Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 33

Week 33: Mythology

"Icarus flies too high..." Drawing of Icarus with finepoint black Sharpie. Highlights in watercolour on white Quill linenbond paper, collaged onto a yellow paper Origami circle and blue felt background. Cloud formations created with cotton wool unwound from a cotton bud. Several photos of Pygar the angel from Barbarella used as reference.

Update:

Week 33: Mythology II

"Behind every successful Minotaur is a clever publicist." Drawing of Mr Minotaur and his aide, Mini Taur, in finepoint black Sharpie. Highlights in watercolour on Quill papers: white linenbond collaged onto cream "marbletone".

Week 33: Mythology III

The dugong, origin of the mythological mermaids. Charcoal sketch on blue card with metallic silver Sharpie and opaque white Signo highlights. Based on my own photograph of Wuru, the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium's female dugong.

Communing with the merpeople

Dugongs munching cos lettuce - 90kg per day! - at Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour.

If you have some time to kill in Sydney's Darling Harbour, you can't go wrong visiting Wuru and Pig the young dugongs in Mermaid Lagoon at Sydney Aquarium.
My slideshow of ten pics

Minnie Pearl and the APEC transport debacle

"Minnie Pearl and the undersea bazaar"
by Natalie Jane Prior & Cheryl Orsini (ABC, 2007)
is being launched today at Muffledux Books, Clovelly.

I'm off the hook, to use a thematically suitable term, although I was quite looking forward to attending this book launch today. But it coincides with the transport havoc created by Sydney playing host to APEC this week, and Natalie rang me yesterday to say that her family cancelled their plans to fly down from Brisbane for the weekend due to her daughter's ear infection. (I think half of Brisbane still has that rotten cold it gave me last week!) So, I shall give it a miss. Cheryl Orsini will still be there. I wish her (and Natalie, in absentia) a very happy launch.

"Minnie Pearl and the undersea bazaar" is a very clever children's picture book about mermaids, with lovely "Roaring 20s" period-style costumes, art deco embellishments, and lots of in-jokes hidden in both the art and text, including a reference to the original version of "The Little Mermaid". May there soon be a fresh haul of Minnie Pearl titles joining this one on the shelves.

Sunday's magic number: 93.3 - and we're back on track! I celebrated today with a piece of chocolate cake (ie. it's Junk Food Day!). Amazing how great chocolate tastes when you haven't had any for an extended period. I was offered a single French fry last weekend and it was... almost orgasmic!