Play School Art Maker App

I'm so happy to finally be able to share what I've been working on at ABC Kids for the last few months. The Play School Art Maker App for the iPad has just been released!!

I was lead designer on this awesome project, and proud to be part of a fantastic team that made it happen.
If you have a toddler at home, and er.. an ipad, download the app for free and have a go! I'd love to know what you think.
Kids can make their own scenes and movies with Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima, Humpty and their friends, as well as a huge collection of handmade Play School objects.

Download the app on iTunes. It's free in Australia, and free for a limited time overseas, so get downloading. And be prepared for a very smudgy iPad!

2012 mini calendar

My 2012 mini calendar is here!
This year, I'm printing the calendars on some lovely, heavy card stock that I've sourced, which is 100% recycled and has super eco-friendly credentials.
So even if I do kill a few pot plants around the house, at least I can try to save a few trees.
All of my greeting cards will also be printed on 100% recycled paper from now on. Yay!
It's all a part of making Milk and Cookies a little greener for 2012.
Hmm, Green milk? Green cookies? Well, why not!

I Dream a Highway

This year I'm participating in the Illustrators Australia 9x5 exhibition.
IA takes the idea from the 1890 exhibition in Melbourne by the Heidelberg School, where artists painted on 9 x 5 inch cigar box lids.
I was very excited and a little intimidated by the 9x5 piece of wood I got in the mail from IA, along with the theme 'rapture'. After much deliberating and sketchedoodling, I decided on an image and got to work with my poor neglected gouache paints.
It was really nice and relaxing holding a paintbrush again, instead of a wacom pen! Here's the finished painting, I Dream A Highway.


I got too carried away to take process pics, but here's the painting just before it was done. Just a few lines left.

Each time I dipped my brush, I wiped the excess paint off on a spare piece of paper, and this ended up as a crazy new image.. or is it a painting of the music she is playing? Or is it statistical data on the number of times a brush is dipped vs painting surface area? You decide!
If you'd like to come along, the exhibition open at 6pm on Friday 14th of October, at 39 Collins St, Melbourne. Right next door to Bar Lourinha!

illustration friday: Disguise

Here's a quick last-minute entry for Illustration Friday this week.
How could I go past a topic like 'disguise'?

This was drawn in pencil, then coloured digitally.

Featured in Yen Mag!

Oh my! I'm a featured illustrator on the awesome Yen Magazine site this week!!

Illustrators Australia Sydney Show

Hello Sydney friends! The Illustrators Australia A3 Print Show is coming to Sydney this weekend! It opens this Friday, and there will be 120 giclee prints on display. My Feathered Attorney print will make an appearance too!

A couple of my favourite prints from the Melbourne opening were:

New Dog, by Cheryl Orsini

The Clouds are lifting, by Anna Walker

Aren't they lovely?

Here are the details:
Friday 19th August, 6pm-9pm
Fraser Studios
10-14 Kensington St
Chippendale

Wish I could be there, but alas, I am stuck in rainy Melbourne. Let me know what you think if you go!

Hide and Seek

Phew, so glad I can finally share this new piece I've been working on called 'Hide and Seek'! It's for a group show I'll be in this weekend, hosted by the Melbourne design studio, Kish & Co.
I'm pretty excited to be in this show, alongside some Melbourne artists I have sneaky professional crushes on. I'm really looking forward to checking out the works by Melanie Matthews, Dawn Tan, and Belinda Suzette. Yay!

Clementine

New print up in le shoppe! Her name is Clementine.

and the winner is...

The random number generator picked commenter #11, who is.... Kirsty Lee!
Congrats Kirsty, Fat Batman is heading your way!
Thanks for your entries all!

Print Giveaway!

It has been a year since I started selling my prints, and I'm so grateful that 400 nice people have expressed their support by liking Milk and Cookies on Facebook! To say thank you to everyone, I'm giving away a free print.

To be in the running, simply like Milk and Cookies on Facebook, then just leave a comment on this post, letting me know which print in my shop is your favourite, and you will be in the draw to win it!

The winner will be announced on Wednesday 20th!

What I wore today

Brrr... of course, there was a giant coat too - but it's invisible here so you can see what's under it!

Illustrators Australia A3 Print Show

Why yes, you are invited!
I have a piece in this year's Illustrators Australia A3 Print show!!
The exhibition opens this Friday night, and is part of the Northern Exposure Festival in Northcote. Very excited to see some amazing work by Aussie illustrators.. come check it out on Friday and have a drink!

Launch

Here's a bit of silliness I animated for the new animation loop night, Loop De Loop, which is happening monthly here in Melbourne.
Their first theme was 'Launch'. I animated an office laser launch accident.

It just so happens that Launch is the theme on Illustration Friday right now too!! coincidink!

If you get stressed out like Bob does, why not submit an animated loop for this month's theme, opposites?

Super news + beating the Long Winter Coma

Winter has suddenly hit us, and Melbourne is in a state of shock. 
I'm in serious denial that it really, truly is coat + gloves + scarf + beanie weather (might be a good time of year to learn how to knit!).

Despite the sudden frosty temperature, and the sudden desire to eat large bowls of hip-widening comfort food, while strewn on the couch with the heater turned on full blast, I have been doing my best not to give in to the Long Winter Coma.
You know the one, right? The one you wake up from in Spring, bleary eyed in the sunlight, wondering where the last few months of your life have gone, and who ate all the chocolate.

Beating the coma means making some Winter resolutions...  like:  work on fun creative projects! See your friends and reduce the Winter hermit syndrome! Cook some good food! Go out to see some bands!

Any other ideas? What do you do in Winter to stop yourself from crawling under the doona for 3 months straight?

