Sandra Eterovic

Finding it difficult

2012-02-01T17:50:00.001+11:00

In progress: Self Portrait with Greg

2012-01-30T16:30:00.000+11:00

In progress: Self Portrait with Greg, sitting on a lovely batik tablecloth (just in case you were thinking that the pattern on the right was a really nice part of my painting). The details need to be fixed up and then it will be cut out. I am a bit disappointed with it but I am going to put it away for today and go onto something else.

The pencil drawing, before I started painting over it, above. The painting is based on a photo of me which was taken by Alice, aged 10. Thank you very much for your help, Alice!

More dirt, more Kaffe!

2012-01-24T09:17:00.000+11:00

My current knitting-in-progress, in answer to the knitting-in-progress from this previous post.

My great knitting guru: Kaffe Fassett, photo by Steve Lovi taken in his studio in 1985. (A handsome devil too.)

Incredibly, Fassett's first ever knitting project contained an impressively combined 20 colours, above.

Above and below, some of my favourite patterns from his Glorious Knitting book first published in 1985. Ignorance is bliss: Fassett initially worked as a watercolour painter with an interest in colour and pattern. When he began to translate this interest to knitting he was blissfully unaware of its traditional rules, and broke most of them. We are all the richer for it.

It's an interesting story to keep in mind when trying a new craft or medium. I tend to prefer to know the rules before I break them but maybe there's just as much to be said for doing it the other way around.

10% off mirrors

2012-01-20T16:59:00.003+11:00

The shop is full of mirrors -- and they are all 10% off until the end of January!
Enter 'MIRROR4ME' at checkout to receive the discount.

My new pet!

2012-01-17T09:46:00.000+11:00

I am so in love with my new raccoon cushion that I giggle every morning when I walk into the kitchen and see him staring at me. (From the lovely Sarah on Etsy.)

I wish I was wearing this outfit today, although at 35 degrees it might be a bit too hot for the socks. (Image from Crafts, ed. Mary Harding, Sydney, 1978.)

Backflip

2012-01-14T13:36:00.000+11:00

Hmm. Now that the fun knitting part of the 'Less Cute' cushion cover is done and the messy threads have to be sewn in, I have lost interest.

Instead I have been busily contradicting my new motto by painting lots and lots of baby accoutrements. These are actually for an exhibition which I will write about shortly.

Less

2012-01-10T19:30:00.001+11:00

LESS

CUTE

That is my motto for 2012, I'll see how I go!

In the meantime, my friend JP has been doing a beautiful job of sticking to his motto of buy less, make more. And his blog looks stunning too. GO JP!!!

Household hijinks

2012-01-07T09:11:00.000+11:00

An image from a 1930s Encyclopedia Brittanica advertisement which I bought last year on Etsy and finally framed.

As you can see above Ms Salami is beside herself with joy at her new hallway friends.

This is how the bedroom bookshelf looks when it's tidy(!).

Bookshelf hijinks in the hallway. Love these dolls/ this doll...

Where I am sitting right now. I took this photo yesterday. Yes, a stick is holding up the curtain. I was wondering what the image on the computer was, and when I blew it up it seemed -- ahem -- like a woman without clothes on. I feel the need to explain: it's actually this album cover. (I have never claimed to have sophisticated taste in music.) Here is another album cover from my collection.

I assume that my old feminist theory lecturers do not read this blog.

On the line

2012-01-05T11:52:00.000+11:00

Further to my final post from last year: I made a blouse. I am pleased to say that I used 1970s madras cotton fabric that was originally in my mum's stash, purple buttons and thread from the estate of Mrs Betty Collins.

I feel a bit proud of my scarves as they dry in the summer breeze. I am almost ready for my next knitting project, although knitting in the heat is not always an appealing prospect.

I feel a bit more ambivalent about this lot, photographed as it receives some fresh air after having been folded away in a little wicker suitcase which wasn't as dust proof as I had hoped. Samples from my first ever design job at Davenport in the mid 1990s. I feel a bit brave showing these on my blog, but they are what they are and from a design point of view I am actually still proud of a few of them. I was hired initially to draw the licensed characters, had no design training and had barely ever touched a computer. I received an excellent grounding in design, manufacturing methods, meeting tight deadlines, and making products to entice a particular market. I try not to think about the trials and tribulations of terrible bosses and a bunch of hormonally wired and badly paid twenty-somethings: that's another story not fit for this polite blog.

Happy and New 2012!

2012-01-02T13:00:00.000+11:00

Yes, this is indeed my portrait of Midnight Oil's Bird Noises record from 1980. The first instalment of a new series. (I thought that if I post this then I will actually be forced to do the next one.)

David's childhood Derwent pencils. I am now the appreciative owner.

May 2012 be a wonderful, healthy, happy year for us all!

Grand plans....

2011-12-27T20:49:00.001+11:00

Grand plans to sew something...let's see if it eventuates. I have shown a close up of the little pattern above not because it is the one-most-likely, but because it's way more special than the others. It is neither a ubiquitous Butterick nor a Simplicity but a Weigel's. Most locals wouldn't know that for almost one hundred years Melbourne had its very own brand of sewing patterns. They and Madame Weigel's Journal of Fashion were the first to give those in the colonies the opportunity to look as fashionable as their cousins in Europe. And to think that for much of that time these little treasures were meticulously designed, cut and folded only a couple of streets away from where I live in Richmond!
More lovely Weigel's patterns here.

Merry Merry

2011-12-23T17:21:00.002+11:00

Presents mostly wrapped. I have enjoyed using large envelopes turned inside out so that their tiny blue prints are visible, as well as last year's Indian calendar and a funny German calendar featuring scenes of toy tractors on carefully arranged plastic landscapes.

I haven't really done much Christmas decoration, but I think that the plant growing on this red and white blind looks kind of festive. That's my excuse anyway.

A clock in progress. Nineteenth century French tattoos. Finally, some tattoos that I would ponder getting for myself! I used my arm as a model, I think I must have seen more sun yesterday than I realised. (I have left the book at the studio and will credit it later.)

The studio seems far away now. Today has been all about shopping for fruit, veg and a myriad other ingredients, some of which I have never bought before. Pomegranate molasses. Almost a litre of cream. Lemon infused olive oil. I also admit to never having used gelatine. But I am looking forward to making enough food for twenty when there will only be five of us....

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you, wherever you are. In the summer heat or in the winter cold, may you feel warm on the inside.

A great article that appeared in The Age yesterday, via Miss Pen Pen. I am so glad that she exists!

Pencils are sneaking in

2011-12-18T11:45:00.001+11:00

The pink apples above have been coloured with a pretty fluorescent pink pencil, though it's not possible to convey that in my photo. I used a lot of pencil for this one, which I enjoyed, even though it looks a bit messier than paint. As a child I was a penciller and not a painter. Sometimes I feel that pencils are where I belong.

Meanwhile, these young lassies are heading for TarraWarra and are entirely painted, except for the pencilled pink cheeks of the tall one.

