Mountain Goat Brigade

I have been waiting for the right illustration friday word to show off one of my most recent pieces and thought this weeks word Brigade would do just fine. I created this piece for my exhibition in Melbourne last month, it was made using acrylic and masking techniques. Hope you enjoy it!

vanity

I have been working on my digital illustration skills lately as I spend allot of time covered in acrylic! I thought this weeks Illustration Friday word 'vanity' would be a good one to practice on. I am trying to keep a hand done feel to my digital work and hope to gain confidence and a clearer style the more I do it. Let me know what you think, I would love some helpful tips from all the digital artists out there.

silent

This is a layered collage piece I did earlier in the year for Spoonful Magazine. I thought the mood fit this weeks Illustration Friday word 'silent' well. I applied card and foam core to create the layers and used my favorite colour combination of purple, green and orange. Enjoy! 

rain rain go away

Here is a Gocco screen print I did recently and I thought it would fit well with this week's Illustration Friday word stripes. I used two screens to create this piece and the yummy mustard colour Gocco ink, hope you enjoy it!

Scary

This is a piece I did earlier this year using acrylic and some kitchen sponges! looking at this weeks Illustration Friday word I couldn't help but post it again. Poor little fishes, they have no idea what their in for........

EXHIBITION MADNESS!

The set up...

Thanks Mum and Dad!

The moment of truth...

What an amazing time I have had in Melbourne over the last few days! not only was my first solo exhibition more than I could have every hoped for but my friends' and family's support and encouragement has been truly inspiring. Thanks so much to everyone who made it out on opening night, and congratulations to the artists exhibiting in the other rooms. I honestly could not have planned it any better (and believe me I tried!) or have done it without all the wonderful people around me. If your in Melbourne anytime between now and the 3rd November head on down to the Brunswick Street Gallery and check it out!

exhibition invite

You are all officially invited to my first ever solo exhibition! Come along to the Brunswick St Gallery Melbourne from the 21st Oct to the 3rd Nov. Keep an eye out on my blog for opening night pics, thanks to everyone for all their help and support, I can't wait for the big day.

ferocious

Here is a fun illustration I did for this weeks illustration friday word ferocious. I used acrylic for this and my usual dry brush technique. I guess they are both ferocious in their own special ways, hope you enjoy it!

Mysterious...

This is an illustration I did last year using a dry brush acrylic technique, I thought he was a good pick for this weeks illustration Friday work Mysterious, who knows what could be lurking in the dark.....

Your Invited

Your all invited to attend a great exhibition at the Artsite Gallery in Camperdown! it features unknown artists (including yours truly!) and gives them a platform to exhibit their work. If you get a chance drop in between the 03 - 18 September.

Website and News

I everyone, just a quick note to let you all know that I spent all day slaving over a hot dreamweaver to make my website a bit more user friendly. I have added some more images and given each one its own url. I have also included a PO Box address in case anyone wants to send me an old fashioned perfumed letter and I added a few more awards to my Bio page that I have been lucky enough to win over the last few months. Have a look when you get a chance and let me now if you think.

In other news if you have signed up for my newsletter expect to see it waving at you in your inbox in the next week or so, I've have finally worked out the bugs and am almost ready to send it on its merry way.

I have also been selected as a finalist in the Flair Illustration Awards and will let you all know the results as soon as I do, fingers crossed!

Also have a look at this AMAZING illustrator Holly Idle, I stumbled across her work the other day and thought it was absolutely beautiful.

No Bull

Another take on my theme 'one of these things is not like the others'. I have decided to included my reference this time (mainly because I think the bull dog is so cute!) and my pencils, let me know what you think.

'O' dear!

Here are some more of my cheeky 'O' animals. I decided to create some illustrations based around the simple circle shape as part of my search for a new logo. I wanted to use the double O in Foord as a stating point, I'm not sure where this will lead in regards to my logo but I am loving creating my little round illustrations and hope to add some more to the family soon.

Swept

Here he is again! my little top hatted man is getting swept away, lucky he always has his umbrella at hand. I thought this one fit perfectly with illustration Friday's theme this week SWEPT, hope you like it!

Spoilt

This fortnights miro round-up word is SPOILT and being a little spoilt myself (with good reason of course!) I decided to do the above illustration. I used a mixture of scanned hand drawn elements and photoshop, hope you like it. Check out everyones spoilt brats at the miro round-up.

