Frog Prince Revealed & FOR SALE! ONE-OFF ORIGINALS

The Frog Prince Fairytale Unveiled

Hello! It was an awesome grand opening of Once Upon last night- I met my fellow blogger artists Ben Zen & Maddy! That was great- they're both MUCH taller than I am (I'm such a shorty) :-) but even more lovely in real life. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of an artist friendship with them....

So the drawing above is called PRINCESS ASLEEP- she's hugging her frog prince to sleep - thought I would chuck in a pocket watch as they are beautiful pieces. Below is another piece is called OUR FUTURE- drawn in pen and graphite with lines and patterns.
I am going back on Sunday for a revisit and to take some photos! Oh I also met the lovely Dawn Tan and see her cute drawings- I had a little giggle with her because we both have boyfriends called Darren. It - was lovely to chat to Sara McNeil having admired her beautifully soft line ilustrations from (online) afar. Also great to meet Tabitha Emma who designed the Once Upon flyer - beautiful work.

Above is the Frog Prince himself in graphite and pen with some collage work- this one is called STORY TIME.

I also met the lovely Renee Anne (and saw her cute little mermaid collage/illustrations) who along with Angela from Leeloo organised the whole exhibition! It was a grand night- but the fun has only just begun, over the weekend there will be a Leeloo pop up store during the exhibition where you can buy lovely crafty/arty things - get your christmas shopping done!

Above is TEA FOR TWO- graphite, pen and collage. This is full of colour and some gold pen to make it exquisitely rich!

Oh one more thing- If you would like to buy any of these pieces please contact renee@leeloo.com.au with your name and mobile number so that she can process the transaction for you. All the pieces are original, signed, one-off pieces- so you'll be safe in the knowledge that you or whoever gets it as a super xmas pressie will have the one and only one in the world :-) as I won't be selling any prints of these!

They are all framed in beautiful white baroque style frames and will cost a mere $250 Aussie Dollars.

Have a super duper weekend everyone- it's SO hot in Sydney!!

Ming Dynasty Lady Vase

I like those oldy woldy tea sets especially the willow scene in blue on china plates and I would like to learn how to make prints on old machines. The drawing above is homage to both these things.

Parisian Chic

Here is a Parisian artist painting the famous Eiffel Tower - she's enjoying the outdoors with her two little dogs & some jasmine-rose tea.

6 more days to the grand opening of the Once-Upon Exhibition - if you don't have a clue what this is, click the link and be amazed. It is a magnificent line up of emerging and established artists who will blow your mind. It's good news too that my submissions for the exhibition arrived safely- cheers Aus Post!

In other news I really do have to start paying my damn student loan off....bugger! So I should start selling some art to raise funds....Darren & I are also starting to look for a nice 3 bedroom house around Sydney with a nice back yard so I can have a veggie plot, water tank and an art studio. Maybe I should start playing the lotto....Oh the joys of being an adult....argh

Fingers Crossed for Aus Post!

Hello I am back with some new drawings - I have been drawing quite a lot but I held back pn blogging/scanning so I could concentrate on my submissions for the exhibition. Today I sent off all four original drawings based around the Frog Prince fairytale - sorry no sneak peeks! I am itching to show you what they look like but I feel that the scanned images do not do them justice so I am going to leave the grand unveiling to opening night of Once Upon. If you can't make it to the exhibition because you don't live in Sydney or Australia then I will post the scans after the exhibition.

The above drawing is something I did the other day - I put it in the scanner a bit skewed but I decided I liked the messy/burry final scan. There's a bit of glitter to make it look shiny. Hope you like it. Glitter is really messy...I think I got more stuck to my fingers.

The drawing below is a logo for a guitar & bass repair business called The Dog House - it's something I knocked up in less than an hour tonight so I am quite happy with the results. So the next few weeks I will be scanning the drawings I have accummulated over the past weeks, making some finishing touches and blogging on a regular basis.