A family for Melbourne's Child

2011-12-13T07:46:00.001+11:00

This illustration for the Dec/Jan 2012 edition of Melbourne's Child (and Sydney's Child, etc.) about a city family that embraces country life, went really easily. So easily in fact that I wonder now whether it looks a bit too quick, even a little slapdash? Or perhaps slapdash suits a family that likes some mud on its clothes and flour on its nose? Maybe it just means that the more of these illustrations I do, the less torturous it gets? I hope so!

bright green and lilac make...

2011-12-10T19:10:00.000+11:00

There is a green mushroom, among other new wooden things, in the shop. The mushrooms are made from a fantastic thick wood that my father gave me, left over from signs that he made for his wine club competition. Its dimensionality gives them the effect of retro toys. Special! I hadn't used it until now as I thought that my machine might not like the thicker stuff. But it was fine.

A lilac stitched linen scarf for Craft Victoria in progress, scanned. When I see lilac and bright green together it always makes me think of Incredible Hulk icy poles, which I hope don't exist anymore. (I just Googled them, and all I could find was this. Enjoy!)

riches + rags + colour

2011-12-06T18:46:00.001+11:00

I think that all the colour in the children's room at TDF Open House has inspired me to go a bit crazy this week! A Riches to Rags Man in progress, above, and a linen scarf for Craft Victoria, below. Both have been a lot of fun to work on.

TDF Open House -- my photos

2011-12-05T12:43:00.000+11:00

I went back to The Design Files Open House on Saturday to take these photos of my work in the children's room (OK, and to buy a couple of things). The photos are terrible partly because the room actually had quite a few people in it and it was hard to get shots without someone's back in them!
One of the things that I bought was a copy of Conversations with Creative Women. Highly recommended.

Melbourne Famous

2011-12-02T08:57:00.000+11:00

Fitzroy player in progress. He is finished now and will be on display/ for sale shortly at my friend Peter's mini gallery in the window next to La Niche on Smith Street. We thought it might be nice to have a Fitzroy player seeing as the gallery is in Fitzroy....

And, in a different part of the same suburb, The Design Files Open House is, well, open! My work is in the children's room downstairs, alongside THE most incredibly beautiful wares. (Spy my clock hands above.) I had such a wonderful time at the opening night hanging around with Madeleine Stamer, Emily Green and Dawn Tan, and spying numerous other "Melbourne famous" faces around the house. So much fun! I also met the lovely Ellie Malin, whose beautiful parachute prints were such a vibrant anchor to the children's room. Actually we were all so captivated by the warmth and colour of that space that we could barely leave. Photo by John Deer pinched from The Design Files. (Lucy likes people to email her when they post her photos but I reckon she already has too many emails to read without another from me. And "Melbourne famous" is phrase I stole from her too. I love it.)

Speaking of photos, Warren Kirk's beautiful work is finally accessible on Flickr (devotees of the inner west of Melbourne click here; while a more general photostream is here). I'm willing to bet that everyone from Melbourne will find the photos captivating. Those who are not from anywhere near here will really enjoy them too: their charm is universal.

Frida and the sailor

2011-11-26T18:22:00.001+11:00

Frida was an artist. She sailed around the world with her lover,

a sailor from Corsica.

They had a dog named Diego. He was as wild as a grizzly bear. Or so he thought.

These mirrors are brand new, and they are in the shop.

I quite like my little re-imagined Frida family, she might have preferred it too.

More ladies and a manly mirror

2011-11-21T14:18:00.000+11:00

A new little lady with a die for a chest and a pair of salami for legs. When she's finished, she will be a wall-hanging-lady, rather than a standing one, like these:

...new bird and hamburger ladies in the shop (until recently they were marked "made to order").

And a very manly new mirror too. The first goatee I have painted on a mirror ever! Classy.

Stitching, cutting, sanding, playing

2011-11-17T09:51:00.000+11:00

Stitching some new scarves for Craft Victoria and having a little play with the wooden ladies after cutting and sanding them.

The Design Files Open House

2011-11-14T08:03:00.001+11:00

From the start I have found the very idea that my work might be part of The Design Files' Open House overwhelming.

However, now that it's imminent -- and I can see from the pdf directory whose company I will be in -- I am speechless.

How wonderful to have the brilliant Madeleine Stamer and Beci Orpin's creatures protecting my hamburger on either side of this directory page, above. Lovely and incredibly overwhelming. (And that's just for starters -- have a look at the rest of the page!!)

Something old makes something new

2011-11-11T10:10:00.000+11:00

Just playing with some dancing ladies in progress. One is particularly happy to have a subterranean skirt, nicked from something that I made a while ago. I am enjoying finding old things to incorporate into new work, it might just take me down a new and unexpected path!

Inside Out moustache

2011-11-07T12:22:00.000+11:00

Hooray! My black moustache mirror has made an appearance in Inside Out's Christmas issue. (Similar mirrors can be found here.) The house on the cover of the magazine belongs to furniture designer Mark Tuckey and his stylist wife Louella. A rather unusual cylindrical Art Deco-ish structure, as you can see it is right on the beach in Pittwater in Sydney. Oh how the wealthy of Sydney live! (Though as I write this it is a very beautiful sunny 25 degrees C in Melbourne, so it's not all bad.)

May you have a sunny day, too.

A new hanger and clock

2011-11-03T09:14:00.000+11:00

A little girl hanger that I painted a couple of days ago, made more exciting by being placed on the cover of Stephen Banham's fantastic book, Characters, which I am looking forward to reading from cover to cover. Congratulations too on your beautiful photos Warren Kirk -- if you are reading this!

A new tattoo clock: a tiger becoming a mermaid with a bird looking on. Years ago, my friend Steven's big brother got a tattoo on his left pec, based on an Italian cassette cover of mine which showed a modest snake and face arrangement painted on a woman's bottom. He decided to get some more, and by the time he finished (has he finished?) my inspirational cassette was sadly indistinguishable from the swirl of pictures surrounding it. Maybe this clock is an homage to Muz, and the moment when things began to go awry.
And here is some music to help you ponder that.

Sketching.

2011-10-30T13:17:00.001+11:00

Today I am sketching a rough for the December/ January issue of Melbourne's Child (Sydney's Child, etc.). This is a section of it, above. Because I am not sure whether it is OK to show the rest of the sketch before the illustration is published*, I have dug out some sketches from this year for things that didn't eventuate, for one reason or another.

Above: a sketch for Sophie, a character that was in development for the uTales children's story Eva the Diva and Sophie Too by author Jackie Kramer. I was chuffed that the author chose to work with me, but I decided to abandon the project as I did not feel that it was the right time to tackle an entire book, both in terms of my illustration skills and my time constraints due to other projects.

Sketches for the cover of Haley Tanner's Vaclav and Lena. I was floored when I received an e-mail from Random House New York with a book cover mock-up featuring a pair of my wooden men! I was asked to illustrate child-like versions of them, as well as a few motifs representing Coney Island and magic tricks. This time it was the publisher who decided not to go ahead, although I was paid handsomely for these sketches.

...It is still a big dream of mine to illustrate a book cover.

* This might be an unnecessary paranoia left over from my fashion industry days when of course one would never show work in progress in case someone copied it. Perhaps it's not relevant to publishing?

