This weekend I am having a mini-exhibition at the studio's with the talented Luka. She loves drawing koalas too! The exhibition is on at the back studio at 453 Brighton Rd from 4 - 7pm, but I will be there from 11am if you can't make it to the officialness.  I will be forging free artistic drivers licences and passports to the destination of your choice.

The Post Office inside Pasadena Foodlands and Hilton Plaza Post Office now have displays of my entire range of cards. Another new stockist is Studio Lingo at Prospect.

Earlier this year one of my Uncles passed away. He used to ring us everyday and tell us jokes.  I have been working on a series of drawings of some of his inventions. The Drill Blender as you may have worked out is made by sticking a blender blade in the end of a drill from cash converters. Apparently they made great milk shakes.

The Five Senses of Love, a book by that I illustrated has won the Bronze Award in the Picture Book category at the 2011 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards. Also rather exciting is while I was painting a portrait last week my friend drew a picture of me, she even put in all my paints that were on the table. 

Honestly I don't take illicit substances I just like painting multicoloured rabbits. I think that rabbits are far too bouncy and happy to be beige. These rabbits are hopping off to Out of the Cot for a visit.

Sian and her Sleep sheep were on television the other day. The Eleventh Sheep was read on Wurrawhy. A channel 10 children's show here in Australia.  My favourite TV show at the moment is actually a British children's show Big Babies.

I had an industrious afternoon with a friend I went to school with. We made these paper beads from colourful pages in magazine. They are kind of what kids make at kindergarten.

Last year I was part of an exhibition with ceramics Tamara Hahn. I exhibited the pages of a little artist book. I drew on wall paper samples a wordless story about an old caravan who takes it's self on a holiday.

I have a new studio at Cabin 453 Brighton Road, where I have been drawing like a maniac.  It is really inspiring place to work because there are quite a few of us painting away.  Helen Nieuwendijk who runs the gallery and fantastic art classes for children and adults has created this window display.  I'm there most days but if you want to pop in and say hi just give me a call to check I 'm not at the art supply shop or pestering chickens for research sketches for my next project.

Why are there little ponies with their own little string of bunting? Because it is a cabin and when you live in the wild west you tie your horse up outside the cabin before you come in.

I have illustrated a sweet new book called The Five Senses of Love for Potoroo Publishing. It is available at my studio and on their website for now but it is gradually getting into specialist book shops.  It was a really enjoyable story to illustrate because I could draw three friends and their puppy doing some of the activities I used to love as a kid like swimming in dams, eating ice creams and walking along the tops of fences.

These are the pictures exhibited in the exhibition last December. My latest painting project has been

multicoloured rabbits.  The little yellow rabbit hides from the wind behind his bigger blue and green friends.

As part of the exhibition we had a cardboard box castle made with these makedo clips.  I liked, I mean the children who visited the show, liked making tunnels and spy windows.  These photos were taken after it all fell apart, which was just as fun.

This little snail guy is one of the paintings I'm putting in the exhibition next weekend.

This is an artwork I've been working on for an exhibition at Carclew, 11 Jeffcott Street, North Adelaide.  

Ms Doody's Art Show III  (click on the link to see more about the show)

Opening 6pm Friday 10 December 2010

Continuing 11 and 12 December, 10am to 6pm

Opening night speaker:

Katrina Germein, children’s book author

A free event with colourful paintings, prints and other goodies. It’s sure to delight the young and young at heart, so bring the kids and your inner child to discover that unique gift just in time for Christmas!

You can also join in the fun and help build an enormous cardboard cubby house using makedo connectors.

Local crafty types – Daniel Bennett, Claire Chivell, Gabe Cunnett, Tom Hermann, Michelle Lee, Jon Marco, Carol Nicholls, Janette Nicholls, Julie Pieda, Annalise Rees, Claire Richards, Jenny Richards, Ruth Richards, Ali Rodda and Caroline Schrader.

The exhibition is all packed up now but here are some pictures of the artwork from Storylines. The gallery set up a pretend illustrators desk in the middle of the gallery which I used a couple of times.The little superman on the light was one of many sculptures by Lee Stewart.  She made some specifically for the space, a little fireman sat near the fire extinguisher.

I was really quite excited to be exhibiting with some fantastic illustrators.  In this image you can see the bright colours of Katherine Battersby and Mandy Graham. 

 The writing on the wall is a poem by Janeen Brian about writing and a big red balloon.  I made a treasure box of pirate food for another of her poems.  Maureen Prichard framed prints from a picture book about a boy called Jessie.  She works with such delicate lead pencils and she told me that she changed the colours to contrast the light of different times of day.  Maureen was on the interview panel that let me into art school.

Whose been sticking notes with made up words on the gallery wall? Everyone, there were even some in other languages. It was part of an artwork by author Marianne Musgrove.  The book birds 'Bwirds' were escaping from their cages and breaking all the grammatical rules.

This is part of what I said on Katrina's site...

I admit some of my cartoon captions are almost ‘dad jokes.’ They are actually more things that nannas say like, ‘you are the best thing since sliced bread’ and ‘you are the bees knees.’

My dad is actually funny.  Just this morning he said someone was  ‘textersizing on their phone’.  In the next conversation about whether the washing needed to be brought inside he referred to ‘perspiration’, not ‘precipitation’, and despite no one really paying too much attention he continued to carry on about the rain being ‘condescending’.

