A nest with mushrooms

Bring on 2012

2012-01-20T12:18:00.012+11:00

I hope you find these images by Andrew Bannecker beautiful.

Wow, Andrew Bennecker seems like one classy professional. Check out more of his stuff here.

Below are some life drawings from the Cheeky Drawing class in Clifton Hill.

This is Melika - the Cheeky Drawing mascot. She occasionally likes to sit on your drawings. This is fine with me, but there are some who use charcoal who aren't so impressed. Smudge.

If you are interested in drawing at all, I absolutely recommend going to life drawing classes. I find it super relaxing and always meet lovely people. On Monday evenings, I recommend Cheeky Drawing, and on Sunday mornings the Princes Hill Community Centre has a great session.

For the past few weeks I have felt so much inside myself and as though I don't have much to give. (Everyone knows that feeling.) I started to think it would be nice if humans could decide to hibernate for a while, but I guess that's just not socially acceptable!

Despite this feeling, I have been having the most beautiful swims this summer at the Queen's Park Pool. I went this morning before work and the water was the perfect temperature, the sky covered in these tissuey kind of clouds and there were flocks of birds wheeling around. It was such a nice start to the day. After the laps I sat on the lawn by the toddler pool and watched a duck that had made its way over from the lake over the fence. One of those black ones with a red beak.

Things aren't all bad then. I have these to look forward to: BBQ tomorrow at Sarah and Dan's, musical excursion with Shezzie and Matt on Friday, Sandy Point with the Levickis clan next weekend and countless band rehearsals, dinners, walks, conversations and all the people I haven't met yet. All the artwork yet to create, the stories to write, the songs, the meals, the books I haven't yet read.

And last week, this conversation was had between Penny and Isabel -

I: I don't like monkeys
P: Why don't you like them?
I: Because they look at me.

(And they do indeed.)

ciao

Back to blogging

2011-11-15T07:23:00.007+11:00

I have had a little hiatus from the blogging world, but I have in fact been doing things - creative things as well. To ease myself back in, here are some pics.

After the first round of calendars was printed, I updated the December design and am happy with how it turned out.

I also decided to include a set of stickers in the calendar package and here they are below. It's a bit of fun...
(If you have already bought one of the calendars, please let me know via email and I'll post some stickers out.)

In my sketchbook, have been preoccupied with circles, as is evident from the mixed media works below.

That is enough to ease me in...

ciao

a new season!

2011-08-26T15:41:00.011+10:00

Looking out my window it seems Spring has arrived. There are all these purple seaside daisies in my front garden, and over the last few days they have all peered around to face exactly the same direction - a happy little congregation of sun worshippers.

After a rather frantic preparation period leading up to Magnolia Square, the studio has been rather quiet, but for some reason I can't quite work out, my life drawings seem to be improving. I am hoping to post some soon.

Here are some images from my 2012 Desk Calendar featuring twelve new designs. I thought I would get in early with the calendar - perfect for putting away for Christmas presents, light and easy to post. The calendar will be available in a few stores, but also in my Etsy shop here.

At the market, a little boy was pointing out all the animals featured in the calendar and when he got to the one above he said 'A cow- pat.'

In other news, I started an Etching course at the Australian Print Workshop last week. I am very exciting about learning an entirely new process and hopefully producing some beautiful prints. Like most creative types, I find myself doing jobs I am not entirely interested in. Although things are pretty nice on the work front at the moment, I have at times found myself having to learn the complex ins-and-outs of particular databases or project plans or statistics spreadsheets. It has occurred to me that, since there is only so much space for new information in the mind, this information may be taking up room which could be filled with really useful, inspiring information. Anyway, I'm really just trying to say that I felt a surge of happiness in the knowledge that I was learning a new skill - and it turns out I still have the room! (Hopefully I turfed out some database or other from my past.)

This weekend, there will be drinks at the Chi bar, Demetri Martin at the Princess Theatre, Saturday morning breakfast, Arts Project, band practice and dinner at Tandoori Nights. Oh, and a sleep-in hopefully on Sunday morning. I'm pretty happy with that line-up as my first weekend of Spring.

ciao
(away from this screen and out into the sunshine)

Magnolia Square this weekend in Ivanhoe

2011-08-19T10:27:00.003+10:00

I've had a busy week preparing for Magnolia Square this weekend. I have 2012 desk calendars for sale featuring all new designs as well as archival prints and some originals for sale as well.

Please come down and have a look!

Recently in the studio...

2011-07-12T09:52:00.003+10:00

Hummingbird card

(think I will do more hummingbirds - they are gorgeous)

Duck Series

(Commission for a nursery)

These are pencil, watercolour and gouache with collage editions from a set of vintage kid's encyclopaedias.

ciao

Indoor days. poppies. and mysterious shoes

2011-07-05T16:39:00.007+10:00

These poppies my Mum bought me are brighter and more beautiful by the day! I love how all that brilliant colour is scrunched up inside each bud just waiting to burst out.

Whose shoes are these? Why were they placed so neatly on the footpath in North Melbourne?

this early in the morning last week

loving that retro camera app

Dear Photograph and some new works

2011-06-17T10:23:00.009+10:00

I had an email from my sister this morning sending me a link to a great blog called Dear Photograph. ('Take a picture of a picture from the past in the present') I could try and explain it but it's probably better to just have a look.

I am already trying to think up some good photos to use. It seems to me that along with the captions people write to go along with their pics, it has the potential to be hilarious or profound and everything in between - like Postsecret. (If you don't know of it, do have a look.)

I've had my pens and watercolours set up on the kitchen table for the past few weeks (it's warmer there than in my studio). Below are some of the pictures I've been creating.

Charlie

to be lost in a safe place

finally tipped

I'm not feeling very talkative tonight. I feel quite inside of myself.

ciao

I just had to share this

2011-06-09T18:25:00.002+10:00

Royal de Luxe Street Theatre Company, France

Arts Project Australia

2011-06-06T19:29:00.008+10:00

I don't know if I have mentioned Arts Project Australia (APA) in my blog yet. APA is a wonderful organisation where I help out on Saturdays. It is a gallery and studio space for artists with intellectual disabilities. The studio is a creative, energetic space with everyone busily working away on their own projects. The downstairs gallery exhibits the artists' work with a constantly changing exhibition program and is well worth a look. You can check out the website here.

There is such a huge variety of work by the artists, but some of my favourites are below:

Fulli Andrinopoulos

Julian Martin

Paul Hodges

Steven Perrette

Catherine Staughton

I guess the most interesting thing about art for me is that it expresses an individual's experience and view of the world. The work of the artists at APA is especially meaningful given that their experience of being in the world is likely to be so different from our own.


Will post more drawings soon.


ciao

New website & winter arriving early

2011-05-27T23:02:00.008+10:00

I have a new website! Please have a look here. I was getting pretty frustrated with my old site. Having pieced it together painfully while doing Dreamweaver tutorials online (I didn't have much idea what I was doing!), it was time-consuming to update and maintain. I have recently changed web hosts and found a great company who provide a very user-friendly content management system and a template with a huge amount of flexibility to tailor to your own particular aesthetic and taste. (Visit virb.com to find out more.) Anyway, here are some screen shots of my site.

I have been temping in North Melbourne these last three weeks to keep the money rolling in. It has been COLD. Despite missing my studio time, I've been enjoying walking to and from the workplace in my duffle coat with rainclouds overhead and leaves underfoot. (proof below)

In sketchbook news, I am rather happy with this bison. Georgia has promised to try and take a Lomo photo of some bison while she is in the US. It's not that I am particularly enamoured with bison. But they are large and still. And there is something peaceful about that.

Life is full of new experiences, small though they may be. For example, I have never before sat in my studio at 11.11pm on a Friday evening listening to Vashti Bunyan and eating an undersized mandarin while receiving text messages from America where twisters are touching down. Not until now that is.

Keeps things pretty fresh when you think about it like that...

ciao

Slowly and quietly...

2011-04-27T16:07:00.005+10:00

...things are happening. Below are snippets of large-scale drawings I have been doing for a show. More details will come soon. I can't stop drawing - that is a good thing. I have been thinking a lot about the places and spaces we inhabit, have inhabited, or would like to inhabit - and how these places connect with our sense of identity and belonging - our general sense of being comfortable in the world.

Yesterday I came back from the annual Easter camping weekend at Mt Beauty. It is so lovely there and the weather really came to the party for us. It is always a little difficult to return to grungy Brunswick after you have spent time in the glorious bowl of greenery, mountains and blue skies that is the Kiewa Valley. On Monday I went for a solo stroll uphill from our camping spot and at a certain point stopped to take it all in - hazy mountains at rest all around, cows in green fields, a blue sky that seems so open it is practically inside out. I stood there for at least ten minutes trying to take it all in. It was STILL. I hadn't even worn my watch for the past few days. There was nowhere to be. You know when you stand in the shower with your head out of the water, waiting for the conditioner to sink in? The same principle applies here - I felt the longer I stood there, the more beneficial it would be - the better the results. I tried to absorb as much as I could. To top it all off, there beside the road was a rundown this-and-that kind of farm with a lone chestnut horse just flicking its tail and staring at me (with complete disinterest I have to say), and in the paddock alongside, a tiny black calf with its legs folded up underneath. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that it was a picturesque scene and I felt - was it relief?- to be part of it. It felt good.

This is not to deny that Brunswick has its charms. The sunny autumn is also at play here. Cycling home from Sydney Rd today with my bike basket full of fresh fruit and veggies was a pretty nice experience too. Also, it is hard rubbish time and, well, you never know what you might find.

That is enough positivity for now.

If only I could feel this way all the time.

ciao

Alberto Cerriteno and rain (again)

2011-04-05T09:05:00.009+10:00

The images below are by Mexican-born artist Alberto Cerriteno. Aren't they beautiful? They remind me a little of Charley Harper's work - crisp shapes with a lovely use of colour.

Yesterday we got totally caught out by wild weather in the Edinburgh Gardens. This hefty wind suddenly scooped up all the leaves and threw them over the kids' playground. Then the rain started and we all went dashing to our cars and ten minutes later we were sitting in the back of a cafe on Queen's Parade drinking enormous hot chocolates. They really were huge - served in soup bowls!

It was lovely to share a Saturday afternoon and evening with Pen, Stampy, Shezzie, Isa and Tilly.