A Caribbean woman in the shop

2011-10-25T15:00:00.001+11:00

A new Caribbean woman clock is in the etsy shop. She has two cousins: they can be seen in progress below. One of them will be available in December from The Design Files Open House in Brunswick, the other from the Modern Times pop-up shop in Collingwood. There will be a selection of my other wooden work available in both stores. Modern Times will also have some framed original artwork and prints, which I am very pleased about!

Colourful clocks in progress

2011-10-21T08:25:00.001+11:00

I have enjoyed painting this new and colourful bunch of clocks. I tried to channel a beautiful lady from the Caribbean with an armful of bracelets, crossed with a bit of Ms Emily Green.

Today there will be cutting, sanding, drilling and assembling of clock parts, but only if the acting class downstairs doesn't complain about my noisy saw again...

A couple of goings-on

2011-10-18T07:50:00.000+11:00

I received a lovely e-mail the other day with an image that made me do a double take: was that really a giant version of my little Lady with Village on Head with children in a gallery setting?! On closer inspection I realised that the children were actually small plastic models, but that made it no less of a surprise. The photo is by Julian Wrigley and will form part of his exhibition exploring gallery experiences at Kinokuniya Books in Sydney. Thank you Julian for using my work beside the likes of Marcel Duchamp and Damien Hirst -- surely the first and last time that will ever happen!

Clocks in progress, again. After these are finished there will be even more to make. I have never made this number of clocks at once. I can reveal now that some of them will be destined for The Design Files' Open House, which is very exciting indeed. (Admittedly that excitement comes from the shopper in me just as much as the maker.)

Better get back to work.

Don't stop, sure shot

2011-10-15T18:28:00.003+11:00

This is my entry for this year's Illustrators Australia 9x5 Exhibition. Each year IA members receive a 9x5 inch piece of plywood in the post. Ages ago I decided that every year I would shape my wood into an object after painting it, because I thought that it might detract from my comparative lack of illustration skills. Anyone who knows what I make now on a day to day basis will realise that painting on wooden shapes has become a defining feature of my work. So that's how a negative can become a positive, I guess.

...Having said that, I am not entirely happy with these two!

Wondering who they are? Here's a clue: the theme of this year's exhibition is RAPTURE. Here's another clue, thanks youtube.

Christmas?!

2011-10-12T12:04:00.002+11:00

Last month I started to feel scared, like I had done the wrong thing, wondering whether I should go back to a full time(ish) job. Then the calendar ticked over to October and -- BAM! -- I am suddenly really busy and the word "Christmas" is being bandied around as though it's tomorrow. The dreaded backache has also returned.

So excuse me while I paint and saw away. Here is someone whose work I admire more and more each time I look at it on flickr. Genius!

A teen for Melbourne's Child

2011-10-08T09:05:00.000+11:00

I was really pleased to be asked to illustrate a story for Melbourne's Child (and Sydney's Child, etc.) about a depressed teenage girl who also happens to be mildly intellectually disabled. I used to assist at an art class for intellectually disabled adults and I still pay a weekly home visit to one of the students I met there. We either chat or I help him run his errands as he has difficulty getting around by himself. He also has some complex mental health issues which have not always been dealt with properly. This story is about separating such mental issues from the intellectual disability: from my own experience I know how crucial this is.

I have included my sketches here as the editor asked me to simplify my ideas for the final versions. It's a shame that that Twilight DVD isn't clearer, as I was quite proud that I remembered to include the most likely teenage girl's companion! Hee hee.

By the way, if anyone in Melbourne reading this is interested in doing the very rewarding work that I have been discussing here, do contact Inclusion as they are fantastic people and always on the lookout for new helpers.

New Riches scarf in the shop

2011-10-03T13:11:00.002+11:00

Due to popular demand (OK about 4-5 people) I have made a Rags to Riches scarf and put it in my etsy shop. Fellow knitters will appreciate that comparative to the work involved I am offering it at a good price. :)

I enjoyed making it and would like to spread the enjoyment to someone else too.

Ola has a blog -- yay!!

A new work in the bathroom collection

2011-09-27T08:50:00.001+10:00

I love to decorate with lots of little things. Thank goodness I live in a small space and not in a giant warehouse, as I would feel completely intimidated by big empty walls. This is my bathroom. I find washing and brushing my teeth really boring, so it's important to have special things to look at while going about the daily routine. Other than my very first painted mirror, I have a little oil painting from Bali that was a gift from lovely Serena, framed postcards from India and Oxford, and a poster by illustrator Ping Zhu. But my newest and coolest addition is this beautiful painted bat by my friend Sandra Winkworth (AKA Swinkie). She recently visited from Sydney in order to take part in a fantastic bird themed exhibition at 69 Smith Street Gallery in Collingwood. Her bird prints and drawings are very delicate and beautiful.

Progress, at home and in the studio

2011-09-25T10:06:00.001+10:00

I decided to make another scarf after spreading out my yarn stash on the kitchen table the other night. Seeing my yarn all at once lifted my mood!

Work in progress on wood. Not sure whether I like it, but I will show it here when it's finished.

Assorted new things in the shop

2011-09-20T12:09:00.001+10:00

I have made up a new A4 page of stickers, something I have been wanting to do for a while. It took a surprisingly long time to get together!

A new ancient mask mirror, which is actually the other half of the face that I painted on the first one.

And a redhead girl hanger! A cousin to Mrs. J's hanger below, and the very first hanger for my etsy shop. (The others are available from Craft Victoria.)

This week

2011-09-16T17:42:00.000+10:00

Some spring-like scarves for Craft Victoria.

A special redhead hanger for Mrs.J.

A sweet donkey from another old National Geographic.

And pictures of food everywhere in the studio. Speaking of food, last night I attended a cooking class with Tony Chiodo at the South Melbourne Market. It was so much fun that I later dreamt that I was an in-house food critic at Vue de Monde. (Yes indeed, dreams are strange things, as why would Vue de Monde or indeed any restaurant require an in-house food critic?!) When I woke up I quite seriously considered how I could get a job in the food industry, but I know that in real life I am not nearly as canny as I am in my sleep. Anyone need a dishwasher?

Get Love: an i-pad cover

2011-09-12T13:09:00.000+10:00

I have made an i-pad cover, a little cousin to the laptop cover that I made in July. I really enjoyed making the striped effect in the letters.

This is kind of how I explained the idea then:

Like most people these days, I spend a lot of time on the internet. Recently I realised why: I'm looking for love. I'm not necessarily talking match.com, but the sort of love you get when someone answers your e-mail, comments on your facebook photos, follows your blog, or clicks your item into their etsy favourites. We all need love, and that's what this little i-pad cover is about.

And it's in the shop.

Special order mirrors

2011-09-06T19:07:00.000+10:00

Mirrors for a special order above, and in progress below.

Take one National Geographic

2011-09-01T10:59:00.001+10:00

Above: Queen Salote of Tonga (1900-1965). I would love to sit this next to a fancy portrait of Queen Elizabeth II!

Above: "Riding a king size board, the 325-pound Taufa'ahau surfs the Pacific combers. The monarch also delights in fishing and scuba diving."

