Edd Cross - Cartoonist and Illustrator

A lot of illustrations from our little festive break

2012-01-08T16:13:00.001+11:00

Over the festive period, Hazel and I had a little holiday north of Brisbane around the Bundaberg region. We stayed in a beautiful little cottage on a sugar plantation. On our first evening we were visited by two very cute little green tree frogs. They were sat on the outside window ledge, and whenever a nice juicy bug landed on the window's fly screen they snatched it quick!

A cute Green Tree Frog

G'day Green Tree Frog!

They weren't they only amphibian visitors, we saw plenty of cane toads too, doing what they were actually brought into Queensland to do - gobble up all the cane beetles.

Cane Toad

The farm we stayed on had some chickens which were fun to watch and they produced some very tasty eggs! Our cottage even had a little fish pond which was nice to feed the fish in it every day! Then out in the open we saw dragons bathing in the sun!

Chicken silhouette

Pond life - flowering lilly pad and little goldfish

Sun bathing dragon!

On day trips we went to Bundaberg Botanic Gardens where we saw freshwater turtles popping their heads up out of the water to say hello, and also saw one sunbathing on rocks along with a Pied Cormorant and a dragonfly.

Freshwater turtle head

Life on the Rocks - sunbathing turtle, Pied Cormorant and a dragonfly

We visited a wildlife park where I was reacquainted with my kangaroo friends, and with regular visits to beaches I drew a seagull!

Munching kangaroo

Paddling seagull

One day, Hazel surprised me by booking us into a scooter tour around a town called 1770. We each had our own scooter, which were made up to look like Harley's and in a mass convoy we followed the staff. It made me laugh as we were provided with helmets and jackets to look like a tough biker gang, yet our scooters sounded like we were riding lawnmowers!! As we initially learnt how to ride the bikes around the carpark, they played the tune "Born to be Wild" - very amusing, and I thought it was the perfect theme tune for our cheeky little possum that regularly visits us - so I imagined him on his own motorbike.

'Born to be Wild' - Possum on a motorbike

The main highlight of our trip was to visit the beach of 'Mon Repos'. This beach is famous for being the mainland breeding spot for the endangered loggerhead turtles, and right now is the season for the females coming ashore to lay their eggs. This is one of the top things to do on my life's to do list so I was very ecstatic, especially to see it on my 30th birthday! We arrived at the Visitor Centre at 7.30pm, along with the other 300 odd people, and they split us into 5 groups, we were in group 4. Rangers and researchers were patrolling the beach looking for turtles and when one was spotted a group could go down to watch, so we had to wait until the fourth turtle came ashore - that was 11pm! So excitedly, we (and the other 50 people in our group) huddled around the turtle. I felt quite sorry for her as at this intimate moment in her life when she would just like some peace to do her thing, she gets swarmed by onlookers!

Turtle coming ashore

It was fascinating how flexible their back flippers were in digging out the hole in the sand, into which they lay around 150 eggs! Sometimes the turtles lay the eggs below the high tide mark, and so the researchers on the beach move the eggs to a higher place in the beach in order to do all they can to ensure survival of the species. Being large clutches of eggs, they asked us 'spectators' to help in moving the eggs. That was a very privileged and rewarding experience to hold and move the eggs to their new location!

In that evening we were also privileged to watch 2 more turtles laying, and by 1am we had left the beach. Wow, what a birthday night out!!

I also learnt that night that the turtles reach maturity at the age of 30, so it seemed a very fitting moment in my life to watch them on this birthday!

Edward the Turtle!

It was the night before Christmas downunder...

2011-12-24T19:51:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Matisse and Picture Books exhibitions

2011-12-16T10:20:00.000+11:00

On Wednesday I went to a couple of exhibitions in Brisbane; 'Look! the art of Australian picture books today' at the State Library, and 'Matisse, Drawing Life' at the Gallery of Modern Art. Both brilliant; I love to see imagination in children's books and especially cartoony characters that I can relate too, but it is also great to see such realism portrayed too - it amazes me how much variety there is in children's picture books; and of course the brilliant Matisse whose line work is definitely one to aspire to as I take my sketch book everywhere I go trying to master the lines of life that I see all around me. It was also great to view sketch books from the picture book artists to see insights into their developing ideas - I sometimes find these more exciting then the final pieces of artwork!

