ELSEWHERE

With a moustache (of sorts)

Today, from my sketchbook, I bring you a small Moustached Antpitta (Grallaria alleni). It is a bird that likes to spend most of its time on the ground, hence its short tail. This rare species is found in isolated localities in Colombia and Ecuador, two places I have never been to. About 18 cm in height, the moustached antpitta can be found in the humid undergrowth. His oval shaped body made him a real pleasure to draw.

A scaly-breasted munia presents...

Today, a scaly-breasted munia presents several handbound notebooks. They are wraparound in design and feature various parts of a collaborative collage by G and me.

You can pick one up for a song here, if you like. (The notebooks, that is, not the munia; he prefers his freedom.)







Wraparound notebook details:

Cover made from a digital colour print of a recent collaborative collage. Stitched inside with orange and red thread, six double-sided blank pages, using 280gsm paper suitable for drawing.

Notebook size 120mm X 80mm.

And for Shash's dear Pinky Leon, a sale! From Orchards, Fields, and Gardens can be yours for $15. Show your support.

A Ross gull presents...

Today, a Ross gull presents to you a series of new A7 scribblers in many colours. You can purchase one for yourself here, or you can just wave a wing at my gull.

The Ross gull, my twitcher friends, is a distinctive pink gull and it breeds in swampy and wooded artic tundra. It winters along the coasts and at sea. It's quite different from me.

Percy presents...

This is Percy at the end of a long beach walk, the newest member to our animal family. He's a ten year old Jack Russell crossed with something else, we've no idea what. He is quite deaf, and blind too, and he is adorable. I've known him for only six days, but it feels like much longer than that. The cats are not so sure of him, but it's getting there. Plenty of small steps. Tomorrow, I am off to a class with him at the RSPCA. It's a class to help you get to know your new friend and I'm anxious I will be late and that we'll both fail miserably at commands. Wish me luck.

Percy’s introduction to Gracia and my creative practice was spending an evening placing cards with envelopes and slipping both into a clear plastic sleeve in readiness for bookstore display and webstore sales. He found it a curious process and especially enjoyed the pleasing rip sound made every time I opened a new plastic sleeve.
 
I hope you enjoy these eight brand new collaged greeting cards as much as Percy enjoyed readying them for sale.

You can purchase them here, individually. And here, in multiples of five. And here, as a set of one of each kind.

Agatha

The Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulates, is, as you may well know, a nomadic Australian bird. A small parrot from the arid regions, they flock to watering holes. I think of them as very intelligent because I look after a domestic one named Agatha. She is proud, clever, and independent.

Water, paper, paint

Water, paper, paint: exploring creativity with watercolour and mixed media by Heather Smith Jones is a wonderful book, and I am thrilled to feature in its gallery of artists section. Congratulations to you, Heather, on a thorough and considered book that covers many different watercolour techniques and approaches. Gracia and I are over the moon to be included in this book. We’re both terribly flattered. As someone who has followed a few how-to type books in my time, this one is certainly both clearly laid out and beautiful.

You can discover more about this book here, and you can purchase a copy online here.

(Hi! That's me, above. On my way to see a film screening as part of the recent French Film Festival one really warm autumn day. Angèle et Tony was great.)

Toco Toucan

My Toco toucan (Ramphastos toco) looks like a deep thinker, I think. It is something about the eyes, don't you agree? Perhaps it is because he is the largest of all toucans from northern South America.

Happy Sunday. I plan to draw for most of it.