And finally, it is completed:

February Pick-a-theme

I think this shall be the last Pick-a-theme I engage in. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I keep ending up producing what I feel is lacklustre art. I am just not passionate enough about many of the themes to do what I would consider a "good job".

For those of you wondering what a "pick-a-theme" is - basically each group consists of 5 people who all nominate what theme they are collecting. These can be vague (ie: "birds") or very specific (ie: "old fashioned beehives"). I rather enjoy trying to add my own little quirk to the theme, and interpret it my own way. They're fun - you get cards that are well suited for your collection, and sometimes have to face a challenge, but also you may be stuck with some rather tricksy-to-interpret themes.

Colourful Cat
Following up from my "finch kitties" of last year, this fellow is a cat coloured like a bullfinch.









Scarlet Macaw











Fantasy Armour
Whilst googling for this theme, I found an awesome dog costume. But I decided it would look better on a kitsune fox (which the recepient also likes)





Rooster











Whimsical Tree
This cute palm tree was referenced by a photo I took on the Tauranga harbour front.









Child at Play
Children are not something I am very good at drawing, and try as hard as I could, I could not get her looking young enough. So here we have a pre-teen Malagasy girl showing her younger siblings how to fly one of their handmade, recycled kites (made from plastic bags).







Old Fashioned Beehive
Well, it's colourful and whimsical, anyway. Can you find the 4-leaf clover?










Louisianna Swamp Land
Albino swamp 'gator.

Cry Wolf

I have been asked/commissioned to draw the Battlecry logo for 2011. This is the piece and I think I may well colour it too. Battlecry is a role-playing convention held in Auckland every February - one month after Kapcon, the convention that we often attend in Wellington. Thus I have never been to it. However, since I feel like a change, my husband and I are now toying with the idea of attending Battlecry instead and then doing a tour of part of the North Island. So it should be fun.

For more information on Battlecry, http://battlecry.battlecry.co.nz/ where you can see the original linework of this piece. Although I prefer this one by far. The wolf looks leaner and meaner and less cuddly.

The Bear and the Bees

Bear was hungrily hunting for berries in the forest when he stumbled upon a rotting log. Nosing at it, he scented the rich, tasty scent of honey. Now, honey was Bear's favoruite food. Carefully he nuzzled the log, trying to see if the stinging inhabitants were home. At just that moment, a Worker Bee buzzed in, returning laden with nectar. Upon seeing the bear and realising its intent, she sacrificed herself by stinging him sharply upon the snout, warning him to be on his way. At this Bear flew into a dreadful rage. He ripped at the log, breaking it open with his sharp claws. Immediately the bees swarmed out, furious with him, stinging and buzzing and stinging some more. Bear fled, stampeding through the forest until he found a small pool of water and dove in.

It is wiser to bear a single injury in silence than to provoke a thousand by flying into a rage.

A fable by Aesops. The Bear is a Sloth Bear from Asia. This postcard is going to Uganda, of all places.

Aotearoa Map Card

Okay, I'm officially addicted to Postcrossing. It's going to help me get my art into at least another dozen countries (I'm currently on 45). Now my first lot of postcards sent are getting registered, I'm actively hunting down people in interesting countries and offering to send them stuff. This one is for a fellow in Bulgaria.

He collects Map Cards, so I decided it was high time I made one. The actual map was printed off a website very lightly to get proportions correct. Everything else has natural, cultural or architectual NZ values.

Featured are:
Buzzy Bee - popular children's toy, first made in 1948.
Pavlova - meringue dessert named after a ballerina. NOT invented in Australia. Despite what THEY say.
Tuatara - ancient reptile that has been unchanged for Millenium
Greenstone Tiki - maori carving
Cabbage Tree - native plant with irritating leaves (don't decompose and can't go in compost)
Chocolate fish - yummy snack
Maori Pa - Traditional meeting house
Bone Fishhook - Maori jewelery - it is placed next to Hawkes Bay because that's said to be the fish hook that caught Maui's fish (the North Island)
Beehive - our Parliamentary Building, In Wellington.
Kina - dead sea creature
Kiwi - very weird and unique bird
Silver Fern and Koru - natural AND cultura significance.

