Bellablackbird

Happy Valentines Day!!

2012-02-14T11:53:00.000+11:00

My print called Cockatoos in love, is available as an A4 print from my shop.

The Hare and the Fox

2012-02-10T14:02:00.000+11:00

Two paintings

Queensland Pics

2012-01-21T23:33:00.000+11:00

Solstice

2011-12-21T15:05:00.000+11:00

It's that time of the year again and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family, and wishing all my blogging friends a happy Christmas and a healthy, creative new year.

Two digital sketches depicting both winter and summer solstice.

Etsy Front Page!!!

2011-12-16T15:33:00.000+11:00

So happy I was treasured on Etsy's front page today featuring Australian products by "Percivalroad"!!

Red Doves

2011-12-01T11:04:00.000+11:00

Illustration Friday: Silent

2011-11-13T12:58:00.000+11:00

I'm not sure why I like making winter scenes at the moment, as we are looking forward to the summer here in Australia. I think it must be a feeling of nostalgia for those cold, crisp winter nights, especially when the snow falls. My new work is of two foxes playing in the silent winter's night.

Illustration Friday; Fuel

2011-10-22T16:42:00.000+11:00

Haven't entered IF for a few weeks. The word fuel inspired me to think of the snow and the need to keep warm, not that we have much snow in Australia!

New Pink Giraffes

2011-10-20T23:59:00.001+11:00

My Giraffes are multiplying!

New work for Etsy

2011-10-20T00:07:00.001+11:00

Small Painting from Sketchbook

2011-10-10T09:49:00.000+11:00

Sunday walk along Balcombe Creek to the Briars

2011-10-09T21:31:00.000+11:00

I was invited by fellow blogger Viltogvakkert to document a sunday walk. It's a great idea and I'm sure it will be interesting to read about other bloggers' walk in the fresh air.
The day started out wet, but cleared with some sunshine without being too warm. We followed the creek close to where we live. There is a board walk that continues to a wildlife reserve where we went on the hunt for sleepy Koalas. Not lucky today, but we did see a small snake warming himself on the path and a couple of swamp wallabies resting in the marsh.
Check out this link http://www.viltogvakkert.blogspot.com/

Front Page!

2011-10-03T09:42:00.000+11:00

I made it to the front page of Etsy last night, so happy!

New Work for etsy

2011-09-21T17:37:00.001+10:00

Illustration Friday; Boundaries

2011-09-11T14:17:00.000+10:00

I was sitting outside in the garden last week with my grandson who is two and a half. We were playing with a bubble machine, watching the bubbles gently float into the sky across the boundaries of our fence into the creek nearby. The memories gave me inspiration for this illustration.

Illustration Friday: Disguise

2011-08-28T19:54:00.001+10:00

It's not Halloween yet!

New work- Running Hares

2011-08-11T08:54:00.000+10:00

The tiger who came to tea

2011-08-03T16:02:00.000+10:00

Sorry I'm a bit late with this post, but if you're in London and are interested in illustration, there's a great exhibition about Judith Kerr who wrote the Mog books and The Tiger who came to Tea. I think it finishes in early september so there's still time to catch it. It's on at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Her books are classics now, and I'm sure many under fives still enjoy them.

Illustration Friday; Obsession

2011-07-31T14:25:00.000+10:00

Thinking of the colour, form and texture of a painting is an obsession of many artists. I love using bright colour in a work to create an illusion of depth and space. This is a painting done a few months ago but recently reworked.

Philip Island

2011-07-24T22:16:00.001+10:00

A week of recovery after minor surgery, spent a great weekend with friends at Smiths Beach on Philip Island. Discovered some great rock formations on the beach.

Illustration Friday; Gesture

2011-07-17T21:25:00.000+10:00

The gesture of love!

Just returned from my trip to the UK, we had a great time catching up with family. Now back to reality.