Looking at the photo above, it strikes me that books sitting on a shelf add so much warmth to a room. As Tilly said, it was certainly 'toasty' in there after our dash through the downpour.

Today I rode up to Brunswick Bound for a browse and bought a new novel to read. It took me a while to choose, and I did find myself stuck in the Children's Literature section for some time - there was a charming book about a 'spork.' (We called them 'splades' in our family). Eventually I bought "We had it so good" by Linda Grant. I have not read any of her stuff but this book promises to contain all of the life, family and relationship dramas I enjoy getting drawn into. The book opens with a quote by Evelyn Waugh from Men at Arms:

'He had like many another been born in full sunlight and lived to see night fall.'

I really like that.

Uh huh.

Autumn is here and I am home to enjoy it

2011-03-24T14:34:00.011+11:00

(Absent) Job ad which I would answer:

Dog-minder (Italian Greyhound)

We are seeking a kind and cultured individual to care for our Italian Greyhound, Albert, four days per week. Albert asks for nothing more than your company and a daily walk around Princes Park. He will accompany you on all of your usual daily activities, enjoying car trips and cafes. Should you have an art studio somewhere, Albert will be more than happy to curl up on the couch beside your workspace and listen to the scratch of your pen on paper for hours on end. If homesick for his owners, he is soothed by country music and the fumblings of an amateur guitarist. An attractive salary is offered for the right person.

Despite a lack of interesting employment, my current stretch of free creative time has been absolutely lovely so far - very productive. I am working on some new designs and a new set-up for my website so stay tuned. Here are some pieces:

I was just pondering on that feeling of being homesick for a person...hmmm...oh yeah, that is called MISSING someone. (I have been out in the sun all day). My recent period of housebound sickness has put me in this reflective, kind of melancholy, but ultimately really nice mood. Very low-key but calm and steady too. Sometimes being at home can feel like missing out on the big exciting world, but at the moment, I feel as though lots of good stuff is out there waiting for me and it will still be there when I am good and ready to seek it out (ie not now). No urgency...so why don't I just run a bath and pickle myself for an hour first? That is the sort of headspace I have been in.

I guess it may have something to do with the seasons changing. Autumn is my favourite time of year. Cool and sunny and crunchy underfoot.

Just off to the art store to buy some paper. Really nice white smooth paper.

ciao

Ko. Machiyama

2011-03-18T11:43:00.007+11:00

Just discovered a wonderful Japanese illustrator called Ko. Machiyama. Aren't these beautiful below? I'm going to see if I can buy a print of the first one here.

Looking at them makes me feel happy to be hanging out in the world.

Today I did a drawing of Isabel's shoe. It was a beautiful little white and pink sandal.

ciao

Being sick and drawing sometimes work together

2011-03-17T09:38:00.005+11:00

It's hard to say whether the sore throat and sinusitis are less or more bearable than the onset of conjunctivitis. (Is there a more disgusting infection?)

Anyway, the upside has been that I have been largely confined to the house and had lots of time to draw and be creative (in a sniffly, sickly kind of way).

I have also been watching Northern Exposure and this has heightened my hankering for a trip to the wilds of Alaska.

I would just love love LOVE to see a moose.

Hmmmm. What else? I am having trouble seeing through this Sudafed fog.

Today's forecast goes like this: mainly settled with scattered episodes of creativity throughout the morning, easing by mid afternoon when there is a high chance of a nap.

photos from my iphone

2011-03-06T21:21:00.006+11:00

paint pallette

my favourite dress

toy piano from the Coburg Market

Isa on the swing at Fairfield Park

I just felt like writing...

2011-02-28T22:25:00.012+11:00

La La Land have produced some of my cards. You can look at them here - along with the work of lots of other artists. I really like the illustrations of Flossy P and she has a lovely website too.

Though my blog has been rather quiet lately, I have been very focussed in my studio creating a series of works on paper. I was inspired by the Freehand show at Heide I wrote about a few weeks ago. To me, drawings have this particular personal quality...as though the time the artist has spent on the work is embedded there in the imagery. It's as though, because there is more immediacy, more gesture, than process, there is an honesty - something raw or vulnerable...Does that make any sense to anyone? Perhaps not. I do seem to be having a fair bit of trouble expressing myself lately. (Though after a couple of wines I am pretty good.) The more work I create, the more I realise I prefer drawing over anything else - the immediacy of it, the quietness, the constant troubleshooting, the ever-present risk of ruining everything (particularly when using ink as I have been.)

In the absence of a big scanner or a super duper camera, I took some rough pics of some of the stuff I've been working on. These are all pegged up around my studio, just percolating a little more.

(This one is a pencil drawing surrounded by stitching, which isn't my favourite past-time but once the idea was set in my mind, there was no talking myself out of it. The stitching is freehand too and I like the kind of wonky, organic shape I came up with.)

Hmmmm....feeling a little melancholy. Gloomy, even though the sun is, well, spectacular out there.

I had this dream about an old friend. Each time I think about it I feel this swoop in my heart. The dream itself was ridiculous. Friend attacks me. In self-defence, and with some supernatural strength, I swing him by the ankles so that his head hits a piece of wooden furniture. Have I hurt him? Is he dead? I decide to hide him in my guitar case, at which point he becomes my guitar, slotting perfectly into the velvet casing. I close the lid, snap shut the locks and set the case aside. But I can't forget he is in there. I try to do other things but keep looking at the case. Panic sets in. What have I done? Is he dead? I loved him once. He is dear to me. What have I done? I slowly open the case and inside is my guitar. Is it him at all? I am not sure until I hear a sniffling sound. He is still, it seems, in the form of my guitar. On the fretboard I notice a pair of weeping eyes, like a couple of stickers. I start to cry, sob. I am so sorry! I can't believe I hurt you so badly! Can you forgive me? The guitar asks for water and I rush to get some from the kitchen tap. But, how do you give a guitar water? What have I done?

This dream has been following me around all week. I know it is ridiculous, especially the little stuck-on eyes. But I feel sick with sadness about it.

The sub-conscious is a very unpredictable place.

A thought not attached to anything else written here:

Sometimes there is no-one to blame but a strange set of circumstances, a few nights of drinking, and a whole lot of fear inside two well-meaning heads and hearts.

On a nicer note:

On Friday morning as I was about to get into the shower, a rather nasty-looking spider crawled out from under the bath mat. I put a cup over it, slid some paper underneath and took it out into the backyard. After tossing it into the garden bed, I suddenly realised I was stark naked outside on a cold morning. It really kickstarted my day. It had been decades since I had been naked out of doors! Hopefully one of those sunrise hot air balloons wasn't floating above at the time. I certainly didn't hear that breathy roar they let out as more gas is added to the flame.

Georgia and Martin have somehow grown zucchinis the size of small children. Proof below:

Meanwhile, my sprouts and broccolini are being nibbled by caterpillars the colour of spearmint gum. I spent a good 45 minutes today carefully picking them from the underside of the leaves. It seems I will never grow vegetables of the size shown above. Hopefully that prize marrow doesn't taste like a waterlogged length of wood.

What else? I feel reluctant to leave the calm safety of blog-writing to get changed and head out for dinner. This week my alcohol consumption has been higher than usual. A couple of red wines last night had me asleep on the tram and then dancing in the kitchen and missing a gig I had been on the door to see. Very disappointing and I hope my rock n roll osteopath finds it in his heart to put me on the door again sometime.

At the North Fitzroy Star on Thursday, I talked Coffs Harbour versus Melbourne as places to live. John and Em talked of the convenience of Melbourne, the people, places to go out etc. But hang on, I said, didn't you just tell me about the whales that pass by your place in Coffs a few times a year? Whales? Grass is always greener and all that. I know, boring.

Hmmm...now I am seriously late for tea. I'm looking very ordinary and there is some work to be done, certainly in the hair department. Forecast - dull with a high likelihood of extreme frizz.

ciao

another boring, lovely, interesting, depressing, wonderful week

2011-02-16T19:36:00.004+11:00

A list of things.

Brunswick seemed so grubby today in the humidity. I rode home and hopped straight in the shower. It feels like there is dust in my hair but maybe I'm just imagining it.

Outside there's a thick layer of heavy heavy storm clouds and I am waiting eagerly for them to break. All windows are open to let the cool evening in. I'm hoping for thunder and lightning.

On the weekend my mum and I went to Heide and saw the Freehand exhibition I mentioned in my last post. There were just a few really memorable works for me and it was interesting to hear Del Kathryn Barton speak. My favourite part of the day though was spending time walking around the grounds. Gosh, it is so beautiful there and it has this quality of being completely removed from the suburbs surrounding it. There is so much space there - 16 acres - and the three galleries, Heide I, II & III seem all to sit so easily in the landscape, despite each being so different. I was particularly charmed by the shower cubicle in Heide I (below). What better way to shower than under a shower head the size of a dinner plate beside a window looking out onto a grove of quince trees? Sadly I doubt anyone has had the experience in a while (being a historic gallery and all).

The Heide kitchen gardens (above) inspired me to transform the little empty garden bed at the back of my place into a vegie patch. (I have tried this before...) This time I really did all the right things - cultivating the soil before planting, buying vegetables recommended for planting at this time of year, laying pea straw over the soil. After all this work, I became terrified of snails slithering in and ruining everything so I walked to the supermarket to buy a packet of those horrible, green snail pellets. The following morning it was clear to me that I had done the right thing in regards to protecting my precious plants, but it felt very wrong to see an entire army of snails writhing around with frothy stuff spilling from their shells. I felt terrible. Apparently jar lids filled with beer work well so in future I will try that. The snails will still die, but hopefully not in such a horrible way. Maybe they just get drunk and pass out, never to wake up?

My apologies to all the snails who were going about their peaceful slow-moving lives until Sunday night. I hope my leeks, broccolini, cauliflower, spinach and sprouts grow tall and prosperous in your memory.

Ah! Here is the rain. I can smell it through the bedroom window.

Riding down Gatehouse St this morning, a sizeable twig fell from one of the old gum trees and scraped down the side of my face before wedging itself between my handlebars and gear lever. It hurt, but luckily there doesn't seem to be a noticeable scratch.

Last week, there was band practice at Marty's house. With partners and babies around, and a nice meal as well, it seemed a very lovely place to be.

On Friday night, George and I are going to see M Ward. We see a lot of great gigs, my sister and I.

It is really raining now. Sky is a dark smudge of grey. Thunder!!

