Heart Cleo

Hello everyone! It's so sunny and hot today in Sydney, which is a contrast to England where friends & family are freezing, it even snowed a few days ago. How amazing! I love the snow. I remember when I was little it used to snow every December then as we got older the snow never came at Christmas but in February or even as late as April. Either way, I used to jump for joy when the snow flakes fell.

So here are some pictures of my illustrations featured in Cleo Magazine. I'm very happy with how big the illustrations are in the mag. By coincidence Nicole from Gary Pepper Vintage (of whom I am the illustrator for) is also featured in the magazine. We also met up last weekend to shoot some things for her new launch of her website/branding - I can't wait to see everything come together. Here's a little photo of us below (courtesy of GPV) - do you like my radioactive hair? haha

Whilst on the central coast we also went on a little fishing trip on my in-laws new boat. When I'm grown up and rich I'm going to buy a boat too. We had so much fun and fished until the sun set. We caught three flat heads and then had them for lunch the next day. So delicious! This one was too small so we threw him back...

This week has been so busy - on Wednesday I had fun at the Mambo Christmas party and below is a canvas they had for people to draw on so I drew a little heart head - she looks good with a dog's body haha.
This weekend I'm going to be finishing off a few commissions and test drive a car....second hand cars seem so expensive these days so we decided we might invest in a new one with 5 years free warranty. So the wallet maybe slightly lighter by the end of the weekend! Have an awesome weekend :-)

♥ Smiggle

This is a double whammy of a post with an exclusive collaboration with Smiggle and also a first time peek into my art studio!

As mentioned previously I was kindly given a $100 gift card from a very popular Aussie stationery company - Smiggle! For those not in Australia, Smiggle is a fun, vibrant and playful stationery company that is a favourite amongst young kids and adults.

So armed and at the ready I popped down to my local Smiggle in Eastgardens, Westfields and with the help of Jess (lovely Smiggle assistant) I chose some beautiful Smiggle products for my art studio. The first thing that caught my eye were some cute cardboard animal calendars that you pop out and slot together so they stand up neatly. Here's January piggy below.

I get a lot of emails asking me what I draw with and I always use fountain pens. I don't see many people using them these days but luckily Smiggle have a variety of them. My mini collection of Smiggle fountain pens are awesome because they're tiny and I can always carry them around in my bag in case I feel like doodling.

Next on my list were some silver Smiggle pen tins. These are a life saver as I have boxes of pens, pencils, crayons and felt tips lying around and it drives me mad having to dig through to find the right colour. Now it's all neatly organised so I'm very happy.

Darren and I are saving up to buy a house so I decided to pick up this cute little dog as he is a money box! He also comes in shiny pink and purple. There were also some bandaged mummy money boxes that were shiny green so I think Darren will be getting one for Christmas!

I'm an avid reader with stacks of Frankie/Yen magazines plus the ones I get free from work so as soon as I spied these elephant and giraffe bookends I had to have them. They're made from solid metal and are very sturdy. They're currently holding together my stack of mags, creative textbooks and portfolio folders.

This year has gone so quickly so being in my organised mood I picked up a 2011 daily diary (pictured below). It's nice and thick with enough space to scribble down ideas and make little doodles. I also picked up a caramel coloured A4 sketch book - it has a really nice soft leathery feel to the cover and also a ribbon so I can bookmark my pages. There are plenty of pages so hopefully I can fill it up and show you some drawings in the near future.

With the spare change I had left over I decided to buy two cute little erasers. If only Smiggle was around when I was a kid! I was an avid collector of erasers and pencils. I hope you have enjoyed this post. Thank you to Smiggle for letting me fill my art studio with beautiful things! Early next year there will be another exciting collaboration so be sure to stay tuned.

Like endless rain into a paper cup...

Being English we do like to talk about the weather. It's been what feels like monsoon season in Sydney the past few weeks. Torrential downpours with thunder and lightening that sounds like a horror movie sound track. Not that I am complaining, I quite like the rain when I am snuggled up indoors.

Inspired by the weather I thought I would introduce Ms Hearthead riding a crest of stormy waves. This is an illustration from a collection I was working on back in June. She didn't make the cut due to budget reasons but 3 of her friends were chosen.

I've lived in Sydney for over 3 years now and it was only a couple of months ago I started to set up our spare room into an art studio. I call it the spare room but Darren calls it his music recording studio. At the moment it has two desks covered in pens, crayons and paper with the spare laptop set up too. I'm in dire need to transforming it into an artist's retreat....

....So this weekend I have a very special $100 voucher courtesy of a popular leading Aussie stationery company to spend at my local store. As a child I was an obsessive collector of pencils, erasers and stickers so I will definitely be like a kid in a candy store. I have already been clicking on their website and making a list of things I want to buy! There will be a blog early next week with all my treasures...I can't wait to show you all!


On a completely different tangent I wanted to tell you all about my latest discovery. Last weekend Darren (my husband) and I found the mocha roti. If you have never had one you must try one. They are delicious warm doughy sweet buns with a crispy mocha flavoured topping and a buttery middle.

Aussie Magic Carpet Ride

Here's a little snapshot of an illustration I worked on a few weeks back. Packed full of patterns and lots of iconic Aussie animals and creatures. This lady is on a magic carpet with a little snow globe of the Sydney Opera House. A nice dreamy drawing for a 'secret' project that hopefully I can tell you more about in the future and show you the finished drawing.

There's also more exciting news as I have a fun collaboration with a well-known Aussie stationery company and a magazine feature, so check back soon!

I was featured recently on the Style net alongside some awesome artists that I admire. It's a pleasure to have a little write up so thank you for the mention.