New Work

2011-07-17T21:18:00.000+10:00

Beautiful Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire, England

2011-07-09T02:09:00.002+10:00

Taking a short break, visiting family and friends and having a great time!
1Newchurch in Pendle 2,3 Clapham, 4,5 Lake Buttermere, 6,Canal Rodley

Flinders

2011-06-16T10:36:00.001+10:00

Illustration Friday; Asleep

2011-05-29T18:09:00.003+10:00

Asleep in the sunshine, dreaming of something nice to eat. My little cat spent most of her time in the garden asleep. She died aged eighteen but I'm sure I can still see her under a bush in a warm shady spot curled up in the sunshine, in the garden.

This illustration was made a few months ago but I thought it was a good one to put into this week's I F.

Painting 2

2011-05-24T13:52:00.000+10:00

Another painting almost finished called "Solitude."

New Painting

2011-05-22T20:40:00.000+10:00

I've started painting again after a break of about a year, during which I've enjoyed working with mixed media illustrations. I'd forgotten how hard it is, both physically and mentally to create paintings on canvas and paper. At last I've finished two works for a couple of local shows. This is a small work on Arches paper called Flinders Beach.

Illustration Friday; Safari

2011-05-16T09:30:00.000+10:00

I really love watching giraffes move so gracefully with their long tongues reaching out for the tallest branches.

Illustration Friday "lesson"

2011-05-01T21:29:00.001+10:00

A lesson from the tree of knowledge, a thirst for learning throughout your life.

New work for my Etsy shop

2011-04-28T23:44:00.001+10:00

Great Barrier Reef

2011-04-20T12:09:00.002+10:00

Have just returned from a short break to Far North Queensland to see my son James. We had a great time cramming so much in, during four short days. The highlight of the trip was snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, which has been on my wish list most of my life! Here are some photos of the coral and fish. The colours of the different fish were amazing. Going to the reef has really made me feel that we must protect our environment as this wonderful area is so fragile! The coral may not be saved for our children if we don't take climate change seriously.

IF: Duet

2011-04-02T23:25:00.000+11:00

I've always admired the resilience of sparrows, often watching them working as pairs searching in the city food halls for crumbs. They seem to be tough intelligent little birds. I don't often see them where I live in my semi rural home, until the bird seed is on the table. They turn up out of thin air with all their mates to take advantage. These two little birds are singing a duet!

Fossicking

2011-03-31T11:08:00.001+11:00

Something I love to do when I'm out walking. The term (fossicking) is still common in Cornwall and Australia and was most likely originally a word used when searching for gold and minerals in the early days. Anyway, I love to find different treasures whether they are old bones, shells , feathers or seedpods, keeping them in my studio to sketch when I need inspiration.

IF: toy

2011-03-26T23:17:00.000+11:00

Will somebody play with me?

Sunset and Snake

2011-03-21T12:20:00.000+11:00

Two great photos taken by my son James, who works in northern Queensland. The photo of the sunset was taken on Groote Eylandt which is a large island in the Gulf of carpentaria owned by the Anindilyakwa people. Not sure what type of snake was in the second photo, but he has a great eye!

IF: Cultivate

2011-03-19T23:21:00.001+11:00

We love to cultivate our own vegs but sometimes those pests are a nuisance. This was a quick watercolor sketch finished in photoshop.

Illustration Friday "Warning"

2011-03-05T17:33:00.000+11:00

Warning! Don't tease the Magpies.

Our friends have returned!

2011-02-24T12:09:00.002+11:00

Each summer the Eastern and Crimson Rosellas spend much of their time checking out the Crab Apples on our tree to see if they are ready to eat. Today I think the apples are ready, even though they look very green! I really enjoy watching the birds using their claws to hold the fruit.

Grey Owl

2011-02-22T22:04:00.000+11:00

IF; Surrender

2011-01-30T12:44:00.002+11:00

In his dream, Alex surrendered to his fate!

We've all experienced that sensation of falling in our dreams.

