Mural at Angliss Children's Centre

I had such an amazing time working on a mural in a kindergarten this week with my good friend and mural master Tom Civil. Tom is also a printmaker and I have been admiring his work for a long time and I had such an honour to work with him on  this project.

Tom created the landscape, gum trees, bottlebrush flowers and his signature stick folks and I made Australian animals of kangaroo, ringtail possums, wombats, wagtails, kookaburra and crows.

It was wonderful to be hanging with local community and receive lots of positive comments from the parents who picked up their children from the centre.

Local girl Topaz came helping us paint the wall too.

Topaz and Tom

Tom - photo by Chantal Wynter

Tom's stick folks having a meeting - photo by Chantal Wynter

Photo by Chantal Wynter

We'd love to thank Angliss Children's Centre, and the committee members especially Chatal Wynter who has been the driving force and even helped us paint the stinky clear protective coating with us :)

Also the community of Footscray - a place with one of my fondest memory in Melbourne who hanged out, offered us food and drinks and lovely comments and the parents and children who supported us! 

The Great Wave and Friends of the Night

The Great Wave

Recent prints The Great Wave and Friends of the Night
They are available on my online shop and galleries - Port Jackson Press, Printmaker's Gallery, Lauriston Press and will be part of my solo exhibition at Odd One Out in Hong Kong in October.

Friends of the Night

Crested pigeon II

Crested pigeon II, 2014

Another crested pigeon print as part of Bimblebox 153 Birds Project.
I love this bird so much!!

Crested pigeon

Crested pigeon, 2014

If someone asks me what my favorite Australian bird is, I'll say Crested pigeon.
It is my lucky day if I see one.

These sweet pigeons are native to Australia and they can be seen throughout most of the mainland, though not as common as the usual pigeons where I live.

I often made drawings of them but it was my first time to actually make a print of one!
They are so interesting and beautiful to draw. I would love to make more prints of them.

Detail from Crested pigeon, 2014

Mildura, 2013

They remind me of the time when my mum visited Melbourne.
We were so excited whenever we could spot them.

I wish I could see them more often around my place in Melbourne.

Lidth's Jay

Lidth's Jay, 2013, etching and aquatint

Lidth's Jay, also known as Amami Jay is a bird native to Amami islands in Japan.

Amami islands are home to some rare and endangered species like this bird and Amami rabbit.

I drew this bird at National Nature and Science Museum in Tokyo in snowy January this year.

First thing I noticed was the colour of its feathers. 

It changes its blue hue with light - purply blue on one angle but peacock blue on the other angle and so on - thus the name of this bird in Japanese Rurikakesu - Ruri is the colour of lapis lazuli.

The plants on this image is a mixture of my drawings in the sketchbook - some are drawn from life in New Zealand, some are native plants to Amami Islands drawn from photos - I've never been there before.

This Lidth's Jay will be exhibited at Bird's Gallery from 23 April as part of my solo show called Adore.

More information is coming soon!

Original drawing of Lidth's Jay

Palette works

Surge, 2013

I made a watercolour drawing on palette called Surge made for Exquisite Palette Exhibition 2013 at St Luke Artist Colourmen.
I've decided to have rabbits running from the hole on the palette.
Too many rabbits are never enough.

detail, Surge

Here are other really exquisite palettes made by my friends.

Damon Kowarsky, 2013

Damon Kowarsky's palette is a etching and aquatint print of a view of Darb al Ahmar district in Cairo.

It feels as though I'm looking at an old photograph in a dark room...

Hyun Ju Kim, 2013

Hyun Ju Kim made a beautifully detailed mixed media drawing. It may be hard to see in the photo but all tones are made by layering different colours of fine lines. As always I can't keep my eyes off her drawing of wonderful world of colourful plants, monsters and birds.

St Luke's Exquisite Palette exhibition 2013 opens from 10 April - 8 May 2013

St Luke Artist Colourmen
32 Smith Street
Collingwood
VIC 3066
info@stluke.com
03 9486 9992

Procession

Procession is my new artist book and it'll probably be the last work of 2012.
More images are available on my website too.

detail, Rats declaring a war

This will likely be the last book of 2012.
I made 6 miniature books this year and I thoroughly enjoyed making them.

I am working on a new book at the moment for my first book of 2013.
It's going to be series of small linocut prints based on Japanese word-play...
I can't wait for the studio to open so I can start printing them!

