Night Tide

One day back in August, after moving away from home, i sat in my new doorway with the setting afternoon sun shining down on my face and i began to draw. It was one of those times where without paying much attention an image would just sort of complete itself....or leak out of my pencil and onto the paper. A lifelong obsession with mermaids and a pinch of inspiration from the 1961 film Night Tide  helped me to begin another painting.
I guess being raised right by the ocean dominates the way you perceive the world, and after moving to the heart of the city all of this oceanic imagery crept into my paintings without being planned. acute homesickness? I've got a few more paintings to upload in the coming week, so perhaps you'll see what i mean. In this piece i tried to capture the utter despondency of someone displaced and completely out of their league. (1000000 leagues out of the sea...)


&, the film - Night Tide, starring a young Dennis Hopper, tells the story of a young man who falls in love with a beautiful woman who poses as a mermaid at the seaside amusement park. This film is an underwater tragedy filled with tainted romance, crazy beatnik dancing, mystery, perverse magic and it's absolutely terrific. Just my kind of thing. I'd highly recommend it.


I hope it isn't so crazy of me to still expect to discover a flash of a mermaids shimmery tail while walking along the beach.












The Night Tide trailer...
(really doesnt do the film justice.)





and for good measure... some rare silent footage of Australian swimmer and original 'million dollar mermaid' Annette Kellerman, in Neptune's Daughter.

Doggy Bag

Some debutante inspired work - (the original and then hyper coloured version) - for the 2011 KW Doggett calendar. ( KW Doggett are creators of fine, fine paper, - and are australian owned and family managed. so nice!) . This was a colour oriented, dog themed project done through the Jacky Winter illustration agency, and features a grand selection of JW hatch artists.
Once of these HUGE calendars appeared at the front door the other day wrapped in purple paper, so i gave it to my mum to hang on the wall, seeing as the Audrey Hepburn one kept in the kitchen expires tomorrow! Goodbye to you, 2010. ...goodbye audrey. :(

merry christmas

a kid for two farthings
i watched this film on tv yesterday and it bought me to tears. So here is a present for you!
(a precious brunette little boy buys a baby goat believing it's a unicorn. so amazing!)

mid december

Some special christmas gift trades with Anabela and Emily.
(shame there are millions of miles and oceans between us. I adore these ladies.)
= from Anabela : a fieldguided tote bag inspired by the band heart, and from emily- a vintage shiny black wiggle dress that i think Bettie Page would have been proud to own.
I'm sending them some prints of my work in return, and perhaps even some perfume scented love letters. (anyone else up for a swap?)





hi.






summer is melting me and i'm going back home to live with my cats and paint my parents house and be close to the ocean again. no more bath parties or blasting deerhunter into the night. i'm obsessed with nigella lawson and her cardigans sewn onto her shirts and dita von teese and her porcelain finely shaped self. cannot wait for christmas, cannot wait for this year to end and a new one to begin.

Paper Tales

stormy weather


how many boys have you drowned?
 
carmen miranda


 lady godiva

The series of works i created for my most recent group exhibition in Brisbane at nine lives gallery.
Luckily, thanks to the nice folks at the gallery these are staying up on the walls while the curvy exhibition takes place, so they'll be there for a little while longer.