Being a French artist, Matisse's artwork had French names, which I thought added to the artwork in itself, which gave it almost a cute personal touch, for example portraits of his loved ones may simply be called 'Mademoiselle Matisse'

I wanted to give my picture book reading picture a French title, but I do not think my French teachers from school would be very happy with that translation!! Haha

As always when visiting exhibitions, I always leave them with inspiration at my side..

Inspiration at my side

'I Need...' and 'Career Thoughts'

2011-12-15T17:29:00.000+11:00

I Need

Career Thoughts

Aw, possum outside the window...

2011-12-11T10:28:00.000+11:00

Kathump, patter patter patter...
There's only one creature of the night that makes that noise. So I rushed upsatairs to look out the bedroom window and there was my little friend just sat on the roof outside...

Geckos and blowing kisses!

2011-12-09T19:46:00.000+11:00

Geckos make a very interesting noise, which is hard to mimic it, until this one evening:

Yes, geckos make a noise like blowing kisses! Or I blow strange kisses!!!

Some wildlife at the University of Queensland lakes

2011-12-07T18:16:00.000+11:00

The odd looking guineafowl!

Flock of Ibis at the waters edge.
Purple Swamphen cruising along the lillypads.

Water Dragon coming to shore..

Back Yard Nature Reserve #6 - Gecko

2011-11-30T07:52:00.000+11:00

Night of the cheeky possum!

2011-11-29T17:55:00.001+11:00

"Hello"

This week Hazel had bought a few pots and plants to make the back garden look nice. Well, it didn't just look nice to us two...

Last night I looked up from my sketchbook, and there was a little face looking up at me through the window. It was the little possum, but he was having fun inspecting Hazel's potting of the tomatoes!

Wow, all the new things to investigate he thought...

Next on the list, he rushed over to the hibiscus plant, checked out the one large white flower on it, and just picked it off!

Caught in the act!

Back Yard Nature Reserve #5 - Acrobatic Possum does tightrope

2011-11-25T09:25:00.000+11:00

On an evening our neighbourhood acrobatic possum can be seen walking along the telephone wires, whether it is to get safely to the other side of the road, to visit a different tree, just to take a look around, or sometimes it looks like he just does it for the fun of it!

Aquarium delivery!

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

Wahay, today is the day that we have bought an aquarium!! Well, lovely Hazel has bought me an aquarium! For my 30th bday.
We bought it from Annerley Aquarium, which is a fabulous shop that I was just in awe as soon as I stepped in, seeing a wide variety of fish and some fish at their full size which is always exciting to see. I could have stayed in there all week!
They even said they could deliver the aquarium to us - so I am right now (or 'write' now!) waiting for it....

Ok, so you can't beat live action - just as I was about to hit 'publish post' the guy turned up delivering it! So I have an early birthday pressy! :-)

Back Yard Nature Reserve #4 - A Friendly Spider

2011-11-20T09:47:00.000+11:00

As I was sat outside erasing some pencil lines (as you do) this little chap appeared, then disappeared so quick before I had time to pick up my pencil to draw him! If only nature stood still some times!

The Beast of a Printer

2011-11-19T09:05:00.000+11:00

I bought myself a rather large printer the other day, and it is quite scary! Just so I can start printing some of my illustrations :-)

Edward Paintbrush Hands

2011-11-18T07:56:00.000+11:00

I have been painting lots of canvasses recently so I thought this was the ideal picture for me!

People of Brisbane #1 - Running man

2011-11-17T08:43:00.000+11:00

This was on one of our little strolls up Mount Gravatt. As always with my sketchbook in hand, a man came jogging down in the opposite direction and seemed concerned that I was documenting something!!

Well, the answer to his question was 'him'!

Back Yard Nature Reserve #3 - Feeding time and the acrobatic possum

2011-11-16T08:54:00.000+11:00

A few weeks I put my bird feeding tray up in the trees in the hope to attract some of the lovely Rainbow Lorikeets that fly overhead.

A week passed and nothing came to feed.

Another week passed and finally the seed attracted something. It wasn't a colourful Lorikeet as I'd hoped. It was our little visitor of the night that comes rustling through the trees...

It was our little possum friend.
It took him a few goes to figure out how to descend from the branch and on to the tray. But eventually he discovered that by wrapping his tail around the branch he could reach the tray with his front paws and mouth, and while his back legs were dangling, happily munched away on the seeds.

He then continued to munch and munch.

Eventually, he dropped down and sat in the tray and continued to munch...

