A huge thank you so much to the gorgeous Marsi of that fabulous blog The Cottage Cheese for featuring my work today! Here is the link to the feature and be sure to explore her wonderful blog "where vintage and eclectic design reside". Incidentally, Marsi also has an Aladdin's Cave full of unique vintage home decor treasures in her vintage/ retro  Etsy store which is also called The Cottage Cheese.

And! In other news some of my favourite fabulous bloggers have asked me to join their new Slow Readers Book Club! I will post more about this terrific new movement tomorrow but in the meantime please go to Christina's Down and Out Chic for the low down on the nuts and bolts of it!!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week and see you soon!

Shadow Shot Sunday is an epic meme established by that awesome Brissy gal Tracy of Hey Harriet! Anyone can enter and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Here are some more New Year photos:

I hope everyone had a super New Year's Eve. We, as advertised, took it easy and went round to Rushcutter's Bay park to watch the fireworks which gave us a very decent view. The 9 o'clock crackers were actually a bit average and I was thinking maybe I wouldn't bother with the 12 o'clock ones. I was convinced the dastardly credit crunch had had it's wicked way with them! BUT! Thank goodness I did go out for the midnight crackers because they were over the top spectacular and I think the best I've ever seen!! Here's a link to see them in all their wondrous beauty! After they finished we all applauded and hooted!

Goodbye dear 2009! You were good to me 2009 and I had a wonderful time!

Today I plan to take it easy at home here (and draw! Surprise!) and avoid the crazy revellers. My suburb gets pretty nutty on New Year's Eve so I'll be lying low for most of the day but I most certainly intend to go down the road to see the crackers at 9:00pm and again at 12:00pm. I'm going to try and take some photos too!

Hope everyone has a wonderful evening. Thank you for all your gorgeous blogs which I love keeping up with and thank you for the comments and visits to my blog in 2009!!

Happy New Year (almost!) and see you in 2010!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday!

I have been sort of taking it easy/ drawing a lot! Above are two new drawings that are now up and running in my shop. The one on the left is Queen Nefertiti. She's always referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world - I think she is looking suitably gorgeous here with her pet parrot!

The drawing on the left is Boudoir. Some incredibly glamorous gal getting ready for a swish evening out - probably some fabulous restaurant in New York and an exhibition opening at MOMA. That would be my idea of the perfect evening!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day and survived the Christmas feast! I had a traditional Australian lunch of the most divine selection of seafood: scallops, lobster, prawns and salmon. Desert was cognac ice cream and berries: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and baked peaches in champagne. Goodness me! I think it was the best Christmas lunch I've ever had! 

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, here is my shadow shot submission. It is the top of one of two towers that flank the face of Luna Park in Sydney. They were modelled on New York's Chrysler building.

Shadow Shot Sunday, by the way, is a fabulous meme set up by the gorgeous Tracy of Hey Harriet! Anyone can enter and here are the instructions on how to do so!

Meanwhile, here are more Luna Park shots.

 

Luna Park was opened in 1935 so all the architecture and artwork in the park is very art deco. It has had a checkered fortune over the years but these days it is in very fine form having been meticulously restored quite recently.

My Dad used to take me there quite a bit when I was little so I am very fond of Luna Park - I have a lot of happy memories associated with it. However, these days I am more interested in the historic art deco sculptures and art work in and around Luna Park rather than the amusement rides themselves.

These cartoony paintings below are by the legendary Hoppy Arthur 'Art' Barton.

Next to Luna Park and probably built around the same time, is an olympic sized swimming pool which has recently been refurbished. I was super pleased to see that they had kept all the delightful and quirky decoration around the perimeter of the pool.

They're fun, aren't they?

Hope everyone is having a great holiday - I know I am!

I have recently been admiring the sublime work of Hashiguchi Goyo a Japanese artist born in 1880. He was actually born Hashiguchi Kiyoshi but he later changed his name to Goyo after the magnificent goyo pine tree in his Father's garden. His father, incidentally, was a samurai and amateur painter.

(All images from Fujiarts)

Gosh! Pardon me for the extended blog absence! Last week was the final week of school which got a bit whirlwind-esque to say the least! After school broke up I went to my Dad's for a bit of R 'n' R. However, I'm back home now and it is officially the first day of my two week break!! Yippeee!!

I got back from my Dad's midday today and the first thing I needed to do was draw!!

This young lad above is my drawing of an Australian Golden Bronze Cuckoo. They live along the eastern coast of Australia and a bit over in Perth (which is on the west coast). His name is Clyde by the way.

What really fascinates me about cuckoos is that almost all of them have this distinctive striped chest. I think it makes them look very smart and dapper!

(Image from here )

I have this young chap available in my shop here.

I hope everyone is well and relaxed and I look forward to popping in to check out all the blog action I've missed this past week!

Hello Monday! Here are my two weekend drawings. The top one is Hazel and her friend - the "friend" being a butterfly. Nobody knows the butterfly's name except Hazel. They go everywhere together.

The other drawing is actually available in my shop as an original and as a small print! It is a Sydney Seagull merrily flying off to Bondi Beach to try his luck at getting some hot chips from either the locals or unsuspecting tourists.

Hope everyone had a delightful weekend! I managed to get a large twig in my eye which caused me a few hours of anxiousness to say the least! However, all is well now, touch wood, whistle!

In the centre is Apollo and he is flanked below by the goddess Diana and the god of Sacrifice for the public good, Theseus (with the minator). There is another group which represents the bounty and goodness of nature. 

Shadow Shot Sunday is an awesome meme set up by that fabbo top gal Tracy of Hey Harriet! Everybody can submit a SSS and here are the instructions on how to do so!