Above: Mobile, Alabama: "Resplendent in satin, Mattie L. Jones arrives at the coronation ball of the Colored Carnival Association."

Above: the crowning of the Shah of Iran in the Amjadieh Stadium in Tehran.

Above: Hello! Observing a sheep auction in Oban, Scotland.

Above: an advertisement for the Admiral remote control, showing The Cortez Model, the "biggest picture in color TV" at 23 inches.

Above: a Massey-Ferguson tractor advertisement.

I love my collection of National Geographics, all purchased from the Cheltenham Op Shop many years ago. All of the photos here are from the March 1968 issue. Great cover, too.

Subdued

2011-08-28T10:22:00.000+10:00

A September 9 birthday scarf that is almost finished. Not for DC my usual fair isle multi colour extravaganza: I wasn't sure that I would survive the subdued laddish colour palette, or knitting an entire scarf in proper rib, but I only have one and a half stripes to go and the big day is more than a week away.*

A scarf for Craft Victoria, which magically changes colour! Hee hee.

I might actually get to make a scarf for myself one of these days...

And a new card for the shop. It's a bit how I feel today: housebound with a bad cold. Not sure that I can do it.

*actually that's a lie as it was meant to be last year's birthday present.

Drawing food

2011-08-24T18:27:00.001+10:00

In the interests of varying my illustration folio further, I have made this Italian themed food illustration using acrylic on paper. Food is one of my main interests in life, and I would love the opportunity to illustrate an article in a cooking magazine or even a book one day.

I make footballers!

2011-08-21T07:15:00.000+10:00

I am making wooden AFL footballers to order. I guess it's up to the beholder to decide whether an upside down footballer should come in their favourite team's colours or their most hated's. (I'd stick my neck out and go for the former myself.) If either idea appeals to you, you can order one via my etsy shop, just in time for the finals. I am open to making historical versions of footballers too -- especially if you barrack for a team which was subsumed when the league went from Victorian to national, e.g. Fitzroy.

Fashion pretend

2011-08-18T18:08:00.000+10:00

This piece is for my illustration portfolio. A pretend fashion editorial of sorts, with a couple of odd things thrown in just because I can. Other than the pipe, African mask and knitted scarf, most of the items were nabbed from Net-a-Porter. As a former fashion industry employee I can tell you that Net-a-Porter can be useful in all sorts of ways... but I might leave that there. What I can say is that its incredibly detailed photographs can also be great for the budding illustrator.

The underwear, below, is the part I am happiest with:

T-shirt by A.P.C. Even though I am admittedly a fan of A.P.C, I'm not sure that this sort of irony works when it comes from a big and relatively expensive clothing label. What do you think? Or maybe it works better if your first (or sole) language is French?!

Little ladies in progress

2011-08-15T15:21:00.003+10:00

Bird ladies in progress. These are finches.

Alexander Girard painted wooden sculptures in my sketch book.

I worked at Hut 13 on Saturday. Among the many lovely things in the shop are these little animals which come from East Africa. They are carved from discarded thongs which litter the beaches. The purchase price helps to support the local community. I love them all!

In the studio today

2011-08-09T18:01:00.000+10:00

It was particularly freezing in the studio today. I took out my copy of Daniel Clowe's Ghost World because bright colours help me to pretend it's warmer in there. Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware are my favourite contemporary comic book creators. GENIUSES, just quietly!

Mirrors in progress. They are very hard to photograph, as you can see above. The fez mirror sits over a beautiful 1950s botanical calendar from Kaffe Fassett's Glorious Inspiration.

Templates for wooden people and other creatures. You can't put wood under a light box, so I cut around my sketches instead, trace the outlines and then hope for the best.

These days my studio has a glass window which looks into the hallway, giving a fishbowl effect. However it also gives me a ledge to put things I like on, like this Mona Lisa and a flyer from a Fergus Binns exhibition, because I can't afford the real thing...

I have also been making some wooden people for Hut 13, greetings cards and linen scarves for Craft Victoria, but my photos of them were dark and horrible so they haven't made it here.

A colour and pattern obsessed 'fashion' illustration for Friday...

2011-08-05T09:08:00.001+10:00

This is my first ever entry for Illustration Friday and my first 'fashion' illustration for my current folio. (Previous trials and tribulations can be seen here and here.) It's winter here in Melbourne, but for me the ideal cold weather outfit has a lot of colour and pattern to counter the grey. And why not travel around the world vicariously through your outfit, I say?

You know that everything is going to be OK when the sketch goes smoothly, as this one did. And though I scanned the final picture and cut out the background to make it a clean white, for the first time EVER I did not touch the picture itself. And I must admit that I am pleased about that. Below: inspiration for the outfit came from one of my favourite books, Tibor and Maira Kalman's (un)FASHION. The scarf is my own.

Everyone should own a copy of this book, it's fantastic!!!

Fashion?

2011-08-02T08:54:00.004+10:00

Above: I decided to make another attempt at a "fashion illustration" to round out my folio. Although it is arguably closer than this first attempt, my overall opinion of this picture is a big yawn. Not sure what my problem is, other than the obvious which is that perhaps I have (almost) completely lost interest in fashion. But I am going to keep trying.

Above: these days in the real world I am attempting to be green, concentrating on special items as an antidote to "fast fashion." I hand stitched this dark grey linen scarf last week and it is now in the shop. There is a similar one at Craft Victoria. Today will definitely be a linen scarf day here in Melbourne, no need for woollens! Hooray!!

By the way, I am having A LOT of trouble understanding the fancy new Blogger posting system, after assuring my studio friend Peter that it was really simple.

AUGUST 6 addition to this post: a brilliant article by former fashion editor Charty Durrant on the tyranny of fast fashion. (Via etsy.)

To fill some gaps...

2011-07-30T08:15:00.000+10:00

My studio was featured in the (melbourne) magazine yesterday, a glossy monthly supplement to our city's broadsheet, The Age. Apart from noting that I look extremely embarrassed, I wanted to set something straight. "I FILL THE GAPS WITH SUPER THINGS" is not a jaunty assessment of my cluttered surroundings. It is an entry from an old diary: a declaration that I had been foolishly idealising my new beau. I pinned it up because I wanted to make an artwork about it. Not because I think that I actually fill gaps with super things! It is interesting that the writer, Konrad Marshall, focused on the words that he saw in my studio.

...Or maybe I will fill gaps with super things when I'm old and wise, like Margaret Olley?

More importantly, I wanted to mention that Indi the stylist, Sharyn the photographer and her assistant Tess were all really lovely and went out of their way to help a nervous photoshoot-novice like me feel comfortable, as did Konrad. Of course the quality of the entire article proves that. Secondly, this photo shoot came about via Craft Victoria. I am incredibly grateful to the wonderful women there for the enormous amount of support that they have given me over the last two years. The other reason that I mention them is to urge anyone out there to whom a Craft Victoria membership might be relevant -- i.e. they live in the state of Victoria, and they make craft -- to join.

It could change your life!!!

Meanwhile, have a sunny weekend.