I'm a Twit

Hello - it's been a while since I posted any drawings, believe me I have been drawing like a mad woman. I am itching to show everyone my work. I feel I shouldn't post anything until I finish my exhibition pieces for Once Upon. So no doubt you will see a huge amount of posts shortly with lots of new drawings.

For those who enjoy twittering - You can join me on twitter here, I joined it ages ago and then it went dormant now I have come back to it to join some fellow exhibiting artists. Hopefully I will get used to it and twit some new drawings?

Since I am not posting drawings - I thought you might like to see a yummy bacon, onion, parsley, tomato quiche I baked. It was so yummy I baked another soon after with chorizo. They were quickly gobbled up with a rocket salad.

Cat & Dog At Brad & Helene's in New Zealand

Here are some photos of Cat & Dog - they have been lovingly framed and displayed in Helene & Brad's home in New Zealand. They look rather lovely above their fireplace don't they?

Once Upon an Exhibition in SYD!

Click on the flyer for more details or go here or click here to see the amazing array of artists with links to their websites/blogs - created by one of the Once Upon artists - Jordan Clarke. Once Upon is an exhibition featuring some of the best emerging illustrators and artists in Australia. It's going to be an exciting night for Sydney so please join us on November 19th for the grand opening night. Each artist has been assigned their very own fairytale to interpret.

I have been working on four original art works for the exhibition based around the fairytale - The Frog Prince and they're coming along nicely, I have made the decision not to show any sneak peeks so you will have to come to the exhibition! Once Upon has industry support from Frankie Magazine & it certainly a night NOT to be missed!

How damn marvellous is this flyer?! It is designed by the lovely Tabitha Emma who is one of the exhibiting artists. Tell all your friends and family to come down and show us some support!xxx

(above: me flying a kite)

Have a super duper weekend everyone! I have more drawings to do, some swimming and possibly high tea & some kite flying :-)

Commission for Helene & Brad

Two drawings full of colour and patterns for Helene & Brad - It is a battle of which domestic animal is the best, cat or dog? Personally I like dogs...I will be sending this off tomorrow, it's going all the way to New Zealand where two empty frames are waiting for them.

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Revisiting an old tune by Postal Service:

T e a P a r t y

This is how I spent a portion of my Sunday afternoon - a nice tea party. How cute huh! I also went to my local outdoor swimming pool for a morning swim which was most enjoyable. I have been working on my drawings for Once Upon Exhibition. I have been assigned The Frog Prince fairytale so yesterday's tea party gave me a lot of inspiration. I am half way through my second piece for the exhibition ( I have to complete four original pieces), I am quite pleased with the drawings so far, there is a hint of my style but also a progression in my work and a lot more colour.

Here's another favourite tune of mine - The Con by Tegan & Sara, Canadian twins.

Interview on Bespoke - Read about Walter & Geraldine

As part of the Bespoke Limited Edition Artist Series - there is a little interview everyday featuring each artist. Today I am the featured artist (yey) you can read the interview here if you would like an insight into me and some of my inspirations. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming artist interviews as the whole series is just magnificent. I always find it really interesting to read about artists. Also don't forget to see my previous post on how to win this print along with the nine other artists who took part. It's $650 worth of goodness.

Finally an oldie but goodie song I adore:

Win My Print With Bespoke Press's Hugemongous Give Away!

You might remember a few posts back that I had collaborated with Bespoke Press, Brisbane and came up with the above illustration. It is called Geraldine & Walter in Love, you can buy it in their shop. It is a limited run of 150 and all signed by the artist (me) and Bespoke - because letterpressing is an amazingly beautiful art in itself.

Bespoke are currently running a competition where you can win my print along with the 9 other amazing illustrators who took part in the collaboration. So that is a heart pumping $650 worth of limited edition hand treddled gorgeous prints. All you have to do is leave a comment on Bespoke's blog as to which is your favourite print -hopefully you beautiful people will say it is mine, haha but I won't be sad if you don't because there are some damn great illustrations in the series!

