back journals # 27

the back journals # 25

Here's an oldie but a goodie that has just resurfaced - my original milly molly mandy work, which now gesticulates as a t-shirt design. This drawing is ink on paper and was created in 2008. Fun times!

Cake Bakeshop has arrived!

Hello all!

I know it's been a while - but I have simply been BUSTING MY CHOPS waiting for this gorgeous website to be launched so I could share the illustrations I created for it with you all! Kate Vale of Mini Mammoth has done an amazing job building this site for Cake Bakeshop, not to mention doing some pretty epic colour work on my illos! There are more images on the site, so check it out! (Do it! Do it now. Now. Do it now.)

Hope you like the results (I'm pretty stoked), and next time you're in Ballarat, get yourself over to Cake to have a macaron (does the term buttercream mean anything to you?) - delicious!

x

SOLD

What's it gonna be?

The past few days I've been working on some double-doily action - all I can say is thank goodness they sent me two. But now I'm faced with the dilemma - which one?!

There's some splicey colourful action happening here ... and details of my other one to come! (I can't be giving it all away at once now can I?) While I am loving all this colour work, something just isn't sitting right. Do you ever do creative things and wonder how they happened? I really don't feel that this style belongs to me, even though it is me, coz, like, I did it. Obviously. But it doesn't feel me. Me me me! Ok I'll stop.

Don't get too comfy - this one isn't finished, and the other one is still to come ...

It feels like such a strange dilemma though: on the one hand, this doily feels exciting and a little bit scary because it's out of my comfort zone. But on the other hand, it pisses me off - I feel like it's cheating somehow, because I don't do abstract art. But CLEARLY I do. Because there it is. My brain is VERY twirly right now. PLEASE HELP. 

x

coloured cockies.

Good morning All!

Here is the next stage of my cockatoo drawings, though I am dubious - I don't know what I was thinking with those colours ... however, one must soldier on. I'll keep working on these suckers and maybe eventually they might look ok again. I now need to reattach their heads to something ...

Though, this one seems to have more than meets the eye - baaaahahahaha! Get it?! I clearly need to leave the house.

a whole lotta cocky

Oh my god - I could have a field day with the amount of cock-related humour here. I will TRY to refrain (but know this, I will be giggling the whole way through this post. I can't help it.)

Here are some samples from my most recent endeavour (e.g., picking up a pencil yesterday), a study on my most favourite bird, the white Cockatoo. (Or in THIS case, Cockafive - HAHAHAAA!!!! I know, what a dad joke. I am a little ashamed.) There a billions of them up here in Daylesford, and they truly are a sight to behold. These sketches are part of a bigger plan I have (with a whole lot MORE cockies), but are still in experimental stage. So we shall see!

I am still kinda amazed at how different it can be drawing the same thing over and over again. Repetition. Fascinating stuff (for me at least).

Hope you enjoy,
x

experiments in colour

Just been fiddling around with the tree in the back yard again (wow that sounds wrong). 

But if you turn it on its side, it kinda looks like an eagle or hawk or something! Either way, its been nice to do some meditative work lately, a little like colour by numbers, but less regimented.

work in progress

Drawing that may well become a painting that may well become something else after that. It's getting there.

golden afternoon

Who am I kidding? It's fricken freezing out here. I woke up this morning and the whole street was shrouded in thick mist - couldn't even see the house over the road - true story! It was pretty awesome actually. Mmm ... missssst. Still can't get past that tree out the back - so mesmerising to draw! This piece goes with that series I seem to be developing, which you can see here (if you like).

x

Garden View

This morning I woke up with that feeling of nothing to do. I mean, don't get me wrong, there is heaps I could do, but I have nothing to do that needs to be done today. No jobs, no workplace to go to. It is most unsettling. I know I should then do the dishes, wash my linen, apply for grants and shows, do a yoga session ... but all I can seem to do is stare out the window.

There is this is the tree that sits in the 'no man's land' between my back yard and the next door neighbours. See, the neighbours own our house, and in an effort to create a sound barrier, fenced off about 3 x 10 metres of (our) yard. There is a gorgeous tree in the middle, with remnants of a tree house flaking away on it. For now I am just content drawing it, but come spring, I will definitely be climbing over that fence!

You know, if you want to see the images in more detail, you can give them a hearty click.

x

gold blossom

I have for you another work from my 2nd year at art school, probably my most freeing time of art-making. A time where I felt no restraint, worry or anxiety about what I made - I was too busy making it to worry about what it might mean, whether it would help pay my bills or whether anybody thought it was any good. I never stopped drawing - I drew on whatever was closest (such as the paper table cloths and napkins at the nearby cafe, price tags picked up off the floor from the shop where I worked, empty medicine boxes ... you name it). Finding my work from this time definitely pulls on my heart strings - it was a time of true romance, and it's inspired me to dive back in. Sometimes it's good to get lost in making.

x

golden girl

She's so fine.

Back to the Yarra (The Back Journals #24)

I am back in cloudy Melbourne, and madly trying to find somewhere to live! At the moment housesitting for my folks in South Yarra is a very sweet, but unproductive ride. I long for my desk, my sewing machine, my inks, my books, practically anything I can make a mess with.

It is still taking some getting used to trying to sign into blogger, as 'Anmelden' sat in my top right corner for the months in Germany! Though being back at South Yarra may feel unproductive, I have stumbled on some great gems of inspiration from my art school days, to share with the interwebs! Hope you like, and fingers crossed that my studio will up and ready soon!

xx

friends with birthdays

i didn't know what to get my friend for her birthday, so i drew her a thinking fox. huzzah!

mutation

The Slender Dog of the Argentine

i actually feel really mean for making this work. i don't know what i was thinking, putting a party hat on this animal. and rosy cheeks. i am sorry party dog!

developmental work

aaah and the pencils and paper come out again. i always forget how much i enjoy drawing - and then i do some and it's like 'ooh! this is nice!' so here come some sketchy-good times - i hope that you enjoy, until my next cut and paste creation. xx

work in progress (maybe)

I'm still working on a back ground (maybe) for this creature, who has been created from collage. I think it is using it's tears / eye-beard as thread ... to sew what, remains to be told.

creature

Today i went and played in kent's studio which was so lovely. Even though it was for a fleeting amount of time it felt reflective and productive, and was so nice to spend some time with old friends! Above is my wednesday at noon creation.