Probably the best pun I can remember Dad saying is once when we were walking past a woman up a ladder who was changing a church message sign. It was Christmas Time and so Dad suggested a festive themed saying. To our surprise, when we drove past the light box she had posted up his idea. It read ‘Mary had a little lamb, his name was Jesus.’

I was at the gallery today and saw all the beautiful artwork coming in to be hung on the walls.   You may notice there are few authors in the list of exhibiting artists. I have really enjoyed collaborating on some sculptures with Janeen Brian and Marianne Musgrove.  I am picking up the lettering that we will use to put poems on the walls tomorrow and have been playing with a dangerous amount of paper mache. The opening is at 7pm on friday, I previously wrote 6pm.

I am getting ready for an exhibition at Gallery M, marion called Storylines. It is a group exhibition of picture book illustrators with a few artworks by children's authors as well. I have been collaborating with a couple of writers to create poems to be written on the floor and walls. I will be exhibiting some illustrations from picture books along with my sketches and clay models I use. The opening is in a couple of weeks on friday the 6th of August and the exhibition goes until the 29th. 

I created these termite mounds while driving through the Kimberly in Western Australia and across the Northern Territory. Don't worry I was in the passenger seat. I was inspired by the shapes that the ants had built with lots of little actions like the knitting process. I would not normally post this artwork here because it isn't illustration but these little critters won an art prize. The Youthscape Sculpture Prize at the Royal South Australian Society of Art.

This is a sketch I am working on for an illustration. I enjoy all the mistakes and rouge lines. The next step is to trace it onto watercolour paper with my light box. It will look a quite different once I have painted it. I will post some of the final pictures of this project at the end of the year.

I exhibited this painting last year.  I mixed the paint with a granulation medium that makes the colours go all blotchy. After a few disagreements with the ink I conceded and let it blob all over the place. To make some of the lines more jumpy I sometimes used my left.  This may look like a bee but it is actually a butterfly with hairy legs.  

It has taken me a few years to get used drawing on the computer.  I use a graphics tablet not a mouse so it's almost like drawing with ink. I found some digital brushes that suit the ideas I have in my head, like these people with mushroom hats.   I miss the surprise splodges but not getting ink smudged all up my arms and on my nose.

 You know how it is. Someone puts a mushroom on their head and then everyone has too have one on their head.   The little guy on the end was the one who suggested adding antennas.

This is what I have been painting of late. A pair of portraits for two sisters with pigtails.  I enjoyed painting the colours on their skirts.  The dog ended up looking surprisingly like a cartoon character I used to draw in the school holidays. I made a magazine for my grandparents and it had a comic strip about a dog called 'scruffy'. I had been reading a lot of Peanuts and Snoopy cartoons.

The little one on the right is Sherbet. He is asking questions of his Uncle Herbert.  Like 'Are you my Uncle or my Great Great Uncle?' and 'Why don't rabbits have pouches?'.  Herb tells long and windy stories that are interesting but usually don't answer Sherbets' questions. 

I was reminded of this painting because I saw rabbits in the sand hills at the beach today.  Last year I had a creative season of everything in my paintings were being blown around by the wind.  I was playing around with thin layers of watercolour. 

The designs of eight new greeting cards are on display at urban cow studios. Each card has an aussie animal who are thinking cheeky things. Bilby can't work out if it's Christmas or Birthday wrapping paper and Koala doesn't read the card he just opens the present.  They can be used for most occasions.

I will have them with me at the Stirling Market this Sunday, 20th December. 

If you would like to get your portrait done you can make a time with me or just come along to the market.

 I was commissioned to create Christmas street banners for Jetty Rd Glenelg.  I snuck a few local land marks in the back ground and used bright watercolours to reflect the summertime at the bay.

I took a bit of creative license with the Christmas story.  The choir of angels appear to kids on jetty rather than Shepard and the Three Wise Men catch an old Glenelg tram.

 I found a collection of unused tourist tea towels in an op shop.  One had a sturt desert pea pattern that worked perfectly for the koala toys dresses.

   Urban Cow Studio is open 12 noon on sundays and 10 am all other days.The exhibition is on until the 3rd of January.

'Why Do Wombats Have short Legs?'

'So we can sit down and stand up really fast' Wombat said

An exhibition of new illustrations and paintings about the quirky creatures of the Australian bush. Bright and colourful oil paintings of koalas and echidnas.  Paintings with little over heard conversations and an encyclopaedia written by the animals themselves.  A display of eight new animal themed greeting cards.

 Exhibition opens 6pm Wednesday 2nd December

Upstairs at Urban Cow Studio

11 Frome Rd, Adelaide

there was a definite windy theme to my paintings. 

 I am currently putting the finishing touches on works for two exhibitions later in the year.  One exhibition will be at Urban Cow in December and the other  is a big group show in November.

 I am working on some larger oil paintings for Ms Doody's Art Show the 2nd.  The Marvellously make-believe Ms Doody presents her second annual collection of quirky and afforable works by local artists and designers.  Showcasing paintings, glassware, prints and toys.

  The artists: Carol Nicholls, Caroline Scharder, Claire Richards, Janelle Peterson, Julie Pritchard, Nichole Fenton, Peta Weisfelt, Ruth Richards,
Susan Clarkson and Tom Hermann

The exhibition will again be held at Carclew Ballroom, 11 Jeffcott St North Adelaide. 

The Opening is 6pm Friday 20th November

Continue 21st & 22nd 10am - 4pm