Soaked

This is one of six acrylic paintings I created focusing on this little top hatted man and his strange travels. I thought this one fit perfectly with illustration Friday's theme this week SOAKED, hope you like it!

Melody

Another illustration for the much loved Miro Roundup, this fortnights word was MELODY. After many (many, many) scrunched up pencils being tossed in the bin then set alight (I am exaggerating of course but you get my drift;)I finally decided to take some inspiration form the old greats like Charley Harper and KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID! I love working with line and really like how the addition of one spot colour makes this illustration quite graphic. Check out my fellow illustrators work at the Miro Roundup for some more soothing tunes!

Are We There Yet?........

These poor little guys don't even know whats coming! this illustration is in reponse to this weeks Miro Roundup word HOLIDAY. I got the idea when I remembered a family holiday we took to Montville one year (don't ask me where that is!). My sister and I were sitting in the back seat of my parents car chanting 'are we there yet?'. All we wanted to do was get to our destination, little did we know our destination was a dirty old pub with a share bathroom and a scary old lady that kept offering us toast drenched in butter.... so be careful what you wish for kids!

K.I.S.S.I.N.G

Oh they love each other! (just like Kate and Will!). Some little kissing fish I designed using a basic circle shape as my starting point. I have a series of little 'O' shaped creatures to show you over the next few months, once they are complete I will turn them into some nifty little posters.

Day at the Zoo

Meet some acrylic creatures I created over the long weekend. I am going to produce greeting cards using these images and I have heaps more ideas for some other animal paintings using the same theme 'one of these things is not like the others'. I am working on re-branding my illustration website and hope to incorporate these somehow, I think they would look great on business cards and letter heads. If you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet you can do so on the right and see my new branding very soon!

Lou to the Rescue

Here I am working out my new dry brush meets collage technique with the lovely Life Guard Lou. I have been looking through animation books lately and watching heaps of old cartoons (purely for research purposes of course) and I absolutely love the contrast between the simple textured old school animation backgrounds (look at the Flintstones for example) and the flat colour characters. I am aiming to capture this in my illustration by using dry brush to create very simple backgrounds and collage for my foreground characters. I used contact paper in this illustration to mask out areas for painting and am honestly not sure why I never thought of this before! its fabulous! I think stocks in contact paper are about to go up people. I plan to do a series of Lou related illustrations and am currently working on his female fan club, stay tuned.

Also if you have any comments or feedback it would be more than welcome.

SPACE (or lack thereof)

I decided to test out a new technique this week. For this illustration I have used a mixture of collage and dry brush acrylic, I feel some elements are working but I would like to become more graphic with this technique in future and really force myself to simplify the elements more. purr

Diana

Okay so this week's miro roundup word was 'hunting' and I have produced the above illustration? What does a naked woman running through the forest have to do with hunting I hear you ask? well I shall explain, now try and stay with me here........I figured there were lots of things we hunt for in this world, number one being love, this got me thinking of cupid which got me thinking of greek mythology, which in turn had me thinking about goddesses, this led me to my mythology book where I found Diana (naked lady above) goddess of..........THE HUNT! ha! told you it worked!

Give me a Head of Hair

This weeks Miro Roundup word is 'hair' and after reading a tutorial on digital pattern making in Computer Arts I felt the need to create a hairtastic retro pattern worthy of any 1960's beauty salon! hope you like it. To check out more of my talented miro roundup crew head over to miroroundup.blogspot.com on Tuesday (don't forget to bring the hair spray;).

Miro Roundup banner

Well Partners, here she is! my submission for the Miro Roundup blog banner. I used collage, acrylic and some fancy photoshop skills. If you want to see more root'n toot'n banners head over to miroroundup.blogspot.com on Wednesday the 9th Feb, and feel free to participate in our weekly illustration challange.

Blossom

I created this work for the Bruswick Street Gallery Works on paper Prize. I used collage, coloured pencil and acrylic. I wanted to create a three dimensional look (its all the rage, Im so Avatar right now;) so I used foam core to bring certain elements forward and also utilized the frame by bringing a part of the image out of it. I have included a few close ups. Hope you like it x

The Brain Series

Mysteries of the Brain

Here it is! number four in the series Mysteries of the Brain. As you can see I took some inspiration form a certain Alice in Wonderland. I figured trying to understand the complexities of the human brain was a bit like falling down a rabbit hole. I will have all four laid out together to show you soon then its off to the judges, keep your fingers crossed for me.