I feel so relieved when it rains. Like everything is washed and made new.

ciao

Del Kathryn Barton

2011-02-06T10:50:00.002+11:00

I know it has been a few years since she won the Archibald with the painting below, but I am only just now having a good look at her work. It is amazingly beautiful, Klimt-esque, tapestry-esque. But I will stop trying to describe it because I know I'll sound stupid.

Just look.

She has a drawing or two in the freehand:recent Australian drawing exhibition currently on at Heide - until 6 March.

That's all.

ciao

My house and Brett Amory

2011-01-20T17:59:00.005+11:00

George took these photos in my house with her iPhone 4. I love them. I wish I could somehow create this lighting effect and mood when I'm just hanging around here.

I also discovered this US artist called Brett Amory. Check out his work here - www.brettamory.com. He does these understated urban images in oils with buildings and figures. I've put some examples below.

I think they are beautiful. Quiet and spacious.

ciao

i heart my iphone

2011-01-12T17:13:00.004+11:00

unscrew part A, remove the bulb connector (B), release spring C

2011-01-09T21:42:00.009+11:00

Pulling up outside the Thai Restaurant in Torquay last night, I was horrified to see in the window reflection that the bulb in my driver side headlight had blown. Surely these things didn't happen in, you know, new(ish) cars?! With three friends in the car, I kept my distress to a casual minimum but will admit to being somewhat distracted, even once the Pad Thai came out.

The reason I bring this up is that I had a very satisfying experience today replacing the bulb. I have faced similar situations before with previous cars - much older and more battered (but still French) - but the point is, I have never faced it ALONE. Matt would always do this for me - he loved this type of hands-on stuff and I was more than happy to let him take over. I thought of him today after reading the correct section of the owner's manual, popping the bonnet, unscrewing the plastic cap at the back of the light and then....well exactly. The parts which were meant to move, wouldn't budge.

So I asked myself 'How would Matt approach this?' and I knew exactly how.

He would take a good, slow careful look before touching anything. This look could go on for several minutes, maybe a few gentle nudges here and there with a fingertip, but most important was the look. All secrets were revealed within the look. All codes uncoded. All logic explained.

Following the look, Matt would reach out and, in one smooth movement, disable/unlock/remove/unscrew whatever it happened to be. There would be no forcing or jiggling about. So thanks to Matt I took the following steps:

Upon realising I was unable to see the rear of the headlight without physically getting inside the hood, I fetched my pocket compact mirror from the bathroom.

With the help of the mirror I activated my own 'look' and took some time studying the springs and attachments and sockets.

After that, it was all pretty simple and it would be incredibly boring for me to recount it. But I managed to remove the bulb and, after a trip to Repco in Preston, replace it with a new one.

I actually can't believe I am basing a blog post on this experience but it left me feeling so good. I felt so capable and responsible. Also, I felt so happy to have Matt there in my head helping me out. Made me think about how in life you part ways, you lose touch with people, and often are are so focussed on moving on (and the reasons you need to move on) that you forget all that your friends and partners have taught you. And all this stuff you carry everywhere. It's such a nice thought.

Hmm...something creative now.

These little guys are going into my new colouring book which seems to be taking on a fancy dress theme.

This is me drawing.

That is all

ciao

Strange times with passing bouts of loveliness

2011-01-04T17:36:00.013+11:00

Not to be too intense on opening, but here's a thought...

The best thing about hard times is that you realise how wonderful the people in your life really are - and that you are stronger and more resilient than you would have imagined. It is so heartening to know that people can always surprise you and you can even surprise yourself.

So anyway, there's this song by the National called Slow Show and it's been stuck in my head for days. It won't let up.

The chorus has these great lyrics

I want to hurry home to you
put on a slow dumb show for you
and crack you up
so you can put a blue ribbon on my brain
I'm very very frightened
I'll overdo it

Good huh? There is something about that song for me at the moment.

Today I have been hanging out in the sun with Penny and Isabel, then swimming at Queens Park pool - sooo nice, quiet and cool in the lap lanes. There was this inflatable castle type thing floating in the water-play area and a line of kids waiting on the concrete for their turn, all dripping in their togs and talking. In the slow lane there was just one woman in a purple cap, and I had my choice of the other two. I chose medium (because fast would be just ridiculous, and because the amount of full sunlight versus dappled shade was just perfect over that section of the pool.) A big hairy Italian guy walked through the gates with some fish and chips from across the road and his little son sprinted up and almost pulled his dad's shorts down in excitement. It has just been one of those perfect summer days.

Here's a sketch I did when I came home. (My mum gave me a little watercolour Moleskine for Christmas and I have only just taken off the wrapping.)

Yesterday I ate three avocados. I know! I can't believe it either. They are high in fat, but it's the good kind. Also, they were small ones.

I made George a photo album for Christmas to keep her lomo photos in. She is right into Lomography and has quite a collection of cameras. I was quite pleased with the little album and took a pic:

I wrote the first half of this post yesterday and just saved the draft. Today I am working like mad on some colouring book illustrations for Home and Human Fashion. It is a boys' book and will be produced by them in a month or so. Stupidly, I decided to paint the cover on a wooden clipboard which doesn't fit in my scanner - hmm...dilemma. I can either take a really good digital photo or use a scanner somewhere. The clipboard does look good though.

So Simon brought over some amazing new music yesterday and I woke up this morning feeling like a kid at Christmas - so many new things to listen to. I have to pace myself. I imagine in a few hours' time, the National song will be out of my head. I came across this song title on Bibio's Ambivalence Avenue that I love - 'Haikuesque (When She Laughs)'. Whoever she is, she should be honoured to be the subject of that song.

AND Shezzie is coming around later with an iPhone for me! She has upgraded so I get her old (not really old though) one! Wow, look at me. Technology is seeking me out.

Seems like my friends are looking after me and that is a nice feeling.

This morning I bought these beautiful mechanical coloured pencils. I'd like to eat them. Or at least just have a little taste...The leads are actually really soft and rich. I am very pleased. (I wonder if they are chewy...)

Think that's all. Tomorrow evening I am heading to the beach for a few nights before the dreaded return to office work...

ciao

Blueberries and paintings I have found

2010-12-28T14:00:00.017+11:00

It is a sunny day and I am eating blueberries. Sounds good I know. Sadly these are some of the sourest blueberries I've ever tasted. Serves me right for buying them in Coles instead of the fruit shop.

Ooh that was a good sweet one!

Anyway, I thought I would upload some drawings from a very low-key Christmas and birthday weekend.

This chair has spent the best part of its silent life in the loungeroom of my grandparents' house, but is now in my parent's place in Euroa. It is orange velour with elegant wooden arms. There are two of these orange ones and two green paisley-ish ones to make a set of four. I seem to remember my grandpa would sit in one of the orange ones - all bony kneed and gentle mannered.

So on Boxing Day the family was relaxing kind of aimlessly around the house (except Dad who was mulching branches and leaves) and I came across this book my mum has called 1001 Paintings you must see before you die. The selections range from the pre-1400s to the 2000s and there is a full-colour plate for each work and a little blurb. For want of anything better to draw (I had just drawn my sister's sandal) I did a few little sketches of some of the paintings, and learnt about them in the process.

Death of Marat - Jacques-Louis David 1793

Here's the original:

A very angelic expression on his face. If, like me, you find it hard to retain historial information, I'll give a little run-down of this painting.

So, Jean-Paul Marat was one of the most controversial leaders of the French Revolution. Though nicknamed 'friend of the people', he was one of the instigators of a period of violence known as 'the Terror'. On July 13, 1793, Marat was murdered in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a supporter of a rival political faction . (I wonder how many murderers have been called Charlotte??) The most intriguing part of the story to me is the fact that Marat used his bathroom as an office due to a severe skin disorder - his head is wrapped in a vinegar-soaked turban to ease his discomfort. (It's always the small, personal things for me - dates and political facts just drift off and disperse.)

This one is The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown, 1855.

Well, I guess the sketch is kind of an embarrassing little smudge next to the original. It is beautiful and in that circular format - it's as though you've just caught sight of the couple with your telescope.

Brown began working on the painting in 1852 when emigration was peaking in the UK - almost 370,000 Britons left in that year. Brown himself was thinking of leaving and said he was 'very hard up and a little mad' when he painted this. The figures are based on himself and his wife - there is a baby inside the woman's shawl - only its little hand is visible. It looks like it's going to be a tough cold voyage. The white cliffs of dover are in the background.

This is At the Cirque Fernando: The Ringmaster by Henri de Toulouse Lautrec.

I love Toulouse Lautrec paintings. The Cirque Fernando in Paris was at the height of its popularity in the 1880s and was located close to Lautrec's studio. Apparently critics at the time argued that this work was unfinished - the detail of the horse and the ringmaster in the foreground at odds with the flat simplicity of the clowns cut off by the edges of the picture. Apparently there are also smudges and paint dribbles over the surface which look like they need tidying up. The artist himself maintained that it was finished (and, well, he would know) and exhibited it - for many years in was hung above the bar at the Moulin Rouge. In my humble opinion, the fact that this painting was created quickly and isn't polished or tidy just adds to the sense of movement and speed in the circus ring.

I lacked the time and discipline to sketch copies of all 1001 paintings, but the book did introduce me to some amazing paintings I haven't come across before.

Here are some:

Town of Amecameca with Popocatepetl by Francisco Diaz de Leon, 1921. I love it. He was a Mexican pictorialist. Popocatepetl is an active volcano in south central Mexico and was one of the most sacred mountains of the Aztecs. This work is actually pastel paint on paper.

Winter, Charlevoix County - A.Y. Jackson, 1933. A Canadian painter, Jackson depicted Quebec, where he was from. (Is it just me, or are Canadians really awesome?) Look at the pinkish light on the snow. Apparently, Jackson was one of the first to depict Canada without using the generic landscape conventions of the European painters. He nailed it.

There is this beautiful still life by Giorgio Morandi (Still Life with a Green Box). I can't find a pic of it on the web but in searching for it, I've found some equally stunning variations on the theme by the same artist. They are very restful and when I look at them I feel suddenly as though my head could become uncluttered - at some point, somehow...

Wow, I am finding some great paintings as we speak. (Thanks Google Images!) Looking for a work call K and L by British artist Euan Uglow, a figurative painter who died in 2000, I have found he did the most stunning female nudes.

Quite stark and beautiful. I especially like this one with the blue background. It's called Ali.

