An illustrator who writes, brought to you by the number 4

For the last 6 weeks I've been taking a course called Writing Picture Books through Victoria University here in Melbourne. It's an online course, which is sort of wacky, but it means you can do it in your pyjamas at 1am which is great for me, because I often do!

So I now keep a notebook of ideas, have a stack of picture books from the library, and visit the bookstore regularly. I am immersing myself in PBs and figuring out how my lil story could fit into the wide world of children's literature. And because it's an accredited course, I even have writing assignments! It feels great to be in a learning environment again, and it's very exciting, I have to say.

So each week I log in to this:


to see what new messages there are, and each week there is a new topic, new tasks, new exercises, etc. Sometimes we have to analyse a PB looking at something specific, or do a short writing exercise and post our results.

Soon we will start writing 'the story' and that's of course what I'm most looking forward to. I've had an idea rolling around in my head for months now, I know once I finally put pen to paper it's going to come out in an irrepressible flood of words and pictures. I can't wait!

...

And... I totally forgot that Doda tagged me ages ago to "post the 4th picture in the 4th folder on my computer, then tag 4 people to do the same"

so here tis - sorry it's so late Doda...!

I keep a lot of images of inspiration - of art and of things. Loved this colourful desktop - but can't remember who's it is I'm afraid!

So I now tag:
Red dog & Jude
Paige
Gina
Sweet Pea

Awardfest

Thank you to my dear dear friend Alicia for passing along some lovely awards to me - I think the best part about these awards is you are introduced to new artists through peoples' links. So I would like to draw your attention to the following blogs that I have recently discovered and fallen head over heels for - please go visit them!

Deb's blog

Octopus Ink

The Frog Blog

Dada's place

Travel and Sing

More about me!

Okay I usually don't post this much personal stuff, but I was tagged ages ago by Edrian and Carli to post 7 random facts about myself, so here we go:

1. I am half Indian, half English, born in Canada, and living in Australia.

2. I prefer riding my bike to driving a car

3. When I was a kid I always wanted to do everything myself, was very headstrong and independent. I guess I'm still that way!

4. I am doing my dream job of illustrating children's books. I still can't quite believe it sometimes.

5. Every year around my birthday I contemplate getting my nose pierced.

6. I equally enjoy the opera and all-night raves, smoked salmon and greasy hamburgers, overseas travel and backyard camping, and feel so lucky I get to experience them all.

7. I eat exactly half as fast as my husband does, which is good because he eats about twice as much as I do so we usually finish at about the same time.

If you are reading this then i tag YOU to do this meme! If you do, please post a comment here so we can all visit :)

Just for fun....

I have done what is in bold.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I go crazy over 20 "sleeping on an overnight train" - i loooove train travel
I regret 16 "having food poisoning" - who wouldn't?
don't ask about 87 "prepared an animal for eating" - a good experience, but not one I want to repeat any time soon!
I secretly fantasize about 3 "playing in a band" - anything can happen!
94 "having a baby" has crossed my mind - many a time.... :)

Thanks to Alicia for posting this on her blog. If you do it make sure to leave a comment here so we can all see!

When you "heart" someone

I don't totally get why now you say I "heart" instead of I "love" but anyway, it is still nice to be 'heart'ed ;-) I was given this cute award by the lovely Monica - who I must admit, I whole-heartedly heart! If you don't know her work, you must go check her out Right. Now. Her artwork is the definition of beauty in simplicity.

the award rules are the usuals:
1-Display the logo on your blog
2-Link back to the person you received the award from.
3-Nominate 7 other blogs
4-Put links of those blogs on yours
5-Leave a message on their blogs so they know they've been nominated.

so thank you so much Monica! And now for the hard part...
I hereby heart:
cosas minimas, lucia masciullo, paula mills, laura zarrin, leah palmer preiss, courtney pippin-mathur, wynlen

Also, I was recently contacted by a design student at the University of Canberra to see if he could interview me as part of his course. I was naturally very flattered! He also had to produce a piece of artwork in response to mine, which we has given me permission to show here. The student, Bear, spoke about how my pieces can be like what a child would dream of, and he tried to capture that in his piece. Well done Bear, and thank you!

Here is Bear's piece:
in response to this one of mine in particular:

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!)

A day in the life

Well I've been tagged by Alicia to continue Holli's meme. It's funny how everything seems to happen at once you know - I'm so busy with job work (overtime) and illustration work (surprise!) and doing the 21 day creative exercise and wanting to do I-F and then this meme! I was going to put it off but then thought it would probably be more interesting if I did it while I was busy anyway ;-) I'm sure once I finish the book everything will stop all at once and I won't know what to do with myself!

Anyway... here it goes...

Saturday May 17th 2008

7.50 Alarm goes off

8.10 Get up, get dressed, grab a banana and leave for pilates classes (I must admit this is not my usual routine! I love my weekend sleep-ins and will be doing a pilates class regularly in the evening, this was a one-off)

10.50 Get home, there is a message from Karen, the author of the book I'm working on to call her. Check emails and some blogs (thanks for your comments on my last post!)