Fish in a vase

2011-11-15T08:17:00.000+11:00

We would like to get a aquarium and so we thought it would be best to double check with the estate agents first as generally 'pets' aren't allowed.
So when we went in to ask our property manager wasn't there but the receptionist thought it would be ok as it would just be like having a vase of water on the sideboard!
In that case we will have a vase of water with our goldfish in... :-)

Koala Furniture

2011-11-14T08:51:00.000+11:00

Back Yard Nature Reserve #2 - A Visiting Possum..

2011-11-13T09:32:00.000+11:00

A rustle in the trees, branches are moving. Some scurrying footsteps along the fence and then we see him (or her!) dash along and over into the neighbours garden.
But then he turned around and just popped his head up over the separating fence as if he was our neighbour saying "G'day"!

You are on CCTV!

2011-11-12T08:47:00.000+11:00

A few sketches from Brisbane Forest Park

2011-11-11T08:35:00.000+11:00

Egret

Baby Lizard

A little Sugar Glider

Back Yard Nature Reserve #1 - A Spider Diary

2011-11-10T09:24:00.001+11:00

Home sweet home

2011-11-09T08:48:00.001+11:00

House hunting in a big new city isn't easy. We needed maps - maps of the train lines, maps of the bus routes, maps of the ferry routes, and maps of the roads. I eventually tracked down a nice compact road map. Being a small city boy of York and Canberra I was used to maps fitting on one A3 size piece of paper - but not Brisbane - you needed to collect about 8 A3 seperate maps in order to piece together the entire area! Where do you start looking first for a house to move into?

We eventually did find a nice townhouse. It was all spacious and sparse as we had yet to have any of our shipping or furniture deliveries. So as I was sat in the corner with nothing but my sketchbook I envisaged a few little local helpers helping me to move in!

Welcome to Queensland..

2011-11-08T09:55:00.000+11:00

Being an Australian nature lover I was keenly looking everywhere for anything. I'd obviously been Canberra-ised thinking that all city's must have kangaroos hopping across the roads, and flocks of galahs and cockatoos on street corners, but not Queensland, you have to search just a little bit harder through the sprawling city life...
As we were spending the first few weeks house hunting, we were looking at different suburbs to live in, and what I did start to notice were bush turkeys! And I still believe there is a bush turkey in every suburb.

Where galahs were so readily seen everyday in Canberra it took me almost 2 weeks to see my very first Brisbane galah!

Out of this World

2011-11-07T09:04:00.000+11:00

On my visit to London seeing my sister, I thought I'd let my sci-fi geek side come out as I visited the 'Out of this World' exhibition at the British Library. They had a nice timeline showing how sci-fi books had developed through the ages, complimented by the various illustrations that went with them.

As my mind was boggling on the train journey afterwards with everything I had just seen and read, I drew this.

Ladybird, Ladybird...

2011-11-06T12:12:00.000+11:00

It was nice to see these cute little critters almost everywhere we went. I drew these two when we walked at Askham Bar Nature Reserve in York.
The one below, like quite a few others, were nestling themselves into curled up dead leaves, which I understand is their little bed for hibernation.

Movies..

2011-11-05T10:55:00.000+11:00

A common question I kept being asked was 'what movies did you see on the plane?'. So here is a post showing which movies I saw on and off the plane:

Back in the UK I saw Cowboys and Aliens. If you are a fan of Daniel Craig's butt then this is for you, but it was a good action flick.

On the plane tmy two favourite films were Thor and Pirates 4. You can't not like Jack Sparrow; and Thor surpassed my expectations even so that I watched it agan on the return flight (I tried to recently get into the comic books after watching the film, but it seems totally different - in my opinion the film is much better than the comic books I read - I think they created a good level of humour that was lacking in the books).

A leaving present that I got from Tidbinbilla was the film documentary Kangaroo Faces in the Mob. I watched it back in the UK whilst I was having a kangaroo missing moment, and this film is fantastic. It is a two year documentary study following the antics of a certain mob of kangaroos. It is full of interesting facts to learn from, excellent footage, and unfortunately a very sad moment in the film.

Punting

2011-11-04T10:18:00.000+11:00

When we visited Hazel's brother and sister-in-law in Cambridge they introduced me to punting, which as you can see from my illustration involves moving a long narrow wooden boat by standing at the stern steering with a stick, whilst trying your best not to fall in or loose the stick!
I had a strange Noah's Ark feeling whilst doing this, and wondered about having Australian animals on board with me..

