Around the place this week or so

Hello!  I have been working on a few great things this week, but unfortunately I can't tell you about them yet.  In the meantime, here is part of my studio wall, as it was last Thursday....

I am preparing to fill the windows of Craft Victoria with some cosy (and less cosy) items at the end of July.  I have completed some above but there is much more to be done, below.

This will be a nice large cushion made up of a patchwork of little versions of my artwork, printed on cotton hemp.

Part of a sketch for Gardening Australia magazine, September.  I quite like him, so I thought I'd share him with you.  Don't look too closely at his elbows though.  They don't really match.

 There are some new items in my Etsy shop.  I have made a flame which you can hang from your wall. However I can't promise that it can warm those of us in Melbourne on this very dark and rainy wintry day.  (Good time to finish that quilt for the Craft Victoria window, eh Sandra??*)

 A burning house for your wall -- in green!  And a volcano for your wall too.

The one frustrating occurrence is that despite regular swimming + Pilates I have again damaged my back through too much obsessive knitting.  So that's OUT -- for at least another week.

* I would rather be lying under a blanket reading A.M. Homes' May We Be Forgiven, which I am enjoying very much, but I really need to finish that quilt today.....

Illustration for Gardening Australia magazine, July

Background first.

I think that this might be my favourite one so far.  I have decided that I need to make my illustrations around A4 size to get enough detail in, while keeping the overall design fairly simple.  I do regret not writing 'SEEDS' on the broccoli packet at left though.  Possibly that was taking the keep-it-simple maxim a bit too far....

Album cover artwork for Rob Snarski's Wounded Bird

I am so pleased to be able to show you my little painting above for Rob Snarski's (The Black Eyed Susans) new solo album, Wounded Bird.  Concept by Rob Snarski.  Acrylic on wood.  

Work in progress, above.  After Rob approved my pencil sketch, we decided on the colour palette by doing what Rob called a "blob painting": I very quickly outlined all of the different sections of my sketch in Photoshop, and coloured them in until we were both happy with the result.  (The sparrow is a photo that I manipulated in Photoshop in order to simplify it a bit.)  It's a great idea, and one that I will definitely use again, especially as it's not so easy to change colours when you are working the old fashioned way.

Above: the painting has begun.  Background first, then I get to know who is in the picture by doing the majority of the face and other visible skin before tackling the decoration.

This is the first sketch, which Rob did not approve, even though I quite liked it.  Boo hoo.  But all's well that ends well.  The final art is simpler and probably communicates Wounded Bird better.

My first ever CD cover!  Very exciting.

Old and new, here and gone

Hello!  There's a brand new kind of Dino in the shop.

After getting my dear old scarf above out for the first time this season, I started to obsess over the colour combination of cream + a certain shade of green, which was kind of weird.

I decided to get it out by reinterpreting my little old man in a new colour combo, and couldn't believe that I hadn't tried it until now.  He will be in the shop by the end of this week too.

And, I decided to show you a little of what I have been working on for a while now: soft goods of all sorts for the window of Craft Victoria, starting July 30.  I painted the motifs for the cotton fabric above last year, and finally they are getting an airing.  They will form the main part of a large quilt.

Looking back at old sketches from 2006, and remembering a country fella I went out with, whose little brother turned 21 while we were together.  The manly ritual above was part of the birthday boy's celebrations.  

 And another exceedingly fine fella above....Vale the Doc.  Here's a bit more of the Doc for you non Australians.  See youse later.
(Photo from The Courier Mail.)

Signs of winter...?

The  weather has been extremely mild in Melbourne.  It's hard to believe that today is the first day of winter.  This week I had the great pleasure of being a guest at an art class at a boys' school.  I helped two classes of year eights get going on their wooden footballers (my work in progress above).  I can't wait to see and share their footballers when they're done.

 I brought in examples of my own work to show the boys.  Unfortunately, I pretty much wrecked my Neighbourhood Watch, above.  I don't care as much as I imagined I would.  Perhaps because it is technically salvageable, but mostly because I must have moved on from Wayne.

This is my example of a finished footballer, which I used as a demonstration for the two classes.  Interestingly, a substantial number of boys chose to depict favourite soccer and rugby players.  One or two decided to show their school team's colours instead.

 Other signs of winter: sunset at the studio.  Haven't had to put the heater on yet.  Crazy.

 The heater is on at home, although that hasn't stopped mould from growing above.

Last but not least: a page from the brilliant Fritz Kahn, a gift from Lil Nick!

ALSO -- thank you so much to everyone who said hi or even bought something from me at Markit last Sunday.  I had a fantastic day, even though I was ridiculously tired by the end of it.  I regret that I didn't get to see the rest of the stands.