And before you faint....Bespoke are offering a fantastic introductory offer: Between now and the 16th of October, enter the code SALE in their online store and you will receive 10% off our entire range of letterpress goodies.

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In other news I adore Coin Laundry by Lisa Mitchell, I can't stop bloody listening to this cute song. My boyfriend hates it with a passion haha.

Blanket Magazine Collaboration & Editorial Work

So here is some fashion editorial illustrations for you for an upcoming issue of a magazine- double page spread of Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte, Calvin Klein & Alexander Wang shoes. More colourful and slightly different from my usual style. But hope you like it....

Got a lot done in Canberra- got my commemorative dollar coin, saw parliament house, went to the art gallery saw some amazing works by Picasso, Monet,Miro ...got inspired to do the above drawings, ate some great Italian and Korean food (not at the same time), sat in a sauna and had a swim.
Also glad to announce a feature in Blanket Magazine (Issue 18). It was a collaboration with several artists and the idea of inversion - fantastic idea by Bec, the editor. I was second in line to add to a scenic illustration, to which I added a patterned teepee. The final image is pretty cool, quirky, cute & surreal - just what I like. You can buy the print online at Blanket Magazine! Make sure you check this issue out - it is entirely Black & White and choc-full of emerging illustrators & artists. If you appreciate nice drawings and good articles then this magazine is a definite buy.

Photo courtesy of Blanket Magazine

Interview with BBC//Once Upon Exhibition with BenZen

I have been super busy this week designing flyers/loyalty cards/menus for KOO bar. They liked the exhibition so much and got some positive feedback that they decided to incorporate my designs throughout. It's been a life time since I sent anything to the printers - my god I think I might have to rethink making graphic design into a career- I'm not so good at setting up bleeds!

However, a much more seasoned graphic designer is Ben Zen - he is graphic designer by day in Melbourne and by night he is an artist extroadinaire. I have pretty much followed his illustrations since the day he started blogging- they are always so magical and whimsical. I can definitely see him illustrating books in the near future. Below is one of my favourite drawings by him, I think it tells a good story and the eyes of the owl just seem so wise.

I'm also proud to announce that Ben Zen and I will be exhibiting our lovely works in the Once Upon Exhibition, aMBUSH Gallery, Sydney in November 09. Oh and if you are wondering what the first screenshot above is - it is an interview with me by the BBC. You can read it here. If anything it's worth a look because there's a photograph of me with a koala.

I have started a few drawings this week but they are all half finished so not worth posting up just yet....hopefully I can finish them soon. This weekend I'll be off to Canberra for a brief holiday - I intend to see Parliament House, The Mint, the War Memorial, and see some galleries.

Proud to Present at KOO, 206 Newland Ave, Hull

I am extremely proud to announce a solo exhibition of my illustrations at Koo, 206 Newland Avenue, Hull, UK. It's in my home city so I am doubly happy because my family and friends can visit too. Signed prints are also available so get your glad rags on and get down to this lovely, chic bar!

S y d n e y S k y & Featured on Sydney Morning Herald

You can see a series of photos here on the Sydney Morning Herald website - where one of my photographs is featured.

When I woke up for work this morning at 6.30am I was utterly confused with a pinkish light shining through my window. So I took some photos to show you all. The Sydney sky is hazy with a orangey pink colour because of strong winds that have blown red sand from the outback right over here. It's caused some traffic chaos, people have their fog lights beaming and has probably instilled fear into some mothers. I saw a little boy riding to school with a make-shift dust mask- two tea towels. You can just imagine his mother - " Here son, protect yourself take these precious tea towels and wrap them around your face, off to school now "

T e c h n i c o l o u r

A glorious technicolour explosion of light, mirror and water and a glowing me. A very disorientating purpose built room but probably one of the best exhibitions I have ever been to in my life. Now if only I could remember the artist's name. (Photo by me)

M e n a t W o r k

Well the weekend is nearly over and I completed this drawing yesterday - it's some little borrowers chopping a man's beard, he doesn't seem too pleased about it though. So the weekend was busy - it was spent up the coast where it was very sunny and hot, where we helped move some belongings from one house to another for Darren's grandparents. Amongst things we scored a lovely wooden barometer :-) it's something I have always wanted to own.


