ELSEWHERE

The start of an Unwinking Night

Gracia and I are still here. We're just spending our days doing this:





And this:





(Skip across to read Newsletter 32 for further details. More soon, friends.)

Today

A hot summer day such as today calls for a pair of Eclectus Parrots (Eclectus roratus). These birds can be found in tropical Australasian rainforests so they seem the perfect fit.

With coloured wings

Gracia's postcard collage, With rainfall and thunder close behind (2012), is one of many, many beautiful new postcards currently being scanned  for our own archival purposes before returning to its place under the press once more. I couldn't resist sharing this winged one with you here. It features an adventurous Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). These unmistakable birds with their red faces and black and white heads seem like observant little souls to me.

Taking shape

Following on from yesterday's behind-the-scenes look inside my sketchbook, today I can show you the cabinets we will be using, albeit all packed up with their legs tucked underneath their white bases. Gracia and I are delighted that NETS Victoria are loaning us these beautiful cabinets for the duration of our show. They are perfect.

Above, you can see my (unfinished) concertina artists' book featuring a flock of (extinct) Passenger pigeons upon a branch. (In flight, did you know that a gathering of pigeons is referred to as a kit?) The endpapers for this book have since been glued in place since taking these photos. The endpapers are a brilliant smoky blue.

The beauty and genius of a work of art may be re-conceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living beings breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.

The Bird, William Beebe, 1906

And I couldn't resist sharing the photo of Omar on Gracia's shoulders (in case you missed it). He has made a full recovery since having one of his last infected teeth removed. He is eating well and lazing away as I draw bird after bird after bird. This string of photos sum up January for me.

To fly

A behind-the-scenes peek inside my moleskine. Things are coming together.

The days are long

As I'd thought it would be, January is shaping up to be one very busy month. Gracia and I have been spending each and everyday working towards our forthcoming show and we swing from feeling in control to overwhelmed. Taking a moment to look up from the drawing board, it has been nice to see a collage of ours in The Big Issue Summer Special (No 397, 3 - 16 January, 2012) and our Morran collages X3.

(You can see the process here.)


Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
2011
(Collage created especially for The Big Issue to accompany Chris Flynn's piece, Outline for a thinly veiled, autobiographical, first-person-perspective fiction piece, p 32 - 34.)

(Other collaborative works of late: From idea to publication. (I))

With a wagging tail

(As featured in The Morran Book Project, 1 dog, 236 illustrations by illustrators from all over the world)



(The Smaller Morran Book Project, 1 dog, 75 illustrations by illustrators from all over the world)

Gracia and I are delighted two of our collaborative Morran images feature in Camilla Engman's The Morran Book Project. I have showed our copy of the book to many and given copies as gifts to a few dear ones, and all have loved it. It is a joyful book that I am more than happy to be a part of.

You can discover more about The Morran Book Project over at Studio Morran, and you can purchase the books here (through blurb).



(Morran's dreams of the stage take amazing form)

A Crimson topaz and a Yellow-chevroned parakeet for 2012

To start the New Year here is a Crimson topaz (Polytmus guainumbi) and a Yellow-chevroned parakeet (Brotogeris chiriri). Both are extremely colourful, almost like flying gemstones.
 
I have many new birds to share with you. My pile of 2B pencils is quickly shrinking due to my unstoppable drawing pace of late. Most of these recent bird drawings are at a large scale and consequently do not fit on my scanner. I shall have to photograph them instead, an exercise for later I think. I will stick to drawing for now, while I am on a roll.