A new-ish greeting card

Sometimes when I sell my work, I miss it.  I found myself thinking about the colourful wooden fisherman and his exotic three-eyed catch recently.  Luckily, before I sent them off to TarraWarra last year I recorded them under the scanner, and from the scan I have made a new card.  I like it!  If you like it, it's here too.

Wooden plant in progress

A warm dog and a happy face

 An i-phone shot of a dog picture that I painted yesterday.  I think it's OK technically but a bit generic.

 The studio at 5:30pm: note northern hemisphere cousins that it's pitch black outside.  Life sure is different in winter!

A butterfly that I stole from somewhere on the internet, for your viewing pleasure.  Have a fine weekend.

Northern Exposure A3 Show

I am taking part in the Northern Exposure Festival's annual A3 Show which is held in conjunction with Illustrators Australia.    I am offering the signed original artwork for The Man of Flowers and The Hamburger Ballerina -- acrylic on paper and watercolour on paper respectively -- at what I think is a pretty good price!  The exhibition opens this Friday evening.  There is a great selection of prints and originals available, click here to have a look.

Northcote Town Hall
Ground Floor, Room 2
189 High St, Northcote Vic 3070

Friday 15th - Saturday 23rd June.

Words in progress

Shape inspired by toilet paper.  I need to do at least 12 more -- let me know if you have any ideas, or if you are willing to share something that you have said to someone you love (or really don't) in recent memory.  Oh -- and it should be short enough to fit easily across a toilet-paper-leaf-sized piece of white Helmut Lang(!) cotton poplin.  Thank you.

On Etsy: a short story about my house

The Etsy Blog has a lovely new feature in which makers tell the story behind their work.  My house was chosen for today's article.  When first asked by the editor about how I came up with the idea of a house on fire wearing slippers, I couldn't actually remember.  But while looking through old sketchbooks, I found the first version, which had a head and arms too.  The full story is here.

(Another story that I loved, here.)

Stephen's stethoscope

I thought this picture was quite good until my friend asked why my subject was listening to a stethoscope.

A redhead and a winner!

Bits of a drawing that I have been working on today.  Ahhh, our perfectly coiffed and inked Melbourne hipster boys are so inspiring!

Yes!  Saskia you were right -- the bodies and the shapes in the post below do indeed go together.  Now the one on the left is contemplating that bottle of gin that's just behind it.

Frozen work in progress

The studio was pretty cold today.  I did manage to get some work done, although the acrylic takes AGES to dry between layers these days.  My fingers are still frozen despite being at home now and having had a cup of tea.  If you are reading this in the northern hemisphere (hi cousins) - enjoy that sun.

More is more

In the kitchen this morning.

Get out of this mess

 The long sentence continues to grow, backwards.

That's not me and my knitting, it's an image from Warren Kirk's Westography exhibition which opens at Post Industrial Design in West Footscray this evening.  More images of Melbourne's inner west here.

MAKE ART

Photos of work in situ

Some of my work is being featured on the members-only shopping site Bamarang this week.  I was asked to provide some in situ photos to contextualise my work for customers.  I found it surprisingly hard -- especially at first -- and have even more respect for stylists now.

(oh, and cry a lot)

Knitting a (long) sentence backwards can feel a bit  E G N A R T S.

Making it BIG!

I am painting something BIG!  It has been a great experience to make work on a different scale to the usual; might be a new direction.  While overall it has taken longer, I forgot how much fun it is to show detail through big, sweeping, simple brushstrokes.
I met the very talented Kirsten Perry briefly last year.  She asked whether I had ever considered making larger work, and that question has stayed with me.  I doubt that Kirsten reads my blog, but I would like to thank her anyway.
A shift in scale is always an interesting concept to keep in mind no matter what sort of artwork you make.  And I will keep it in mind for a few more things now....