I also updated my website- I think it runs too slow for my liking, but I have tweeked it slightly - please let me know what you think or if you know of any good ways to build and host a simple website, I know it needs much more improvement!

Oh and within an hour of returning to Sydney it has rained! Such is life and least it will water the herbs in the garden.

One more thing before I go - check out the new spangly issue of Good to Know Zine by Pikaland - it is stuffed with 68 pages of good to know views from 50 artists (including myself) discussing whether or not an art education is important. It is an insightful and interesting read with some nice illustrations aswell.

E a r l y B i r d G e t s T h e W o r m

A little birdy illustration I began in my sketch book - I have coloured it in slightly in photoshop, again another work in progress, I get bored of filling in the colours - I think I need one of those Wacom tablets. I will eventually come back to this and fill the colours in properly - it's posted here so I don't forget.

Ok best go I've had this hair dye on my head for nearly 50 minutes....hopefully my hair won't slide off my head when I go to rinse it. ha.

Happy start to the weekend everyone!

F l u t t e r B y

Flutter By Butterfly is a drawing I did a few weeks back in my mini sketch book - I found it again today and finished off the patterns in the wings and added some colour in photoshop. I have yet to choose the right colours for him but thought you would like a sneak peek of him.

H e a d a c h e

This is aptly named a headache because it looks like how it feels when I have one. What do you think? It's drawn with just a normal fine black biro. It has yet to be finished- I will probably add some colour to it - I just need to figure out some sort of body to add to her or maybe something surreal. I have a few projects up my sleeves at the moment - just finishing up some prints for a permanent exhibition at a bar called Koo in my home city in England. This is going to be fantastiche - more details to follow.

In other news: Big thanks to my fellow blogger Maddy for kindly featuring and appreciating my work on her blog. If you can't remember what it's like to be 15 you should check her out- because she's 15 & extremely talented in drawing angsty young ladies. She is one to watch!

Lastly - it's Friday today HURRAY! Have a super weekend y'all x

C o l o u r I n M o t i o n

Colourful lady in motion - coloured pens. It sort of looks like she has a bowler hat on her head, it's a cross between an octopus/jellyfish. A better scan to follow soon - for now you can have this jazzy animation. If you watch it for too long you might start to feel a bit sick....

UPDATE: Below is the non flashy finished illustration - stare at this one for as long as you like!

A l l A b o a r d T h e K i t e

We have some friends over from England at the moment, so we took them up the coast at the weekend. They brought a lovely kite from China to fly on the beach at Terrigal, Central Coast and also at our local beach, La Perouse, Sydney where we also enjoyed soft serve ice cream covered in sherbert! YUM. It was great weather and there was just enough breeze for the kite to fly.

Above is a drawing inspired by the weekend. I will scan it in properly soon and also upload some photographs.

G i r l F a c e s

I bought some new graphite pencils last week and the lady on the left is a result of that. I'm often a bit too lazy to use colour but thought I would give it a go and get used to it since a lot of commissions do call for colour. She pretty much looks like how I felt last week ( a bit under the weather). The lady on the right is drawn with a black biro in my usual style.

This week I will be working on an exhibition that will be opening around November time - involving some pigs! I will also be waiting to hear back from some other commissions. Guitar playing is still going well and my fingers are getting more numb from strumming.

Stormy Seas In Hand

This is the first posting for the first day of Spring. It's been quiet on the posting front because the past week I have had a continuous headache but I slept a fair few hours over the weekend so I am feeling much better! The above is an ink and pen illustration based on the original Balloon Girl drawing (see earlier posts) - there will be a series of these as I am interested in developing the idea around the hand.