Two new greeting cards

2011-07-29T07:14:00.001+10:00

The greeting card above is based on my hand painted found-wood figure, which was shown on my blog here. (The original is now in the The Tarrawarra Museum of Art shop.) When I decided that it might make a good card, I removed the 'woody' background from my scan in Photoshop, as it was too uneven. It took a couple of hours -- look at all those ladder rungs that had to be cut around! But I didn't think it was worth repainting -- sometimes when I paint something the second time around it loses its liveliness.
A greeting card of the tartan hunter is now in the shop too. This one had a much nicer woodgrain, so I left it as it was.

The original artwork, also a hand painted standing plywood figure, is at Hut 13 in Armadale, Melbourne. You can see him here as well.

Colour me happy, too!

2011-07-26T07:10:00.007+10:00

My Veins and Arteries clock hand made an appearance in The Age newspaper's M supplement last Sunday! I love the Frida Kahlo theme. Every item in the story is beautiful, especially the incredible deer sculpture covered in tapestry by Frederique Morrel.

A non-newsprint photo of the clock below:
It was Milly from Craft Victoria who alerted me to the article while I was visiting the amazing stand that she put together for Design:Made:Trade. It was lovely to catch up with her and to chat with her sister Stephanie, Elizabeth Yong from Primoeza, Nicholas Jones, Kirsten Perry and Emma Greenwood, and seeing mini versions of their studios. Such a treat. If the whole fair had been so hands-on I would have been in heaven!

Your computer contains love.

2011-07-25T08:59:00.002+10:00

Hello! Here is the finished knitting project which I showed when it was in progress here. (What do you think, Elaine?)

It has already been sold it to the delightful and VERY talented Lambert but I thought that I might document it here anyway.

Here's the story:

Recently I realised why I am spending too much time at my computer: I'm looking for love. I'm not necessarily talking match.com, but the sort of love you get when someone answers your e-mail, comments on your facebook photos, watches your eBay listing, follows your blog, or even clicks your handmade item into their etsy favourites. I think we are all looking for love, or at least affirmation, from our computers. What do you think?
Above: the back; below, detail of hand knitting. I used lots of different sorts of beautiful yarns for this one, and now I have run out of many of my stashed favourites .... damn!

Time to turn off the computer and go outside to get some fresh -- possibly too fresh -- Melbourne air.

Busy busy making wooden beings....

2011-07-22T08:55:00.002+10:00

I have been busy making some little plywood beings for my etsy shop. Above, a handsome house snail with aqua windows and a tiny door.

An erupting volcano in cross section, wearing wellington boots (which aren't going to help much).

A pair of mushrooms with eyes. (Red one here, tall one there.)

And a new dancing lady with a very pretty Australian Wonga Wonga Pigeon for a skirt (from this beautiful bird book ). The shop has never been so full of wooden things! I think they're very happy to be out in the world.

Mrs Betty Collins

2011-07-19T09:57:00.016+10:00

These wonderful things belonged to Mrs Betty Collins, mother of my dear friends David and Margaret, and their older brother Ross. Betty died exactly one year ago today, on her 81st birthday. I feel really honoured that my friends have given me some of her craft items to look after.
above: I love this 1940s Patons knitting pattern model, as she is so unlike anyone you would see today, modelling a cardigan or anything else for that matter.
above: 1950s boys' sweater pattern.
above: Sanchia, from another 1940s Patons knitting book. This, my friends, is not a sewing pattern for lingerie, but a knitting pattern. Only fellow knitters can understand how tiny the 2ply stitches would have been, how long and laborious the process. And imagine wearing knitted "scantees"! My how times have changed.

Betty owned various types of mending thread, including a special one for stockings. You may be imagining that she ran a fine household while her husband went to work. Far from the truth: she studied pharmacy right after the Second World War, and eventually ran the Collins Pharmacy in Sorrento with her second husband Peter. There were both happy and tragic twists and turns in Betty's life, but I don't think that I have ever met anyone with such strength, positivity and beautiful ready smile. And her children are exactly like her.

-------------------------

And yesterday I realised just how modest a bunch my studio colleagues are! The weaver of great tapestries and photographer Tim Gresham; Peter Summers, painter of beautiful abstract symphonies; Jenny Bolis, brilliant photographer/ designer and all round sweetie; and Troy Mendham, none other than Mr Norf Guide!

knitting in progress

2011-07-15T16:13:00.004+10:00

Knitting in progress. I have taken things a bit too far with the frequent colour changes in this one and there will be a great deal of neatening up to do at the back after I am finished.

I am very inspired by Intelligent Clashing at the moment. How nice that there is someone else apart from me who still appreciates 80's Kaffe Fassett!

A Tartan Hunter for Hut 13

2011-07-11T12:26:00.000+10:00

A recent conversation with Lucy from Hut 13 resulted in this dog. I am quite fond of him and I can't wait to see how Lucy arranges him and his friends in the Hut 13 window!

A burnt mummy for Melbourne's Child

2011-07-08T08:19:00.006+10:00

After the sad stories I have recently been asked to illustrate for Melbourne's Child magazine (Sydney's Child, etc, in other Australian cities) it was such a relief to work on this one. Here a mum laments that her four year old is finding it difficult coping with the attention that the newborn of the family is getting. He does this in all sorts of ways, but when he brings home a picture that he has drawn of the family with his mother "burnt in a fire", the mother is unsurprisingly at wit's end.
As you can see, there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with this one. Here I think that the mum looks a bit TOO upset, but I like that baby looks grumpy! I worked on this picture just after having gone to an illustrators' seminar: there I got to see how other people work and was reminded that not all of the characters have to be sketched together on the same page: this way they can be shuffled around more easily. (I do the shuffling in Photoshop.) That's why the little lad is missing from this one.

I don't remember why I ended up reversing the whole scene, though!

Strange kitchen sightings...

2011-07-05T07:14:00.005+10:00

Strange sightings of wooden creatures hiding amongst the greenery in the kitchen.

I took these photos on a dark day, in my dark house. I thought I would try and liven them up in Photoshop: even though I had fun I might have taken things a bit too far. When it comes to fixing dark photos, I am no Kim Brockett! (I still marvel at the magic she worked with the shots she took at my studio on that very grey late afternoon.)

...Digital photography is a very different beast to the traditional sort, isn't it? Not that I know that much about either!

Knitting without a licence

2011-07-01T07:34:00.001+10:00

Knitting football jumpers in a more innocent era, or rather a full decade before licensing deals snagged everything imaginable, from mugs to underpants. In fact, this was knitting before The Australian Football League even existed.

The Melbourne Museum has an entry on this little early 1960's Patons publication here.

If you would like to knit one of these for your little football fan, let me know -- I am happy to post the instructions on flickr.

From the knitting collection of Betty Collins, who died last year at exactly the age of 81. I don't know whether Betty followed the football much herself, but I do know that she was a wonderful woman.

New mirrors in the shop

2011-06-28T09:23:00.000+10:00

There are new mirrors in the shop. For a while now I have had "made to order" on most of them, as I have been too busy to replenish the sold ones. I have been busy making replacements, and now they are ALL ready! Bright red lips, a nice warm chestnut brown moustache, and a brand new design, inspired by an ancient mask.

