Illustrators for Japan

Illustrators Australia has organised a wonderful fundraiser to support the Japan earthquake victims, with 100% of proceeds being donated to Red Cross Australia's Japan and Pacific disaster Appeal 2011.

Many artists, including me, have donated works which will be auctioned on eBay. The images above and below are only a small sample of the illustrations which are being auctioned.

Have a look at the wonderful works for sale here, and please, bid on your favourite works when the auction goes live on 28 March 2011. You might snap up a bargain, and you will be supporting a great cause.

Little big prints

I am working on prints for an exhibition in July. I want to exhibit larger prints and yet, the logistics of my small workspace mean that it is difficult for me to work on large linoblocks. Not to mention that I do seem to prefer working on a small scale...

So I have decided to create a series of 'collage prints' where a whole lot of smaller linoblocks are printed together to make a larger print.

Lots of ideas going round in my mind. Hope the prints turn out interesting.

The Insomniac

The moon is still high when the insomniac wakes. Thoughts and worries churn through her mind, and all efforts to fall back asleep are in vain.

She hears the clock on the mantlepiece go tick, tick, tick, tick. When the sun is almost ready to rise and the morning bird sings its first song, she finally nods off.

But in half an hour, the alarm will wake her to begin another exhausted day.

Glass Half Empty

Optimists, they say, see their glass as 'half full' because they appreciate what they have.

My sister looks at this quite differently: she says that 'half full' means that a drink has been poured into your glass up to the half-way level and that you are happy about this. Good for you!

But if your glass is half empty, it must be empty of something. Your glass was full, but now half has gone. Where did it go? You drank it, which means that you have had half a glass of something nice and refreshing to drink. And lucky you, you've still got half left!

So the 'half empty' people have double what the 'half full' people do.

She's very clever, my sister.

Govett Street

It was very late but the party was still in full swing when I decided to leave and walk the short distance home.

The cool night air would clear my head. I had had a little too much to drink and it wasn't agreeing with me.

I turned into Govett Street and looked at the house on the corner. Someone there was feeling even worse than I was. And I think he was having nightmares too.

Duck Books website has been updated

A bit more colourful, a bit more information. Have a look at www.duck-books.com. Hope you like it!

Duck Books in the news!

Noosa Journal has half page article on p11 about Roisin Glynn Jones' book 'Dancing with the Devil'. I am very excited about this as it was published by my company, Duck Books.

2011 calendar is finally ready

My calendar theme this year is sketches from walks with my dog up to the headland at Mona Vale in the northern part of Sydney.

Its a bit late. I'm sorry about that but I hope you like it anyway.

Visit www.duck-books.com if you would like to buy a calendar.

Book now on sale: "A Cat goes Kayaking"

As some of you may know, the "30 linoprints in 30 days" project on this blog became an exhibition at Sheffer Gallery a few weeks ago.

"A Cat goes Kayaking" is the book based on the exhibition and the blog. It contains all 30 linoprints and all 30 stories.

You can buy it here: www.duck-books.com