Edd Cross Training

2011-11-03T09:36:00.000+11:00

When going for a jog around the park in York it was great to see nature all around me.

But when you jog along side the River Ouse, suddenly herds of cows become hurdle practice!!

From kangaroos to squirrels..

2011-11-02T09:35:00.001+11:00

From my daily encounters with kangaroos and other Australian beasts in Canberra, I was going to miss being surrounded by wildlife when I was back in the UK. But when I was out and about in York's local parks, I did spot a few squirrels rummaging around, and there was something quite kangaroo-like about them sitting on their back legs and bouncing around!

This one was sheltering in the tree in a typical UK summers wet day.

The Great Oz Eddventure Continues...

2011-11-01T16:55:00.000+11:00

Wow, it's been almost 3 months since my last blog post! So, we have left Canberra, been back home to the UK for a month and caught up with all our lovely family and friends, and then we have come back to Oz, and this time to tropical Queensland's capital city of Brisbane.

We have found a gorgeous townhouse to live in and today we have finally been connected up to the internet, hooray. I have drawn a fair few illustrations since leaving Canberra so I hope you are ready for my barrage of daily blog posts to keep you all updated!

Introducing Canary Fan - Norwich City inspired cartoons

2011-08-06T14:19:00.000+10:00

Canary Fan is my Norwich City inspired cartoon character. I have created a blog for him http://canary-fan.blogspot.com/ so please go and have a look. On this new blog I will upload a new cartoon every match day, so please keep looking there for more of my cartoons!

Time to leave work..

2011-08-04T20:23:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately tomorrow is my last working day at Tidbinbilla, and as you can see from my picture, I have packed up all my things to take home with me!

Chomp chomp mmm

2011-08-03T21:38:00.000+10:00

Kangaroo Squared

2011-07-31T09:51:00.000+10:00

Strathnairn Homestead holds an annual people's choice exhibition called 'Squares' . This is the fourth year it has run and I decided to enter in to it. Entry into the exhibition is $20 and that also includes the canvas, which is a 30x30cm square which you can do whatever you like to artistically.

Each piece must be for sale and the canvas which receives the most votes wins the artist $300!!

As you can see from the picture of my canvas above I divided my canvas into four and created a kangaroo or two in each of the quadrants. Hence calling my piece Kangaroo² .

The exhibition is open to the public from Friday 5 August through to Sunday 21 August, so please go along and vote for my kangaroos!

Emu Eco Patch

2011-07-29T09:41:00.000+10:00

Kangaroo Eco Patch

2011-07-28T10:02:00.000+10:00

In the middle of the car park at work is a patch of grass and I love how kangaroos choose to be on it out of all the grass in the reserve.

A cute koala?

2011-07-22T20:53:00.000+10:00

I FOUND THE EMU NEST!!!

2011-07-15T19:33:00.000+10:00

Emu checking out it's reflection

2011-07-13T19:03:00.000+10:00

A Little Pied Cormorant moves in at Tidbinbilla

2011-07-12T21:40:00.001+10:00

Has been rather windy week at Tidbinbilla...

2011-07-10T10:22:00.000+10:00

The Emus have had their feathers all ruffled up!

More scratching Roos!

2011-07-09T20:07:00.000+10:00

TMNT Raphael silhouette

2011-07-05T10:49:00.000+10:00

If I could recreate the Tidbinbilla Logo...

2011-07-04T10:46:00.000+10:00

Coming home to the UK!!!!

2011-07-02T21:11:00.000+10:00

Must do some filing...

2011-06-29T19:06:00.000+10:00

With all my many drawings of kangaroos and emus, it gets to a point where I need to tidy them all up and put them into some sort of filing order system. If only I could get to keep the real animals...!!

A scratching Roo

2011-06-28T20:03:00.000+10:00

I can see you little Kangaroo...

2011-06-27T19:11:00.000+10:00

Here's another little friend that I spent lunchtime with today. He just popped his head over a tuft of grass to have a look at me. Aww...

"I wish I was at Tidbinbilla"

2011-06-23T17:58:00.000+10:00

Today, I was working in Canberra city centre. On my lunch time I saw a Magpie, and as I also see these on my lunchtime at Tidbinbilla I could only imagine it was thinking "I wish I was at Tidbinbilla". Due to the noise, smells, litter and volumes of people surrounded by large grey buildings, whereas it could be enjoying the peace and quiet, colours of nature, and fresh air that the Magpies at Tidbinbilla are privileged to receive everyday.

