Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Year I forgot.

Well, that's not quite true, I clearly haven't forgotten an entire year as those who follow me else-where would know.  But I most definitely have forgotten this part of my world for a year & my only excuse is work, family, work & work. So, to make up for that unforgivable forgetfulness, I have condensed the last year into what I hope are interesting snippets. & so, in reverse order, the year has kind of gone like this...

SEPTEMBER:  We went home to the UK for some well earned R&R, where I dressed up for a wedding, not mine.


Went to London & stayed behind this beautiful building, The Michelin Building.


Dropped in to say high to the crew at Bright HQ.


Went down underground...


came up again & hung out with some of these guys.


& ate at Carluccio's.


Collected some stuff.


Cobnuts
...



Blackberries & Mushrooms
...



Wooly Mammoth Bone
...



Throughout this forgotten year I've been lucky enough to work on some really nice jobs.



Peter & The Wolf - CJ Educations


Robbie Ravenbeak - Pearson UK


Best of Friends - Quirky Kids Clinic


Oops Owl! - Harper Collins Children



Signed an awesome new book deal with Running Press for the Picture Book Frank & here is my editor Lisa Cheng receiving signed contracts with a twist.




Way back, around March, I was invited to talk to the students at Balnarring Primary school... for a week. That's a lot of talking. 


We talked about books, of course & how we create stories & the characters that inhabit them. 


The students were ace & more than willing to go along with my crazy thought trains. 


We drew, a lot. & Proved that you don't have to be good at either drawing or writing to come up with great stories.





So there is the year. It has been a long year, a busy year & finally a year that's here.
























Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Take & decorate.

So here is a very brief breakdown of how we (me & my daughter), made our christmas decorations this year...

Take some Champagne corks & Gum nuts. Acorns would be cool too if you live somewhere where Gum trees are few & far between. So, that's pretty much anywhere except Australia.





Undercoat.





 Colour


Detail & Varnish




Go Nuts

















Endless Fun