Smiles

Well, I’d forgotten how much fun it is taking part in  Illustration Friday. So many lovely comments. I’m busy doing preliminary sketches for a book for next year and trying to understand reindeer. They are such clumsy looking things in real life. Hard to imagine them picking up speed and galloping. So here is the muddle. It’s only when you see it in a picture that you realise what a muddle it must seem to anyone else. I sold a picture the other day though so I’m planning a complete overhaul with some Ikea storage. Those who know me might think this is an impossible task, but something has to stop me and my art stuff from taking over the house.

Now I must stop being distracted and writing rubbish so I can get on with what needs to be done.

Tags: illustration, impossible task, muddle, rubbish, sketches, storage

‘Grounded’ for Illustration Friday

I have three daughters. Most of the time they’re gorgeous but I’ve been having problems recently with the youngest and the language she uses at top volume towards her sisters. It’s tough being the youngest.

Happy New Year!!

I have no idea where the time went but it’s been almost two months since I last wrote. That’s just terrible. I wish I could offer more in the way of images but everything I’ve done recently has been towards a submission to publishers. I’m delighted to have signed a contract with Hachette for a picture book next year. Very very excited about that. Here are a few sketchbook sketches I’ve done whilst teaching and a funny one I did this morning whilst the kids were doing their swimming lessons.

Tags: sketch

Here she comes!

I was thoroughly delighted and inspired by Carolyn Harrington’s new work at the Mount Eliza Art Exhibition. So I was thrilled to be invited to attend a meeting of artists, with Carolyn, to discuss an exhibition entitled ‘Wild at HeArt’ being planned for next year. The exhibition will be in support of RAW, a charity concerned with the welfare of wild animals, with links to an anti-poaching organisation in Africa. They run a music festival on the peninsula in March, which I didn’t know about before, even more to look forward to!
All this got me looking at my photos from our trip to Zambia last year in a whole new light. This is half done but it’s going well so far.

I’ve been having fun for the past couple of days creating Christmas cards for my little shop;www.madeit.com.au/LittleSplashes

Sold sold!

Chuffed to bits that I sold two pictures at the Mount Eliza Art Exhibition. I also put a crazy amount of work into assisting putting the whole thing together along with a bunch of amazingly dedicated and fabulous people that make up the parent committee. The two that sold were the blue and orange pictures below. I’m going to keep going with the exploring and practicing with ink and water colour. I just love it.

Illustrators Australia 9×5 Exhibition

Illustrators Australia run this delightful exhibition based on the idea of handpainting on wood from the 1890 Cigar box exhibition held in Melbourne by the Heidelberg artists. I have the pleasure of being a member this year rather than a student so here is my entry.

The word we were given to illustrate was ‘Rapture’ so I paused for a moment to think of the happiest time of my life. It didn’t take long. The birth of my first child was a dramatic event. My sister had come round for lunch with her girlfriend and they ended up delivering a baby on the living room floor. She was beautiful, healthy and really tiny (2.3 kilos). 10 years on she’s still feisty, speedy and taking us all by surprise. Holding her for the first time was rapturous.

You can check out all the 9×5′s here http://www.illustratorsaustralia.com/ and you can buy them and/or visit the exhibition.

Opening night: Friday 14th October from 6pm (auction at 8pm)
Gallery closed to public (Seminar) – Saturday 15th October
Gallery open Sunday 16th October 10am-3pm
Where: Space 39, Level 2, 39 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Vic.

Yay!

Yay! The publisher loves my platypi. I yelped and hugged my eldest, who happened to be in the room, when I got that email. Watch this space. I feel like I’m crawling up a steep hill slowly with the whole ‘getting published’ thing, but yesterday there was a glimmer of hope. In the meantime, I have set up another shop and I’m working on creating a decent amount of stock. It’s called ‘Little Splashes’. Here’s the link www.madeit.com.au/LittleSplashes

Also, ‘Lottie the Lollipop Lady’ is getting out there. May have some local newspaper appearances. Not sure how I feel about that. My last brush with local press was when I was 18 and I felt like hiding away for months afterwards. Thankfully I’ve moved to the other side of the world and it’s 20 years later. Perhaps it’s time to put the past in the past!

 

Platypi

Platypus

Tags: platypus, sketch, watercolour

Portraits

It’s been ages and ages since I wrote but I’ve been busy preparing for The Little Archie’s exhibition at Oak Hill Gallery and drawing my own children for their grandfathers 70th. Hope he likes them. You can try and guess which famous people I’ve tried to paint. Good Luck.

Tags: drips, graphite, ink, paint, pencil, portrait, watercolour

Summer’s on it’s way

Cloud Catching

I sold a picture at Derinya art show, which was lovely. Now trying to get it together for a productive week of sending submissions off to publishers. Feeling a lot like this picture. Enthusiastic and optimistic at one moment and then full of concern and anxiety.

Tags: water colour

Super-Size Me Illustration

For the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of being involved in a school production. My 10 year old is performing in her Y5 JRock production. I can’t tell you how crazily excited she is about the whole thing. She has been looking forward to it for literally years and we’re down to the last couple of weeks of rehearsals. Of course there’s extra rehearsals going on in our kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedrooms all the time, especially when it’s time to “eat breakfast…put your shoes on….feed the dogs….brush your hair”. Yes, she’s driving me nuts.

So I put my hand up to draw the backdrops and this week they were finished. I’m very proud of them. I wasn’t involved in all the painting, the teachers have worked extremely hard. The ambulance was all my doing though. Can’t wait to see it all come together with the kids dancing. All eight minutes of it.  Amazing what time and effort goes into the whole thing but the kids are just loving it and the teachers make it a joy to be involved.

Tags: large scale illustration, scenery, school production

Beautiful

I’ve been really enjoying doing this portrait mainly because it’s for an old friend who I haven’t seen for years and years. One of the drawbacks of moving to the other side of the world.

Tags: child, drawing, graphite, pencil, portrait

My Art Classes

On a Thursday after school I have run art classes for primary aged children for the past 2 1/2 years. It’s such a joy to hang out with young people and share some of my skill with them. I decided to try out more classes on a Saturday morning. It’s a small class at the moment but we’ll grow. If you are in Melbourne or especially in the Mornington Peninsula/ Mount Eliza  area you may like to pop in on a Saturday morning at 10am to check out what we’re up to. You can also look at our website

Tags: art classes, children

New portrait

After a few weeks of illustrating I finally got back to a bit of portrait drawing, and the delightful task of capturing likeness. I also found this delicious illustration somewhere on my internet journey this morning, and I’m ashamed to say I have no idea who the artist is but I just love it to bits

Pyjama Day

It’s a cold, wet, wintery day and the kids have all got the snivvles. Sounds like the perfect excuse to stay in our jim-jams and watch movies all day!. I’m still working though – in my pyjamas of course. Time for the next round of lemon and honey tea.

Tags: child, fishing net, ink, pyjamas, watercolour

Favourite Illustrators

I’ve been having a search through some fabulous illustration blogs and come across brilliance. The Drawn Today team are truly amazing. Their podcasts keep me company on long lonely car journeys. Unfortunately I don’t have enough of these. I particularly enjoy Ward Jenkins as he seems to relish having illustrated a book about chickens as a good excuse to wear a chicken suit.

Another discovery recently is Emma Dodd. I can’t find a website for her anywhere though. Her book ‘What Pet To Get’ is very loved by our kids. I love the brilliant mix of hand-drawn and Photoshop

‘Remedy’ for IF

I haven’t done IF for ages and ages. This was a sketch I was doing for something else and it happened to fit.