Ready.. Eddy... DRAW!!

2011-06-21T09:46:00.000+10:00

Black Swan - Loch Ness Monster Style!

2011-06-20T11:58:00.000+10:00

Yesterday, one of the Black Swans in the Sanctuary of Tidbinbilla came right up to me at the boardwalk. Then, as swans do, stuck it's head in the water and stuck it's bum up in the air - hmm what a sight, thanks for that, swan!

Anyway, I just wondered what would happen if, after it stuck it's head in the water, it's head would reappear somewhere else, and that gave me a Loch Ness Monster image...

A little kangaroo I spent my lunchtime with...

2011-06-15T19:06:00.000+10:00

Fathers Day image featuring emus

2011-06-13T21:28:00.000+10:00

I'm posting this one earlier than Fathers Day as someone has already opened their card from me and not waited until the day itself!

I decided to use emus, as the father emu incubates the eggs and looks after the chicks.

Welcome Home image with Galahs

2011-06-12T20:58:00.000+10:00

From a card I made for Hazel to welcome her back from her conference in Canada!

If you cross Ed 209 with an emu...

2011-06-11T18:15:00.000+10:00

Kinkyroo

2011-06-10T19:40:00.000+10:00

If I was on Masterchef...

2011-06-07T15:17:00.000+10:00

Potaroo decides the grass is greener...

2011-06-05T23:03:00.000+10:00

I watched a small potaroo today trying to squeeze himself through a metal fence only to get stuck at it's wide hind legs. So he reversed, waited a second, then gave it another go, and once again got stuck. He repeated this a few times, not learning that he couldn't get through. But persistence paid off and he eventually squeezed through the gap! The grass must have been greener on the other side!!

Tid By Torchlight

2011-06-04T22:09:00.000+10:00

Last Thursday was the first Tid by Torchlight tour run by Conservation Volunteer's Naturewise Conservation Holidays at Tidbinbilla. As it was the first trial run of this tour we got to go along to experience it. It offers a great evening which even includes a bbq at the Visitor Information Centre. The walk itself was pleasant as Tidbinbilla always is. Unfortunately our night didn't prove fruitful of nocturnal animals but the clear Tidbinbilla sky did provide a perfect view of the Milky Way through the canopy of trees, thus providing my inspiration to create this picture.

Sketches of Seals!

2011-05-29T21:25:00.000+10:00

I have just had a great day where I had two scuba dives with seals. They are such cute and cheeky animals. Here's a page of sketches of them from memory. I just wish there was an underwater sketchbook!!

The Great Oz Eddventure #103 - National Pass Bushwalk at the Blue Mountains

2011-05-25T18:15:00.000+10:00

The Blue Mountains's National Pass bushwalk is a beautiful one, well any walk in the Blue Mountains is really beautiful, as that is why we have been back a few times now! Whilst walking the National Pass this scene caught my attention, so out came the sketchbook and a few seconds later it was sketched! I just liked the way the trees didn't require much depth for their roots and there were a fair few of them on the edge of this overhang. Awe-inspirng!

The Dark Artists mini comic going to Sydney Zine Fair

2011-05-20T13:17:00.000+10:00

After the enjoyment and success of the Canberra Zine for my mini comic The Dark Artists I was excited to hear that Sydney also held a Zine Fair, which is this Sunday at the MCA. Unfortunately I wasn't able to secure the day off early enough to book a stall, so I have been in contact with Take Care Zine Distro who have kindly agreed to sell The Dark Artists on their stall, so please go visit their stall (they do stock some wonderful zines - I remember being awed by the variety they had with them at the Canberra Zine Fair).

But thankfully I have since been given the day off (wahoooo!) so I shall be there having a look at all the wonderful zine creativity!

See you on Sunday!

Kangaroo having a munch!

2011-05-18T20:48:00.000+10:00

The Bush Choir

2011-05-09T10:05:00.000+10:00

When you need to use a telescopic long lens..

2011-05-08T21:07:00.000+10:00

The social sexual etiquette of Wallaroos!!

