Migration Themes

How many of you are migrants, descendants of migrants, or siblings, parents or cousins of migrants? I suspect that covers almost everyone on the planet. I am the migrant daughter of migrants, who in turn were descended from multiple generations of migrants. One of my children migrated to Canada. I’ve never had to deal with a second language, but I’ve both benefited from and been slightly…

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Life Drawing in Different Media

Life Drawing in Different Media

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A new year, and a new direction

A new year, and a new direction

When I started this blog I thought I was going to talk mainly about picture books. I had no idea that after a year of studying picture books, writing and illustrating my own picture books, and submitting multiple times with no tangible success, I would suddenly be inspired to write a middle grade novel. I’m still not sure how it happened, but maybe it was because I’d started to read a lot of…

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Totally unreal sunset tonight #technicolour #sunset #pinkandpurple https://www.instagram.com/p/COAHiJPDBlk/?igshid=b1ywv1ubarjv

WIP part 3. Added shorebirds with woodblocks. First image is on light box. #wip #shorebirds #reliefprint #woodblocks #thebiggerpicture #thebiggerpicturesignalpointgallery https://www.instagram.com/p/COAEfv9DMRT/?igshid=3leygdfa87aw

WIP. One on the light box, the other in front of the vine, sunlit. #thebiggerpicture #thebiggerpicturesignalpointgallery #seascape #printmaking #reliefprint #collage https://www.instagram.com/p/CN_6UEljLlB/?igshid=u1yb8l7lliw3

It isn’t often I get to say hi to an emu during a shopping trip #mclarenvale #emu #mclarenvalenatives https://www.instagram.com/p/CNw8zy6DbBP/?igshid=dkxxkck5lmeg

WIP for the #biggerpicturesignalpoint #monoprint #waterbasedinks https://www.instagram.com/p/CNte3QWDFPN/?igshid=1h025haftto1y

Today is the day we all say Enough is Enough. Time to pay our respects to the mother of us all. https://www.instagram.com/p/CMbCpgkjgdv/?igshid=bw49i8vm7b7e

Two views of Steve. The second one was on dark blue paper but it’s come out grey. I think I prefer the blue. #tuesdayportrait #portrait #portraitdrawing #charcoal #charcoaldrawing #pastel #pastelportrait #charcoalportrait #pensive https://www.instagram.com/p/CMLkgFrDPu2/?igshid=1poh3210rrsl5

Mentorship part 3: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome.

Mentorship part 3: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome.

My PB#chat mentorship finished at the beginning of December last year, when I had to upload the first 100 words of the manuscript and four of the illustrations to a showcase that took place during the first week of December. Agents and publishers from all over the USA were invited to view. Unfortunately I couldn’t show my dummy book – which I was quite proud of – but I figured that if an agent…

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Mentorship Part 2: the story evolves

Mentorship Part 2: the story evolves

Almost two months into my mentorship, and Elton’s Ears is taking shape in new ways that I’d never anticipated. The story is just about resolved at last: Raven is merely hinting at a way that Elton might find his way home, allowing Elton to do all the thinking for himself. So the next stage is to make sure the characters are consistent. In the process of developing the layout I ended up with some…

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Drawing from memory day 2. Afternoon attempt at recalling the pose I drew in life drawing this morning. Scroll to see the one I drew from the model. I think I exaggerated the foreshortening of her right leg in the memory drawing. I also made the point of view slightly lower. #drawingfrommemory #lifedrawingfrommemory #thursdaylifedrawing #memorysketch https://www.instagram.com/p/CE8kHMrD_kw/?igshid=6n8t72xx9qrx

Ok - guess which one was done on the iPad? #tuesdayportraits #portrait #20minutesketch https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5yf5MDMgx/?igshid=meebqo3u7g6v

I’ve decided to do a daily memory drawing to improve my memory skills. I remembered the lady on the left had black eyeliner right round her eyes but forgot she was wearing glasses! #drawingfrommemory #memorysketch #penandink #atthesalvos #opshop #sketchaday https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5xGs_j1hb/?igshid=sn8qi0luawzq

I’ve decided to do a daily memory drawing to improve my memory skills. I remembered the lady on the left had black eyeliner right round her eyes but forgot she was wearing glasses! #drawingfrommemory #memorysketch #penandink #atthesalvos #opshop #sketchaday https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5xGs_j1hb/?igshid=sn8qi0luawzq

Lace patterns beyond human skill bugs on my sunflowers #haiku #haiga #sunflower #bugs #lace #leaves #growingthings #natureiswonderful https://www.instagram.com/p/CEnLq51DjAY/?igshid=o8uxjpdv0juf