IF - Hibernate

Why do so many people live their lives as if they are hibernating? As I wander around my local shopping centre I wonder at all the people there with dead eyes, going through the motions. If they look up they may see wonderful things all around them. Look again at the world with child-like wonder, maybe you won't see a roller-skating elephant in a pink tutu, but you may see something that will make you smile, make you think, make you live again...

The image that this illo is based on is the classic Australian painting Collins St, 5pm by John Brack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins_St.,_5_pm

Ferocious!

Ah, well, appearances are deceiving. He's not really ferocious. Just his natural shortsightedness is further blurred by love at first sight, and there aren't that many eligible female dinosaurs around any more. As a result, in about three seconds time he is going to be mistaken for a hideous, fire-breathing Dragon. Yes, smoking is not good for you, and, as you can guess, led to the demise of the dinosaur...

Out of Balance

It's time to update the blog. A month or so back I won my local library's Children's Book Week Competition, not a huge prize, but it encouraged me to dust off an old project I started ages ago, a look at that old stereotype that elephants are scared of mice. I take it to its illogical conclusion and attempt a story that combines deep seated prejudices with elephant jokes. In a few weeks, I might send something off to a few publishers to see if we can do business. I don't know if anything will come of it, but I'll never know if I don't give it a go!

Safari

Haven't done Illustration Friday for a few weeks, so I thought it was time I dashed off a quick sketch while watching Eurovision Song Contest.

I haven't looked at any of the other entries, so maybe everyone has done their version of this idea.

Not everyone will be able to go on a Safari in Africa, but I'm sure the cat wouldn't mind a bit more space...

Bicycle 2

After two Dawn services in two days, this afternoon could've been spent snoozing. Instead I hopped on to my trusty deadly treadly and rode across town to the airport. There were no planes due to land within an hour, so I rode home again.

Anyway, two Dawn Services? Well, on Sunday at 6am, people from the Rocky Baptist Tab, and the Cap Region Salvo's hosted an Easter Morning Sunrise service on Mount Archer. A beautiful morning remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus, a time to contemplate sacrifice and suffering and affirm life.

And then today, at 4:27am we commemorated the the ill-fated landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on Gallipoli in Turkey in 1915, and two nations being tried by fire and coming to age as nations on the world stage. A time to contemplate sacrifice and suffering and affirm life.

'Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends...' Not often do Easter and Anzac day coincide, but they do provide a chance to really think about what life is all about, and what is it we are living for.

Life is too short to have prejudices, to judge others without even knowing who they are. Who knows? Elephants may find that mice CAN be their friends. And maybe cars and bikes can even share the same roads. Utopian dream? Maybe, but that doesn't mean we don't try for it!

Bicycle

I ride my bike around town a lot, not actually having a car, and I find Rocky is such a friendly town, drivers are often so courteous, and passengers often wind down windows to yell out helpful advice, like, 'Hey mate, yer wheels. They're going 'round!' or just an encouraging 'aaaaargh!'

Anyway, many years ago now, I drew a sketch of an Elephant on a bicycle, and I thought, what would be a nerve-wracking scenario for him, and I thought, it had to be a big car full of mice giving him a hard time. This gradually morphed into an idea for a picture book, featuring a heap of mice vs elephant scenarios, an examination of prejudice and stereotyping.

This is a rough mock-up of the bicycle page, with an early attempt of mine of paper sculpture. I'd love to re-do this properly one day, in good quality paper and really paint instead of markers and coloured pencils. Maybe I should pull out the old book and give it another shot. It's mostly written, but has lain dormant for far too long...

Journey Man

Strip off Uberdude's muscle suit and super powers, and beneath lies Journeyman, a mild mannered ordinary guy, who nevertheless does what he can with what he has to make the world a better place. No special abilities or extraordinary talents, unable to leap even reasonable short towers, less powerful that a resting locomotive, quite a bit slower than a speeding bullet and yet, through Journeyman, and people just like him, just doing the best they can, the world IS a better place, and that makes him a real hero.

Thank you Journeyman, your work here is not done, but you are not about to to fly of to your Fortress of Solicitude, or your Bat Cavern. You're here for the long run. Because, changing the world IS a journey...

Bottled...

Aye, it's hideous, I grant ye, But what I really want to know is, how did they get something that big out of the bottle?

It's all about perspective. It's been said that we don't see the world how it is, we see the world how we are. Our view is the world is coloured by our culture, our attitudes and our experiences. Mercy is the ability to see the world from someone else's perspective, to walk a mile in their shoes, to really empathise with them, not just sympathise. How many people really know how life is for you? And how many people do you know what life is really like for? That's a measure of the level of community you are currently experiencing.

So, what are you waiting for? Look at life through new lenses. Realise your viewpoint isn't the only one. Get out of your bottle and live life!

IF - Duets

Back in January I went to the fabulous Faith and the Arts week in Poatina, Tasmania to hang out with and be inspired by creative people from many disciplines including drama, music, painting, photography, creative writing (Slam Poetry!) and print making. I've never tried print making before, so I gave it a go, and really loved it. Come to Tassie next Jan to experience it for yourself, or if you can't wait that long, there's the Canada edition in a few months.

Anyway, two of the stars of the week were Eric and Spike, who, despite not having met before inspired us with their duets. Amazing jazz. Check out my Youtube video. And when Spike's wife Lea joined them, there was magic in the air.

So what better subject for Illustration Friday's Duet challenge than Eric and Spike.

It gave me a chance to play with my new Wacom Tablet (a bit easier to draw with than my laptop's scratch pad...) and play around with a demo version of Artrage software. This is a lot looser than what I normally come up with, but I liked the energy of it and had to resist the temptation to clean it up too much in GIMP! Hope you like it.

big boys toys

All these sf movies that like the idea of big mechanical walking machines, from Star Wars, District 9, The Wrong Trousers, Avatar, and many many more, it must be fun stomping around alien landscapes with big metal legs. Obviously a case of toys for big boys. But once alien lands are conquered, and you've finished stomping on the Rebel alliance, there are still chores to be done... So stop playing, and Do Some Work! Ok?

IF - Toy

a few years ago I worked at a signage company that had a lot of very cool computerised machinery that could do wondrous things. Unfortunately I couldn't do wondrous things with them very often, there was more mundane work to do. And Laser engravers and huge 3d NC routing machines apparently aren't toys... Frustrating! However, occasionally I was able to do something.

Fish on a Stick is the result of one of those times. his head is airbrushed styrofoam, scales are felt and his internal structure is laser cut acrylic. His whole body was fully articulated and he could move his tail with a flick of the wrist.

His jaw was held shut with a mouse trap spring, and opened by pulling on a piece of (ironically) fishing line which was fed down the blue handle, which Fish sat on like a rod topper.

He was a lot of fun, to play with, too, a nice, almost magical puppet. But the real toy was my laser engraver. I wish I still had access to one...

IF - Warning

This is a piece that really speaks to me. Notice the artist's use of bold colours and composition; the way that the raw meaning of the words is subsumed in the context of the dichotomy of the post-modern other as he tries to catch the zeitgeist of mundane everyday reality yet inject some whimsical, phantasy to instill in us a sense of urgency, even, impending doom. Yes, this artist has something very profound that he is trying to communicate with us, and I think has succeeded admirably.

Illustration Friday is a weekly challenge where readers are asked to come up with an illustration inspired by the word of the week. Last week's word was warning. note, I said LAST week's word... yup, I'm a few days late to post this. This week's word is stir. I might have something here in three weeks for that! Or maybe not.

Alternative idea was also a sign -

CAUTION

This Sign has SHARP EDGES!

(Also, the Bridge is out...)