Stuff Claire Makes: DO NOT DELETE THIS - IT MANAGES THIS SECTION

Cards

Claire Richards — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:36:03 GMT

My cards are positive, colourful and humorous. I use watercolour and digital collage to create the designs. Quaint expressions and things kids say inspire the words on the cards. I turned old metaphors, like ‘Cat’s Pyjamas’, ’Bee’s Knees’ and ‘best thing since sliced bread’, into unusual terms of endearment in the ‘you are the’ series. These cards can be ordered oversize and signed by a group of people.

There are more than 50 designs in the collection. I have designed cards that are versatile and unique cards for special occasions. There are cards for birthdays, mother’s day, weddings, babies, farewells, and Christmas. All cards are blank inside and come with a colourful envelope.

If you know a saying or expression that would be cute as a card send me an email.

Portraits

Claire — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:04:19 GMT

I enjoy painting portraits in watercolour. The portraits are in my ‘big head ‘ style so they are not realistic and everyone looks about 3 years old. I try and capture what the sitter is wearing and a little bit of their personality. I often paint them doing their favourite thing. I get great inspiration from conversations I have with kids while painting them.

I do portraits of children, grown ups and pets. If you would like me to paint, you a portrait come along to a market or contact me to arrange a sitting. The sitter does not have to sit still. A quick A4 and A3 portrait takes less than half an hour but I can do more detailed portraits on canvas or framed quality paper. I used to paint from photographs but I can't keep up with orders and I miss out on meeting great kids.

Books

Claire — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:31:18 GMT

I have illustrated four books for Scholastic and Omnibus books. Three are in bookshops and department stores and The Wheels on the Ute is being published later this year.

The first book I illustrated is A little Bit. It is written by Christine & Peter Maniaty and is a 2009 CBCA Notable Book. I enjoyed painting all the fluffy ears for Goldilocks and the Three Koalas by Kel Richards. The illustrations from The Eleventh Sheep by Kyle Mewburn are in an exhibition at Dromkeen Collection Art Gallery in Melbourne in July 2009.

Picture books are created collaboratively. The writer sends a manuscript to the publisher and then the editor finds me (the illustrator). I do life studies and sketches lots of drafts. If I am having trouble drawing a character I make them out of clay. I paint the final images with watercolour, coloured pencils, and crayons. The wax in the crayon resists the paint and makes interesting shapes.

Handmade

Claire — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:48:52 GMT

I make handmade toys and I paint my designs onto porcelain teacups and mugs. I am constantly experimenting with crafty things.

The kids in my paintings have really weird and cool toys. Jack worries that his T-Rex toy Thesaurus wants to eat his teddy. I have made the toys from my paintings. I like sewing hand made toys because each Dinosaur and Koalas is different and I can’t predict how they will turn out. My latest handmade project is making groovy koalas. There is Mama Koala, Dada Koala, Matilda Koala, and Little Fella Koala.

The toys are about 25 cm tall and I try and make them baby proof. I don’t use buttons but please supervise kids under 3 years old. The toys are hand made with denim, corody, new and vintage print fabrics. They can be hand washed but please don’t put them in the tumble dryer as they get dizzy.