Gates

2011-01-26T15:33:00.000+11:00

A couple of photos of beautiful gates, the first was taken a few years ago in the Dandenong ranges. The second was taken last year in Silves Portugal.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-08T16:17:00.002+11:00

The weather is heating up. Yesterday we decided to have an impromptu picnic and swim on the beach in the evening, in the hope that we could catch the sea breeze. This was our first picnic in 2011 and hopefully there will be many more. The photos were taken just before the sun went down, it seems that everybody else in our small town had the same idea about cooling off.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-12-24T14:10:00.000+11:00

To all family, friends and fellow bloggers. Best wishes for the holiday season.

IF Phenomenon

2010-12-11T22:45:00.000+11:00

The moon has always been a phenomenon. Mysteries, unexplained accidents and of course romance. This little seagull is hitching a ride by the light of the moon.

Workshop with Andrea Innocent

2010-12-10T16:56:00.003+11:00

A few weeks ago before we finished our course on illustration, we enjoyed a workshop with Andrea, developing some small characters with felt and other materials. Andrea is a great artist with many good stories behind her works. Check her art out on her website. http://www.otoshimono.org/
Check out our characters on http://lilcreatures.blogspot.com/

Illustration Friday "Savour"

2010-11-27T16:37:00.001+11:00

Just savour those lazy summer days on the beach, watching your children play in the sand. Time passes so quick.
I have lots of happy memories of those traditional holidays by the beach and last year in june I watched my little grandson experience the joys of paddling and building sandcastles for the first time.

Colours in the Garden

2010-11-09T11:22:00.000+11:00

It's spring again!

Illustration Friday "spooky"

2010-10-17T19:51:00.000+11:00

Couldn't resist entering this week's illustration friday with this digital illustration. The background is the very spooky yorkshire moors with the milestone in the fore ground.

Whisps of fog across the night, invading the moon's shimmering light,
Obscuring the horrors of the night.

Illustration Friday "Beneath"

2010-10-03T16:21:00.002+11:00

Beneath the stars and (Beneath the pigeon). Not a very good place to roost!
This was made using collage, drawing and photoshop. The picture is part of a series of drawings of a cat called Jack, an idea for a children's book.

Two Australian Birds

2010-09-25T21:30:00.001+10:00

An Australian Magpie sings such a tuneful song, and a tiny blue wren that hops amongst the bushes.

"Shameless" in St Kilda

2010-09-10T22:01:00.000+10:00

It's been a busy week with the exhibition opening on tuesday evening. Everybody had a great time and the atmosphere was really electric with a friendly crowd. Terry Denton opened the exhibition giving awards to some of the well deserving exhibitors. Unfortunately my camera batteries were completely flat on the night. These pics were taken a couple of days later.

Illustration Friday "immovable"

2010-08-29T00:38:00.001+10:00

Who is going to move first!
This was a small drawing in my sketchbook.

"Shameless" our exhibition

2010-08-25T22:25:00.000+10:00

It's been very busy these last few weeks as we are preparing for our exhibition. It's called "shameless" after the fact we are all graduating, and shamelessly self promoting our work. Opening night is on tuesday 7th september 6pm to 8pm at Brightspace in St kilda.
Rebecca Fitzgerald painted the great illustration on the promotion card.

Illustration Friday "Caged"

2010-08-08T17:15:00.001+10:00

Caged birds no more!
Also called "Bad Hair Day"

Millenium Bridge

2010-07-30T15:07:00.000+10:00

Happy Holidays

2010-07-21T07:52:00.001+10:00

Sorry for not posting for a while , I've just returned from a great holiday catching up with family and friends. A couple of weeks in sunny england mainly in London and Yorkshire, and a week in Portugal.

City Walk

2010-06-15T15:23:00.003+10:00

After a hectic week trying to finish work on my course, I needed a change and some fresh air. We decided on a trip to the botanic gardens in Melbourne. There's always something going on and lunch by the lake is always enjoyable. Lots of inspiring plants to look at. The fig tree and the red hot pokers were great and the succulent gardens with the barrel cacti.

Illustration Friday "Trail'

2010-06-06T13:53:00.000+10:00

They followed the trail of mist that weaved between the trees before the night set in.

