Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog this year. Hope you all have a lovely Christmas and Holiday break!

Thought Id leave you with this greeting inspired by all of the wooden Nutcracker toys I have seen in the shops lately.

See you in the New Year!

Catch Up

So much to catch up on in the lead up to Christmas!! Hardly know where to start!

After our tour of the south finished at the beginning of December we were home for a week before flying away back to Hong Kong to visit our friends from Holly Brown and plan more exciting projects with them. It was lovely to see Hong Kong at christmas time - I didn't take enough photos to do it justice unfortunately. The temperature was very pleasant too as it is now considered winter time in Hong Kong - most days a average of 17-23 degrees, 40-60% humidity. After a very quick week there we are now back in NZ and busily trying to catch up before Christmas arrives and sweltering in the mugginess of summer. :)

In the meantime I have been working on various projects - one of which I am creating birthday illustrations for. I also have a few exhibitions planned for 2011 so that will keep me busy over the holiday period.

Also happy to announce that one of my Holly Brown illustrations was selected as Runner Up in the latest judging for issue 21 of Creative Quarterly magazine. (you can see it in their online gallery here - scroll down to my name to view). I was stoked as the judging is of a very high standard and there are so many awesome illustrations submitted.

The Gallop to Gore

More adventures in Gore, a small township south west of Dunedin. I posted a little more history on my website blog here

One of my much loved illustrators 'Edward Gorey'

mountains

Journey through Lewis Pass in the south island of new zealand. I seemed to have forgotten all of my winter wooly clothing so only stopped occasionally through the pass - so cold! I love mountains, they are beautiful in any light!

Lovely illustrated stories made with sillhouette.

Touring

Nelson, good times in this sunny city. Weird shaped council building though.. kind of like a torpedo with a timer attached to the side of it?

more finds...

Great illustrations by Blanca Gomez

On Tour

I am touring the south island with my husband a present for his work. We have been to so many places now I am beginning to forget where we have been!

My studio has become the local motel/library/park bench. Ill post more pics of our adventures soon..

Found lately..

Great work by Tim Gough and Toshiyuki Fukuda

Journey

The beginning of our journey...

Coffee Coffee Coffee

The Dusty Dream Hole

I worked on album illustrations recently for NZ folky rock band Bannerman. The album is called 'The Dusty Dream Hole'. This was a really fun project and I got the opportunity to make a little bit of hand lettering too. You can check out the sounds HERE or have a look at it with words added on my picture garden news section.

I am touring around the south island with my husband at present for his work. Today we are in Blenheim! Which is warm, sunny and full of old world charm due to the town clock which chimes every half - full hour. Off to go exploring before locking down to work...

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Semi-permanent 2010

Over the weekend I attended the Semi-Permanent conference for 2010 held in Auckland. There were loads of great speakers with really inspiring work! I particularly enjoyed the talk given by Jessica Hische, Duncan Speakman, Andrew Gordon from Pixar, Dick and Otis Frizzell and Storm Thorgerson. At the end of the conference we also got to participate in a Storm Thorgerson photograph which we all donned our 'kiwi fruit glasses' for ;)

Sketchbook Meanderings

A few sketch book meanderings of late. Its really nice after a full days work to just ponder around in ones sketch book with no real agenda!

I recently signed up for this which should be a lot of fun. My theme is 'Night time stories'. Cant wait to get my book in the post and make a start.

Pika Package

I took part in this months pika package which is on the theme of 'travel'. There is a really great selection of artists involved! You can WIN a package Or you can purchase your own here

I know Ive said it before but Pikaland is a great place to find inspiration!

Holly Brown Illustrations

Holly Brown - Lady Gelato

The First Dance

The Fantastical Coffee Machine

Coffee Hula

These are recent illustrations I made for a great cafe called Holly Brown in Hong Kong. Holly Brown specializes in fine Coffee and delicious Gelato. Find out more about our trip to Hong Kong on my website blog

A Sea of Umbrellas

I have spent the last few days getting acquainted with Hong Kong and all her temperatures! Its the monsoon season at present and today was an excellent example of why it is important to have a good umbrella - the first one we had broke under the weight of this mornings down pour so now Jay and i have one each which works well but you have to be careful not to get poked in the eye by passing umbrellas on crowded foot paths.

I have been working on a project for the past month creating illustrated artwork for a cafe called Holly Brown here in Hong Kong and now we are here to finish off the project with photography. This week I will photograph coffee, cup cakes and gelato which will be a lot of fun. The shop is almost finished being constructed and we have meet some awesome people from around the world who have all been brought in on the project. Im looking forward to working with them all. Time now to get some sleep for the big week ahead...