of white & blue

It feels quite fitting with my current egg obsession in illustration (pics below) that I should now be the owner of this beautiful egg vase by Melbourne based ceramicist, Anne Ronjat. Really, how lovely is this? It's gorgeously thin and delicate - an example of very good crafts-person-ship. Ask any potter, it's not easy to make pottery this thin. Bought from a place not to be missed if you're in Kyneton, Victoria: the Stockroom.





Mr Kitly has a beautiful raffle of Japanese products going on to raise money for disaster relief in Japan.

breakfast work

Egg studies in red - work done in my pj's this morning. It's a breakfast thing, these eggs.

Beautiful drawings can be seen at BSG this week. Two artists in this exhibition whose work is beyond words: Simone Capogreco and Gisele Zuchner-Mogall. Such small detailed lines and patterns with pencil.

what's on the shelf?

A little while ago I got all nostalgic for the small shelves of bowls and cups I had in my wee kitchen in Japan. They were tiny and sat just above my sink but had a window behind them so the light came through the back of all that lovely pottery. It was very pretty to look at in the morning. Nostalgia is a funny thing.

So out of a natsukashi moment came this illustration-come-giclee print. It's available in green and blue, my two favourite colours at the moment. Almost any shade of green or blue is likely to come from my fingertips these days.

I have a good kiwi friend who lived in Japan when I did. She emailed this morning talking of the sorrow they are going through post Christchurch quake. My heart goes out to you NZ.

drawing + reading + watching

It feels nice to start drawing again after a tiny hiatus. Pic: sumi ink and artline pen.

An update on reading over the summer break: I finished reading Franzen's new novel Freedom while I was at the beach and loved it. What a humungous read about the double-edge sword of 'freedom' in modern life! There's an interview with Franzen here on npr if you're keen to know more. I'm now reading Auster's Sunset Park and while it's also very good I can't help comparing it to Freedom because it's still fresh in my mind. Not very fair to Auster is it? Sorry about that Paul!

On films: I saw the totally quirky Life During Wartime last night. Amongst the cast is the brilliant Allison Janney (ex West Wing) who was superb in this. Be warned though, this film is not for mainstream taste buds. It's totally OTT out there but enjoyable as a critque of contemporary American life/relationships in a kind of campy, deliberately overacted way.

snapshots

Sumi ink illustrations...work in progress.....

Hurtling between hot, sunny days and humid, wet ones.
Cold glasses of white wine in the evenings.
Throwing snails from the vegie patch onto the shed roof. Trying to protect the young seedlings.
The tomato plants are growing tall and strong. Will we have a bumper crop this year?
Fantasising about my first summer swim in the ocean and the long days of sunshine ahead.

whispers

A new giclee art print Whispers has been recently released separately from the calendar. The background colour has the softest, most subtle tinge of green to it. Really quite calming to look at. And yes, made from one of my sumi ink illustrations. If you're shopping for pressies (like I am at the moment) it's here.

hens

rose tea

egg for you

And then there were hens......

What wonderful paper/ink/stationery-related goodies will I find in Kyoto this trip? And how much can I stuff into my bag on the way home?

Please note: all purchases from the shop between now and the 28th October will be shipped on 29th.

egg-ity

twig

solo

two eggs

These are a few new prints from the growing egg series based on sumi ink illustrations. All available here.

Melbourne folk - are you going to Finders Keepers this weekend? If I can work out how to get to Shed 4 I will be.

6 sleeps until Kyoto for me.......

a little bit of soul

I've discovered something about myself recently that you'd think I would have worked out by now. I really like classic R&B. All these years when people have asked what kind of music I'm into I've said, you know, a bit of everything. But as it turns out I'm a classic late 70's-80's R&B fan. It makes sense. I like music with a bit of soul, lyrics you can sing to, and something you can dance to = classic R&B. I found out by trying a whole lot of radio stations all over the world through itunes while I've been working in the studio. I've found this great one based in Chicago. It's a bit daggy but it gets me moving.

And the pics above? More egg studies in sumi ink. But this time with twigs.

2011 calendar

Here it is....well a few pages of the finished product anyway. The calendar has two months to a page of my original illustrations and sumi drawings. Tea features strongly. As do eggs, and furry critters such as cats and chickens. And a few unusual things with legs and feet. All printed on archival quality paper with inks that will last forever. It's in my shop now. And I'll even pop a free greeting card in with each purchase.

thinking ahead

A sneak preview of the 2011 calendar I'm making featuring my illustrations and sumi ink drawings. It should be available in the next few days...

faces

This is how it can feel travelling on a train in Japan during peak hour. And some days it can feel a bit like this in Melbourne on the trams too. Every now and then I get reminded of the craziness of public transport and it motivates me to ride my bike to work even more :)

contained

For Illustration Friday - 'contained'. Seed pods: pen and ink drawing in sepia. The containers of new life.

nikki mcclure

Goodbye New York. It's sad to leave but oh what a great time I've had!

Another great find of mine through Renegade (and being in the USA generally) has been the paper cuts and illustrations of American artist Nikki McClure. She makes exquisitely detailed paper cuts using black paper about domestic scenes or images of nature. Also, people tell me her annual calendar is one to watch out for. I was in a tiny shop in Brooklyn a few days ago and was lucky enough to see some of her cards. Absolutely gorgeous. Here's hoping I can snap up one of her calendars later in the year.