Chin up

I'm a bit down tonight because we just found out we didn't get a house we've been looking at and picturing ourselves in and planning renovations for in our heads. It had this fantastic sunroom at the back which would have been my studio. we were outbid by someone. so now it's back to the drawing board - trolling the internet, house inspections every saturday, haggling with estate agents, etc. etc. etc.

it's a very competitive market here, unlike the one in america at the moment. I wonder if what is happening there will happen here eventually and maybe we should just wait, and house prices will start going DOWN. if we weren't getting kicked out of our rental place I would probably do that. But for now I have just drawn myself a little chin up giraffe, and will sit down with some red wine and a movie and commiserate with my hubby. at least i have someone to go through all this with. that's the one thing i keep coming back to that always makes me feel okay. :-)

I-F: Juggle

I had an idea something like this for Illustration Friday's 'Momentum', but it probably fits better for this anyway. do you like his stripey socks and 'jazzy' shorts? (as my mum would say)
fresh off the presses using watercolours and coloured pencil

As an extra added bonus here is an old one from my digital days, done for an article about teachers juggling everything that teachers do.

Thinking, not doing.

How did it get to Thursday evening already? I've been thinking all week about what I'd do for IF's 'momentum' but I guess I haven't had much of it myself this week. whole days seem to fly by in a flurry of meetings with clients, househunting, and thinking about all the things I should be doing instead. darn.

Well, to counteract that at least a little, here is my next series of travel photos: Dogs & Cats. (See the first series, Doors & Windows here.)


these are all from our little mexican paradise, San Augustinillo - a tiny little fishing village on the southern coast of mexico where we found a dreamy hut, a hammock, great fish, and a lot of dogs. some of them are scarily skinny, but most seem to be pretty happy playing in the sand.


The top two cats were also from San Augustinillo - I just caught that first one at the right time, and the 2nd one seemed to be in the same position on that chair every day.
bottom left puddycat was in a shop window in Paris, and I got told off by the shopowner for taking a photo in her store. when I said it was just for the cat, not the products, she told me off even more! one of those people who proves the stereotype i guess?
The last one was at a butterfly and flower farm in West Texas. one very chilled out cat. i love the black cat against the white chair.

next series: inspiring art!

Illustrator pages up and running

I've now got two new illustrator pages viewable on that pesky world wide web.

I was very happy to be accepted into The Stylefile, which I applied for before I left travelling. It is a great resource, specifically for Australian picture book illustrators. You can see my page here.

Also the new Illustrators Australia website is up, and it's fantastic! Unfortunately not everything is working perfectly yet, so when you do a search for my page, it doesn't show up, but it IS there. To prove it you can check this link.

I probably won't be changing these pages that often, since they're really just a link to my website which I (try to) keep updated. But I figure the more places I am on the web, the better!

a few more in the series

Here are some more in a new series of acrylic paintings:

This one is heading off to my new little niece who was born on the 23rd of August. Her name is Claire and she lives in Boston with her mother and father and big sister.


These are heading up to Brisbane with the other two.



and this one was for a friend who's been going through a tough time...



and I'm quite happy today because since being back from travelling I haven't had any (paid) illustration work, but just this week the phone has started ringing again. so hooray for that! more deposit for the house I'm sure we'll find very soon. ;-)

I-F: Alphabet

I had all sorts of grand ideas for my alphabet but ran out of time again this week... but blah blah blah I'm tired of this excuse so here are a few quick little doodles instead. Maybe I'll find some time to do at least the 2nd one up a bit better, cause I like the idea.

So while I was doing this rather uninspired one:



I noticed how funny it is that the 'p' and 'q' are opposites, yet they sit side by side in the alphabet. maybe that's why you're supposed to mind your p's and q's, cause it might be like a dangerous office romance if they fell in love?

Travel Photos: Doors & Windows

I did one or two series of photos while we were travelling, here is the first one that I had fun with...
The above doors are all from Santa Fe, New Mexico. I love the look of the bright turquoise against the terracotta buildings, which was everywhere there. I want my studio to be all iron and terracotta!

1. Taos, New Mexico 2. Paris, France 3. Oaxaca, Mexico

Clockwise from top left: 1. Santa Fe, New Mexico 2. Genova, Italy 3. Zurich, Switzerland 4. Paris, France. I have to agree with the last one - life is beautiful.

next series: Dogs & Cats