A May enCounter

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

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

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?!

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

An illustration for Melbourne's Child

Until I was contacted by the editor of Melbourne's Child to ask whether I would like to contribute illustrations to the magazine, I didn't realise that the publication is actually Australia wide, and is familiar to those in respective states as "Sydney's Child", "Adelaide's Child" etc. Don't tell anyone, but I hadn't done editorial illustration since last century. And I think it shows, because my little girl is a bit -- well -- stiff. But I have since worked on a couple more illustrations which will appear in the subsequent issue, and I can report that I am happier with them.

Hopefully they will improve with each month. It's a nice challenge that I am lucky to have.
The illustration as it appears on the page, below. It's pretty small, which is good. Illustrations always look more impressive when they're reduced. Like on a stamp...it's one of my dreams to illustrate a stamp one day. (Likely a pretty common and time honoured dream among illustrators!)

A knitted horned beast of some sort

Trying out a horned animal design that I made up yesterday. Even though there are all manner of such beasts in graphed form out there already, of course when I needed one I couldn't find a nice one in my books (or on the internet) so I made one up.
Here is the basis for my graph, from 5000 Animals, Amsterdam, 2001. (It's a great resource for both strange and wonderful copyright free animal engravings - thanks to my dear friend Serena!)

Not QUITE as adorable as the engraving is the finished graph. This was made in Illustrator by placing a transparent grid over the drawing and filling in each square. Because knitting stitches are actually wider than they are high, the grid should actually be made up of slightly squat rectangles. However my knitting must be so tight when I follow motifs that they don't need to be. That's my theory anyway.

Feel free to print and knit him if you like. Even better, if anyone out there could verify exactly what he is -- to me he seems neither moose nor deer - that would be great!