Where did January go?

Hello and welcome to 2022! I'm a bit slow on that as I've been really busy as you'll soon see, head down brush up in paints. I looked up from my drawing board and before I knew it, we'd hit February! So here we go... what have I been up to?

With Wren watch complete, I've begun work on the planning stage of the book - the storyboards. They are almost complete and I hope to get these to my publisher in the next week or so. They become the roadmap for the images because until these are done I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing! At the same time, I tend to start working on the style - what medium do I want to use, what colour tones, how will the characters be represented? It's an exciting, experimental stage but scary at the same time. It's like knowing the destination but until I work this out, the steering wheel is broken. It's also the stage where I generate the vision for how I see the finished art looking but at the same time, worry - what if it doesn't work? What if it looks terrible? What if I can't draw anymore? Oh my gosh, my book career is done! But then I pick up my pencil and a single feather appears and I surprise myself. Wow, I like that. I hope my publisher does too.

So this is where my experiments have taken me so far. There is no way I'm going to paint every leaf on these Wormwood bushes which the wrens love to make nests in, so I decided to explore textures and printmaking techniques to represent the foliage. I first inked up the leaves, printed and then scanned them. From there I have overlaid and changed the colour of them in Photoshop. I chose colours similar to that of the actual bush. The feathers represent those which the female wren collects to line the nest with - chook feathers, Galahs, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, all sorts - drawn in my sketchbook in graphite pencil, scanned and overlaid onto the textures. There are many layers making this image but so far I'm happy. At this stage I'm thinking endpapers for these. We'll see.

Every now and then I get a very special request. This one came from Wyoming in the United States. In the email the lady shared that many years ago she had received one of my Ashdene Christmas coffee mugs as a gift, her family loved it and she was trying to locate another. In the meantime she had found my website and saw the Limited Edition Prints. Long story short, her husband has been to Australia many times as a firefighter helping to combat our bushfires in times of need (so very grateful we are!) So she wanted to gift a print for him (his birthday was coming up too so it was was extra special). I'm most happy to custom print an image for anyone if it's not on my site but we decided upon the 'Outback Waterhole' with Old Pa Roo flying his water bomber over the dried up waterhole and filling it up - a very Australian image coupled with Aussie characters and the fire fighting theme. So Old Pa Roo is now on his way to the USA, along with a couple of books and yes, I did manage to find her another mug.

I can now share that the much anticipated Bev and Kev will officially be available in April this year! It seems like it is taking forever, I know, but that is the process of creating a picture book and I promise the wait is worth it. I managed to get my hands on an advanced copy today and it has turned out absolutely beautifully, I'm so thrilled with it. In the meantime, during the painting stage I had taped a short video of painting the Secretary Bird (these guys are huge standing at 4 feet tall!) Click the link below to view. You'll notice I jump around from bit to bit on the painting, that's so it can dry before adding the next layer. Enjoy :)

Woohoo! Events are back on. Everything crossed it stays that way. I'm thrilled to be invited to be the Guest Author/Illustrator at this year's Library in the Park -  11 March, Tusmore Park. This is a fantastic family event .

• Enjoy musical entertainment from Bluegum Bill, the 'Singing Swaggie'.
• Meet and greet farm animals and Australian native animals thanks to Farmer Darcy and Animals Anonymous.
• Enjoy face painting with Love-Birdy and make a nature craft with Green Gecko to take home.
• Sausage sizzle provided by Burnside Rotary, coffee by Mrs Sippy and ice-cream by Natura.

I'll be reading stories, drawing and showcasing the original artwork from Warna Manda Baby Earth Walk. Come along for a wonderful day. It's a free event but bookings are essential (as is everything these days). Books will be available to purchase on the day and I'm most happy to sign them. Link below to register.

Straight after Library in the Park, I'm on a plane to Queensland for Somerset Storyfest. This event is huge and I cannot wait! I'm so excited to be attending with two fellow, amazing South Australian Authors, Adam Cece and Sean Williams - SA, we will represent you well!

Offering more than 130 individual events from over 30 Authors and Illustrators, it is hands down one of the best literary festivals I have ever been to. It was 2012 when I first attended Somerset and then again in 2014, and I had no idea of the enormity of this festival back then - it was literally the first time I had ever done a presentation to students... and I felt like it went really bad. I spent all that first afternoon watching other authors to see what they were doing and all that night in my hotel room rewriting my presentation. It couldn't have been too bad though because I did get invited back - that is the pressure we put on ourselves. Since then I have conducted hundreds of workshops and spoken to tens of thousands of students, so this time, I am really going to enjoy it! I feel like now I actually know what I'm doing.

It's funny how moments of doubt can creep in at the strangest times but at the end of the day, I realised that the kids just want to know about me, what I do and watch me draw. As a good friend once said to me, this is my office and I know what I'm doing. So this is the mantra I carry with me which helps keep those presenting nerves at bay. Look out Somerset kids, I'm coming and we are going to have an absolute ball!

Remember that Tassie trip I took? Let me introduce George (that's what we called him anyway). After being totally obsessed with the giants of the trees, a friend and I were walking down our last leg of Cradle Mountain when to our surprise, less than 1 metre away from us, next to another enormous, glorious tree, was a wombat. I had also been trying to photograph wombats to draw and now at the last minute it was like he presented himself to us, just sitting there watching us. So I called him George and I'm pleased to give you the first look at the very first painting to come of this trip. My purpose for this painting was to explore the watercolour medium and in particular how I was going to paint these trees. I couldn't help but add in a wombat and I think he just adds that beautiful focal point. Watch this space as hopefully this piece will make it's way into my next book. I would also like to make a special mention and thank you here for the support of the Klein Family Foundation to enable the creative time to work on this story - it truly takes a village.

In actual fact, this is off the drawing board! When I paint I tend to use a lot of paint and a lot of water. In the case of George, I hadn't secured the paper correctly when I stretched it... and it buckled... badly. In order for it to be photographed, it needs to be perfectly flat. So here's a tip - this painting is all watercolour - when I stretch a paper of this size, I use my dogs clam shell (much to their disgruntlement). If you take it off of your board and simply sit the painting on top of the water (do not let it submerge or get any water on the surface at all costs; in fact put an enormous fence around it to keep everything away, dogs, kids, T-Rexes... especially kids!) and the paint will not move. Leave it there for about 20 minutes. Any parts of the back that aren't wet in that time, simply hit with a spray bottle of water... don't literally hit it, just spray it. Then tape it back on the board and you have rescued your painting. It will dry back flat. You're welcome :)

I think I've worn Rory out at least... it's back to the drawing board! Thank you for being part of my crazy, creative world. In the meantime, take care, stay healthy and if you have a spare moment or two, pick up a pencil or paintbrush - you may surprise yourself.
As Pablo Picasso said...

Every child is an artist... the problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.