2011-05-07T19:55:00.000+10:00

Ok, so I couldn't think of a better title for this blog post, but it is fitting!! Today in the Sanctuary at Tidbinbilla we stumbled across 4 Wallaroos - 2 of which were engaged in mating! The other two were both males and they obviously knew that she was in 'season' so they approached the mating couple as they also wanted to sow their seed. But every time they approached the main male fought them off defending his territory, and then he went on back to resuming his mating! This happened a few times as the males didn't know when to stop trying their luck, and it would seem that the couple wouldn't be left alone long enough to finish their deed!

Then in the afternoon I stumbled across the couple again, but this time they were out for the count after their busy mornings activity!

Emu Drum

2011-05-01T18:56:00.000+10:00

Boom boom boom! That's the noise that emus make...

It is also referred to as their drum as they communicate whch each other.

Leafy Sea Dragon

2011-04-30T13:25:00.000+10:00

On Easter Monday and Tuesday I went diving at Ulladulla and Jervis Bay with Indepth Scuba. It was great to be back under the water again and to hang out with some fellow divers. The highlight for me was seeing large wobbegong sharks (bigger than the other divers) and a couple of small Leafy Sea Dragons. When I got home I couldn't wait to make this pastel picture showing the sea dragon as it remained in my memory. These little sea dragons also reminded me of stretched out kangaroos as you can probably make out this shape in my picture!

Not another kangaroo illustration...

2011-04-29T20:13:00.000+10:00

All creatures great and small

2011-04-28T19:59:00.000+10:00

Australian Pelican and a Superb Fairy Wren that sat next to each other at the edge of the pond...

EMU - Efficient Mowing Unit - Buy yours today!

2011-04-27T22:51:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T20:04:00.000+10:00

Long Necked Turtle in Water

2011-04-23T18:39:00.000+10:00

Nature - Survival of the fittest

2011-04-22T20:08:00.000+10:00

The Great Oz Eddventure #102 - Age of Fishes

2011-04-21T18:59:00.001+10:00

The Age of Fishes is a museum in Canowindra which holds fish fossils from 360 million years ago!!! At that time a river flooded and then dried up leaving the fish stranded. It reflooded again covering the bodies in silt causing the fossilisation until their recent discovery! This shows how there weren't any other land living predators to eat them. Amongst the fish fossils found, it has been discovered that some of the fish of this time period were starting to show signs of developing neck, arms and hand structures - which are body parts familiar to us all! Yes, this is an important part of our evolutionary past!

Also in the museum were some excellent interpretative posters explaining the theories of creation and how the world has evolved over time. It blew me away to think how the world has changed so much in time in both physical and chemical natures to make our life possible at this present moment. So I drew a little diagram showing how evolution and nature have worked hand in hand to allow us to live in the now!

This museum is a definite must. The slabs of fossils are just there to touch and admire. It is such a shame that the digs and research are no longer funded and rely heavily on donations, especially when you realise the importance that this knowledge could bring us one step closer to that ultimate question in life I wished I could donate a hell of a lot more to this cause!

The Great Oz Eddventure #101 - Canowindra and the Australian Englsh

2011-04-20T18:54:00.000+10:00

After Orange, we headed over to another small village called Canowindra. But don't make the 'pom' mistake of saying the name of the village as it is spelt, as that would be far too easy. It is pronounced 'Canowndra'! And why did we visit this village... find out in tomorrow's post!!

The Great Oz Eddventure #100 - Cartoon Tasting Platter

2011-04-19T22:53:00.000+10:00

Living in Australia you have to visit a few vineyards to do some wine tasting. Whilst we were in Orange I spotted a 'wine tasting platter' sheet of paper that I have seen used in other vineyards which gave me the idea to do a 'cartoon tasting platter'. As you can probably make out, the wine tasting platter offers a selection of four different wines, and you put the glass for each wine on a circle (instead of the squares) and the description below it details the wine and which foods to match it up with on your platter. So my cartoon tasting platter shows my different characters and their details to see which ones you prefer!

And then here are The Dark Artists sharing in the wine tasting experience with us!!

The Great Oz Eddventure #99 - Weekend in Orange...

2011-04-18T18:15:00.000+10:00

No, not the fruit! A little town that is a short 3.5 hours drive north of Canberra. This week there was Food Week where we were able to sample wonderful local produce, including visiting a few of the local vineyards!!

Mothers Day Greeting Card image featuring Kangaroos

2011-04-17T20:45:00.001+10:00

New Home greeting card image featuring cockatoos!

