I-F: Visitor

We had one of these visit our house last night. They are so cute! I haven't seen him today so I just hope that our cat didn't get to him. I don't think so though - she's not that quick. I'm sure he was frolicking outside in the springtime weather today.

The first image that popped into my head when I saw the IF word for this week was a trail of ants. Whenever my father would discover a bug of some sort sitting on his sleeve, he would announce that we had a 'visiting species' - but my ant sketches didn't work out very well, so instead here is a sketch for the next acrylic painting in the series of paintings I will sell in my friend's shop, and hopefully other shops here in Melbourne. (see previous post)

I've got so much to tell you about - I've been through all my travel photos and have many to share, as well as all sorts of inspirational books, cards and memorabilia from the trip. I'm also setting up illustrator pages at Illustrators Australia and the Stylefile. more soon! xx

new medium, new work

what's that you say? acrylics? didn't that girl only do watercolours?

well yes, a bit of a change for me here, and I'm really excited about it. I haven't painted on canvas in ages and never with acrylics, but I decked myself out this week and got into it - and I'm loving them. They don't dry nearly as fast as I thought they would, coming from an oils background (though I did have some choice moments talking to my canvas when trying to blend colours - 'no, no, not yet! stop! damn.' )

Anyway, my friend's sister is opening a homewares shop in Brisbane where she's going to have a "kid's corner" so these are heading up there to warmer climes (although it was beautiful in Melbourne today - bring on Spring!)

I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I think the bits of collage work well and make them feel a bit 'special'. Canvasses are great because you can just hang them straight on the wall and don't have to mess with framing which can be expensive. These ones have the thicker edge so they look good hanging without a frame, and I've varnished them so they are well protected from sticky little fingers. I'm thinking I might start approaching some kids shops in Melbourne too. you never know what might happen!

I've decided to 'market' this new style under my lil-kim bloggy name, so I'm going to have this little easel which only stands about 4 inches tall near the paintings. and it's time to make up some more business cards too because I'm all out! time for a freshen up anyway....

Slacker

I've been terrible lately. I've let househunting eclipse everything in my life for the past few weeks, including doing art. No more! We had major trials last week -- we actually bought a house, yes, signed on the dotted line, then got back an extremely negative building inspection (the words "money pit" were thrown around), so we pulled out of the sale. It was very disappointing because the house was everything we wanted and more in terms of space, location, price, everything, and now we are back to the drawing board (sorta speak). but I'm sure something else will turn up and it will be even BETTER!

so no more obsessive trolling of the internet looking over house ads 2, 3, 47 times. now i'm tempering life with a healthy dose of creation. and as I write I have paint smeared all over my arms and clothes- i'm just taking a break from a new painting adventure. i'll be posting about that very soon (hopefully tomorrow) and hope to do I-F's "Visitor" this week too.

but until then, here is some old stuff.

i did these before I went away. the first one is for the 'walking school bus' an initiative where kids walk to school together in 'bus' formation led by an adult - promoting community, socialisation and you guessed it, WALKING! I was happy to contribute to such a great idea and cause!



and this is one I did for Sydney's Child Magazine, i really like how this one turned out.



see you soon! xx

I-F: Missing

Someone's gone missing.... and having a bit too much fun!!

I-F: Moon

Well it's nice to be participating in Illustration Friday again I have to say. It's great to be back in my studio with all my materials after painting with just a little travel kit for 4 months. (how I missed my sponge!) that said, this was still done in my moleskine...

My head had been filled with interest rates, numbers and calculations recently, so it was really good to use the other side of my brain! Looking for a house is a lot of work (so is convincing banks you can actually make repayments even if you don't have all your taxes done!) but hopefully it means we'll get a new home of our very own out of it at some point.

so, i guess it's not to hard to see what I was thinking of when I did my moon illo