SHOP! & Exhibition

I've finally done it - I've jumped onto the retail therapy bandwagon. It's one of those things I've been 'meaning to do' for a while. And luckily a little opportunity courtesy of Illustrators Australia and RedBubble gave me a little boot up the rear end.

So TA DAAAAAAHHH! Please say hello to my brand spanking new RedBubble shop where you may purchase to your heart's content: prints, cards, T-shirts, tote bags, it's all there. There isn't too much on the racks at the moment, but I'll be adding more as I go along, so stay tuned shoppers.

The opportunity that made me get my act together is an upcoming exhibition entitled 'Wear Art Thou' which I am very excited to be included in. Opening is this Friday!

Exhibitions on the go....

I've got some prints in a couple of exhibitions coming up...

These four trees are winging their way across the seas to fair Italia, to be part of an exhibition entitled "L'incanto del creato' in Rieti, Italy. I was very touched to be asked to be part of this international exhibition! The exhibition is to mark the 50th anniversary of a temple of St. Francis of Assisi, and the art is in response to the 'Canticle of the Creatures'.

Unfortunately with my current commitments I didn't have time to make new art. But the Canticle talks of seasons, of suns and moons, earth and fire, of sisters and brothers. It's quite beautiful actually, you can read it here. So I thought these pieces I had prepared earlier fit the bill, and work well together:

 

And then a bit closer to home I am very excited to be part of the 'Lucky 13' exhibition, being held back at the Hill Of Content bookshop in Melbourne. I feel honoured to once again be featured along so many talented contemporary children's book illustrators.

I'll be putting a framed print of the illustration from my latest book up for sale:

Yay!

Book Launch & Exhibition Opening!

Well it's been a pretty exciting week for me with the book launch of Mummy You're Special To Me as well as the opening of an exhibition featuring the illustrations from the book.

I think I've probably said enough about these events in various places lately so I won't go on too much about them and just let the photos speak for themselves. I will just say they were both lovely events and I was very happy and touched to have so many friends and lovely people come to both... But especially my good friend Jody Pratt, President of Illustrators Australia, who launched the book for me, and my new friend Leith Walton whose amazing work shared the gallery with mine.

BOOK LAUNCH!
Held Sunday May 4th at the Hill Of Content bookshop in Melbourne
see on Facebook

EXHIBITION!
Opening Friday May 9th, runs until June 8th
Hunt Club Gallery, Deer Park

with Leith Walton (woodwork, metalwork & watercolours) & Emilly Milosevska (papercut)

(see more on Facebook)

I love Leith's octopus in the centre and he had a time lapse video of him doing a watercolour painting, on the right

Emilly's paper cuts were fantastic, she had her pieces in the foyer.

nice to see all of my illustrations together!

White Night Melbourne

Last night, hubby looked after the little one and I was able to head out on the town to experience Melbourne's 2nd annual White Night which ran from 7pm-7am and turned the city into a wonderland of light, fantasy, fun and folly.

here's a little picture show.

Princes Bridge with 'White Night' being spray painted live with different designs

Life drawing marathon at National Gallery of Victoria

'Tattooed City' pictorial projections on NGV

Busker's bike on fire :)

Awesome light projections onto Flinders Street Station and along Swanston St (below)

More fun light shows in the city

I do love Melbourne :-)

Carnivale cats

I finished my piece for the upcoming Illustrators Australia annual 9x5 show, theme: Carnivale. Phew! Glad I got it done in time. Looking forward to opening night!

Acrobat cats

Sketch for a piece for another upcoming exhibition. The theme is "carnival". Nothing like a good ol cat carnival! (with mouse) :)

Four Seasons

This is the piece I have in the upcoming This Is Melbourne exhibition, opening September 26th at Bella Union.

Melbourne is famous for having "four seasons in one day" - you don't leave the house without a sweater, an umbrella, and sunscreen!



p.s. just realised this is my 400th post! wowsers!

This Is Melbourne

I've got a piece in the upcoming This Is Melbourne exhibition, as part of the Fringe festival. It's my first completed piece since my little boy came along! I will post it here soon, but for now, consider yourself invited :)

Caitlin from Pesky is curating, and has a list of all the artists on her blog, here. The exhibition includes works by Shaun Tan, Andrea Innocent and Tracie Grimwood to name but a few!

