Blog blog da blog!

So, I've been pretty busy lately, and I have been doing some art stuff - I intended to put up some pics of the couple of oil paintings I finished in July, but I forgot to take a photo of the finished paintings before I gave them to my friends who commissioned them  - oops! I will do this... one day... when I go to visit them. 

It's funny, because so much of the art I do these days is not my own projects, that is, it's usually illustration work to be published, I feel funny about putting up pictures of the illustration work on my blog or facebook. Which is why I haven't (not counting photos of the printed book-covers of Wonderfully Madison, of course). Someone is paying for the exclusive right to reproduce it, after all! (the fact that I can say this makes me feel very special and blessed as getting paid to do illustration work was one of my dreams when I began uni...)

Below is something though that I'm working on that is one of my own projects. It's the rough draft layout of my 8-page submission for the Sydney Comics Guild 2013 anthology - exciting! Though it's due pretty soon, so I should get a move on and draw this thing...

The theme of the anthology is 'the locked door'. My story actually features two characters I have been wanting to write comics about for a long time, so I'm particularly excited to use them... Chloe and Navet. Hopefully these two will see many more adventures together!

 

Wonderfully Madison Booklaunch

Over the past month I have been enjoying hearing from people who have found Wonderfully Madison on the shelves of bookstores or bought it online. Wonderfully Madison can be found and bought at Koorong, or via the cepstore website. Here's a photo from my friend Tal who found it recently:

Oh the thrills of being published! Well, it gets even better: there will be a book launch for Wonderfully Madison on Tuesday the 23rd of June, 10am-12pm, at Menai Anglican church. It should be pretty fun, too, and I'll be there!

Wonderfully Madison

I am very excited to announce that the first Christian children's book I've illustrated has now been published!

Wonderfully Madison is a story by Penny Reeves, for children aged 2-5 yrs old, and the publisher is Youthworks Media.

It's about a little girl, called Madison. And her being grumpy about her new baby sibling being born. And in the fun course of things she comes to discover that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving God.

I've been informed that pre-orders are available from the cepstore website from next week, and it will be available for purchase from Koorong, etc. from the end of May. Buy a copy and next time you see me I can sign it for you! :)

Proximity opening night

It was a happily buzzing evening last Tuesday at Kudos Gallery. The artworks looked great and it was always good to bump into old friends and catch up on what they were doing, not to mention talk about the show! 

The artists in the exhibition were: Melanie Beresford, Sarah Bovis, Minét Brits, Zachariah Fenn, Santina Ingui, Matthew James, Clare Maxwell, Lorna Macritchie, Simon McGrath, Aaron Moore, Jonathan Oppel, Simon Swadling, Louise Zhang and myself.

Here are some pictures I took:

Simon McGrath, House of God, 2013 

Jemima Trappel, People they have known, 2013

Simon Swadling, Presence, 2013

Lorna Macritchie, All the thorns are softening because of how much you love me, 2013

Jonathan Oppel's Untitled series, 2013

Santina Ingui, Life in Parts, 2012

My portrait of Keith (2012). I made this work for the Archibald last year and then gave it to the Salvos in Surry Hills in December as Keith comes from that community and I wanted them to have it. They let me borrow it for the show. 

Proximity Group Show opening soon!

This is a group show I'm in with some other people from FEVA, most of whom are students at COFA. The art works will be exploring the theme 'Proximity' from a number of different angles... proximity in time, proximity in space, proximity in relationships, proximity with God.

Below are some drafts of a work I'm planning to install for the show, which involves string and explores, among other things, brokenness in human relationships. 

It's called, 'People they have known'.

Nostalgia

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog! I've been working on a Children's book over the Summer holidays (almost finished) and while there are ample images I could put up from it, as it's getting published I don't feel right about doing that... until I ask my publisher! It's called 'Wonderfully Madison' and the author is Penny Reeve. 

In the meantime though, I've been recently reminded that some nice artworks I did in my second and third year of uni are not to be found on the web - outside of facebook, that is. And so I thought I'd put them up here so people can actually find them online when I refer to them!

In 2009 I did a series of concertina book portraits of my housemates. This one is called 'Ivy's leaving':

 

And here are some other portraits I did in 2008-2009:

(Maria, oil pastel and water colour on MDF board, 2008)

(Untitled, soldering iron on wood, 2008)

(Self Portrait, soldering iron on wood, 2008)

(Untitled, oil paint stick on wood, 2008)

(Self Portrait, oil on MDF board, 2009)

This work was an experiment in using a palette knife, which I then proceeded to do in the second semester with the More Than Just Faces project.

(Lynne, oil and pencil on plywood, 2009)

(Ray, oil and pencil on plywood, 2009)