various arty things

Here is a little piece I did for my brother-in-law and his family who we are going to visit very soon (they live in Perth, the other side of Australia). You can see another one I did for friends with their new baby here (scroll down). I think I like this one better - though maybe not as nicely executed, I like the brush-painted lines instead of just straight pen lines - it's a bit looser and I have to say more fun to do!

Also, I finished grouting my mosaic house number! Phew! It was pretty fun actually, and I'm very happy with it for my first mosaic. I just need to make sure I clean all those little glass shards up from my studio properly! (hmmm, mental note: don't let cat in studio) Now I just need to wait for some better weather so i can hang it on the house....

I-F: Canned

Here is my submission for Illustration Friday this week. Remember doing this as a kid? Do kids still do this or is it all nintendo and tv now? I think some of the simplest toys can be the funnest, don't you?

Anyway, I've also been looking for something to use to update my blog header so hey presto! There we are - Hope you like it. :-)

And.... on the domestic front, I think I am getting a bit carried away with this whole baking thing. For the last four weeks I have made bread every weekend - and this time it was cinnamon buns! Looking at these I still can't quite believe that I made them. They are way yummy. I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon though - it was a bit more labour-intensive than your run-of-the-mill loaf, and uses a bit more butter and sugar then I usually like, but for now I'm not complaining! ;-)

I-F: Enough

I've been baking my own bread lately, I think perhaps to try and take the edge of the Winter chill that has settled in. You have to know how much is enough flour, and enough kneading (by hand, of course). I think I've done pretty well with it though, and have been very happy with my forays so far. First it was white bread, then wholemeal, and last week it was olive bread. I think this weekend I might move on to something sweeter, maybe raisin bread? Yummm! I can tell you my husband has been very happy the last few weeks! ;-)

Brilliant!

Thanks so much to Tom for awarding me with the Brilliante Blog Award going about! Tom was along for the ride while I was documenting working on Surprise! and it was great to have his comments, and also see his work change and evolve with the 21 day creative exercise as well. Thanks Tom!

So the idea is to pass it on to 7 brilliant blogs. I think these 7 might have received it already, so I thought instead I would add them to my blogroll, as I've been meaning to do this for AGES. 

So if you don't know them already, please go visit the beautiful wonderful whimsical inspiring work of Monica, Emila, Steve Morrison, Sparkle Seahorse, Happy Doodle Land, Gina Perry and Kathleen Rietz. You are all brilliant! (and I pass this award on to you if you haven't gotten it already!)

Magazine work

Just thought I'd show you some magazine work I've been doing lately. I really like this kind of work - it's quick, fun and always something new!

Sydney/Melbourne Child Magazine, January 08 - for a story about sick children and how precious they are
Sydney/Melbourne Child Magazine, May 08 - getting your kids to make thank you card for gifts at birthday parties
Practical Parenting Magazine, August 08 - the embarssing things kids can say and do!

I-F: Foggy

Fog is....

Here is my illo for Illustration Friday this week, done in my moleskine. I am trying to build on the fun I had doing collage in the book that I just finished. I really like the effects of painting over the collaged paper (japanese washi paper in this case) and want to keep working with this!

It's nice to be back to I-Fs after a little break. The break was mostly focussed on doing 'house stuff' which was a lot of fun but I found I missed illustration. Luckily they are not mutually exclusive! They are quite the opposite - they feed one another so I am excited to post fun housey things as well as illustration here.

Looking forward to seeing other people's contributions to IF this week, it's been a while since I've made the rounds :-)

Mothers, artists and the creative streak

Last night I went to the book launch of my friend Rachel Power's book The Divided Heart, published by Red Dog Books (a division of Black Dog Books). It's about artist-mothers and keeping that creative streak alive while taking on the joys and tribulations of motherhood. In the book Rachel interviews over 20 artist-mothers and also reveals some of her own experiences with this balancing act. I've only read the introduction but already I've vowed to use the time I have for creativeness as much as I can, because it seems like your sense of time totally shifts post-baby! I would highly recommend it to any artist who is a parent, or wanting to become a parent, and also would like to pay my respects to all those amazing women who are able to do both on a day-to-day basis and keep smiling! As we say down here, Good On You!


And speaking of creativeness, I've finished cutting (ie. smashing with a hammer) and sticking down the tiles for my new house number! I will leave the glue to dry and then grout it this weekend. I'm pretty proud of my first mosaic :-) Now off to finish up 'Foggy' for Illustration Friday.

I kneaded this.

It has been really lovely to have a bit of a break from illustration-as-work and to do some other creativey things. "Creativey things" to me includes cooking and it has been great to cook for pleasure as opposed to subsistence ie. "must have something quick so I can get back to work". So... I finally tried something I have been threatening to do for a long time and made bread! It turned out really well (so yummy!) and I was very proud of myself :

this could be the beginning of something beautiful... do I hear herb bread...? olive bread...? raisin bread....? ummmmm. With the price of everything going up these days it's nice to be able to provide some of the basics yourself. I have dreams of veggie gardens and fruit trees. all in time...

My next creative endeavour is a mosaic house number to continue to improve the front of our house so the neighbours feel a bit better about us ;-) This will be my first mosaic ever but I hope it will be the beginning of something else beautiful!!