Twinkle Twinkle

Through November if you head to Brisbane's Ashgrove Library you can see a selection of my children's illustrations. (In fact it's been there already for a couple of weeks. It just happens someone pulled out of last months slot.) The Ashgrove Library seemed like a nice spot to show off my kids artwork which I started last year. I began going to the library with my little boy every week when he was 6mths for the babies, books and rhymes. Pretty soon I was creating fun and colourful illustrations inspired by the songs, rhymes and the books borrowed. Today I'm happy to say it's my full time job. So if you're in the Ashgrove area pop in and take a look.

All works are for sale. Framed versions can be picked up after the exhibition from Bardon in December, or I can drop them off locally. Prints are always available at www.creative-monsoon.com
USE THE CODE LIBRARY10 for 10% off

Ashgrove Library is located at 87 Amarina Ave, Ashgrove QLD

Hello Possum

You are out of this World

Shine Like Only You Can

Kangaroo Kisses

Toucan

You make me Happy when Skies are Grey

Shine Bright Diamond

You are Purrfect

Mirror Mirror Giraffe

12345 Fish

Reach for the Stars Giraffe

Cool Cat

Flapper Cat

Cat's Pyjamas

You are purrfect

I've been asked a few times about creating some cat illustrations - so here they are. Been keeping me busy for weeks, and there are more to come. Available from creative-monsoon.com

This month you can find more of my work at the Aspire Gallery in Brisbane's Paddington as part of Delicate Emotive. A group exhibition where the emphasis of the work is emotion and delicateness.  'Reflective Rose' (above) 9x11" original digital mixed media on board.

Make For Good is coming back. 

Last year you might remember I participated in the ‪#‎makeforgood‬ campaign with etsy and Plan International Australia. This year it will be running again and the theme is "Create Brighter Futures" so who better to add to the campaign than my futures so bright koala! Last year more than $30,000 was raised fro Plan International to support Because I Am A Girl helping girls learn, lead, decide and thrive.

The campaign kicks off 6th September and I'll be donating 50% of sales from Your Futures So Bright Koala print and hopefully adding a few new speical pieces too.

Tapu Te Ranga Gallery pic via Facebook

Wow this brings back a few memories! My very first home and my old gallery Art Space Island Bay in Wellington, New Zealand is back as a gallery again! So great to see. My old home has had a few different incarnations since I sold it in 2005 - an antique store and fashion boutique. Island Bay is such a lovely spot and the locals were always so supportive of my work. My time in New Zealand is still a big influence on my art, especially when it comes to landscapes.

The crazy thing is the new gallery owner used to run a gallery there in the 90s! Sounds like 139 The Parade has always had a creative history.  I have a lot of fond memories of Wellington and this house - hey its where I met my hubby! But this picture does also bring back memories of scrubbing that floor after weeks of painstakingly removing 1950s plastic tiles. Ahhhh my first attempts at DIY. I'd love to know what the rest of the building looks like inside - wondering if my purple textured bedroom walls and bright blue bathroom ceiling are still there :)

So if you're in Wellington pop in a say hi to the new artists and give my old home a hug for me.

'Night - misty lake' digital mixed media print

'Day' digital mixed media print

Super excited to announce that you can now find creative monsoon on hard to find! All of our 11x14" and 10x8" nursery prints with FREE shipping in Australia. Hard to find has scoured Australia – and the wider world – for unique, exceptional products from independent craftspeople and manufacturers and creative monsoon is so pleased to be part of it.

Visit our store https://www.hardtofind.com.au/store/creative-monsoon

This month I'll be taking part in the SNAP16 exhibition at the Aspire Gallery with my latest piece 'synthetic scene'

The aim of the exhibition is to highlight the work of photographers often shunned by many in the artworld for not being true artist. Anybody who vists SNAP16, a new Paddington exhibition can see that’s a lie.

SNAP16 is a collection of  photographers of both international and local recognition who know their way around a camera.