Interview With Blanket Magazine

Thanks to Bec at Blanket Magazine who featured my work in the current Consumerism issue #17. You can also read a little interview here which was posted today. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed answering the questions. It's great to take part in magazines, it always motivates me to draw. Go check out Blanket Magazine - you won't be disappointed, it's stuffed full of well written, informative articles, a great and varied choice of artwork and fantastic links to the world wide web of creativeness. Now all I need to do is get the whole back catalogue.

Screenshots courtesy of Blanket Magazine

T h e B a l l o o n G i r l

This is balloon girl. A pen drawing I did today. It looks as if she's trying to float far away, up into the air but someone's holding her back. I'm going to work a bit more on this concept, I like the idea of the arm, the hand can hold onto anything...so plenty of ideas pop into my mind.

Update on the guitar playing: It's still chugging along nicely, learnt a few chords and Darren says I'm getting better (he's the expert). I'm still enjoying it although one of my fingers feels a bit numb. Nevermind, onwards and upwards!!

T h e B u t t e r f l y J a r

Hello, it's been a good few days since I last posted. It's not that I'm not drawing, it's the scanning in which I don't enjoy. The drawing above is a submission for a project called Follow the Leader by Sub-Studio Design. If you like it please stop by to rate it. Basically they give you a 'seed' to start from , in this instance it is the jar that they have drawn, and from there you 'grow' the seed into a fully fledged drawing! Butterfly Jar is my interpretation of what I imagined when my eyes cast themselves upon the jar. It's quite a complete drawing for me, I don't tend to draw a full scene.

In another news: I am now a proud owner of a small bodied and small fret Fender guitar...it's quite a sight. I also bought a big punch bag and some boxing gloves to box the hell out of it :-D

Love Birds at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

This is called Walter & Geraldine In Love- this is the ink pressed version of my illustration printed by Bespoke Letterpress. They will be selling this alongside some other fantastic artists at their stall at the Young Blood Designers Market, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney on Friday 14th and Saturday 15th August.

If you're around get yourself there!It's been a pleasure to be part of such an exciting project.

Photograph courtesy of Bespoke Letterpress.

In other news I have been featured in two magazines this month- Blanket Magazine and Offshoot Magazine! So thanks to them for that. I watched a great film on the weekend featuring Toni Collette called The Black Balloon. It is an aussie made film about how a family cope with an autistic son. It's highly amusing and heart wrenching at the same time. The cast is great and it is filmed with attention to detail. The only negative is that Gemma Ward (of model fame) sounds like a man when she speaks, but she does the great lustful poses well - as you would expect of a model. Toni Collette is a great actress, loving her in United States of Tara aswell, she plays a mother with a multi-personality disorder. Check the film and this series out!

S t u ck !

After seeing some excellent paste ups around the city and from fellow bloggers I have ventured into my first stickering session.

S m o k i n g S k u l l s

Most the time I draw from images that pop into my head when someone is chatting away to me. This is the result of the words THE MAGNIFICENT BASTARDS, it is a friend's two piece band who formed recently that play in a pub in Newtown every week.

T a j i n e L a d y

A Victorian lady with a tajine shaped body - inspired by Morocco.

FIRSTDOWN RECORDS

Logo Design Ideas for Sydney based record company - FIRSTDOWN RECORDS.

It's a mechanic hand punching a vinyl!

PROJECT: FOR..........

Project: For.....
This is for Finn & Natalie. The inspiration comes from talking to Finn about what kind of drawing he would like. We talked about a time I filmed Finn in a tree for his uni project and how he liked that concept and liked the thought of someone sat in a tree reading. I'm going to email this to Finn now that it is finished. Maybe I will get him to post a photo of it printed and framed. This will be one of many collaborations.

Machine Head Illustration

Tugging on my heart strings

Click on this drawing for a closer look.