On my desk...

... a little snippet of my current work in progress....

Everything takes waaaaaaay longer with a little 2 month old person to take care of! But I'm getting there with baby steps (pun intended!)

Four seasons

... a sketch for an upcoming exhibition...

Illustrators Australia A3 show

I'm very happy that the last painting (below) I did before bub arrived will make an appearance in the form of an A3 print at the Illustrators Australia annual A3 show. Being held in Northcote as usual as part of the Northern Exposure Festival.

Opening night is this Friday - going to attempt to make it!

Picture Show

For the school holidays the gorgeous Hill of Content bookshop in Melbourne is hosting a lovely little picture show in its front window of some original children's illustrations. I've got two pieces in there (below) and am humbled to be sharing the window with wonderful illustrators such as

Jody Pratt
Lisa Coutts
Anna Walker
Sonia Kretschmar
Sarah Hardy

Some pieces are for sale and others have prints available for sale. Contact me if you're interested in a print of one of these babies:

In other news, the final painting for my current book is fresh off the press! I of course can't show you too much, but here's a little snippet. :-) I filmed a stop motion of me creating this painting so I look forward to showing it to you when I can.

Hope all is well out there in bloggy land.....

Rapture

Illustrators Australia is having its annual 9x5 exhibition.... Tonight!


The theme  is 'Rapture'


There will be an auction of all the works and drinks as well as mingling with your friendly neighbourhood illustrators.

You can VIEW, VOTE and BID online here www.illustratorsaustralia.com

Space 39, Lvl 2, Little Collins St, Melbourne
Friday 14th Oct 6pm-9pm

We are also hosting illustration-related seminars all day on Sunday 16th October 10am-3pm -- Should be good!
You can see the piece I submitted here.

A few things (including IF: Boundaries)

Rapture knows no boundaries

Here is my submission for this year's Illustrators Australia exhibition 'Rapture'. I'm really happy with how this turned out and look forward to working with this style of collage much more!

There are a few things I've keep forgetting to tell you about:

< Prints of my Morocccan Orange Salad recipe I did for They Draw and Cook are now available through Great Big Canvas

> I'm donating one of my Japan Tree prints to the Lighthouse Foundation Art Auction - another wonderful annual event


I've just joined ChildrensIllustrators.com, and found out I will be Featured Artist of the Week starting today! yippeee!

< Also,  if you haven't seen it yet, I have a new blog Illustration Station which collates current worldwide opportunities for illustrators. Check it out and check often for lots of new posts!

Cheers x

I-F: Shadow

I can just picture these two flitting in between the shadows and the sunlight at your local pond. I really enjoyed doing the watercolour background on this, and for the first time in a long time I have added some digital elements (the pattern in the background) which I'm really happy with.

This will be by submission for the Illustrators Australia A3 print show, which forms part of the Northern Exposure Festival. The opening is Friday June 17th, so come along if you can!

Look! Me & Leigh

I went to see the fantastic Look! exhibition at the State Library -- and it's worth the trip into the city just to spend some time in that gorgeous building.

The exhibit was fantastic too of course, with original artwork by more than 40 Australian illustrators, including some of my favourites, below.

 Freya Blackwood

Anna Walker, Big Red Bus

Ron Brooks, Fox

(bought a copy of this, finally!)

Alison Lester, Are We There Yet?

Leigh Hobbs, Old Tom

It was a really fun day. I went with my friend Jody Pratt (and her daughter Abby), who is a fantastic illustrator/painter in her own right. I am very proud to own her beautiful hooty piece below. You should check out her stuff!

And speaking of Leigh Hobbs, lookie here!: (click to enlarge)

Me & Leigh on the cover of the Victorian Writer's Centre mag! Hee hee. They did an article on lil ol me and Anne Mangan, the author of the picture book I illustrated, True Blue Santa. We got a full double page spread! It's about creating a picture book from both author and illustrator's perspectives, with Anne's viewpoint on the left and mine on the right.

Neato! Thanks VWC!