Herve Morvan

All posters by Herve Morvan, 1950-60. From the aptly titled The Genius of French Poster Art: Herve Morvan, by Veronique Morvan, Tokyo, 2010. Of the Perrier posters above she writes: "this advertising campaign displayed over one month was ahead of its time in the way it engaged the public...The panels were replaced with each new week, such that the woman is left with the cyclist's legs, or the hunter is garbed in flowing skirts, and so on..." How I wish that I had been there in Paris in 1950 to see them!

A top invention

I invented a top! Well, sort of. It's based on the shape of an embroidered South American top that I bought on etsy last year. It's so clever that I thought I'd see whether it would work in an even simpler incarnation. I have also been reading about mid twentieth century American designer Claire McCardell this week. I was hoping she would approve of my simple top.

In truth I have become a card making machine this week. Pretty soon a selection of my cards will be available from Brunswick Bound and Wilkins & Kent. I am very excited to have my work in these great Melbourne shops!

Random

The other day I went into the studio with the view to making a picture which would go into my illustration folio as a "fashion" piece. This random page happened instead. Possibly because I have gone from being a complete fashion nutcase in my youth to someone bemused by the increasing speed and wastefulness of so much of it.

And there are so many more things in this world that I like to draw now.
I don't suppose that that sort of attitude will land me a freelance fashion drawing gig anyway, will it? In the meantime, I am pleased that I found this sweet face smiling among the waxed apples in a Safeway catalogue. It's no portrait, but I think I captured something.

The cynic's cushion

I had been wanting to make this cushion for a while, and this week I finally got around to it.
Post-it notes are highly recommended for marking rows.
The finished cushion being sewn together -- it is backed in heavy denim fabric.
It's finished and in the shop.

Victorian Games

above: Little Red Riding Hood, 1890. I love the contrast of the simple and beautiful game board over the detailed picture.
above: the game of railway promoting character Phoebe Snow, 1909.

above: the word 'dude' obviously used to have a more interesting connotation. His slovenly friend looks strangely contemporary: she might be Emily the Strange's grandmother. All from The Game of Don'ts and Old Maid, 1905.
Above: the Manhattan Post Office game, 1897.
Above: a card from Logomachy, or War of Words, 1887.

All from Margaret K. Hofer, The Games We Played: The Golden Age of Board and Table Games, New York, 2003. A beautiful and funny book.
Above: I am also inordinately pleased -- considering eastern Australia's extreme tropical weather -- that my scarf pdf pattern is finally in the shop. It's a fun way to make use of leftover yarn!

Burger Ballerina

The idea of doing a little dancing burger lady has been on my mind for a while now, so it was really interesting to see an blogpost on etsy showing a hamburger motif recently.
I actually did alot of sketches and it took a while to decide whether she should be a fairly anatomically correct woman, or something more odd, based on a vintage doll perhaps.
The vintage doll won out because the idea of painting her seemed more interesting. I ended up using watercolour rather than the more usual acrylic, as I thought it might be nice to make a hamburger seem more delicate and befitting of a ballerina.

A little print and card of her are in the shop.

Finished and in the shop

Ms Mortadella: finished and in the shop. (I must admit that I am quite fond of her!)

And some new mirrors are in the shop too.

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year!

I have been working on a card order for a special customer called Mum. She has ordered quite a few using the Rags to Riches II image, below. As I hadn't made cards using that image before, I decided to add one to the shop as well.

Thanks Mum!