I like this too. Single scull by Thomas Eakins. Apparently Eakins has added a self-portrait as the rower in the middle distance.

The Slippers by Samuel van Hoogstraten, 1654-62. This is hanging in the Louvre. I have a thing for those chequerboard tiles.

I could go on, but I am getting sick of looking at this screen and I ate the last blueberry ages ago. I am going in search of chlorine for a bit of Australian crawl.

ciao

Pretty fine December

2010-12-20T23:40:00.004+11:00

Wow, my December has been unexpectedly lovely.

Can't sleep, but am happy and full of ideas, music and hope. All is well in Brunswick West. In fact, as I type, there are backyard fireworks going off somewhere nearby. They sound close and distant at the same time - isn't that the nature of fireworks? How do they do that?

At Rose St on Sunday, there was a fantastic storm and in that tin shed it was all the more exciting - deafening rain threatening to rip a hole straight through the roof. We put buckets around to catch the drips. It was a festive day there with lots of people and most seemed in cheerful, friendly moods - the sort you don't get in Myer on the week before Christmas. Gareth and Anna were busy at Able and Game HQ before heading off to the UK at midnight. I love imagining people on long haul flights at night, all seated in their rows with tiny screens glowing and those grey blankets over their laps. Who says cattle class can't be peaceful if everyone just goes with the flow.

Fireworks have stopped.

Today I bought the most beautiful board book for little Isabel. Charley Harper's ABCs. I would challenge anyone to illustrate animals with such simplicity, fun and class as him. Just look at these examples below...

Wow. So beautiful I know. Charley Harper was an American modernist artist and illustrator who passed away in 2007.

A quote from the man himself:
"When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don't see feathers, fur, scapulars, or tail coverts—none of that. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior, and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting: In a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

Nice.

Tonight I put up the little fibre-optic Christmas tree and George and I ate risotto and drank red wine. Civilised and festive with a neon glow.

ciao

Blanket, more colouring books and random thoughts

2010-12-11T14:15:00.008+11:00

It has been a good week involving (in no particular order) phone chats with friends, small white mushrooms growing under my indoor plants, drinking too much cider, band practice (Marty playing the Nick Lowe song I love), picking up Georgia and my graduation gowns and ridiculous puffy hats, takeaway Indian, working out harmonies, walking through Royal Park with my ipod, coffee at Red Door with Penny and Isabel, 70% cocoa dark chocolate with peppermint centres, running into Larry on the tram, night-time thunder... I could go on. I have also had a commission to do a colouring book to be launched at the Life Instyle trade show early next year, and had my work featured in the Dec issue of Blanket Mag.

Random thoughts:

Bright sunshine and the smell of rain is a rare and lovely combination.
Nearly time for daytime laps in the Queen's Park pool.
It is hard to get to know someone who doesn't want to be known.
Sometimes a new set of posters for the loungeroom feels like a home renovation.
Gluten intolerance leads to more hot meals at lunchtime.
Perspective is so important. (In life and in technical drawing.)
I have never seen a huntsman inside this house.
Some things in life are never tied up neatly, but are just left with frayed ends. (and that is ok)
Sometimes a dog can offer more comfort than a person.
I know lots of guitarists but no banjo players.
Suddenly (for the first time in 2 years) I can't get enough music in my life.
The people who help you out at Bunnings are much smarter than they seem on the ads.
It seems cruel to reward a person who has completed their doctorate by making them wear a big floppy velvet bonnet in front of thousands of people. (This isn't Hogwarts afterall.)

that's all. ciao

New prints and the Selby

2010-12-06T10:46:00.001+11:00

I have a new range of prints!

Spring

Carousel hares

Winter forest

Indoor day

At Rose St yesterday, Laura from Mina and Oli (check her out here - she makes amazing bags/ wallets etc from old leather jackets) told me about a blog called The Selby and now my spare time is sorted forever! It fulfills my eavesdropping, nosy side (tip: if you go for a stroll at twilight, people often have their lights on but haven't yet closed the curtains), the homebody and the aesthete in me. Have a look!! Who doesn't like great photographs of interesting people?

This icecream shop owner (Humphry Slocombe in San Francisco) has little ice creams tattooed in his forearm! The passion. He is living the dream!

This woman (Annie Novak) works on a rooftop farm in Greenpoint New York - 6000 square feet on a warehouse roof. Have a look at the site, it is really great - she has everything from basil to bunnies to bees. Bees!)

And check out this crazy hairdresser, Gerald Decock in his very OTT apartment in the Chelsea Hotel - so saturated with colour and texture it makes me feel lightheaded. But doesn't he look at home?

But this amazing home in Connecticut is where I'll be focussing my fantasy life for the next little while.

I could keep going - there is so much interesting stuff there.

Here in Brunswick West I am listening to The National - High Violet. This is probably wierd and wanky but when I listen to it, I think of Rothko paintings...

forecast: hot, thunderstorms, with a chance of an afternoon nap. (not lazy! Just have a sleep debt to pay off.)

ciao

Nice things and old photos

2010-12-02T23:21:00.001+11:00

Nice contented week for no particular reason really. But there are a few things-

- my calendars came back from the printers and I have spent some nice hours on the couch packaging them while watching some TV or listening to music.

- Shezzie and I had a drink at Penny Black in the couch on the stage in the sun.

- finally found Long Gone Whistle - songs of Maurice Frawley and it is really really great. 3 CDs worth and I'm trying to ration my listening hours before I get sick of it.

-today got caught in the rain but had the ipod and my waterproof-ish green boots so all was ok. (The Cure's High came on the ipod and transformed Sydney Rd for 3 and a bit minutes.)

- had a meeting in the city and bought some blue sandals on the way back to work. Also walked past Jasper Junior in the Royal Arcade and had a little sticky beak to make sure my colouring books are on display. They are, and look quite at home amongst all the toys, books and colour.

-More David Sedaris reading - I can't get enough and a few times he has made me laugh out loud on the tram. Just finished Me talk pretty one day and now reading Naked. Hilarious.

- I finally have had a look through photos from years ago and found a few gems which open up little windows of memory for me.

Very handsome Morris who moved on to bigger and better things.

Good sandals and it was a good night too. Think I was waiting for a cab.

and these from Prague in 2006...(those shoes still going strong today.)
sigh...

It is past my bedtime but I don't even feel on the verge of sleep.

I will get there with the help of some more Sedaris and a bit of Radio National.

ciao

Alpacas, Christmas parties and 2011 Calendar

2010-11-27T17:24:00.001+11:00

I'm sure most people have had the experience of being at a Christmas party and just being not in the mood. Last night was the Christmas do for the office where I work part-time and though a lot of friends and good people where there, I just couldn't get excited about it. It may have something to do with the fact that it is not even December yet, but it is more just that I feel very low-key at the moment. I am feeling very insular, but not in an anti-social way, just in the sense that I am really enjoying my alone time and feel recharged after a day or an evening at home.

I've been loving my house, especially after being inspired by a publication Frankie has released called SPACES - where creative people live work and play. I have so enjoyed flipping through this, reading and looking at the pictures - there is a lot in here for the price. I'm hoping it will be a great source of inspiration on those indoor days when all I want to do is rearrange pictures and furniture! Here's a peek.

I have been really busy this past fortnight preparing my 2011 Desk Calendar which will be available on Etsy from this coming week, and at a few markets I'll be at before Christmas (Rose St Artists' Market on Sunday Dec 5 & 19 and Sisters Market on Saturday 18 Dec.) Here are a few of the images:

The calendar will be a set of individual cards which slot into a CD-case stand. I use local printer Impact Digital who are solar-powered and carbon neutral!

Anyway, I was sitting there at the Christmas party with a Corona in my hand, blisters on my heels and my stomach full of 3-cheese gnocchi and chocolate - and I thought - 'this is ok, but I'd rather be elsewhere breeding alpacas.' Unfortunately that is just not an option at this point but I have started drawing them and I think they are hilarious and charming...

I will be drawing more alpacas tonight - yes, having one of those insular ones- and I have also got Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki) to watch so things are looking good for the evening.

I hope all is happy elsewhere.

Ciao.

Drawing the dogs up at Euroa

2010-11-16T09:30:00.001+11:00

Georgia and I spent the weekend up at Euroa with the family dogs. I spent a lot of time sitting on the veranda while they unknowingly struck poses for me!

Gorgeous!

Some life drawings from Princes Hill CC last night

2010-11-02T09:55:00.001+11:00

Raphael Vicenzi and thoughts from the week

2010-11-01T10:29:00.002+11:00

Look at these lovely fashion illustrations by Raphael Vicenzi, an illustrator from Brussels I have just discovered. I really like how he blends watercolour and pencil with digital techniques - and his hand-drawn text.

I am rushing off to have coffee this morning and thought I'd sit and write this blog post in the ten minutes I have before I leave. Now that I have sat down, I feel like writing for a few hours! Can't be done but here is a list of thoughts from my week:

Cold cold weather (coinciding with fashions on the field - makes me smile). Have been sleeping so heavily it takes me most of the day to wake up again - don't know what that is about but the mornings are a bit of a fog. Life Drawing at Cheeky Tuesdays and the rain started pelting down just as I left - some of my drawings got soggy. I am wearing blue and white stripes, just like everyone else who has been shopping in the last month or so. I don't care, I like it. Dinner with Shezzie at Salamander in Westgarth - Saag Paneer and Vegie Korma on a friendly bed of laminex. Great. Sad nights too, getting used to changes in my life, reading novels, walking walking walking around West Brunswick trying not to think too hard. But on the upside, a music project has been coming along, with The Lasts getting themselves out of the loungeroom to play a few songs at a friendly open mike. (There was a guy on the mixing desk doing embroidery!) So much fun to play music with good people. My sister and I have been running - well, walk then run then walk - around Princes Park on Thursday nights. Other people seem to be breaking up - something in the air, the age, the time of life. In the end we are all in this together and just doing our best, muddling through decisions we can only hope are the right ones.

coffee now. Ciao

Illustration is better with fast internet

2010-10-23T14:16:00.002+11:00

A rainy Saturday and I am dog-sitting in Thornbury. Having been to All Nations Park in a very cold wind (was it really 29 degrees yesterday??) I am now snuggled up with a very very fast internet connection and looking at fantastic illustration resources such as Escape from Illustration Island. I am beginning to realise that it is well and truly time for me to pay for a speedier internet connection. (I have one of those 3 mobile usb sticks - slooooow.) Just so you understand what I am talking about, while waiting for a medium-sized jpg to attach to an email today, I did an entire sink load of dishes. And I did them thoroughly.

