Yup

I don't use Windows Vista.

Wide (Illustration Friday)

I've been experimenting with lettering recently. I really admire accomplished lettering artists who make it look so easy and can write whole paragraphs in a perfect composition without fear of making mistakes and make it look like a work of art. Practice, practice practice methinks.

Yannick

I was doing some monster characters for a billboard campaign today and this friendly chap was part of my sketches but he didn't make the final cut. I love him though, I think he's my fave. He looks like a Yannick.

Mustachioed Fromage

Cheese + tache = glee

This is a snippet of what I've been working on recently. Its part of the healthy living stuff that I'm working on for our classroom resource site which we'll hopefully be launching soon. I'm having the best time doodling all day. Will post with a big fat link once the site is up and running ...

Garden (Illustration Friday)

This exotic lady doodle bloomed after a day of painting for a book I'm working on.

Grow (Illustration Friday)

Things have been so busy the past couple of weeks I haven't had time to do my IF posts. I was so chuffed to get the Pick of the Week for Juggle though :)

This was a commission I did for a lovely chap whom I greatly admire. He helped me have confidence in my abilities and has done so much to help me realise the dream of creating the company I always wanted. He even became a client of ours which was the biggest seal of approval we could have. This illustration was a present to his expecting partner.

Juggle (Illustration Friday)

These are a couple of quick doodles for IF. Without input from from Karys and Pete I would have tentatively settled for the obvious answer. Small jugs should be called juggles from now on I think. I thought I would put the obvious answer up anyway, she looked lonely.

Mojizu

Ralph was the weekend special at the wonderful Mojizu. Please swing by and give him a vote and help him get into the war :)

Momentum

A quickie for Illustration Friday taken from a part of an animation about an overworked robot that I did in art college.

Alphabet

A monster for Illustration Friday, inspired by alphabet chips and the insanely catchy Yo Gabba Gabba song

Bird Love

Karys had a locket with nothing in it. People kept asking to see the contents which caused much disappointment when they peered inside. So I drew her beloved budgies (Smuggler and Bandit) for her and now they stay close to her heart at all times. Aww.

Visitors

Two submissions for Illustration Friday, the wine and flowers pair look strangely like my mum and dad :/

Funday

Our friend Jenni is a primary school teacher. She needed to cheer up her classroom so I got to do a quick and fun wall display for her. I like Wednesday the best I think.

Mojiwar

I can't believe it! Little henrik has done me proud and fought to the bitter end to win the Mojizu final battle. Bless his hairy cotton socks.

Crescent Arts Auction

I was recently asked to take in an art auction alongside other local artists to raise funds for the Crescents Arts Centre. A place where I spent a lot of time learning how to draw. A bunch of art chums and I used to hop on the train after school, go to Botanic, eat cheesey chips in Maggie May's and then head to the Crescent for our life drawing classes. Fun times. Although bizarrely this seems to be frowned upon now.
I jumped at the chance to be a part of the Crescent's refurbishment. Until I got the sweats about the fact that this was an auction and there was a fair chance that my painting could be a complete flop alongside other proper artists. Yeeek!

I was so nervous during the bidding. Sweaty palms and everything. Thankfully my wee painting did well, and it raised a good few handy pounds for the mighty Crescent. I was so relieved. It was a big pride thing I know and I'm glad I made it with dignity intact and even a few proud pats on the back. Phew!

This was the official blurb btw "The painting tells a story about a melancholy character who is followed by a rain cloud. Despite the flourish of life he leaves in his wake, he can only see the desert in front of him"

Evan & Petra's Big Day Out Pt2

It's finished! I had a panic getting it framed in time. Who'd have thought that the framers would be busy coming up to Chrim! Thankfully George at the Townhouse Gallery did me a huge favour and pulled out all the stops for me. My photo of it doesn't look great so I've added the scans too. Janine loved it thankfully and I'm a happy girl.

Mrs Yohanis

My sis-in-law Judith teaches a primary 2 class and I love helping her make her classroom look spangly and fun. This is her door plaque. Apparently the kids have trouble pronouncing her name so she often gets called Missus Your Highness which i love.

Evan & Petra's Big Day Out

During the summer I got a commission from a lovely lady called Janine Walker. She asked me for something to celebrate the 1st birthday of her son, Evan. I love jobs like this. She gave me free rein to do as I please. What trust! I decided on a triptych that would tell a simple story of a day of discovery with Evan as the star and their dog Petra as his sidekick. This is the sketch I showed to Janine to explain the idea.

She loved the idea so I went ahead and started creating. I wanted to do something more physical and textural than I usually do. Most of my work is finished off on screen and I wanted Evan to have something that was a bit more than a flat image so he could see how it was made. These are the bits and pieces I painted, found, cut-out, stuck together ...

I Heart Patterns

I love making patterns. I can't be bothered making them tesselate though which is my major downfall. This was made from a circle doodle.

Happy Trees

I hate buying wedding presents. A spatula is not an exciting wedding present. I am forever pre-destined to buy the wrong brand of slow cooker. So when it came to Finn & Lora's wedding (my lovely Edinburgh chums), I painted a picture of happy trees on a linen tablecloth instead of buying them a whisk they probably already own. It's a bit wrinkly but it looked better in the frame.