An offering for a goose queen

This book will be displayed at Tinker Tailor in Trentham in Victoria, Australia.

Tinker Tailor is a studio gallery supporting local artists and craftpeople. (my previous post about them)
Andrew and Julia Rutkin's lovely space has an eclectic range of handmade works.
My prints are also on their wall.
I love visiting there, Rutkins have such wonderful family and Trentham is a beautiful place to visit.
About an hour away from Melbourne, it's a great weekend away too.

Sugar glider and a team cat and crow

I would like to thank Irwin and McLaren bookbinders where I work for giving me advice and materials to work on all the books I made this year! Looking forward to working with you again next year.

A shadow procession

Tinker Tailor

24 High Street, Trentham, VIC 3458

042 9945 181

rutkin4@hotmail.com 
www.tinker-tailor.com.au/
http://tinkertailortrentham.blogspot.com.au/

Irwin and McLaren Bookbinders

64 Cubitt Street, Richmond, VIC 3121
03 9428 5829
info@irwinandmclaren.com.au
http://www.irwinandmclaren.com.au/

Sugar glider

Sugar glider is a marsupial mammal, native to Australia.
They earned their name from their love of sweet things such as nectar and flowers (and insects too) and their ability to glide through the air between trees.
They are scientifically called Petaurus breviceps, "short-headed rope-dancer" because of their acrobatic skill!

Original drawing of Sugar glider

I drew her at Melbourne Museum a while back and finally printed her yesterday.
She has large eyes to help see at night and swiveling ears to help locate prey in the dark.
I'm pretty sure that this sugar glider is female as male has a bald spot on forehead which acts as scent gland.

detail

I heard they are popular domesticated exotic pet around the world, especially in the US.
I completely understand it as I felt like taking her home with me even though she wasn't alive.
But.. will they be able to glide through the air like they do in their natural habitat in someone's house...?

detail

 I would like to thank Wayne Longmore, curator at Melbourne Museum for your generosity in letting me work in the collection room and Tim Lane, artist and technician at Trinity Grammar School for helping me mix lovely colours and print like I was a master printer until late at night.

More information on this print is on my website.

Mountain song

This is my new book, Mountain song.
It's a papercut book with each section handsewn and also sewn again directly to the spine.

This book sort of becomes a tunnel when viewed from the first and last page with other pages layered on to the other.

detail, Mountain song

birdies, Mountain song

Also I discovered it makes lovely shadows under sunshine.
It's one of my dream to make works entirely with shadows!

It's a smallish book, 13cm x 10cm, bigger than my other books.
Please have a look at more images of this book on my website.

pollination

I heard that the population of pollinating honeybees are significantly and mysteriously declining.
I wonder if we'll come to Einstein's speculation (whether or not he actually said this is undermined) about disappearance of bees.

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live"

I've made a new print yesterday.
It's a small print, only 15 x 10cm.

Nue

Nue is a monster in Japanese legend and folklore. 
It appears in numbers of literatures and it is described as having the head of a monkey, the body of a racoon, the legs of a tiger and the tail of a snake.
Originally the word Nue was first referred to a bird called White's Thrush.
People thought those birds were bad omen because they only sang at night.
Nue that we know of today as the animal above was formed in one episode from a book about an epic account of a war (Tale of the Heike) in 1180-1185. It talks about how this monster appeared as a black cloud with strange sound and made the emperor have nightmares and fall ill.

This is my latest print from last week.
I love drawing animals, especially furry ones, more than anything else. (if it wasn't too obvious from all my other works...)
Second thing I love drawing is plants.
This print just satisfied my love of drawing animals and plants.
I got to draw 4 different animals and lots of plants in one plate!

It is a two plate etching with Sanguine / Warm red / Raw Amber and Black / Sanguine / Raw Amber

hello!

Anatomy of living things

Our Australian Print Workshop has opened from its renovation closure recently.
Because I didn't have access to etching facility, I have been only doing engravings on wood and copper.
And also I've been doing lots of ink drawings in preparation of etching when the Workshop opens.


I'm going to the Workshop next week to start making some etchings using the drawings I've done while it was closed.


These are selections of drawings I want to make etchings of.
They are all like things inside living creatures because lots of references I use are Life's Natural Library books or National Geographic magazines.


As I look at them, my dream grows...
It is to have a Wunderkammer, Cabinet of Curiosity with my prints, drawings and collections of mineral specimens!!