I will likely be using prints of this to decorate greeting cards etc when I post out stuff as well.

Owls of Whimsy

It was a bit of a spur-of-a-moment decision to join the "Whimsical Owls" swap on AFA. With the deadline being the 1st of March, I knew it was cutting it a bit fine, and that if I didn't get them done by the weekend they would never make it on time. But it was so tempting as there were so many nice owls turning up in the gallery. So I thought "what the heck, I can do this!" And thus begun.

Five and a half hours later, and my last owl is done. They're not really that whimsical (except perhaps that Elf Owl) - although I tried for exaggerated cuteness and colour - besides all my art looks kinda whimsical anyhow. And certainly the swirly tree branches help. Anyhow, I decided on four different species - Eagle, Barn, Whiskered Owlet and Elf. My favourites are the Eagle and the Elf. The other two aren't too bad, but the wee whiskered owlet is a bit on the small size.

Now to start on those overdue personalised swaps!

Doodle Pets!

I recently hosted a Sparklepets swap, where the aim was to draw unnaturally coloured animals. I had 11 participants and all but one came through, despite the proximity to Christmas. Amazingly, the last one came in only 4 days past the official deadline. Thanks to the generosity of my participants, 8/10 actually sent a bonus card, meaning that I did not actually have to contribute anything myself. Instead I rustled up these "doodlepets" for everyone that made me a special card. These are rustled up using a 4-colour neon pen on textured paper. They were actually quite fun.

The sugarplum Tree

Based on the popular poem by Eugene Field.

This is a 3 card ATC set (scanned before getting the chop). For Faithwalker who sent a lovely ATC gift to my mother before being checked into hospital with kidney failure. So, I hope this cheers her up a bit!

Beep beep!

Well Moonrose, I hope you like bright, oversaturated colours.

Next time I shall try something less migraine inducing. I bet you can't wait to see my *sparkle*pets!

Sparkle Kitties!

Well, not entirely, but since these are felines of rather fancifcul colouration, they could probably get branded as such.

What are Sparkledogs? A deviant art, juvenile obsession for animals with unnatural colouration.

At least these aren't neon!


They're patterened after finches, actually. Goldfinch, Gouldian, Zebra finch and Pin-tailed Parrot .

Sorry there hasn't been a lot of art recently. Life happens!

Cuckoo Clock

Cuckoo Clock chunky. I made this by first drawing the entire thing on a 4x6 piece of card. Then I coloured it in, except for the clock, I left a blank circle for that and made it up on a separate piece of cardstock. Tha hands really move, they're attached with a split pin. When I attached it to the card, I first took a thick board circle, and cut out the middle, so that the split pin could turn freely. After that, I cut very carefully around the roof, the forest floor and the little door. The roof and floor I backed with thick board. I then mounted the piece onto mroe cardstock, trapping the ribbon between the pieces. The little cuckoo door is held in place with a folded piece of cardstock, and the wee bird kinda pops out too. Although you can't actually keep the door shut.

I'm quite proud of it, actually, and I hope the recepient enjoys it too.

Swine Flew!

4x4 Chunky page - theme = "zetti pigs". For OuP.

My website gallery is now up and running - all that remains to do is to write individually on every illustration I've uploaded and fix the keywords etc. But please come and visit - http://lemurkat.co.nz - if you want a button to link to it, please use this image here:

or the button I'm using to the right of this entry.

Anyhow, I managed some more cards these last two days too:

A "Saucy Siren". Not quite what the artist who chose this theme might have had in mind. I hope she likes it or at the very least, isnt offended. I'm perfectly happy to draw her something else.

Totem =Badger for Blackdog

If your Totem is the Badger you are solitary and tenacious. You can be sociable if the situation demands it, but for the most part you would rather be on your own. Once you get working on a project you are most determined indeed to see it through until the end. You can be quite fierce if roused.

And for OuP, three weird mammals.