One of the things I'm learning since establishing myself as an illustrator is that there are so many tools ('techy' ones) you need in order to be efficient - and these tools need to be updated. In the same way that you would keep sharpening a blunt pencil, you need to keep your website fresh and make sure the RAM on your Mac can cope with Illustrator and Photoshop being open simultaneously, while Firefox downloads images and your scanner is buzzing away on the desk. I would like to be at the point where the little coloured twirling wheel appearing the on screen doesn't make me throw my coffee over the keyboard in exasperation.

It is a tricky situation to tackle when you would rather be sitting at a desk with pencils and paints with not a screen in sight. Don't get me wrong, I am not anti-technology at all - I think it's great. I just find it frustrating and when it is inefficient and feel a little defeated when it is hurtling forwards so that it is hard to keep up.

Anyway, to focus on an illustrator who seems to have her head firmly on top of this stuff, have a look at the beautiful work below of Penelope Dullaghan. I discovered her stuff while looking through Illustration Island and found these lovely samples from her portfolio.

Someone came to the door asking for money for a charity and I made a split-second decision to say 'no'. He made a really disappointed face and now I feel rotten. Recently I have signed up to have the newspaper delivered, changed electricity providers and done a half-hour survey about confectionary, all from just inside my front door. Today I decided - leave me alone!!

Still feel bad though...

ciao

drawing intensive

2010-10-08T10:34:00.001+11:00

This week I went to an untutored Life Drawing session at the Princes Hill Community Centre as well as the usual Cheeky Tuesdays session in Clifton Hill. Over the next few months I'm planning on going to both of these every week to get some intensive practice - and because I absolutely love going.

Life has been hard lately and so I've been thinking about drawing not only as a skill and a craft, but as a discipline that can be incredibly therapeutic and nourishing. These thoughts have coincided with me revisiting American illustrator Danny Gregory who edited An Illustrated Life which I've mentioned once before - a fantastic collection of images from artists' sketchbooks. He is a great believer in drawing as a way of not only documenting life, but of deepening your observation and understanding of it. Earlier this week, I bought his illustrated memoir called Everyday Matters and in this book he talks about coming to drawing after a traumatic family event. He discovers that the concentration and patience which comes from observational drawing, the 'slow, careful gaze' brings him enormous relief from the anxiety he is experiencing. This starts an almost obsessive need to draw and document everything in his life from his breakfast plate, to his son and wife, to people on the subway to historical monuments etc etc. The memoir is fascinating as it is filled with these sketches and thoughts.

There are some great quotes in his books. I like this one from Helen M Luke:

'We hurry through the so-called boring things in order to attend to that which we deem more important, interesting. Perhaps the final freedom will be a recognition that everything in every moment is essential and that nothing at all is "important."'

And these quotes in another Gregory book called The Creative License:

'It is never too late to be what you might have been' - E.E. Cummings

'When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at the college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me incredulous, and said 'You mean they forget?' - Howard Ikemoto

Anyway, I could keep going, because I am in that kind of reflective, pondering mood, but here are some little drawings from my week. (My scanner is playing up so not great images I know )

from life drawing:

from my house:
ciao

Spring

2010-10-01T14:26:00.001+10:00

Some life drawings

2010-09-29T18:17:00.002+10:00

Do you ever have those weeks when you feel very inside yourself? I am in that place now and don't have many words...but here are some life drawings from the past few weeks.

On a noisier note, I have borrowed my Dad's guitar amp and by this time next year, may well be rock star.

ciao

not ready for spring

2010-09-27T09:58:00.001+10:00

Firecracker labels, Lehel Kovacs, car sketching

2010-09-18T16:31:00.001+10:00

I have been looking at the beautiful illustrative work of Lehel Kovacs. He is Hungarian and has a really distinctive style - mostly drawings or screenprints I think. I really liked the image below. The container ship makes me think of vast distances and the tree makes me feel at home. He also has a lot of his commissioned work on his blog.

Browsing the internet for inspiration (not shopping!), I discovered a great site featuring vintage firecracker labels - www.crackerpacks.com. Here is a sample below:

Sketching in my car on Brunswick St. Not great, but a good start for my folio of 'car drawings'. (I wonder if I'm spending too much time in my new car??)

A question that arose during the week. If a man bicycles around town searching for a window box for his office at work to plant succulents in, should he feel guilty about buying a Chinese-made one for $1.50 in Kmart? Considering he tried several nurseries for an Australian-made one, I don't think so. Also, he rode his bike. Also, the plants will improve the air-quality of the office.

I am also working on a picture book about sleepwalking elephants.

I think that's all.

Ciao

Finally - an online store!

2010-09-05T17:07:00.001+10:00

I have finally set up an online store through Etsy which you can navigate to from my home page - here is the direct link. I'm selling archival quality prints in two sizes as well as my colouring books. (These will also be available at Jasper Junior in the Royal Arcade from November.) I'm also planning on adding a folio of life drawings to my website. The biggest issue is that most of my drawings are too big to fit into my scanner but I will try and work something out - maybe take digital photos. I went to life drawing last week for the first time in about a month and I was quite happy with the pic below.

I have been working on a series of illustrations for Cengage Learning and realised as I was sketching the roughs how much going to life drawing regularly has helped me - not only drawing figures but just improving depth and perspective. The reason I haven't been going often enough lately is because I've been hooked on the documentary showing on SBS on Tuesdays called One born every minute. Fascinating, but perhaps not as useful to me as the life drawing classes.

I have been feeling a little unsettled this weekend - crazy rain, full moon, change of seasons? Anyway, drawing becomes a bit of escapism when I feel like this. There is a lot to be said for having a discipline - especially one that is quiet and solitary. (I like those two words a bit too much sometimes!)

Georgia and I are off to the Toff in Town to see First Aid Kit later tonight. As you can see from the photo below, they like to play guitar and sing in the woods wearing woollen jumpers.

First time I have seen a gig at the Toff! I usually bypass the venue and head straight to the bookstore upstairs. Anyway, it will be a nice finish to an unsettled weekend.

ciao

Par Avion

2010-08-24T12:44:00.001+10:00

Here is my entry for the Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition.

'Par Avion'. It is coloured pencil, acrylic and collage. Who would have thought coloured pencil could work to well on wood? I enjoyed working on this, and now every wooden item or object I see is a potential canvas. (The wooden clipboard next to me better watch out!)

Has anyone else noticed Spring is on its way...?

Trade show finds

2010-08-16T15:41:00.002+10:00

Over the last few days I have been enjoying some much needed time at home. I am working on a piece for the Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition which is on every year. Each IA member is sent a 9 by 5 inch piece of wood to work on. The works will then be exhibited and available for sale at Space 39 on Little Collins St. Once I have finished I will include a photo.

The last fortnight has been really busy with Magnolia Square and then Life in Style all of last week. Both went well. At the trade show I did pick up some stockists around Australia and make some potenitally exciting contacts. The most enjoyable part of the experience though was meeting and seeing the work of the other exhibitors. There were some amazing jewellers there and I've put some pics below.

These are tension bangles by Sarah Rothe from Adelaide. She works with titanium and was telling me about the fascinating process of creating the colours by immersing the metal in water and sending an electrical current through. Depending on the metal surface and the voltage, different colours will appear. They are beautiful pieces and she makes rings in the same style. I managed to swap some of my small archival prints for a ring which I am very much enjoying wearing.

The pieces below are from jewellery artist Dan Cox. I love the necklace - each little ring shifts around on the chain so that the design constantly changes.

This necklace below is by the jewellery studio Pip Keane Design. Beautiful silverwork inspired by organic shapes like seedpods, stones and shells.

I have also had my eye on the gorgeous Babushka dolls made by Morgan Wills. Have a look at the pictures below and visit her site which I am very jealous of. It is so colourful and inviting. Here's the link.

I have been distracted by the pretty website and lost my train of thought...hmmm I might head back to the art desk...

ciao

Busy times in West Brunswick

2010-08-01T13:26:00.001+10:00

These last few weeks have been very busy in preparation for two impending events - Magnolia Square and Life in Style. Magnolia Square is coming up this Thurs - Sat at the Malvern Town Hall (see the invite below) and Life in Style takes place the following week. I have been finishing artwork, having prints and colouring books printed, setting prints in matts, organising set-up for my stand, etc etc...

One of the funnest things I've done is modified an oversized pencil as a prop for my stand. My sister came over last night and applied the transfer letters for me- see below. I am quite chuffed with it! I have always like oversized novelty objects. They make me laugh. There is a romantic comedy with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock (well, they may be more than one). It's called 2 Weeks Notice and there is one scene where Hugh wears a super big tie which goes all the way to his shoes. The movie is ok, but that tie is great!

The pencil is a great prop to have alongside my Fine Art Colouring Books which will be heading back from the printers on Monday. I've designed one for boys and one for girls. I'm not saying little boys don't like Matryoschka dolls, but my sense is that most of them do prefer aliens and robots. I spent Tuesday last week finalising the artwork. I became a little manic trying to get it done (I actually did 15 drawings in one day!), but am happy with the results. Here's a sneak peak of the covers:

The other thing I wanted to say about Magnolia Square is that I will have some original pieces for sale for the first time. The originals of several of my prints will be available. They are small - the size of my small prints. I'm really looking forward to this event for a few reasons, one of which is that I'm using a new printing company and the prints look extra nice with really rich colours and a smooth matt finish.

As well as madly preparing for these events, I have actually left the house several times. Last weekend I discovered the Courg Trash and Treasure Market held on Sundays at the Coburg Drive In. I am so excited to have an alternative to the Camberwell Market so close to home. Some of my finds are below, and I also bought some great records for Mark to either play or cut up. (I'm hoping the Bananarama one will be cut up, just quietly.)

I don't know what I'm going to do with wooden box with compartments, but it may be good for gift tags at the market. It was only $4 and I love it. The ramikens have already been put to good use - Georgia and I filled one with M&Ms last night while we watched a movie called Away We Go, a Sam Mendes film. Great film, great ramikens. (I wonder if anyone has ever used that sentence before...)

Another thing I'm happy about is my watergarden. Look at it - the water iris is even flowering!

Back to it.

Ciao!

