Illustration Friday _ Lesson

Hi, this little illustration was one I did for a small project a few months ago  which I didn't use but I think it fits in well here.

I believe some of the most important lessons we learn in life as children are from sharing love and companionship with a pet. I think dogs in particularly help us learn more about compassion and humanity than many other things we do and I believe its important for children to grow up with a pet to care for and about. I think these lessons carry us well into adult hood and help us learn how to share, how to care and nurture, how to trust and many other wonderful lessons. I still learn from animals as an  adult.
Or maybe I have just been incredibly fortunate with the wonderful and loving pets I have had the pleasure to know throughout my life to this point.

Pages from my sketchbook

These are just some warts and all pages from my sketch book, nothing polished or certainly fancy, just playing around when I get time and having fun with whats around me. I thought I would share them as I have been away and haven't blogged much illustration stuff over the last week and I am on a short break from work so i have TIME which is generally a rare commodity so I thought I would strike while the iron is hot!

Some gnome fellows, inspired by Preston Blair

(Book info: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Animation-Collectors-Preston-Blair/dp/1560100842)

Coloured butterfly, I added a bit of colour to the black lino print (my first lino print)

 A couple of likely lads! Mmm Im still not happy with the scan. If anyone can lead me to some tips on the getting the best quality from your scans I would be very pleased

Mmmm thats an official Dora the Explorer sticker up there, Im certainly not taking credit for that :-)

Some holiday sketches for fun

These are a few little fun sketches done over our holidays and probably more to come,  it's great finding time to sketch!
Even Angelina and Ben got in on the act.

Some piccs from "home"

A few of my favourite things!  Looking at some of the things that have a lot of sentimental memories attached for me,  particularly the pepper tree,  many hours were spent around them growing up with my brother and sister,  and my best friend,  looking for cicada pupae casings and generally playing,  to the date palm my mum loved so much! It's nice coming "home" and now sharing memories with my little girl.

Illustration Friday: bycycle

Bears on bikes!
This little image was done in my sketch book,  the picture is taken and uploaded on our tablet which we are just getting the hang of so it might not be the best quality.  Anyway enjoy!  And happy easter! 

Updated 29/4/11 - I thought I would scan the image now we are home, to see how much difference there is. The scanning process has made it look much harsher than it is in 'real life' but at least it is clearer. Clicking for a large view gives it more definition.

Road trip

Well I may have missed the IF word Journey,but we are on one of our own,  up to country NSW (Australia) to see my Dad and family. Its been a while and im looking forward to it but have also  been a bit hesitant in some ways as things never stay the same.
I thought I would post some random piccs along the way.  Im sure other people find it interesting as I do, seeing countryside and things that are different to where we live oursleves,  I'll work on my IF picc along the way too!

Some random piccs tonight

I just had to take a photo of these. My little girl wanted to play cooking while I was preparing dinner last night so I gave her some peels to mix in her little bowl while i got on with dinner. There were some patty pans in the bench so she grabbed them and used some to "serve" up her dinner. Quite inedible (well unless your a bunny) but very pretty I thought!

 These were some cupcakes she helped ice

 Lovely fresh strawberries, looked too pretty not to snap while I had my camera handy.

Geraniums from our garden



Illustration Friday - Bottled

I was saying in a response to the lovely people who commented on my last post I have an idea I’d love to do for “bottled” but time is rushing by on this one and by the time I could do it justice it will be a new word. I actually did this image some time ago in my Children’s book illustration course as one of my activities and I remembered it when the topic name came up so I thought I would go with it instead of my other idea…. Well long story short, here is my entry this week, I hope you like it & thanks for visting!

Illustration Friday - Duet

Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n' rye

Singin this will be the day that I die.

This is a couple of  Aussie brush tail possums drinking up a Storm. The suns come up but they are still going. Not sure where the American Pie reference came from. I must be channeling them singing.

Old sketches

Well today I spent the whole day cleaning up my studio / craft room. As it is occasionally a shared room for creative pursuits for me and my little budding artist it gets messy from time to time.  I must say it has also become a bit of a family drop zone - if any ones not sure of where something  belongs it ends up in there.
All in all it hasn't been very conducive for creativity lately so Ive really gone to town, tidying and sorting. Ive emptied every cupboard and shelve and bought heaps of new storage containers etc so it will be a lot easier to find things. Now I've got no time left this evening to create and I feel really invigorated to do so! Never mind, its ready to go when I am...
In the process I found a one of my existing old sketch books so thought Id blog a few of my old pics.

My grand mothers cat?

 Kerrie

 Super hero

 Varied characters, not sure what gave me the inspiration for the guy in the apron :-)

I used to love drawing "fashions"

It kind of saddens me that I never pursued  art right from the get go...I used to draw all the time as a child growing up and into my early teens, then I went out and pursued a "career". I didn't have a lot of time for it but never forgot it and met my creative streak by doodling here there and everywhere. Finding it again and devoting more time to it has been a wonderful for me and I a loving every bit of it.

Funday - Sunday - Art day

Well today it was that time again and another fun art day for me and my friend and art buddy Lucrezia. Today we experimented with lino block cutting, something which is new to us both (I’d done it before in school but that was a while ago :-) )We both found it strangely calming and relaxing. I thought it would be a lot harder as I had done some research on the net this morning and a few people had said the lino could be hard to cut but this was quite easy to use. I think I may have inadvertently but rather pleasingly bought the easy carve lino tiles without knowing the difference. Today was a bit of a play but we both want to do more! We also celebrated Lucrezia’s recent birthday too, another fine day had by all!
Here are some piccs.

 My first attempt (well since school years ago) Its rough but I like the roughness It was good fun.

 Above and below, our 'wares'.

 Some fun shots, I love the colours together in the one below.

The birthday cake.  

I hope you had a fun Sunday too!