Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 38

Week 38: Cat.

"Catwoman consults her script." Sketch of Eartha Kitt from "Batman", based on a publicity photo. Black finepoint Sharpie and white Signo opaque pigment marker on gold Quill Metallique card, mounted on black card.

Update:

Week 38: Cat II.

"Belling the cat." Sketch of the famous fable in black finepoint Sharpie on pink card, coloured with watercolour pencils and white opaque Signo.

Week 38: Cat III.

"Meggsie hides." Watercolour, finepoint black Sharpie and watercolour pencils on watercolour paper. Based on a 1976 photo of Meggsie from my album.

Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 36

Week 36: Pencil.

"Gone fishing." Freehand sketch in 2B graphite pencil, shaded with yellow, red and blue pencils. Based on my own photo of Dugil in 1978.

Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 10

Week 10: Animal

"Koala". Freehand cut collage using a remnant of watercolour canvas, a scrap of Quill "marbletone" cream paper, and watercolour on grey card. Based on my own photo. I guess it's a reverse silhouette. The koala only exists as a negative space. The grey card is simply the back of a depleted watercolour paper pad and reminded me of the colour and texture of a koala's fur, so I searched my own albums looking for a suitable pic (actually Perth Zoo during the exhibition last year).

Update:

Week 10: Animal II

"Orange harmony". Sketch in black finepoint Sharpie on watercolour card, coloured with watercolours. Based on my own 1977 b/w photograph of pets Mac and Meggsie "frying their eyeballs" in front of a bar radiator.

Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 5

Week 5: 1920s

"Dolores del Río and Friend". Charcoal portrait sketch on cream Ingres paper, with a touch of orange watercolour pencil. Based on a Hollywood publicity photograph found in a Google Image search.

Update:

Week 5: 1920s II

"Archibald Fountain, after dark." Theseus and the Minotaur are off-duty on the night of a full moon. Sketched in black finepoint Sharpie and white opaque Signo on grey Ingres, with watercolour collaged elements in white Ingres paper. (I wanted to try drawing this iconic Sydney fountain this week, even though it didn't fit the theme and, while researching pics and Wikipedia, I realised the statues were designed in France... in the 1920s!) Theseus and the Minotaur are off-duty on the night of a full moon. Sketched in black finepoint Sharpie and white opaque Signo on grey Ingres, with watercolour collaged elements in white Ingres paper. (I wanted to try drawing this iconic Sydney fountain this week, even though it didn't fit the theme and, while researching pics and Wikipedia, I realised the statues were designed in France... in the 1920s!)

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 23

Week 23: Rain

With inspiration from Bert's pavement drawings in chalk of a merry-go-round (in the feature film, Mary Poppins), this pavement drawing is replicated across several sheets of "scratch paper" (with the supplied tool) and glued onto grey card. Rain drops and puddles created from black card, and decorated with blurred white opaque Uni Posca ink and coloured crayons.

Update:

Week 23: Rain II

"Raining cats and dogs - or hailing buses?" Black ballpoint pen on blue paper, umbrella shape freehand-cut to create a silhouette, highlighter pens, signage in Word on yellow paper, mounted onto black and beige card.

Week 23: Rain III

A solitary raindrop takes The Big Plunge. Originally, he was going to have little black shoes but - suddenly! - gum boots were more appropriate. Watercolour with black and blue Sharpie inks and white opaque Signo.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 10

Week 10: Night

Watercolours on white watercolour paper. Permanent black Sharpie inked outline, with silver Sharpie highlights.

Update:

"Mr Minotaur prepares for bed after a hard day's night in the Labyrinth." Freehand sketch in black permanent Sharpie, with watercolours on watercolour paper. Live from my hotel room!

Week 10: Night II

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 43

Collage of ingres paper, feathers, ribbon with black Stained Sharpie ink. Weird coincidence that the ribbon had a similar pattern to the feathers!

Week 43: Bird

Update:

Sulphur-crested cockatoo in watercolour, on A3 watercolour paper. Feeling very proud as I used confident brushstrokes - and no pencil guidelines!

Week 43: Bird II

Eastern rosella in watercolour and a few touches of black Sharpie and white Signo ink. No pencil guidelines!

Week 43: Bird III

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 39

3D papier mache squirrel, decoupaged with orange paper printed with the words "squirrel", "paw", "ear", "tail" and "acorn", plus eyes made with "i"s - and an "n" for a nose.

Week 39: Words

Update:

Black Stained by Sharpie ink (a brushlike tip, supposedly for drawing on fabric, but nice to use on paper, too) on La Carta Weave textured paper.

