Play time

Its wayyy past bed time and I should be tucked into bed ready for work in the morning but all I can think of is this little girl, playing with her pink horse, colouring in her activity book and playing on her toy phone...Off to bed now, xxx goodnight!!

Illustration Friday: Contained

Well what started as a quick sketch for this weeks Illustration Friday Topic; "Contained" turned into few hours of ink work- a few hours of photoshop- and is now looking like two very cute little characters! (would be great as a kids book). Miss Emily Dickson and her dear, dear, friend Miss L. Bug. ( Of course L. stands for lady - and I'm sure she defiantly is a lady too) I can imagine endless walks in the park with lots of tea parties and delicious cucumber sandwiches while catching up on all the latest gossip;- who's playing at which park these days and who likes which boys at school?!

Sweet tunes

My new 2 favorite albums to listen to whilst I draw, paint and get lost in my imagination... Lenka & Emiliana Torrini

Presents.

This year for Christmas I decided to make something more personal for my friends and family. Which kept me very busy! I did a total of 27 Profiles! Everyone received a personal astrology/numerology framed picture, including their date of birth, a specially designed picture along with 3 special key words, a profile descriptor of their positive traits and personality, with a PANTONE colour guide specially designed for the individual! The picture above is the Profile I did for my friend Stacey. Her colour Is 'Evergreen', PANTONE 3292C. Her 3 keywords are; Solid, Creator & Contemplative. 

On Christmas night, I did a fun little cook up with my two little sisters, Alana & Renee. We made little tea cups and saucers for Santa! so that he would leave the girls lots of nice presents in the morning. The girls loved making these and they were so simple to make ( which is even better!) they shared the rest of the teacups with the rest of the family Christmas day and they were a huge success - everyone loved them! (see below for recipe)

Little Teacups & Saucers

What you will need:

1. packet of Tick Tock biscuits  1 packet of Marshmallows

1 packed of Allen's Chocolate Freckles 1 packed of Musk Life savers. 

1 tube of cake decorating icing

Method:

Carefully cut each of the Lifesaver rings in half (adult only), then you use the Cake decorating Icing around the bottom of a marshmallow. Proceed to place the Marshmallow icing side down onto a Tick Tock biscuit- creating the saucer & the cup. ( the icing will act to bind them together). Then place the Chocolate Freckle on the top of the marshmallows, using icing to bind, which created the frothy top of the tea cup. Lastly place icing on both ends of the half Musk live saver, then carefully position on the side of the marshmallow forming he handle for your tea cup. 

Christmas presents!

I'm sharing with you these adorable 2 little toys I bought at the North Sydney market from 'mococo & poppet'. One for each of my sisters for Christmas this year! The black poka dot, button eye monster bear for my littlest sister Renee. While the cute little sausage dog is for Alana ( she absolutely adores dogs in every shape and form- even her first toy as a bub was a plush pup!) I think they will love them.... I know I do! The rest of the family are all getting the same present this year- just tailored to the particular person. I won't go into too much detail because my family also read this!

2009 Semi-Permanent Book Entries

I was a little hard pushed... and after many late nights and lots of sketches I finally entered 4 individual pieces of work for the Semi Permanent book 2009! ( Fingers crossed one of the pieces I worked on gets picked!- so that they will print and publish my work!) I will update you more once and if I find out any more information! Here are the four pieces I entered- The first two are done in a fashion graphic style, with a simple pencil line faces and a simple bright wash of watercolour each to highlight their features and shadowed areas.The third is a mix of photography and vector. Lastly Is a very detailed picture of a young lady, semi nude with a fantastic deer hair figure. Now this one took a lot of time! mix media- I created this piece from pastel and work on the computer.



Its been very rewarding to see all my hard work come to life ( and on time for the deadline!)

Holiday at Seal Rocks

WOW!........ I cannot remember the last time I went away on a holiday! A much deserved rest ( If I say so myself!) A friend of mine, Fiona and I headed up the coast approximately 3 hour drive north of Sydney AUSTRALIA to the beautiful crisp clean air and idyllic ocean views of Seal Rocks. We stayed in a little shack on the beach called "trade winds" - we were only there for a very short time ( 3 days and 2 nights) Yet we did get a fair bit done.I went fishing for the first time ( bought a little fishing rod from a local market) although I didn't catch anything except for some seaweed and a tan! I thoroughly enjoyed it. We also went and explored all around the area and took pictures along the coast line. The locals were so nice and friendly and accommodating! It reminded of what people were like where I grew up.
We also called in at a little toy makers cottage just inland from Sea Rocks "Sugar creek toy makers" a delightful couple Jan and Friedel Warmers with beautiful hand crafted old fashioned wooden toys and their studio open to the public- Jan served us while painting the toys in her work area, while Friedel was in the side room in his work shed, crafting the wood. I couldn't resist I needed to have one! Fiona bought a little wooden 'Faerie Lilly Pilly' for her god daughters birthday, while I bought a little 'Woman from the West'- from their famous period dolls- Just for myself! :)
"Woman from the West" - 1825 She crossed the mountains with her husband,
her children and a few possessions on a bullock wagon. She made her home, nursed her babies and helped clear the bush Enduring Tremendous Hardship and Loneliness. The Woman of the West’s partner doll is the Pioneer