The mask was in turn inspired by the hunter/collector aesthetic of Hollister Hovey and her sister Porter, whose fantastic New York apartment was featured in British Elle Decoration a few months ago, and Inside Out this month.

(Here is a nice link for the curious who do not have access to either magazine article.)

A house on fire and two new clocks

2011-06-25T13:12:00.006+10:00

There is a new house on fire wearing slippers,
a very sophisticated clock wearing a pinstripe suit

and another clock with sailor tattoos in the shop.

Dancers in the shop!

2011-06-21T14:43:00.009+10:00

Hooray! There are two new special little dancers in the shop, one with a bird for a skirt, the other a hamburger.

And there is a special price for the pair.

-----------------------

Meanwhile, my very dear and talented friend JP has set himself a most admirable task which he will be documenting on his blog. He writes:

"I'm throwing down the gauntlet and challenging myself not to buy another stitch of manufactured clothing and make everything from scratch."

And he will, you know, with the amount of talent and patience that he has. Go JP!

Mushrooms and Snails travel far

2011-06-19T10:26:00.012+10:00

This is a post in two parts.

Firstly, it is my great pleasure to announce that the three little wooden creatures shown above have travelled all the way to the beautiful TarraWarra Museum of Art where they will be very well looked after in their shop. (I had such a great time meeting their lovely staff the other day. They are very excited in anticipation of hosting the Archibald Prize for the first time shortly!) A whopping seventeen more of my latest wooden creatures will be there too: the series that I have been working on the last couple of weeks. You can see them if you look at my last few posts.

The second part of this post are these beautiful photos below sent to me by the delightful and very talented Ms. Sandra Winkworth (or Swinkie) from Sydney. I posted her a mushroom and a snail recently, and in return she sent me these beautiful photos which make my work look good! Thanks so much Sandra W.

She also sent this photo of some very beautiful pokers. Sandra has a huge appreciation of nature, and her blog is a treat. I am not sure whether these flowers are the result of her toil, but they might be as she is a great gardener.

I love seeing where my work goes to live after it leaves me. Whether you have a clock, a mirror or even a greeting card propped up, please consider sending me a photo as I would love to see where it's living!

Birds of Paradise

2011-06-15T12:11:00.006+10:00

Not long ago I did two things. I read an article in Frankie on internet dating, in which the author* lamented the phenomenon of men wanting to meet women with "no baggage", among other things. I also watched a documentary narrated by David Attenborough which showed the incredible courtship rituals of the birds of paradise of New Guinea. As I watched the male birds preen and fail to win over the female every time, it reminded me of those men that the Frankie writer described, and it made sense to combine the two.

* I don't have a copy of issue 41 so I can't cite the author unfortunately.

Two women in progress

2011-06-11T11:04:00.006+10:00

Two special women in progress. I have LOTS of work to finish by mid next week, more on that later. Meanwhile, lovely weekend to one and all, may it continue to be sunny wherever you are!

Prudence Flint is one of my favourite local artists, and I have been thinking about her work ALOT while making these.

Oesophagitis illustration for Melbourne's Child

2011-06-07T07:42:00.003+10:00

So far as a regular illustrator for Melbourne's Child (Sydney's Child, etc) I have been asked to provide pictures for some sad and difficult stories. However when I first read this one, about a boy with eosinophilic oesophagitis, I was left reeling. The sufferer of this condition is allergic to every single food there is. The boy above obtains his nutrition from a special amino acid liquid. His mother, the writer of the story, reports that he is actually quite big for his age.

I always try to show a positive side to the story; this month it was pretty challenging.

New woodens in navy and red

2011-06-04T16:26:00.005+10:00

Because the studios near mine are being renovated, there's been a lot of building noise, and I have been sawing to my heart's content. It's been great to be able to finish an item completely before moving onto the next. As each one is completed I put it next to its friends, and the idea for the next one springs up from what's there. I liked how the Hamburger Dancer looked next to the Man + Fish and mushrooms and wondered whether another nature lover might like to join them. I had my bird book out. Would a bird make a nice skirt? I think so.

New mirrors

2011-05-31T19:24:00.009+10:00

New mirrors in the shop, ready to go. I have been neglecting my etsy shop in favour of local shops and galleries and I am very much looking forward to rectifying the situation!

A second Chanel man.

2011-05-26T10:16:00.003+10:00

The first Chanel man sold, and I was asked whether I would consider making another one. Unlike the mirrors, clocks or even some wooden figures (e.g. Gustav) that I make, it didn't seem right to make a double. I decided instead to go back to what I wanted to say with the piece, and wondered whether I could say it in a slightly different way.

The Chanel man is actually based on an old man I once saw emerging from the commission buildings on the corner of Gertrude and Brunswick Streets in Fitzroy, one of Melbourne's oldest and most colourful suburbs. He looked simultaneously scary and sad, and was certainly the last person you might expect to be dressed in 'Chanel'. (The inverted commas are there because the t-shirt was very likely a fake.) The image of him has stayed with me ever since, and even though I don't remember his face clearly, there a feeling that I remember and want to evoke.

I do remember that he had a cigarette hanging from his mouth -- I have left it out in both versions because I don't think that either need it.

I wonder what the old man in Fitzroy thought of the t-shirt he was wearing that day, and indeed whether it meant anything to him at all, other than that it covered him.

Krokodil: Soviet Treasure

2011-05-24T18:35:00.011+10:00

Krokodil was a Soviet satirical magazine which commenced publication in 1922. I found an enormous compendium of 1976 issues at the bookshop in Cook's Hill, Newcastle about six or seven years ago. That particular afternoon the shop was laden with old illustration and art books: I felt in luck but imagined that an old illustrator had died and that I had swooped upon his collection. Whatever the story was, the 5cm thick book was bursting at the seams and came with a carefully written explanation of what it was all about, in a previous generation's careful handwriting, above. And because I don't read cyrillic text either, any help that my slavic background could otherwise give me is useless. So if anyone out there is able and willing to translate some the captions for these, I'd appreciate it! (Mum?)

Clog

2011-05-21T18:39:00.003+10:00

Here I am, working very hard, trying to answer all the questions that the lovely Kim asked me for Craft Victoria's blog! Wonders may never cease.

Photo by Kim Brockett.

Proudly part of this Story

2011-05-19T06:00:00.001+10:00

I am really proud to have my work included in the beautiful Story, an online shop based in NSW and run by the talented Monique Germon.

As you can see, I am in rather illustrious company!!

I made a jacket.

2011-05-18T08:40:00.000+10:00

I made a jacket on the weekend as a sister to the tartan APC one that I wear constantly. It's been years since I made anything this complicated, and I half can't believe that I managed it. The pattern was adapted from a Built by Wendy style, and the fabric (drab from afar, flecks of primary colours up close) was from Job Warehouse. Buttons from Buttonmania in The Nicholas Building. (I enjoyed that little excursion yesterday, what a jewel that building is!)

However after wearing it just once I have realised that the fabric is not very good quality and it will probably resemble a sack before the end of winter. Maybe then I'll make one out of something better for next year....