2011-04-13T08:56:00.001+10:00

The DARK ARTistS can now be bought through my blog

2011-04-12T17:38:00.000+10:00

I have set up a PayPal 'buy now' button on the right hand side of my blog so that you can purchase my mini comic directly from me. If you need any different payment or shipping requirements please email me on eddcross_art@yahoo.com.

It was great to see many people laugh at my cartoon humour when they bought it at the Canberra Zine Fair and I hope to see it continue keeping people laugh!! :-)

THE DARK ARTistS available at Smiths Alternative Bookshop!!

2011-04-11T14:09:00.000+10:00

One of the best things that happened for me at the Zine Fair was when Amy from Smiths Alternative Bookshop approached my stall and asked if she could stock a couple of my DARK ARTistS comics in the bookshop. Not only did she take some comics, but she also took some kangaroo postcard packs too! Hoorah!

So you can now purchase them there :-)

Canberra Zine Fair 2011

2011-04-09T18:14:00.000+10:00

Here I am at my stall at the Canberra Zine Fair, selling my 'THE DARK ARTistS' mini comic and Charlie the kangaroo postcards. The day went so well - meeting some great people and seeing a lot of great creativity.

I received so many positive comments I am still buzzing, and particularly that almost all of 'THE DARK ARTistS' were sold - brilliant!! :-)

Ants on a trail...

2011-04-08T19:01:00.000+10:00

Sounds of the Bush

2011-04-07T19:32:00.000+10:00

My new mini comic & The Canberra Zine Fair

2011-04-06T18:33:00.001+10:00

This Saturday 9 April is the annual Canberra Zine Fair at Gorman House, facilitated by the ACT Writers Centre, and I have my own stall there this year where I will sell my new mini comic 'The DARK ARTistS' and some kangaroo themed postcards.

So if you are at a loose end on Saturday in Canberra please pop in to the Zine Fair and say hi and check out all the wonderful Zine art on offer :-)

A shady spot...

2011-03-24T09:45:00.000+11:00

Emu Oil

2011-03-23T09:28:00.000+11:00

Frog Man

2011-03-22T09:25:00.000+11:00

After I had a frog sharing my office the other day, I decided to create 'Frog Man', and to really be amphibious he has a scuba unit hidden under the back of his costume!

A seat created by Nature...

2011-03-21T08:58:00.000+11:00

Well Gnome me, look at the size of that fungus

2011-03-20T09:44:00.000+11:00

There's quite a few large fungi around Tidbinbilla at the moment, and when I saw this one it reminded me of the kind that you get in gnome gardens.

Greys Graze

2011-03-19T09:15:00.000+11:00

Two Eastern Grey Kangaroos I watched grazing away as I sat with them on my lunchtime yesterday!

This is not a Wedge Tailed Eagle

2011-03-18T13:17:00.000+11:00

About a week ago I had a dream where I was doing some falconry. In the dream a scary devilish looking bird flew in that was called a Wedge Tailed Eagle. It was such an impressive monster bird from within my subconcious that I had to draw it...

Stinkhorn Fungus

2011-03-15T10:37:00.002+11:00

This fungus is a deep pink colour, and looks like someone has stuck an octopus upside down into the undergrowth. The 'stinky'smell that the fungus gives off attracts the flys which crawl inside the fungus tube like body and get covered in it's spores which is it's way of reproduing.

Bowerbird love

2011-03-14T10:50:00.000+11:00

Over the weekend I was captivated by the male Satin Bowerbird's bower in the Sanctuary at Tidbinbilla. He had built this lovely bower and placed blue items around it in order to attract a female mate. A female did appear and after around 10 minutes of them both making some amazing vocal noises to each other, she went over to inspect the handiwork of his bower. But in the meantime the male had found a rather tasty grub to play with, and became more interested in the grub then the female awaiting him in his love bower.

"I haven't seen anything yet"

2011-03-13T23:12:00.000+11:00

A pet hate of mine whilst working at Tidbinbilla, is when visitors say "I haven't seen anything yet". Yet when you ask them what they have seen or mention an animal within the Park, they soon confess to seeing quite a variety of animals!

Christmas Spider-Man

2011-03-07T09:08:00.000+11:00

Red Back Spider-Man

2011-03-06T10:10:00.000+11:00

Roos having a feast

2011-03-01T12:30:00.000+11:00

Last week there were some chopped up branches left near the Visitor Centre at Tidbinbilla, which seemed like a real good treat for the kangaroos. It was very cute to watch...