If you want to see my portfolio in a really quick and easy format go to

MY NEW PORTFOLIO

Cup of Tea

One of life's pleasures
A nice cup of tea
with a biscuit
AHHHHHHH

Bespoke Vintage Printing

Currently working on this birds/vines drawing for a printing company based in Brisbane called Bespoke. They print limited edition art prints on a late 1800s printing press.

They have already worked with emerging Australian Illustrators such as Bec Winnel, Beci Orpin, Courtney Brims.....

Machine Men Music - Studio Poster Idea

Machine Men Music Studio Poster Idea - Mocked up in photoshop

Machine Man - Work In Progress

This isn't finished yet but it will become part of a art display for a small recording studio. It is drawn free-hand with black ink.

MUM- from Telstra?

There was light aircraft writing in the sky today- I managed to get a picture of MUM - I watched it for a while as it flew over Glebe Market. I think it was a marketing ploy by Telstra as it read 'Call Mum - T'. Happy Mother's Day for tomorrow.

In the bush with Malcolm Douglas

I suspect noone knows who this guy is unless you're an Aussie. He looks a bit like Crocodile Dundee and he goes on adventures with his little dog and boat/4W drive. He also has a croc farm in WA - there are a few haters out there who say his farm is cruel and unkept, they also dislike him because he sells croc products. I think they're probably getting him mixed up with being a Steve Irwin type in the sense that they think he is a conservationist but at the same time being hypocritical about it by selling croc products. I don't know too much about him but what I have watched makes me want to go on an adventure!

You can watch the full series on youtube - it was recently shown on channel 7 but I missed the first few episodes so I am really glad someone uploaded them.

He's got some tasty bush recipes too- I'm going to write them out and give them a go. Somewhere amongst the episodes he makes honeycomb toffee! But I can't remember which episode so I will have to find it....So stay tuned for Malcom Douglas's bush cooking recipes.

Midnight Express & The Gatton Mystery

I find the books to be really expensive in Sydney. But today I found a huge bookshop called Goulds Books in Newtown and I spent ages trawling through the Crime-Non Fiction section.

So now I am the proud owner of two cheap ($10 the pair) crime non-fiction books. Midnight Express- Billy Hayes unsuccessfully smuggles 4lbs of cannabis only to be arrested and sentenced to thirty years in a Turkish Jail.....The Gatton Mystery - a horrendous murder of siblings in the late 1800s in Toowoomba, Queensland.

I also stuffed my face with a hearty breakfast @ Martini - it consisted of balsamic field mushrooms with crumbly cheese, poached eggs atop some crusty sour dough bread with a side salad -yummy!

Lady Scissors

Lady Scissors!

Greasy Fry Up!

Bacon, Egg, Sausages, Beans and Toast.
Yummy

When LOVE & HATE collide

Just a quick drawing I did tonight. Hand Drawn and (badly) coloured in photoshop - I'm going to neaten it up properly when I have scanned the drawing in- as this one is a photograph of the original drawing using my mobile phone.

Mouldy Strawberries

A box of mouldy strawberries thrown out by a London Market Man. They look appetizing until you take a closer look. YUM

Study of a girl

These ladies are drawn from my imagination using black ink.

My Fish Eye Lens at Bridlington Beach, East Yorkshire UK

These were taken in the midst of Winter time at Bridlington Beach, East Yorkshire, UK about three years ago. I used a Lomo Fish Eye Lens Camera. I like these wintry photos.

Orange & Black

Our fish kept dying because of the bad PH in Sydney. But this time we bought a PH kit and adjusted the water accordingly. We now have a black googly eyed fish and one orange goldfish. They've been alive with us for nearly two weeks now. HURRAH! So here's a little video of them- you might need to turn your head to watch it the right way. I have named them Zack and Miri (after that funny film).

IN PROGRESS: Portrait In Acrylic

The Archibald Portrait Exhibition 2009 at The Art Gallery of NSW is coming soon. This was a portait painting I did recently with the Archibald in mind. I never entered because you had to personally take in your picture and I was at work. These pictures just show the portrait in progress. It looks different to this now....