Illustration for article about loss

2011-05-12T09:20:00.000+10:00

Final art and sketch for an article about the concept of loss, published in Melbourne's Child (and Sydney's Child, etc.) this month. I used some good quality watercolour paper for this one (thanks to dear B). The difference that it made to my style was surprising: because I found that the texture of the paper itself gave a pleasing impression of detail, it ended up simpler than usual.

You learn something new every day.

Kim Brockett's photos of my studio

2011-05-11T09:04:00.012+10:00

The lovely Kim from Craft Victoria came to my studio last Thursday afternoon to take photos. She did an incredible job: my studio looks twice as nice as it actually is, especially as it was already getting inconveniently dark outside!

There are many more to see here. Thank you so much Kim, I love them!

"The famous Emanuel Hercik"

2011-05-09T10:37:00.013+10:00

These illustrations by "the famous Emanuel Hercik" are from Old Timers' Club's shop on etsy.

I have never actually heard of Hercik, but after a quick Google, I also found this wonderful set on flickr!!!

He didn't make the grade.

2011-05-06T08:39:00.003+10:00

This is the last piece that I made for the enCOUNTER show, but he's still living in my kitchen. I feel slightly brave posting this picture, because I am not fond of this work. Even worse, I am not sure why. Is it because it's too literal? Would it have been better if the plant was more like a nineteenth century botanical drawing, and the man based on a vintage male doll, rather than a photograph? Sometimes I try a style that is less cute but often it doesn't work. I'll bet that if I hide this one away then look at it in six months' time I will instantly see exactly what's wrong. Making art is funny like that. (And maybe it's the case for many things in life?)

By the way, I have changed him since I took this photo last week. He now has closed eyes and the bottom half of his face is covered by a bud. Didn't help: he just looks weird, like he is stifling a sneeze.

My enCOUNTER window is up!

2011-05-02T10:11:00.006+10:00

I am very excited to announce that my enCOUNTER window is up at Craft Victoria! It will be there for all to see, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until June 4. I am so grateful to Milly Flemming for her HUGE support, as well as her window arranging expertise. A very talented and hard working woman. Thank you also to Eric.

I must admit that I had been getting so sick of staring at all of my work all day every day for the last few months. It is amazing to see afresh in this very special space, looking its bright shiny best. Milly even got the clothes hangers to behave themselves!

Everything you can see is available to buy through Craft Victoria.

Tuesday addition: Hut 13 was SO beautifully photographed for The Design Files' feature this morning. Two great Lucy-ladies! Thanks dear Esme for alerting me bright and early.

hanger family

2011-04-30T09:08:00.000+10:00

above: a cross between a Kiss fan and a 1940s advertisement lady. Scarf by Mum. I think it rather suits her.
above: the DK white singlet wearing man clothes hanger! When working out how to add a male to this series, who else could it be but Elvis, or one of our own generously coiffed?
above: a cheeky child hanger, who oddly grew into a teenager while I was painting her.

These will all be going into the Craft Victoria enCounter show tomorrow!

The big yellow face

2011-04-27T08:47:00.003+10:00

Ideas might arrive in my head half formed, to be completed them later perhaps, like a jigsaw puzzle. Other times they present themselves complete, like this one did. I don't know why, but I thought it might be an interesting idea to make an old fashioned soldier with an enormous yellow moon-like face. Sometimes you just have to follow through with an idea to find out. Maybe his job is to lead me down a new path?

Microscopically in Vogue!

2011-04-24T08:51:00.009+10:00

Hut 13 in Armadale was featured in the Talk Shop section of the May/June issue of Vogue Living. It was the lovely Sandra of Swinkie at Home who informed me. After I saw the page for myself, I was surprised that she spotted my work at all! Ms. Sandra, you certainly have an eagle eye... thank you.

Gustav above, who can be seen among the clocks and mirrors in the photo. In case anyone is wondering why my etsy shop has a few "made to order" items in it these days, that is because the originals are (or were) being sold at Hut 13!

Here are some more photos of this beautiful shop.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-19T17:49:00.005+10:00

I'm tired!!!

snails and mushrooms

2011-04-16T08:55:00.006+10:00

Just glued together, above: a snail carrying a Brac style house. Not sure if that will be a hanging or standing piece. Above that is an old shop display perspex apple adapted from a fabric design that I made for seed. That one is waiting to be successfully glued back together -- nothing has worked so far!
More mushrooms. I am quite fond of the one on the right.
Very glad right now to have a second table in the studio, where I can put all these things in progress. It's actually a giant light box, which is very handy.

a little round face

2011-04-13T08:56:00.005+10:00

This little face was meant to form part of a bigger piece that I am working on. I am reluctant to cut her out though for some reason, as I like her the way she is, peeking through the wood. She already looks a bit annoyed, maybe if I cut her out she will be even more so?

Work/Life II

2011-04-10T10:28:00.012+10:00

I have finally received my copy of Uppercase's Work/Life II Directory of Illustration. My page above. Below, some other pages that I like:
above: Cynthia Merhej, who works out of London but hails from Lebanon.
above: Maddi Matthews, a talented young illustrator from Canada.
above: Jacqui Lee, also from Canada.
above: the magnificent Olaf Hajek, from Germany.
above: Andrea D'Aquino from the USA.
above: beautiful cover by Alyssa Nassner. Janine Vangool -- who pretty much does everything: write, design, distribute these little books -- is an absolute dynamo. I don't know how she does it, especially with a baby in tow, and at a standard that sets the bar for everyone else.

House on fire + a footballer

2011-04-06T10:09:00.005+10:00

Some more work in progress. I am yet to cut these out: the guy who manages the studio where I work has declared that he dislikes the noise of my saw so I have to make sure that he is not around when I am doing my cutting. Party pooper! I actually quite like the way that they look in these photos -- particularly the footballer below. A confusing mess of limbs, kind of like in an actual footy game. Meanwhile, the house above should look like a variation on this previous one when it's put together.

Work in progress for Craft Victoria

2011-04-03T19:31:00.003+10:00

The first bunch of work for the Craft Victoria May window is coming together, but there's LOTS more to do in the next few weeks!

A May enCounter

2011-03-27T11:41:00.009+11:00

I am really honoured that my work is going to be shown in the window at Craft Victoria in May. There's ALOT of work to be done, but I thought that I would start gathering a few things that are ready, or almost ready, to see how they look. I had more than I thought but I need to do alot more. The really small pieces I made a long time ago, but I like how they look with the larger objects, and I might continue with those if I get time. I plan to show lots of mirrors as well. At this point I have no idea whatsoever how I will assemble everything in the window.

The current enCounter window by Sean Rafferty is magnificent. NO ONE can follow that up, surely?!

Gulp.

A man for this season

2011-03-23T15:08:00.006+11:00

Early autumn is a particularly beautiful time here in Melbourne, apart from having given me a bout of the flu. I am working from home today, so that I can pretend to lie on the couch occasionally to rest. As you can see, that idea hasn't quite worked and I have almost finished a little autumn man. Beside him to the left you can see his inspiration: a photo of a strangely proportioned -- but incredibly appealing -- early 19th century German doll. He has inspired many, many of my little people but I think that this is the first time I have actually shown him on my blog.