Knitted slippers

2010-07-12T16:56:00.001+10:00

Today I was a little stressed trying unsuccessfully to create a masterful drawing. At about 12pm, these arrived in the mail:

Thanks Nanna.
x

New wheels, great new internet finds and flying ducks

2010-07-08T21:38:00.001+10:00

My old Peugeot has finally bitten the dust and I have moved on to something much newer and more comfortable but just as French! Welcome to the Renault Scenic with its cup-holders, glove compartments and pop out back seats. Also, it has modern things like airconditioning and keyless entry and a driver-side window which doesn't fall down into the door cavity each time you open it. Fantastic! I won't know myself cruising around and bipping the climate control up and down until it's just right. This car talk may seem a little boring (like an episode of Top Gear) but this is a big thing for me! I have felt very attached to my Peugeot since I bought it about six years ago. The car came complete with a Peugeot cassette in the glove box (straight from the showroom in 1981). Side A - a guide to the dashboard and the car's features. Side B - a charming history of the Peugeot in Australia. But aside from its quaintness, a lot has happened in my life since I have had that car. If I could start it, I'd drive it somewhere coastal to watch the sunset. Sadly, over the the course of a few weeks, the car has gone from revving so loudly that the girls next door ran away screaming when I started it up, to wheezing quietly in an elderly, bronchial kind of way. It's palliative...but I do plan on passing it on to someone with the passion and resources to restore it to some of its former glory. Farewell to the pug!

In artier news, my work has finally appeared on The Style File and I plan on really working up my portfolio with a stronger focus on book illustrations. I'm so pleased to be featured on the site, alongside some fantastic other artists. I have also discovered a blog which showcases book illustrators, put together by Jackie Hosking. Check it out here - there are some great features and interviews. It was on this site that I discovered the heartwarming, understated work of Charlotte Lance. See some examples of her stuff below:
I also have myself a fantastic set of flying ducks made by Mark's business Record Attempts. The concept is upcycling, bringing the old and discarded into use again (in a pretty cool way). The notebooks, sketchbooks, photo albums and music stave books make great presents - and they can be sent back and refilled with fresh recycled paper! The ducks really do look so great up on the wall - I am very pleased.

In the studio I have been busy with a freelance job which has just finished and I am planning on tidying up a little to get in the headspace for some new work over the weekend. There is a lot to do before Magnolia Square and Life in Style in August, much to be done on my fine art colouring books especially. Here's hoping I can fit it in around the MarkIT design showcase at Fed Square, band practice and cruising around in the Scenic!

I must say that despite all the fun, the little stamp-sized image of my paintbox below really does just make me want to stay inside.

Ciao

Winter! Bon Iver!

2010-06-07T10:01:00.001+10:00

Bon Iver! (Good Winter!)

Bon Iver! (This means "Happy, or Good, Winter!" in French - as well as being the stage name of a songwriter and musician.) Speaking of music, I have been really enjoying the debut solo album by John Grant (former singer of the Czars) called Queen of Denmark. I went down to Polyester and bought it after hearing the single Marz on RRR one morning. It is a really beautiful and interesting album - lyrically it is sometimes quirky but really moving at the same time. The production is on quite a grand scale, a bit Rufus Wainwright-esque. He is backed by the band members of Midlake...need I say more!?!

I have posted some more images on my sketchbook so please have a look. I'm planning on doing this more regularly from now on.

This Saturday is the Sisters' Market at Brunswick Town Hall and I'm hoping for a great day of sales (!), coffees and soup from the Bretzel lady who sets up in the Atrium. Due to my freelance work becoming busier, and a few really big events coming up this year, I've stopped my Rose St Stall until further notice. For the rest of 2010 I will be selling only at the North Melbourne Market, the Sisters' Market and Magnolia Square in August. I must say I very much enjoyed having this last Sunday off, especially with the frosty morning and the paper waiting on the front step.

Following the market on Saturday, we are heading down to Queenscliff to stay in a huge old manor house for the long weekend. I'm anticipating a cold sea wind outside and an open fire inside - or some appliance just as effective but not so romantic.

If you walk past someone huddled into their jacket collar, remember to wish them a bon iver. They may not know what you are talking about, but you will, and it will feel good.

Ciao

Inscribe and Whitley

2010-05-24T10:20:00.001+10:00

One of my illustrations, Bird Impossible, has made the front cover of the Inscribe Newspaper. Inscribe is a collaborative project between Darebin Council and NMIT and features writers who live or work in Darebin. You may find the paper at a High St cafe, library or other community hub. There are two more of my illustrations inside - not to mention a heap of great articles and creative writing pieces by Darebin locals. The issue will be launched on June 4 at Northcote Town Hall with Joel Becker (of the Vic Writers Centre) to speak.
Mark and I went to the Northcote Social Club on Thursday night to see Whitley, whose music I've only recently discovered. It was a great gig - just him and his guitar. He has a beautiful website, designed by Beci Orpin, and you can check it out here. In my weekend news, I had a fantastic Friday night of music and drawing, a great Saturday of volunteering and band practice - complete with bread and butter persimmon puddings (very rock and roll) - a late night falafel wrap at Hollywood Palace on Bridge Road and a great day at Rose St yesterday with several friends visiting and a lot of autumn sunshine.

Style

2010-05-11T18:53:00.001+10:00

Some good news arrived in my letterbox today. My work has been chosen to be featured on The Style File, a site connected to the Australian Society of Authors which showcases illustrators. My portfolio should appear there in 2 to 3 weeks and it will be exciting to see what comes of it.

In other stylish news, I will have a platform at the Life in Style trade show in August. I'll be displaying some new products such as greeting cards and baby clothes as well as my (newly-designed) colouring books and giclee prints. I hope the trade show will mean I have more stockists on board by the end of the year.

Reading over what I've just written, it's obvious that my rather deflated mood has infiltrated my writing. Sorry about that! I seem to be navigating a fog of anxiety this week and it just won't lift! Not fun. I have managed to get a bit of work done in these last few days though and took these snaps of my desk this morning when a lovely slant of sunlight fell in through the window.

Ciao. I promise my next post will be more upbeat!

Green glass and toadstools

2010-05-03T10:59:00.001+10:00

It's been a busy busy week following a lovely long weekend in Daylesford. Mark and I spent three sunny days wandering around the town. We went to the Sunday Railway Market, the beautiful Convent Gallery and walked around the lake. I made some great finds at some of the second hand shops and discovered a love for green glass, as can be seen below! We also discovered a few great new businesses in the town. We ate at a little place called Breakfast and Beer (Mark thinks this caters to his needs perfectly) but we had lunch or perhaps it was brunch. We also followed the red bird sandwich boards to a lovely out-of-the-way store called Lark.

On our walk around the lake we discovered a village of toadstools - see the photo below taken by Mark. They were absolutely gorgeous! Coincidentally, I just had a look at the Lark blog and saw that they have also been quite taken with the toadstools! Nice blog too!

The weekends fly by these days with some (really great) volunteer work on Saturday mornings and Sundays at Rose St. I was really low on stock for this week and spent Sat afternoon mounting and wrapping prints, then with the market all day yesterday, I feel in need of a little rest this morning. It is sunny out there so I might go for a wander around the streets of Brunswick West or go for a drive to buy some herbs for the pot outside my front door. Generally I have more luck with indoor plants than outdoor ones and I am particularly bad with vegies and herbs - but I won't give up! I love the feeling of going out to pick a sprig of something in the middle of cooking dinner.

I am planning on buying an Epson 3880 printer so I can print my own giclee prints at home. It is a pricey investment but the convenience of having one here would allow me not only to print according to need rather than in bulk lots, but would also give me the freedom to play around and produce more. Stay tuned for that!!!!

I am hoping to have some new prints available by the end of the month. I think I'll go and set myself up in the backyard with my sketchbook. Today is MY weekend!!

ciao

An Illustrated Life and shoes shoes shoes

2010-04-23T17:59:00.001+10:00

This week I've become fascinated with shoes. Seeking a drawing project on Monday morning, I arranged my shoes in a line down the hallway and photographed them from above. These photos became references for a series of drawings, starting off rough and sketchy and ending up as a finished study of seven shoes on a beautiful sheet of textured paper just waiting for a drawing. Each shoe is very different and all are in varying states of wear - it's nice to be able to draw the creases in the leather and fraying ends of a shoelace. I've included one of my sketches below.

The other thing I want to share is the book that really got me excited about sketching again. It's called An Illustrated Life and is made up of page after colourful page from the sketchbooks of artists and illustrators. The editor/author is New York writer and illustrator Danny Gregory. Over time these books become like diaries showing the places, people, interests and mindset of the artists at the time of each drawing. I've spent hours going through it. I took the book to Rose St last weekend and showed it to Chandra Paul, the ceramic artist with an adjacent stall to mine. She was just as fascinated with it as I am and made a comment I really liked. She said 'It's so portable' and she didn't mean the book. She meant a love of drawing, of observing and recording the world in this way. As a potter, she doesn't have the luxury of taking her materials with her anywhere she goes. Chandra makes amazing ceramic vessels - bowls and dishes. It is well worth checking her stuff out at Rose St. I've pasted some images from the book below...

Above are from the sketchbooks of Brooklyn illustrator Marilyn Patrizio.

and these from artist Rick Beerhorst. The book has over 200 pages like these from many many artists - of course it is far more interesting when you can read the text and study the pics! (I realise blogs aren't the best way to look at images - but you get the idea.)

I woke up super early this morning and now feel tired. Today I'm going to a wedding, then driving to Trentham for a dinner, then Mark and I are going on to Daylesford for a relaxing weekend. Nice. I might have a little nap before the wedding...

Ciao

Three-toed sloth and the Lawson Woods Annual

2010-04-14T20:27:00.001+10:00

I have spent many hours this past week drawing a three-toed sloth and her baby. This isn't something I ever really pictured myself doing! I do tend to prefer charming creatures like birds and deer, or brave handsome animals like lions and horses. Surprisingly I really enjoyed drawing the sloth! They really are very strange with huge long limbs and tiny flat heads with far-apart eyes. As I was scrolling through Google images for good reference pics, I started to feel a little creeped out with sloth after sloth staring at me. Shudder. The sloth project is a commissioned wedding present, of all things! Apparently, the happy couple adores sloths. Anyway, the half-finished artwork is below.