I also have some very exciting news from Milk and Cookies HQ - you can now find my prints stocked at Meet Me at Mikes! The cutest little shop on Brunswick St, run by the lovely Pip Lincolne, who has penned some very popular crafty DIY books!
These might be just the books to keep you occupied with some crafty projects this Winter. Head over to her blog for some more tutorials and all around crafty goodness.
I'm pretty excited about my first stockist. It's rather nice seeing my prints in a real, non-online shop, let alone a cute shop like Mikes. yay!

The original Muppet Show TV pitch

Thank you, Jim Henson, for making life awesome!

Bottled

I haven't participated in Illustration Friday for so long! Here's my entry for this week's theme, bottled.
Bottled man has oaky overtones and goes well with lamb.

Octogirl Print

I've just put a new print up in the shop, my dear Octogirl!
Hmm, I may have to consider her for some animation further down the line, although drawing those eight arms a million times, yikes!
Hope you're all having a good week!

Illustrators Australia Auction for Japan

Illustrators Australia is holding an online auction of member's artworks, with 100% of profits going to Red Cross Australia's Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal.
So if you've had your eye on some tasty artwork for your walls, here's your chance to buy it and do some good as well.

I've donated 'The Chaperone' print, which you can bid on right here, or head to the auction page to check out more lovely works by talented aussies.

These are the bears of our lives

Last week at the Craft Hatch market, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Jess of Teddy Bear's Wednesday.


Jess makes the most gorgeous bears and softies, as I'm sure you'd all agree, and I'm very happy to have taken home this lovely bunny, Pearl.


I think Jess has a great philosophy about her bears and toys. She writes:
"A more worn and loved bear is apparently 'less valuable' but I believe that he is more valuable in a way that can't be measured because he has the marks of love and the scars of life on him."

It instantly made me think of my own childhood bear, who I will share with you today on my blog. Here he is, My oldest friend, who has been with me since I was born.


When I was a kid, I tore out his eye and threw it over the balcony, because I was really interested in watching things fall. A few years later, I had pangs of guilt over my teddy's eye, and went digging in the garden down below our apartment, looking for it, but it was too late.

So my bear has the marks and scars of a tough life in my company, but he is still with me, and like a true friend, I could never throw him out with the garbage.

Book Love!

My etsy shop was mentioned in the recently released Hide & Seek Melbourne book!! Yay!!
This great little set of books (food, bars, shopping & street adventures) showcases the hidden little treasures of Melbourne, and I was included in the shopping edition, 'Treasure Trove'. So chuffed!
It just made me think how long it's been since I've actually gone shopping. My mini sized feet could do with some new shoes!

Though I might not get the chance to go shopping this weekend, I will be on the other side of the counter, selling my goodies at Fairy Floss Markets in Williamstown, this Sunday from 9-2. Drop by if you're in the area!

Fat Batman!

After a special request, Fat Batman is now a print!

Batman retired and ate too many burgers, but that doesn't mean he can't still wear his undies on top of his pants…

Yarraville & Paper Crave

Milk and Cookies was recently featured on Paper Crave! Such a beautiful blog, filled with delicious paper goods. Blush!

I had a lovely time at Yarraville Market last weekend, hanging out with ladies and chaps of much craftiness. It was quite funny sitting at my stall beneath two giant Australian flags, and the masonic symbol - anyone know what it means? it looks like a compass. Freemasons must be very good at drawing neat circles.

I'm slowly getting the idea of this market thing. Boy, it's hard for an illustrator used to being a little hermit to get out there and talk to real live people! But it's great too - I'm getting some immediate feedback, and seeing what people like.

My new Fat Batman prints (coming soon to the shop) made all the little boys that walked past erupt into cries of "mum! mum! it's batman!".
The grown men did pretty much the same thing, minus their mums. Some things must never change.

Illustrator Spotlight: Ina Hattenhauer

I've just discovered the super sweet work of Ina Hattenhauer, an illustrator from Weimar.

The image above is so endearing. It brought back memories of all the grandmas in the neighbourhood I grew up in, beating their carpets with a rug beater just like this.

Ina has a blog full of lovely illustrations, and a weekly comic published every Sunday featuring the fabulous Sun. Here's Sun, chilling out on a grey Sunday afternoon with good tunes, something sweet to eat, and a furry friend to cuddle. Sounds like a plan!

The Design Files + Giveaway time!!

A big thanks to Lucy Feagins of The Design Files, for featuring my work today! The Design Files is one of my favourite blogs, always full of tasty inspiration, and with a real Australian focus which I love.
It's certainly an honour to be featured, so before I burst into an embarrassing happy dance, you should head over there for your chance to win a little giveaway pack of Milk and Cookies goodies - 1 print + 1 mini calendar + 3 cards!

Two new prints!

Now up in le shoppe!
It's always exciting getting new prints fresh from the printer's for the first time. Seeing work on paper is so different to seeing it on screen. It takes on a new life.

Afternoon lull

2010 is all wrapped up

Check out this cute present I got from Matt for chanuxmas !
It came in this spectacular packaging.


Yes - I felt like I was 11 years old unwrapping this.
What could it be? a cd? a jumper (or sweater as some people in the northern hemisphere call it)?


A gorgeous print from 'Hidden Eloise'!

This bear and girl business has been an ongoing theme for me in 2010. I think in 2011 I need to go and meet some new wild animals.
Is there some kind of dangerous animal social club I could join? Perhaps a trip to Melbourne zoo will have to do.

Last time I visited the zoo I was still quite enamoured with the bears


oh forget it, I really can't get over my bear obsession - it's here to stay.
So deja-vu - I'm drawing them again! Here's a little bear sketch to celebrate the new year.
Happy new year everyone!!