Boy on Fish

2011-03-18T15:06:00.004+11:00

This is a picture that I painted at the end of last year. I have not been able to show it online until now -- I will explain why next week. In the meantime, an A4 print of this picture is going to be part of an auction that Illustrators Australia is holding to raise funds for Japan. I will link to the auction when it's up and ready: there is sure to be some fantastic stuff on offer.

I am very pleased to announce that a selection of my cards will shortly be available at the wonderful Berkelouw Books, at their Paddington and Leichhardt branches in Sydney.

An excuse to become a recipe blog?!

2011-03-14T17:07:00.010+11:00

Karen Martini had some particularly marvellous recipes in her regular Sunday Life spread in The Age (and presumably The Sydney Morning Herald) yesterday. As I looked for the third time at the one shown here -- double checking to see if I needed to buy anything in order to make it -- I noticed some familiar looking stitches sitting underneath the plate.

It was my scarf: the stylist had used it as a table runner! I was on public transport at the time, but I wanted to giggle out loud, or show it to the passenger in the next seat. Instead I waited until I got to my friend's house to show it off.

The best part is that we actually ended up making the recipe for dinner -- including the pita bread. It was beyond wonderful, and worth every second of trouble. Try it! You can use a different meat (we did) or if you are vegetarian, cook more eggplant and toss it in the spices instead.

Above: the first scarf I ever made -- which I wasn't sure about at the time because I thought that someone might think that I was wearing a teatowel around my neck. OK, now I know that I was...

I just realised that I have not included the pita bread recipe here...if anyone is interested I can always reproduce it here later.

A veiny clock

2011-03-12T16:37:00.006+11:00

I finally assembled a very educational veins and arteries clock that I finished a while ago. The gold hands are quite fancy.

Illustration for article about dyslexia

2011-03-09T07:01:00.001+11:00

Sketch and final illustration for an article published in Sydney's Child (and Melbourne's Child, etc.) this month. Looking at it now, I think I prefer the expression on the sketched boy's face to the final version. In the final version he looks like he's given up!

The perplexed lad was based on a photograph found in my beloved copy of The Family of Children, a treasure trove of inspirational images.

2011-03-05T17:52:00.003+11:00

I have made some very spring-like scarves for the Craft Victoria shop. Luckily autumn is pausing for a few days of sunshine here in Melbourne, so that they seem less inappropriate!

Painting mirrors in the studio

2011-03-02T12:57:00.006+11:00

Yesterday I started working on some new mirrors. However the golden braids above no longer exist. The paint looked too lumpy so I just washed it off -- which is luckily quite easy and fun to do -- a good thing about painting on glass.
Above: ta da! An argyle hat, in aqua, an increasingly beloved colour.

Above: an illustration from Animal Orchestra, a Golden Book illustrated by Tibor Gergely.

Lucky me, Hut 13!

2011-02-24T16:21:00.009+11:00

Above: Hut 13, 13 Morey St Armadale. Isn't it beautiful? Formerly Sanders & King, to my mind it's not only a worthy successor, for a colour lover like me it's even better!
Above: And what's this inside? Beautiful prints by Inaluxe, and a clock that looks extremely familiar! Those mirrors on the right look kind of familiar as well....
Above: Some more familiar friends nestled among pretty William Morris-style plates from Shanghai as well as decoration by co-owner Lucy Mora around the window.
Above: Handmade plates from South Africa (I really need that scallop-edged one with the bird), pretty handmade embroidered and beaded necklaces by Lucy, as well as delicate glass toadstool and bird house pendants by Sarah Dingwall.
Above: A Guatemalan rabbit like lovely from Ceiba Tree.
Above: And last but not least, toadstool and rabbit lamps from France.

I am very proud to have my work in such a beautiful shop, and among such specially chosen friends, large and small. It has been wonderful to meet and chat with Lucy (do visit -- she and her puppy Digby will make you very welcome). Besides being almost-neighbours, we have one important thing in common: we have both designed prints for the children's brand Seed! I think that is quite a coincidence. Or maybe not?

The wonderful Ginger Riley

2011-02-19T09:15:00.013+11:00

above: Nyamiyukanji, the river country, 1997
above: Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight country, 1995
above: Limmen Bight story, 1987
above: Ngak Ngak, 1987
above: Ngak Ngak, sea eagle, 1988
above: Football, the wet and Limmen Bight country, 1996

All by the wonderful Ginger Riley Munduwalalawala (c.1937 - 2002), Australian Aboriginal artist from the Gulf country of the Northern Territory. When I grow up, I want to be able to own artwork half as beautiful as his.

This week I have been a card making machine again! I am very proud to announce that my cards and other paper goods will be available at William Topp in Perth; and my cards will be in Melbourne at Shop Sui in Fitzroy, Five Boroughs in East Brunswick, and The Local Shop in Northcote.

I am also taking part in the Poppytalk Affordable Art and Homewares Online Market this month: in excellent company I might add!

A fashion drawing

2011-02-16T16:17:00.006+11:00

I have made an attempt at a fashion drawing, as I felt that I needed one in my illustration portfolio. Not sure that it's suitable. Fashion Drawing No.1: Mojave Indian Doll Wearing Basile, Spring/Summer 1982.

Meanwhile, I have been a card making machine again. I am proud to announce that my cards will shortly be available at Lamington in Noosa! Lucky cards! Wish I could go with them.

An interesting commission

2011-02-12T20:54:00.005+11:00

My ex-colleague Alasdair, who is these days behind the clever Otto & Spike label, commissioned me to make a wedding present for his friends. Not a conventional portrait, it's rather a pair of characters representing the couple's various interests. I forgot to photograph them on their stands before I handed them over, so here are some sketches and scans of the finished pieces. I hope they like them, I enjoyed making them!

Middle Eastern Inspiration

2011-02-09T10:54:00.011+11:00

I love the play on western and eastern painting styles in these images from Islamic Art by Barbara Brend, London, 1991. Above: Portrait of Shahzadeh Ali Quli Mirza by Yusuf in the Qajar style 1280/ 1863. "The prince was the Minister for Science, Commerce and the Arts," writes Brend. A fittingly rich context.
Above: I call this little lady the Frida Kahlo of the east. A portrait of an acrobat, it is painted in oil, shaped to fit a wall niche. (She can be seen in colour at the V&A, London.) 1830 - 40.
Above: Iranian horse calligram, 1266/ 1849 - 50.
Above: I love that Bahram Gur is leaping into the composition in order to slay the dragon. A page from Khamseh, copied by "the slave Bihzad" in 898/1493. Before the days of colour copiers.
Above: last but not least, "The lion advised by his mother" from a Kalilah wa Dimnah, Syria (or Egypt) 755/ 1354.

AND....I am proud to announce that Sedonia is now stocking my greeting cards! Very exciting -- such an incredibly beautiful shop: yesterday I was in there for a mere ten minutes and I am still dreaming about the candy striped Ici et La deckchairs, mushroom shaped lamp and red clogs. Lucky citizens of Seddon!