A few weeks ago I was looking through the second-hand treasures of a regular stall at Rose St and discovered this fantastic old book called Lawson Wood's Annual. There is oddly no publishing date in the book but I can tell you it once belonged to Sandra White because she has stamped her name in the front. I just love the illustrations which are mainly grey with a limited tint of colour. I was intrigued so I googled Lawson Wood to find he was a British comic artist born in 1878. He had a lot of success as an illustrator for magazines and newspapers and developed a series of postcards and other goods featuring one of his characters, Gran'pop the chimp. He was also an animal welfare ambassador and worked for the Zoological Society. Some of his illustrations are below:

It just occurred to me while looking at that first picture that something didn't seem quite right...chimpanzees don't have tails do they? I won't hold it against Lawson (even if he did work for the Zoological Society). I love his work.

This weekend is going to be a busy one with the Sisters' Market on Saturday and Rose St on Sunday. I'm particularly looking forward to Sisters because it only comes around every few months and is such a great market. I love the old town halls and it is nice being completely out of the weather. I'm hoping the pretzel lady is there and that her husband has cooked vegie soup again.

Umbrella weddings, camping and new designs

2010-03-29T19:58:00.001+11:00

I had a weekend of tacos, cocktails and to top it all off, a wedding at Rippon Lea Estate. Alas, it wasn't my wedding- it was my old friends, Leon and Jen getting hitched - and it was a very classy affair with candles and classical piano recitals by the lake. See photo below, taken when very light rain started falling duing the ceremony - but don't the umbrellas just add to the charm? I had never been to Rippon Lea before and was quite blown away by how beautiful and other-worldly it is. As we mingled on the lawn I actually felt a bit Jane Austen. If it weren't for the air-show zooming overhead as part of the Grand Prix, it would have felt more authentic. That and the taffeta and kitten heels.

I have also just had a new range of gift tags printed which combine lead drawings with sections of retro fabric pattern. See images below. I would like to do more with these designs so stay tuned. There may be baby romper suits, tea towels and melamine plate sets to come!

I won't be back at Rose St for a few weeks since Easter weekend is coming up and I will be camping in the Kiewa Valley. I am hoping for cold sunny days, songs around the campfire (trite but true), nights of chatting in the tent, and an air mattress that won't deflate overnight. Also, no midnight runs to the toilet would be great.

Happy Easter to anyone who happens to be reading this blog. I know you are out there somewhere...

Ron Mueck, Journal and mountains

2010-03-12T11:16:00.002+11:00

Last week on a fresh autumn day Mark and I rode into the city to see the Ron Mueck exhibition at the NGV. I have been really intrigued by his work and very keen to see it, but I must say I felt a little nervous walking in. I was worried I was about to be surrounded by cold cadaver-ish flesh, real hair and staring eyes. It was actually an amazing experience! There was the incredible It's a Girl pictured below - a brand new baby at 5 metres long - which has been getting a lot of publicity. It is always hard to capture the gallery experience, especially in words, but the way Mueck plays with scale throws everything out and you are either shrunk to doll size and dwarfed by huge sculptures or enlarged to giant size, looking at the tiny, perfectly- formed faces, hands and feet of miniature people. The little ones are not small enough to be doll-like, just odd-sized and this is all the more interesting.

There is a sculpture of a woman - huge- propped up against pillows and under a white doona. She is kind of reflective and lost in thought. It wasn't one of my favourites, but I had a really strange sense of remembering what it was like to be a very small child, and wanted to climb onto the big billowing doona and sit with the woman, on her lap maybe. That is the kind of thing this exhibition does!

We also had a really nice coffee and breakfast at Journal on Flinders Lane. If you are into coffee, you should try this place and if you go alone, there is plenty to read and look at. I tend to go through phases with the city. There is no denying Melbourne is fantastic, but sometimes I find the city experience stressful and wish I'd stayed at home drawing (but that's just the hermit in me coming out!!). Anyway, this day I just felt happy wandering around in there.

However, after a few low days this last week, I felt more like this:

Ciao

Notebook: magazine

2010-03-11T14:38:00.001+11:00

Some of my illustrations in ' Notebook:' magazine are below. They are in the April issue which is on sale now.

Play pen

2010-03-06T09:30:00.002+11:00

Last night, after a few drinks at the Union, I found myself home on the couch flipping through some of my favourite books. One of them is Play Pen - New Children's Book Illustration by Martin Salisbury. It was published in 2007 and is a collection of international book illustrators - attempting to show a variety of styles, techniques and media. It is great and I often call upon it when I'm not feeling particularly inspired. I discovered Frenchman Marc Boutavant (and aren't his images oh so charmingly French?) They are absolutely gorgeous. What fascinates me is that he creates the images almost entirely on the computer using Photoshop and a Wacom tool. (I have been told these tools - like a digital pencil used on a tablet - are invaluable. I am just reluctant to spend more time in staring at a screen.) Have a look at the images below from his portfolio! They're beautiful!! So much to look at. They kind of remind me of the old Richard Scarry books with colourful characters busily going about daily life in every corner of the page. Busy yet really simple in a way.

Look at the one below! I love it.

Another illustrator I discovered in Play Pen is Noemi Villamuza from Spain. I haven't been able to find out much more about her online, but the images below give you an idea of her style. She does these lovely pencil drawings and sets them against flat digital colour or against clean white, also adding collage. Very beautiful too. I love the 'cloud-wave' above the bed which looks to be a photographic collage.

On a domestic note, I have the whole day to myself and need to finish a job for Sydney's Child magazine, vacuum, change the sheets and cook something great for dinner. I have put all the indoor plants out the front for the day in the hope they will soak up some light and some rain.

Possible thunderstorms too. Good day to be home.

Ciao.

2010-02-28T19:44:00.001+11:00

Today I had a stall at the North Melbourne Market, held in the Lithuanian Club on Errol St. The market is put together by Thread Den and really spreads itself out through the fantastic old building. For me it was a pretty slooooow day and a lot of stallholders said the same. After having spent a bit of time at this market caper over the last year, it seems to me that outdoor, festive events coinciding with the market day affect the amount of shoppers who pass through. Today was the Sydney Road Festival, the Lygon St Festival, the Moonee Ponds Festival AND the RRR Last Day of Summer event at the NGV. We stallholders do like to think of excuses for our not so lucrative days, and sometimes are a little creative about it, but it makes sense that at least SOME of our potential customers went along to these events instead...

Being a market stallholder is a funny thing. There is so much to like about it - the chatting to customers, hearing feedback on your work, running into people you haven't seen for years (this happens surprisingly often), looking at other artists' and makers' works and getting to know these other stallholders. It also is nice to chat with other creative people who want to try something different to the 9 to 5 thing.

BUT...if I am to be honest, sometimes I really don't find it a positive experience. For every encouraging, interested customer, there are ten others who glance over with disinterest or worse. (One girl who didn't realise the work was mine, said loudly to her friend - that's just pencil, I could do that, and I thought, you know what sister, you didn't.) Don't get me wrong, I don't expect everyone to buy an art print, or that my work will be everyone's cup of tea. It's just hard not to take it personally when you are sitting there with all your work displayed around you. Maybe it is just my tendency for self-doubt, but most people have a healthy bit of this, and others who so obviously don't have it, well, they should. It keeps you on your toes. (Still I would like a little less...)

I should finish this rant by saying that in general I do enjoy the market and the idea of my work being hung in strangers' houses, being taken overseas as gifts etc still fills me with a happy satisfied feeling.

I am just feeling a little flat after today, and tired too. What often happens on afternoons like this is that I think about my 'other life'. The one I am dreaming of away from this city with its expensive houses. (The prospect of a one bedroom unit in Fawkner or a lifetime of paying other people's mortgages looms large!) The idea is not to be entertained too much at this point so I won't go into it, but let me say that five minutes after walking in the door today, I was on realestate.com.au checking house prices in Kyneton, Woodend and Bendigo. It's not just about the house, it's just this feeling that the city is resisting you, and you skate along its surface and can't grow any roots. Feels a bit empty.

Speaking of growing roots though, when I went out the back to take the washing off the line, I checked my slow-growing veggie garden and found a little cucumber like a small crayon, and a few beans about the width and size of bobby pins. And I felt quite a bit better.

Also, it feels as though summer is wilting away to make room for my favourite season. I went for a stroll early this evening and I needed a cardigan. There is a crispness in the air and it promises good times ahead!

(See! I am not all whinging and moaning)

Ciao

:)

Idle hours, blanket mag and our nation's capital

2010-02-09T17:04:00.002+11:00

The images above were featured in Issue 19 of Blanket. If you are not familiar, Blanket is a beautiful and interesting online magazine you can subscribe to and receive in your inbox in PDF format. It focuses on illustration, photography and design and I really enjoyed looking at the other artists featured - also was a bit chuffed to be selected.

I returned from a little holiday feeling very inspired and happy about life and art. Paris? you ask. Montreal perhaps? Actually no. I was in Canberra. Yes, it's true! I visited our nation's very strangely arranged, roundabout abundant, history-lacking capital city. The occasion was a girls' weekend wandering around the National Gallery - currently showing works from the Musee D'orsay while is being renovated. I had actually seen many of the paintings in Paris years ago but was keen to see them again, despite the threat of queues, crowds and neckties printed with Monet's waterlilies. Though this exhibition was the inspiration for the Canberra weekend, it was The Portrait Gallery which really left me feeling so good. There are some oversized, gilt-framed portraits (of very important men) hanging rather heavily as part of the permanent collection, but what was really wonderful to me was an exhibition showing until 21 February called Idle Hours. If you visit the link, take some time to click through the paintings (not that I'm suggesting this experience is anything like seeing the originals!). These are portraits of ordinary people at their leisure and rest, in their homes, with their kids, reading, swimming, bathing, sleeping - all the good stuff! Some of my favourites are below:

The bath 1954 -Erica McGilchrist

Girl resting in a wicker sofa - Brian Dunlop 1984

Sam sleeping in Venice 1997 -Nicholas Harding

Interior 1943 - Max Meldrum

The late train 1945 - Winifred Towers

So beautiful. I have been quite busy today but still managed to take myself down to Queens Park pool and swim some laps. It is one of the old outdoor pools only open in summer and has a great feel about it. The changerooms are just concrete painted bright aqua all over and there are gum leaves from the park on the bottom of the pool. It is fresh and cold and not too chlorinated.