Week 39: Words II

Week 39: Words III

Words and Pictures: Watercolour over cardboard templates, painted onto the page of movie reviews from Mx newspaper. (Ha! I was cleaning up the work area the next morning. The "audience" template, which I cut like a set of paper dollies from some card and used to mask off sections, looks too pretty to throw away. Into the Odds 'n' Ends box it goes. We may see it again some day.)

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 13

Week 13: Water

It seemed appropriate to do a watercolour for Water Week. This is Duart Castle, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, traditional home of Clan Maclean, as seen from an approaching ferry from Oban. Painted on white acrylic gesso primed canvas sheet. Castle and boat detail in waterproof black Sharpie.

Update:
I decided to have another go at water, making use of some pet rocks from 1981!

Week 13 Water: Owl and Pussycat pet rocks

What's cookin'?

Any idea what's bubbling away on my cooktop? I'm dyeing two customised puppets!


And this becomes...


... this!

Yes, they are a pair of customized puppets, now dried in the washing machine spin-drier. The completed bat has wings cut from brown felt and the new eyes are flat beads in a pink plastic, Supaglued over the original black giraffe eyes. 50 cents for a packet containing lots (of future replacement eyes?) I love bargain shops!

The panther's eyes are some teardrop-shaped yellow plastic "jewels", originally bought for a different project. The only reason for turning a tiger into a panther was to give the bat a dunking buddy, and use up the leftover dye.


These two new additions (above) look rather sedate after the cooking pot episode!

ALF's Christmas wish

Dear Santa,

I have been good.

For Christmas I would like a kitty.

Love ALF (2011).

30 day challenge

"Try something new for 30 days", Matt Cutts

My NSW Department of Education and Communities colleagues on Maang have decided to embrace the advice of Matt Cutts in his TED talk, "Try something new for 30 days" (above).

First up is the Photo Challenge (click for the cumulative slideshow). For the next 30 days, we take a photo a day and post it under the dedicated thread for the day. Day threads will be numbered according to which day we are up to. Subject matter? "What's happening in your life/work today?" (I'm already experienced in this type of challenge, have done the 365 Photos project in 2009-2010.

Here's my pic:


DAY 1

These homemade stuffed cats date back to my teachers college days (1979), based on my cartoon characters, Fish'ook and Bluey, who featured in a comic strip in the college newspaper, "Dugil". They turned up in a vacation cleanup this week; hadn't seen them in years! (Ah, Hobbytex, remember those roll-on paint-in-a-tube things you bought on party plan like Tupperware?)

Cowboys herding cats

Someone mentioned this video only a few days ago, and then I stumbled across it tonight on Facebook. Love it!

Green, green, green!

Hastily made replacement "Cat in the Hat" hat, for tomorrow's "Green Eggs and Ham" event at school. 16 March 2010.

By happenstance, the replacement hat wasn't needed...


"The Cat in the Hat" was a special guest at our school's "Green Eggs and Ham" event,
coincidentally - and serendipitously - falling on St Patrick's Day. 17 March 2010.


Sam-Am-I meets "The Cat in the Hat"

Invasion of the Giant Cat!

Flashback: My cat, Meggsie, and his "Number 96" box, made to celebrate the airing of the last episode of the TV soap opera (1977).

Or, the missing "invasion" episode? The one where Les Whittaker's wacky inventions finally got the best of him?

Weekend photo roundup

A kitten stretches and yawns. 17 October 2009.


A new virtual home for my old website. 18 October 2009.


Peace lily blooms in the library, having stayed alive during two weeks of school holidays
- note the nearby book cover: Adventure and survival. 19 October 2009.

"When you're on a good thing, stick to it"

Perhaps it's time to tidy up my fridge magnets?

Schrodinger's Cat and Pavlov's Dog (complete with bell to cause salivation) are recent acquisitions.

Grin

The Cheshire Cat (from Disney's classic "Alice in Wonderland") meets a bird.

Oh pooh! Again

Not impressed that Jack again took the opportunity to roll in cat poo while we were visiting friends. Why do dogs love so much to smell like their prey? (As if a Jack Russell terrier has any hope of actually catching a cat.)

Jack Russells supposedly like to roll in the poo of their prey so they can sneak up behind them, smelling exactly like the prey. So one can't fight animal instinct. But Jack always regrets it once he's covered in poo from head to toe, and ends up very sad and stinky. The worst was the goose poo he once found on a farm during a holiday in the country. Green dog, fast geese.

CATch of the day...

Racing past the venerable, old Mitchell Wing of the State Library of New South Wales yesterday, I simply had to stop and take some snaps of "Matthew and Trim", featured characters in a great graphic novel I read to my Stage 2 students last term.