ELSEWHERE

Hawks, Doves, Seals, and Bodies

Green-capped Parrots, cover seals, hungry Siamese cats, and trips to the gallery

As I take a small break from hand-colouring the blue-purple crowns of September's Superb Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus superbus) for their launch late October, I thought I'd share with you a visual crop of recent days, thanks to the immediacy of instagram, again. The week, and a bit either side of it, brought with it many nice surprises, chiefly, Gracia's Wet Whiskers Drying seal on the cover of October's Art Almanac. It also pleasantly inundated us with pre-orders for Gracia's Agatha Christie fanzine, A Catalogue of Bodies, which will be posted out near and far on Monday the 7th. A Catalogue of Bodies is 77 double-sided pages in length and features some 100 bodies harvested these many months by G. (You can see a few more stills here, in her recent post.) As Hastings so loyally followed Poirot's instruction, I too have loyally followed G's making of this fantastic zine that has utilised all of her own 'little grey cells'. Hastings and Poirot often mirror the two of us. As do Tom and Barbara, and Manny and Bernard. (I'll let you figure out who is who, though we do often switch places.)

(All breathing in heaven is on at Geelong Gallery until the 13th of October, and in the above you can see a glimpse at Stephen Wickham's underwater photographs. You can also see a little of me. There I am, just a toe, running after C's Darting Darcy.)

With pencil in hand

Still.

When I am not seeing The Australian Ballet perform Ratmansky's Cinderella twice (lucky me!), I am handcolouring Yellow-billed Kingfishers (Syma torotoro).

When I am not getting the chance to finally meet the lovely Hila (le projet d'amour) and wander through the NGV's permanent collection, I am handcolouring Red-rumped Parrots (Psephotus haematonotus).

When I am not sugarsoaping tiles and installing new lights in the bathroom, I am handcolouring Southern Boobooks (Ninox novaeseelandiae).

When I am not adding somthing to a time capsule or receiving mail art from Belgium, I am handcolouring Grey-rumped Treeswifts (Hemiprocne longipennis).

When I am not working on a handful of design jobs, drawing up invoices, posting orders, I am handcolouring Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus).

A Flight of Twelve Southern Hemisphere Birds is proving a terrific beast with wings.

Materiality Number 2: Time

(As part of Materiality Number 2: Time, our (as yet unfolded and without required thumb prints) submission for the HELLO MY NAME IS______ zine "that'll be sealed up and delivered to the manuscripts collection of the State Library of Victoria". Please click to enlarge and easily read.)

Get your thumbs ready to flip through Time and come along to the launch of
Materiality Number 2: Time

When: 5.30-7.00pm on Friday the 20th of September

Where: Sticky Institute, 10 Campbell Arcade, Degraves Subway, Melbourne 3000

(Thank-you to everyone who came along to our talk at Geelong Gallery last Sunday. Though we were initially nervous, we had a great deal of fun talking about the ideas behind our work and sharing a little of our working process. Thank-you to those of you who also bought a selection of zines from our impromptu table too. May you enjoy those imagined Dear You travels, and bird portraits.)

Come along, one and all

Today, Stephen, Gracia and I will be talking about our work as part of both All breathing in heaven and the 2013 Geelong acquisitive print awards at Geelong Gallery. Should you be in the area, or footloose and fancy-free today, come along at 3pm to the Max Bell Gallery and say hello.

All breathing in heaven floortalk
Sunday the 15th of September at 3pm
Geelong Gallery, Little Malop Street, Geelong
(Free. No bookings required.)

A spring dash

When I am not working on the hand-colouring of 120 birds as part of my forthcoming artists' book A Flight of Twelve Southern Hemisphere Birds, the companion to my unique state artists' book, I can sometimes* be found out and about with Percy and friends, soaking up Spring. Colouring in the beaks of the Antarctic Tern (Sterna vittata), the molluscs that ring the Red Knot (Calidris canutus), and the yellow hued wasps that dance around the Crested Jay (Platylophus galericulatus) is proving enjoyable work thus far, but sometimes a short break for the eyes is needed. In The Royal Botanical Gardens, a (not my team) Collingwood football was found, much to Percy's delight, and we all got to stretch muscles previously forgotten about.

* I say 'sometimes', but it is more rare than this. Most of the time I am working towards finishing this edition of ten, and 120 birds will not colour themselves.













And finally, Percy sings Happy Birthday to G. Kind of.

Wings and beaks on display

Yesterday, I was delighted to be able to head back down to Geelong to show my parents Gracia and my work with Stephen Wickham, as well as our artists' book that is being exhibited as part of the 2013 Geelong acquisitive awards. As is tradition, a few blurry gallery snaps were taken.





Take yourself along to the grand opening night of both All breathing in heaven and the 2013 Geelong acquisitive awards by way of G's recent post, Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. A nonet of what was., and pop along to the gallery on the 15th of Septemeber at 3pm for our artists talk about Bedlington terriers, memories, postcard finds, and how to draw a bird's eye.

All breathing in heaven is on until the 13th of October
Downdload All breathing in heaven 13-page catalogue pdf
2013 Geelong acquisitive print awards is on until the 24th of November



Nice Work may be over, but you can still comb the archives of August to see thirty-four creative spaces shared. G and I were thrilled to be day 25. This was a really charming project to be involved in, Leah. Thanks Milly Sleeping. Until next time.