Another Scruffy Dog

2010-05-28T15:33:00.002+10:00

Another scruffy dog, have been experimenting with textured backgrounds. A friend commented that this little dog looks piggy.

Scruffy Dog

2010-05-22T00:30:00.003+10:00

Have been busy in class this week sketching lots of dirty dogs, here's one of them. It's not easy to show the fleas.

Autumn Colours

2010-05-14T23:09:00.002+10:00

We have had some welcome rain this year, after a few years of drought. My garden is flourishing and its a pleasure to see all the new buds on the native plants. The honeyeaters are really enjoying the banquet, which keeps them well fed during the winter months.

Illustration Friday " Fearless"

2010-05-09T18:21:00.001+10:00

This little monster is fearless when he comes face to face with a spider.

Feature Artist Karen Erasmus

2010-05-02T08:27:00.004+10:00

My friend Karen does really beautiful spontaneous drawings and very soft portraits, I thought I would share with you. Karen won an award with her cut work piece. I really don't know how she manages to create so much with her busy family of three young girls, a dog and her chucks.
http://karenerasmus.wordpress.com/

En Plein Air

2010-04-21T11:19:00.002+10:00

Enjoyed a great day painting at Stony Point yesterday. The weather was perfect and the views were amazing. There was a large group of black swans and pelicans feeding in the mud flats. I took my sketch book and watercolour paints and made quite a few quick drawings.

Ilustration Friday "Detective"

2010-04-17T15:13:00.005+10:00

You don't need to be a detective to know who stole the chickens!

Chilli peppers

2010-04-11T10:43:00.001+10:00

We seem to have an abundance of chillis this year, any ideas on what we can do with them!

Weekend break

2010-04-08T11:06:00.006+10:00

Just returned from a few days in the country. We had a great time with friends and perfect weather too. Our other friends the kangaroos came down to the creek each evening to feed on the grass. This old pepper tree was so gnarled , I had to take a pic of it. One of the days was spent at the Chinese" Awakening of the lion " festival in Bendigo. We really enjoyed the Blues festival too. It was a great atmosphere with people dancing in the street.

Illustration Friday " Expired"

2010-03-21T16:43:00.001+11:00

Canberra

2010-03-21T11:59:00.001+11:00

Just returned from a few days in Canberra. It was a group trip associated with the course I'm doing, to see the exhibition of the post impressionists from the Musee D'orsay in Paris. We had a great time as the exhibition was well worth the ten hour trip on a bus. One of the highlights was seeing a couple of fruit bats outside our bedroom window. It's a shame I coudn't take a better photo of them as they were too far away for my small camera. The other photos are of the war museum in Canberra.

Illustration Friday " Perspective"

2010-03-01T12:13:00.000+11:00

When you are looking for a mate, it puts life into perspective.
The blue wren is one of the smallest birds in australia. The male changes colour to blue in spring, to attract the female. They are sociable little birds and I love watching them hopping around in the bush.

Inspiration

2010-02-17T10:14:00.002+11:00

I often take photos to give me some ideas for paintings. These are some of my favourites.

Small paintings for the new exhibition at the Continental Hotel Sorrento

2010-02-10T23:32:00.005+11:00

Focused for Illustration Friday

2010-01-30T23:20:00.002+11:00

This week's word is Focused. Thought I would enter my rabbit sketch and watercolour as rabbits tend to focus on the food they eat and nothing much else except perhaps other rabbits.

The illustration was used in my small book, the subject being environmental issues facing Australia. The rabbit population being a real problem as an introduced species, that causes erosion to the land.

Wilsons Prom

2010-01-19T11:06:00.001+11:00

A short weekend on the prom fueled my inspiration. The extent of the fires last summer were a shock, but it was good to see the regrowth coming through so quickly. The rocks on the beach were amazing with the unusual colours and texture. The grass trees on our Lilly Pilly walk were all flowering , brought on by the fires no doubt.