SNAP16 is open to the public from the 4th to 21st May at Aspire Gallery in Paddington, Brisbane and showcases a real variety of photographic talent and skill.
53 Kennedy Terrace
Paddington, QLD

10x8 and 11x14" prints are available through artfinder.com

Happy Australia Day! Thought I should share an update on a little project I started last year, a collection of Aussie birds and animal illustrations for the nursery or a kids bedroom.

To start with I do loads of quick sketches looking a photos to help determine what are the key shapes and positionings I want to go with. Add some colour with pen and then rework them on the computer.




I've got a long way to go before I've got a full set of Australian birds and animals, but so far I couldn't be happier with these guys. Prints are available from creative monsoon on etsy and down that little lane.

Going through my old journals and CDs today (kids, CDs are these silver round things we used to store stuff) I found the start of a very cool looking piece I did in 2004, a digital collage using Japanese obi fabric and my own hand drawn chrysanthemums. I decided to revive it and turn it into a little floral kaleidoscope, wash of colour, and ta da! Never throw stuff out! Love the way it really seems to draw you into the centre.

Prints available through artfind and etsy

new work: digital mixed media collage print
inspired by my time spent living in New Zealand, some of my favourite things - the tui bird, mountains, lakes and amazing night sky. 
over 30 different layers of texture and images have been put together to create this mountain and lake landscape. 
the mountain range was made up of recycled security envelope lining, then layers of photographs such as pacific island carving and tree bark, vintage and modern illustration and washes of watercolour added.

I've been working on something new for the past couple of weeks with kaleidoscopic photography and more silhouettes - this time bugs! Bugs and beetles creep me out, especially when they decided to run across your top at a dinner party like last week! But, they are pretty amazing when you take a closer look. So I thought I'd combine some of the kaleidoscope images of rocks, geodes and crystals I'd been putting together with some cut out shapes. Who knew bugs could be so pretty. Prints are available from my etsy and hard to find stores and I'm busy working on more creepy crawly bling bugs.

Wow! I guess when you step back and take a look at it like this I have been a busy little bee! Lots of fun and colourful new nursery art prints all part of the rainbow bright range. I'm working on adding some more Aussie birds and animals too so watch this space. All available from creative monsoon and please get in touch if you'd like something custom such as your child name adding to a print.

Today is International Day of the Girl, a day dedicated to raising awareness about issues concerning gender inequality around the world. It's also the launch of ‪#‎makeforgood‬, an initiative from etsy Australia with Plan International to change the world for girls. I've created a special edition print just for the event and will be donating 50% of sales to the Because I am a Girl campaign. "Every cloud has a silver lining" is available from my etsy shop as a 10x8" print will real hand painted glitter. 

Here's a little doodle I've been meaning to try for ages! Sketch around your hand lightly onto a page and then draw lines across the page curving over the hand. It creates a really cool 3D effect. I decided to turn mine into a little mummy and baby artwork. Getting a 13month old to sit still and have his hand sketched round was definitely the trickiest part. Plus he decided to 'contribute' to the work by throwing water at it.

creative monsoon's new planet

NASA has discovered a new planet .... no, I just discovered photographing my frying pan is cool.

Inspired by the work of Norwegian photographer Christopher Jonassen who turned worn-out frying pans into undiscovered planets from outer space.

Give it a go yourself. I photographed my frying pan with the hipstermatic iPhone  app, popped it into instagram and added a filter then into photoshop to cut out the circle and add a little inner shadow.

christopher jonassen

This month I'm loving the work of Yumi Okita. These beautiful big textile moths make me wish I could sew.

Glad to see I'm not the only one a little obsessed by envelope lining. These gorgeous 3D flowers are part of Samantha Gazal's latest exhibition at the Butchers Hook Gallery, 52 William St, Paddington in NSW, until July 11.

 Working on something new today...

The next step in the great garden conversion - plants. Kitting out such a big space with herbs and vegetables will be pretty pricey so I've been looking into growing plants from scraps. Above is my mutant capsicum grown in just a week from a few seeds saved from a store bought capsicum. And below the spring onions and leek have started to grow. Testing out some lemon basil too.

It's time for a new diy project around the house. Last year we had two big designs - the kitchen and nursery, well three if you count the baby too! So now we need a big new project to get stuck into and I've decided to create a vegi garden.