Off to Life Drawing! Ciao.

my house, colouring books and other things

2010-01-23T18:48:00.003+11:00

I have been enjoying my house so much over the past few months. I've been feeling very domestic and unashamedly announce that I am a home body. After Christmas I finally tidied up my little studio which had been knee-deep in paper and books and picture frames and old copies of university work etc etc. When I'm frustratedly searching for my group certificate from 2002 (or something similar) and I stumble upon some nice piece of artwork that I had completely forgotten about - it hits home that I must become more organised. Now I am sitting at my computer in a room which is suddenly spacious and the feng shui is just humming. Very pleased with my efforts. I took some snaps around the place today and have included some below.

The little reindeer door-knocker I bought on the Portobello Road when I was in London in 2008. Until I am miraculously able to quit this renting game and drill it into my own front door, I hammer it into the sides of various pieces of furniture. At the moment it is on the side of an old chest of drawers by the front window of my studio. I rather like that photo - even if it is a little out of focus. The little pottery vessels were a discovery of mine as I walked through Brunswick West one afternoon with Mark. Outside one of the shopfronts on Melville Rd was a collection of these odd-shaped creations and a sign reading please take. I couldn't believe it. They are absolutely beautiful and each one unique. I snatched up five of them and gifted some to my mum and sister. It was one of those happy reminders that all around people are doing clever, creative things. I have been planning on dropping an appreciation note in the letterbox of that shopfront. I guess the potter wasn't completely happy with them, but I would love him or her to know that I am very happy indeed.

I have been busy with preparations for a mail-out in the hope of showing some more people my work. I am really happy with the little desk calendars which recently came back from the printers. I had hoped to send these last year but it was a crazy happy/sad/confused/excited time and in times like that, not much gets done. Below is a bit of a look. I will have a few for sale at Rose St over the next few weeks, though it is almost Feb so I'm not expecting to sell many.

I was also inspired to make a colouring book. Actually I was inspired on that same overseas trip in 2008. In Paris, my sister and I were wandering through the Marais like we owned the place: 'Bonjour,' 'Merci' all over the place, wishing we had been forced to study French from the age of 3...anyway we discovered this crazy colourful shop full of beautiful things and one of them was a collection of colouring books by a company called la marelle en papier. A lot of their stationery can be found in various shops around Melbourne. The book I bought was by illustrator Jeremy Mancheaux.
Very sweet. I'm saving it for my children, or nieces and nephews, whichever comes first. Though my colouring book is not so beautifully produced, it is filled with images which I think will be fun to colour-in. In fact I might even get out the pencils whilst watching TV one night this week. I was telling my friend Penny about how colouring-in is forever associated with the tooth fairy in my mind. Here's why. As kids, each time we lost a tooth we would leave it in a jar of water beside a colouring book lying open at a carefully chosen page. In the morning, the page would be coloured-in so perfectly, which such neat little strokes of the pencil that my sister and I would be just amazed. (Coincidently, my mother had quite a penchant for creative things.)

Here's a sneak peek atsome of the images in mine:

I must finish now. Have some pasta on the stove and am off to see Camera Obscura at the Corner with George and Libby. Looking forward to it. Their recent album is heaps of fun.

2009-12-22T20:33:00.001+11:00

Just a little collage as I don't have many words tonight. Lots of pretty things going on in my head though.

Parties and other fun

2009-12-13T19:37:00.001+11:00

Historically I am not much of a Christmas fan. I find the whole thing exhausting and I always feel a sense of relief in the new year once life returns to normal. This year though, I feel uncharacteristically festive and even put my little fibre-optic tree up much earlier than usual. If you think this is tacky, you obviously haven't sat on a couch and become truly mesmerised as fibre-optics do their thing. (I just got up and switched it on then.) Also, the parties and good times have been really GOOD. Please see proof below of yours truly getting in on at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne. (It may look like I am the only one on the dance floor, but trust me, the rest of the dancers were behind the camera.)

But the main thing is, I am feeling a lot of LOVE this year. It's true. I just can't imagine feeling lonely at the moment - and I am someone who has suffered from loneliness and other miserable afflictions of the heart. This year life is very different.

(I even put a bunch of shiny cowbells on my front door, and I recently bought two new dresses with bubble skirts.)

I'm sorry if you think this is an annoying post, but I am very much in a glass-half-full kind of mood. It might have been the glass of pinot I had after Rose St today with Bazza and Casey. But I can think of heaps of other possible reasons too. In fact, just knowing I can hop into bed and read a book in an hour or so, is pretty damn pleasant.

Pretty damn good.

Rainy day timetable

2009-12-08T13:07:00.001+11:00

Today we have had really good rain. Just like we used to get when I was a kid in the 80s. Remember when they applied the rainy day timetable at school? Lunch was indoors at your desks (Vegemite on Saladas, topped with a generous dollop of envy at the lunch order kids eating sausage rolls). Then it was playing indoor games and watching the boys go stir-crazy. I love this rain! Makes me sleep long and deep and also, it is very conducive to making lots of artwork and reading great novels. At the moment I'm reading MJ Hyland's This is How. V good. Last night I sat on the couch sketching on brown paper. I came up wth some interesting results - a few of which are below. I'm happy with the Christmas Reindeer, even his wonky face. Not sure what that rabbit is doing! I ate a carrot THIS long. I came THIS close. I love you THIS much.

Had coffee this morning with Penny and Isabel. Penny and I talked while Isabel sucked on a Cleo magazine. Good fun. Also, discovered this amazing artist. Her paintings are absolutely beautiful. Her name is Gillian Warden and you can check out her portfolio here.

The rain seems to have stopped but I'm still aiming for a good few hours of art-making before my final illustration class this evening.

Ciao.

Markets

2009-12-01T07:54:00.001+11:00

I have landed a place at the Kris Kringle Night Market at the Northcote Town Hall this Thursday. The market goes from 5.30 'til 10pm and there will be live music and lots of great stalls. I'm not sure if I will be inside or out but I'm hoping for good weather. At the moment the forecast is 29 with late showers. Shame about the showers but you never know. Northcote is a great suburb and when I grow up and have a spare 1/2 million dollars I might buy a flat there.

Back at home, the art desk is covered in sketches from a children's book I am working on about a young monkey named Gwen. Had dinner with the fam last night and caught up with my only child, Charlie, who is finally over his broken ankle incident. Here is a photo of the little man from a few years ago. He had just had a bath.

Off to have coffee with two lovely ladies I know at The Red Door. One is tall and gorgeous. The other is somewhat smaller, puts everything in her mouth and needs to be wheeled around. Also, her excitement shows in her legs and her squeals!

Weather for today: 23 and sunny. Ace!

Drawing and making stuff

2009-11-25T21:35:00.001+11:00

Like a lot of people I suffer from the worries. I can't help it! I am programmed that way. I have learnt to deal with it over the years and discovered that, though there is no one magic cure (I mean, worrying is part of life), there are some things that do help. I'll list them in no particular order - swimming laps, walking, Northern Exposure, painting, sitting in beer gardens with friends, winning the lottery (I have never done this but I imagine this might work - for a few weeks anyway), meeting new people who seem to get you straight away, finding runaway dogs and calling the owners, falling asleep with a whippet on the bed (a certain faun one with very floppy ears), playing guitar with no fret buzz, singing and reaching all the good notes, going to bed with a really good book, going to bed with a really good man, the babies I know (especially Isabel and Casey), corn fritters at the Bean Counter, bike-riding late on a summer night, seeing that the water iris by the front door is flowering for the first time ever...actually I could go on. But the reason I started this ramble is because one of the things that is absolutely foolproof for me is going to Life Drawing in Clifton Hill on a Tuesday night. There is nothing better than being in a room with other people quietly drawing and concentrating. It is amazing to draw people and some of the models are fantastic (one who apparently does a handstand pose for 2mins!!). The course is untutored so all skill levels are there - no pressure and no judgement- just quiet creativity. I have so many life drawings all rolled up on news rag in the corner of my study and I'd love to scan some of them and put them on this blog. Unfortunately they are way too big to fit in my scanner - I know I could scan in sections and knit the files together but that just seems like too much hard work!

What I have scanned though are some little gift tags I've made from unused manilla files from the office. Recycled and pretty. I'll be selling these at Rose St in Dec and at the Sisters' Market next year. (Just found out I have a spot for the first three of 2010 and I'm very excited because it's always great, busy, busy day with so much nice stuff, great coffee and all in the fantastic Brunswick Town Hall. )

Strange that I began this post talking about worrying and wrote a very positive and life-affirming paragraph. I'll be going to sleep in a good mood. That's the way I like it.

Great finds

2009-11-19T21:21:00.001+11:00

I was making use of the high speed internet at NMIT and discovered some great illustrators, one of which is Lehel Kovacs. He lives in Budapest and looks like he is busy busy with assignments. Check him out, and also, Lauren Nassef who is based in San Francisco. She adds a drawing to her site each day. She does this figurative stuff with a bit of humour and a lot of class.

The sketchbook on my site features a little sketch of my Grandpa's old transistor. Here's a photo of the real thing. It has no batteries in it but does still work. I love the little clock face.

I would write more but have decided to to watch Northern Exposure instead.

lost and found

2009-11-19T16:45:00.001+11:00

Tidying up my study, I have come across some old drawings and paintings. The one below I did when I came back from Paris in 2006 (maybe 2007?). We saw an apartment on fire and people were out on their balconies. Everyone got out okay. I've just had some Giclee prints made up of this little pic to sell at Rose St.Have also put some of my work in the Curious Oyster Shoppe on Barkly St, St Kilda. I haven't been to the shop yet because I'm not very regularly over that side of town, but by all accounts, it's very charming.

I also found some little ink and collage works from an exhibition I had above a wine bar in Kew. It was a very strange venue, but the room was great, with the little balcony and wooden floors. I loved making these images. I was going through a tissue paper phase - it kind of moulds itself and hardens in beautiful patterns as the ink dries.

At the moment I have been busy making these dioramas. The hares are Giclee prints on 100% cotton card and I have cut each on out carefully and lovingly with a scalpel (ergonomic Fiskars one - very good!). The backgrounds are vintage photographs from an old book of Scottish scenery. I have sold a few so far - one at Rose St and one at Curious Oyster.

It is getting late for a school night! Also, I want to stop looking at the computer screen and read my book - Smoke in the room by Emily Maguire. It's great but am still on a high after reading a brilliant book of short stories by Karen Hitchcock called Little White Slips. Read it! It is her debut project and so good.

Good night.