Snug Galahs

Kangaroo - Triangulised!

Behind the Lines - Political Cartoon Exhibition at Old Parliament House

Today I went to the Old Parliament House to have a look at their political cartoon exhibition 'Behind the Lines'.  They had three rooms showcasing the years best cartoons from a variety of different cartoonists (favourites being Leunig, First Dog on the Moon, and David Pope) displaying a variety of artistic styles documenting the different political episodes of the year (Climate Change debate in Copenhagen, fall of Kevin Rudd and rise of Julia Gillard to explain just a couple out of the many themes.).  As you can imagine, it was hugely inspiring and great to see a cartoon exhibition displayed as works of art.

Then afterwards I went for a little stroll through the building doing some sketches, and when I got home I added myself to the above sketch advertising the exhibition!

Inspired By: Surrealism

This time I have taken an interest in surrealism.  And out of all the books I got out of the library I took most liking to 'The Tree Show' by Mark Ryden - his website is worth a look, his imagination and realism is something else!!

I liked the theme of making something big but still having a believable aspect - and so I adopted that into my two images above - a rather large emu sitting on the mountains, and a large tree with human characteristics.

It was fun to do!!  I have been wanting to make a large emu for awhile now!

Seasons Greetings from Down Under!

First all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

I was asked to create an image to go on our work Christmas Cards, and here it is - Roodolf!!  I couldn't resist dressing a Roo up with antlers and a red nose to mimic Rudolf!

The Great Oz Eddventure #90 - Australian Magpies (pastel and gouche)

I liked what I did for the Galahs the other week that I wanted to do the same for these three Magpies! :-)

Inspired By: Horror Movie Posters

Continuing my 'Inspired By' themes, this time I chose horror movie posters.  So I got a book out of the library which had a vast collection of horror posters in it and I chose 3 which I could adopt into my own style with Australian wildlife!!

So the first poster was for 'The Killer Shrews', and so I changed it to 'The Killer Roos', changing the image of the tail of a shrew to that of an Eastern Grey Kangaroo!

Next was 'King Kong' which I just had to change to 'Koala Kong'!!  And instead of Kong being at the top of the Empire State Building, Koala Kong is on top of the Australian Parliament building.  I have also changed the female role to have red hair to reflect Julia Gillard who is Australia's Prime Minster.

And finally is 'An American Werewolf in London' which I have obviously changed to 'An Australian Kangaroo in London'!

I also wanted to use a different medium for each poster, and so it was inks for The Killer Roos, pencils for Koala Kong, and gouache for An Australian Kangaroo in London.

The Great Oz Eddventure #89 - Eddie the Possum climbs to new heights!

So as of next week I officially start covering my colleague's maternity leave, meaning that I get a little promotion!  And so I wanted to illustrate this by converting myself into a possum and instead of climbing the job ladder, I climb a tree! 

The Great Oz Eddventure #88 - Emu sitting down (pastel)

This chap nicely sat down and posed for me in my lunch hour!