought I'd stick with the lobster as it's become my 'signature' image/avatar thingie. So what next? Well, it seems you can - and some people do - put everything on their business cards. I had a look on the internet and stood back in horror at some of the examples. After a minute of reflection - a quick google - I decided less is definitely more, and took my lead from from examples like these

... it comes from a myriad of places and fires up the Muse to create all manner of wonderful stuff. So where does mine come from? Chance comments in conversation with a good friend, a great image at an exhibition, a wonderful piece of music - all of these and more. The most recent on my radar: a glorious conversation about seafood and a shared love of crab, which has resulted in a challenge to create a crab based design - watch this space - and an exhibition at Ruthin Craft C