Weekend on the Prom

2010-01-19T10:53:00.002+11:00

Illustration Friday "Confined"

2010-01-10T17:22:00.001+11:00

At last some quiet moments after a busy couple of weeks. Decided to enter this weeks IF with an old sketch of red shoes and some digital work. Most women will agree that fashion shoes are "confined".

Greetings to all Family and friends

2009-12-21T17:26:00.003+11:00

Just four days to go to christmas and I still have lots of shopping to do. My purse is very stressed and will take a while to recover. I'm used to a cold Christmas with frost and perhaps some snow, dark nights by the fire and children singing carols at the front door. We've been in sunny Australia now for eighteen years and it still doesn't feel like Christmas in the heat. Mind I don't complain about the holiday in the days after Christmas day. This year we will be sat on Mt Martha beach watching our little grandson playing in the sand. He has come from a very chilly London to spend the holiday with us.

The little bird is an Australian fairy wren.

Illustration Friday "Crunchy Spider"

2009-12-07T11:54:00.003+11:00

My entry for this week's subject "Crunchy" is a digital illustration completed earlier this year. Thought I would show the original photo which gave inspiration.It was taken on a great holiday in Normandy France. The village was called Le Mont-Saint-Michel and is well worth a visit.
illustrationfriday.com

First Day of Summer

2009-12-02T12:54:00.005+11:00

Yesterday was the first day of summer and it's warming up on the peninsula. I went for a stroll round the garden looking for our resident of the past few years, Leslie the blue tongue Lizard. We haven't seen him this year so he may have packed his bags and moved to a more salubrious habitat, unless he's been eaten by a fox. I came across a younger lizard lazing in the sun, he had a short stumpy tail so must have had a fight at some stage. He was lazing on the grass in the sun so I dashed in the house to get the camera. By the time I returned he had retreated into a very thorny bush. I'll keep looking and hopefully capture a pic of him.

Making a Concertina Book

2009-11-27T16:12:00.003+11:00

A year which I thought was going to be difficult, has turned out to be quite fulfilling and interesting. I wasn't looking forward to the time at school learning how to use the software Photoshop and illustrator but things suddenly clicked early on in the year and I started to enjoy myself. Now it's worked out being a really valuable creative tool.The last semester was spent making a handmade book using images drawn by hand and combined with photoshop etc to make an interesting image. The theme for my book is the environment.

Thankyou for the drawings

2009-11-20T22:47:00.003+11:00

I received some drawings in the post, from my little grandson, who is living in London. He's only one year old and already shows interest in using lots of colour. I miss him very much and am sending a picture of Mr Wiggly to him.

Sketchbook Watercolour and Photoshop words of Fiz

2009-11-17T15:04:00.004+11:00

Visit to Abbotsford

2009-11-17T14:59:00.002+11:00

On sunday we had a trip to see my son James and his partner Jasmine. They live in an inner suburb of Melbourne called Abbotsford. They've been stressed recently as the house they are renting has been for sale,so they have had their privacy invaded by hoards of viewers. Saturday was the big auction day and the house sold to their great relief. Now their pets Gus the Bull mastiff and their rescue Persian cat Fizzy can relax.

New Art Show at the Continental hotel Sorrento

2009-11-12T23:20:00.008+11:00

Had to drop a painting off for the new show early on monday. Sorrento was looking it's best and surprisingly busy for the start of the week. It must have been the heatwave that brought people into the sunshine.It was a shame I was unable to have a walk on the beach.
The painting I'm exhibiting is called "Fragile, the Rivergums of the Murray." It's from a series of works highlighting concerns about the environment. The murray river area has been suffering from the drought and irrigation issues over the past few years.
http://www.continentalhotel.com.au/

Bushranger Bay

2009-11-07T15:14:00.004+11:00

It's 28 degrees today, not bad for spring. A good day for sitting on the beach even though the temperature of the sea is still very icy. Maybe next week it will warm up.

Welcome to my new blog

2009-11-06T14:54:00.002+11:00

It's a beautiful day today,the sun is shining and all the birds are busy in the garden. The chicks are growing and learning how to cope with the big bad world.