Platypus - one of the only monotreme species - mammals that lay eggs. Platypus are small, sotcky mammals with the bill of a duck, webbed feet, a beaver's tail and the males have poisoned spurs. Even when you have see the real thing, it's hard to believe it's actually a real animal.

Star-Nosed Mole - cousin to the common mole, the star-nosed uses its tentacles as sensory organs to locate and devour its wormy prey. It has huge, broad, flat feet for digging and is apparently a fairly good swimmer too.

Giant Pangolin - looking rather like an animated pinecone, the Pangolin is capable of rolling itself up into a ball. It's diet consists mainly of ants and it has long, powerful claws to rip open their homes. Its tongue is also very long, perfect for lapping up its insectile lunch.

Another Pick-A-Theme Completed

Posted off four letters on their long journeys around the world today. And finished up another three cards, thus completing another PAT (only the hostess card to go).

Firstly, the theme listed was "CATS". I'm not sure if she meant the stage play or was just extremely enthusiastic, but decided better safe than sorry and present you with The mysterious, the marvellous...

... Mr Mistofelees:

Second theme was hot air balloons. I was considering being quirky - drawing a flying pig balloon or something twisted and weird, but I kinda felt like jsut going for the whimsical:

And finally - the theme was "purple". Well, many things are purple, but I needed an emotion for the page in my book so I did a little research - what emotion is represented by the colour purple?

Well, "spite" was one of them, but I already drew spite and besides, I didn't want to give a negative card.

so I decided on "Wisdom".

Wisdom is usually represented by an owl. But owls are actually not as bright as one might think. And for some reason, I got to thinking tortoise. So... I hybridised the two:

I hope it's not too weird for her!

Octopus Carousel and Dragonfly Inchies

One of my internet buddies has been having a rough time of late, so I decided I should create a little something to bring a smile to her face.

And what better than a ride on an octopus?

In other news, I've been doing some inchies. Alas, I kinda suck at such a small scale and out of about 8-9 efforts, these are the only 5 that were marginally succesful:

Luckily inchies only take about 10 minutes to dabble up, so there's not too much time lost! Talking of "Lost" - that's what I was watching whilst I was drawing. Four of these are dragonflies and one is a nymph. I would like to do some head close-ups but I think some further references will be required afore I can engage in that!

Whimsy Music

And today I bring to you... saturated colours, rainbows and musical instruments! I tried to draw a piano, but they're hard. So you've got a piano accordian instead. How delightful.

You may want to reduce the brightness of your monitor for this one:

For the theme of "Whimsical" I chose musical instruments. They are castanets, a harp, piano accordian and a violin.

I apologise if your eyes are bleeding.

Birdhouses and a Bunny

Today I completed a mere two cards, despite it being my last day off work. Oh well, I also acheived some house keeping and got another of my "gifts" mostly done. I have been watching the episodes of "Lost" and "True Blood" I missed while I was away.

Firstly, the Rabbit Moon. This card is for the theme "The Moon" and is based on a Chinese legend. I'm not 100% happy with it yet, so may add a few more details before I send it away.

A monkey, otter, jackel and rabbit choose to offer charity on the Upposatha hoping that a demonstration of virtue will offer them great reward. They come upon an old man, begging for food. The otther gives him fish, the monkey fruit and the jackel pilfers milk curd and a lizard. However, the rabbit knows only how to gather grass and instead throws himself upon the old man's fire. He is not burnt to a crisp, however, but instead survives. For it turns out the old man is Sakra, and touched by the rabbit's virtue, draws an image of the rabbit on the moon for all to see.



And now onto the fun ones. The last two themes for me to complete, were "whimsical houses" and "Haunted houses". But I decided to do something a little bit different... Inspired by various websites selling certain merchandise, I designed these two cards:

Enjoy! I have one more card to work on for this PAT, with the theme "Nature Goddess" for our lovely hostess, Amerasu. And I had the quirky idea of basing the goddess on Amerasu herself. But I can't seem to find any photos or self-portraits. So if anyone knows or has any, can they let me know please?