11:00 Chat with Karen about various book related things. Have a crumpet with honey (bought from our neighbour who keeps bees! It is the yummiest!)

11:15 My hubby calls (he is away this weekend). Another crumpet with honey.

11:30 Shower, dress in comfy WARM clothes because it is freezing here (13C) and grab a handful of almonds

12:00 into my studio! I'm starting on the double page spreads for the book (will post about this on Monday!) - cut paper to size, trace the sketch onto the paper, tape paper to drawing board. Listening to Groove Armada "Goodbye Country" (music is a big part of creating for me btw!)

1:15 Hmmm, that crumpet just didn't do it. Make quesadilla with cheese, avocado and ham. Feed the cat while it is cooking.

1:30 eat in my studio where the heater is on. yummm. do my 15 minutes of creativity (the 21 day creative exercise) while eating to loosen up the painting hand.

1.45 make cup of peppermint tea. Whiskey the cat is now curled up in front of the heater.

1.50 I do a quick colour study in Photoshop of the spread I am about to paint (again, will post about this on Monday!) Now listening to Groove Armada "Lovebox"

2.10 start painting!

3.30 a little break. change water for my brushes, check emails... have been tagged by Teri aka Princess Tomato! Will get to that later. Find reference images online of kids rooms and floorboards as I am painting a boy's room. Let the cat out. Have a biscuit. Let the cat back in.

3.42 Back to painting! Music: Thievery Corporation

4.15 Need reference for how a bed quilt would fall (folds, etc.) - go into my bedroom and sketch the bed quickly.

4.25 ooh it's cold in there! Back into the warm studio. keep painting.

4.36 Hubby phones again! So good to talk to him.

4.45 Back to painting. Music: Shpongle

5.01 My favourite part of this Shpongle album - get up and dance (another essential part of my creative process)

5.03 OK, back to painting.

6.04 I need a break. Clean brushes - oh, it's dark outside already! and still raining. That's okay though, the garden needs it. Scan in stuff for my 21 days post and make the post. Snuggles with Whiskey. Music: Sade

6.42 Go to make dinner. Can't decide what to make. I was hoping there'd be something quick like a soup I could just heat up but no luck. So I made rice + dahl with okra and green beans. Yummy, but it took over an hour to make - but at least I don't have to cook dinner tomorrow!

8.30 back to work! music: Corinne Bailey Rae

10.07 I'm at a good stopping point. I think I'll stop here before I get too tired and start making mistakes. A good day of work, I was able to lay down all the base colour, so tomorrow will be fun stuff like shadows, collage and linework. Phew!

10.08 Type up this post and read other 'day in the life's. music: Bob Marley

10.46 Put away food and do the dishes.

11.23 Back in front of the computer! we keep track of everything we spend so I put some receipts that have been piling up into our budget software.

11.30 Finish up this post, brush teeth and going to read in bed (where I'll probably fall asleep in about 2 minutes!)

Hope I haven't put you to sleep if it isn't your bedtime yet!

okay, now to tag some other victims... how about Diane Duda, Woody Miller, Mika, Leezy, oh... four's enough isn't it?

Go ahead, make my day.

Well, my day was definitely made by Nicole passing on the 'you make my day' award to me. Thanks Nicole! If you don't know Nicole's work, definitely go check it out, her collages are totally unique and she uses texture in such a great way. Some of my favourites are here and here.

Here’s how the “You Make My Day” award works:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

I wanted to pass this on before I go overseas. I thought I might choose some people who I have just discovered recently, but also some artists that I have 'rediscovered' lately.

It's funny you know, I started this blog over 2 years ago now - for the first year I posted a lot, did I-F almost every week, and met lots of great people. Last year, I went travelling for 4 months and when I got back went straight into obsessively looking to buy a house, then moving, etc. etc., so blogging sort of fell off my radar a bit. I'm excited to get back into it this year though, and to keep meeting people and making the world a smaller, happier, friendlier place. Doesn't that sound good? Well, let's start with these lovely people who totally make my day:

Johanna Wright - her work is so whimsical, with a quiet beauty that hits you in all the right places. (Plus, she lives in Portland, OR, where I lived for 8 years!)
Kathy Weller - If you haven't already seen Kathy's work, check out her fun sparkly illos, especially of bunnies, which are just too cute for school!
Gorillustrator - I'm really enjoying the art of Lee Cosgrove, otherwise known as the Gorillustrator. He has this incredible sense of lighting, and his images look like high-end hollywood storyboards! I always learn something visiting his blog.
Limoon - Limoon is my new favourite illustrator. Click on 'my little creations' to see her asian-influenced beauties. She's got such a great sense of perspective.
Green Weeds - Sarah makes wonderful collaged paintings that i have been drooling over of late. Go check her out!

And to everyone else who visits this blog and leaves a comment (and even to those who don't) - you all make my day. Even though I-F is of course creation for creation's sake, it is still a nice little boost when i find i have more than 3 comments! so thanks everyone :-)