Christmas Fripper

Here he is - a little Fripper.
"honk honk" he says in a goose like fashion, wishing you all Christmas Cheer.
(he looks like he is choking - not surprised with all this smoke around!)








Smokey Melbourne.




Here is a link to a funny little animation.
planty eyes
I think I put this link up about a year ago, but on watching it again I thought,
well it's so quirky I'll pop it up again...
nice 'authentic' camera movement.


More smokey Melbourne.

ex graphic investigators

The flowers have come out and purpled up my view.

I had an email out of the blue last week. From a chap called Ronald. Ah these ex-Graphic Investigators popping up all over the place. He is making interesting things, as you can imagine one does after four years floating around on the Graphix boat.

Here a link to one of his projects
left sensory bypass.




Here look, another. Greg Harrison printing. Saturday before last at APW.





















Here is my shining plate - ready for a swift hardground before getting booted out of the workshop at 5pm by secret-booner Waz. It was that smokey stinkingly hot day. 42 degrees I believe.



I wonder what Mr Jonathan Nix is up to? He is another.

And Edwin ofcourse: Edwin Gardiner
hmmm, those paintings.... Nice to see that he is graced by Morandi's presence.

There was a Morandi exhibition up in Sydney...1998? or 99? Centre for Contemporary Art.. How beautiful it was.

Here an article by Robin Wallace-Crabbe on Artists books.

Christmas is at hand. O.F., Jan and myself popped up the Christmas tree on Saturday evening. Ah the excitement in my tummy at this time of the year when I was little. Being sent to bed before everybody else....(being the youngest of the clan. :) ....that plastic smell that new Barbie dolls had when Father Christmas had delivered his goodies... And mince pies, and Christmas Icecream....

mmmm

balloons

Words are flying out like endless rain in to a paper cup -
well, actually they're not, but they are doing relatively nice things on John Marsden's new blog. See here.



Here are some early morning cycling shots - taken with my phone...whilst riding, so forgive me for the quality.

Things are wrapping up for the year seemingly. I am listening to that Coldplay song called Talk - I quite love it because of the way it guitarifies a splendid Kraftwerk riff (though Kraftwerk would most likely call it a 'mel - oh - dee' not a riff.)

I haven't written since my trip to Whyalla - been a little busy, distracted and wot not. It was an interesting and entertaining workshop. David, Tracey and myself heard some intriguing stories about life in Whyalla from the various locals we met. The kids impressed me to no end with their ability to pick up and create such fabulous animations.

Last week Maria was in town so we had a little AIM reunion dinner at Chocolate Bhudda...actually it was the week before. Twas lovely to see the gang. Hoping I catch them all at the AIM screening on Tuesday evening.

Somebody sent me this link today - please note it is only to be viewed if you've ever drunk baileys from a shoe.
creamy beige

hectic ambling

I've been printing a bit of late and though the deadline is fast approaching it is really quite lovely to go into APW and smear ink onto a copper plate. I am feeling a little more confident with my printmaking skills...as with most things its something that will only improve with practice. I am starting to feel I have enough control over the process to almost get what I want. The one problem is that I can't hand wipe as my skin reacts to the ink. Probably a good thing... as it is quite toxic. Really I would like to dive in there with the palm of my hand though..for the finishing touch. Here is a picture of some prints from last weekend.










Yesterday I picked up my three images from the Hardcopy exhibition. News is...I won the Judges award. That was quite a surprise I must say. :)
Other news, well I am off to Whyalla (did I spell that correctly?) next week for another USMOB workshop. Its going to be a hectic November quite frankly..... somehow I still manage to maintain my ambling tardy-lady ways. :o

Life drawing was great this week. I started off feeling frustrated, thinking perhaps there are some days where I should just stick to strange little imaginary characters. Though by the end I felt satisfied, not so much with the final images but with the work I'd achieved from the drawing process. Here are a couple of the drawings..Bad photos I know. They were taken with my phone with the actual pictures on the floor of my studio.


An intense week full of deadlines, new opportunities, and some festival activities. I feel quite inspired at the moment I must say.




































Anna's legs






Look here are the roof tops I gaze over from my studio window.

..no

The answer is ..no. I haven't finished the comic. It is indeed a problematic one..that I'll persist with in late November when I have larger 'chunks' of time to devote to it. I am just about to embark on a bit of marking which I am looking forward to. My students have done an incredible job on their COMIC project, it is very inspiring to see the effort they've put in and the interesting comics they've come up with. Afew have printed them out and created some beautiful little comic booklets. How can we display this work I am wondering? Perhaps a blog could work, one for each class. We could upload both the digital files and photographs of the booklets.

Its a beautiful day. Heres hoping the wind doesn't whip a multitude of grass-dust-and seeds up my nose today, which it did yesterday. I turned up to work weeping and feeling as though I had a balloon full of mercury pressing around my brain..just behind my eyes. Awful stuff.

I am currently 'chatting' with Raj in Dubai. He seems to be a bit drunk. :)




Other blogs I am looking at:
Yoshio Ogino
Mr Gupta
Jingles has a new blog. Genja
Milty
Mik

News is - I have alot of work to do so I'll dart off now..and stop with this procrastinating waffle.

COMIC!

Eeek! Will I finish it in time?

Life Drawing

A peek at a drawing.
I went to life drawing last night. Yes its been awhile since I've participated in such an activity.





Three of my illustrations have been accepted into Hardcopy, an exhibition of Digital work at Gasworks Galleries in Albert Park. This little one is included.



Strangely, I've just had a 'tiff' with a good friend of mine, which normally I wouldn't blog about. Its just that it leaves my heart feeling a little inverted. Just after I'd gone through the Picasso/Dora Marr exhibition, which towards the end is a little sad. I was just pondering on the sensitivity of friendships.....hmm. Seemingly what Dora Marr held in her heart for half of her life, after her relationship with Picasso ended, was her time with him. It is amazing what we carry with us, and how our being is enriched by friendships. I remember an old friend of mine and myself spent our discussions on the subject of friendship - themes that siphened down from old Derridapants. Identity clusters inside us from a whole array of sources, and certainly friendships are the skeleton and indeed the flesh of our being. I sound a little like I've been on the Gin... (I haven't). Just pondering the whys and hows - and the inverted feeling I currently hold.

Elipses. I'll come back and add currency to my garble.

Gone

Pictured: Picnic's stop motion animated film LUMINARY








The last time I blogged I was in the Port Augusta Library - however I saved it as a draft...and looking back, well there really wasn't that much that I wrote about. Quite frankly.

Currently I am sitting up at ADOM enjoying the ambience. The two clusters of sudents (oops missed the 't'...ohwell) have departed after some interesting banter about their projects. So I am left here 'till 9:30pm. eek.

The USMOB project in Port Ausgusta was great. I was one of three in David V's team, providing resources for a small group of Port Augusta students to make films, and giving them the opportunity to animate (me being the animation 'wiz') . I love the animations that they created... I am hoping to pop one up here - with permission from the students. What is USMOB ?


Other NEWS. Which - actually - is relatively old....but I've not blogged you know...so don't blame me.. Yes, other news is that A Stowaway's Guide to the Pacific is onloine (oop another typo, ohwell).
Stowaway's

Stowaway's is a project I morphed my way into last year. Worked with a snazzy team of people. Was quite interesting. Though I have to say...I am really not 100% happy with the animations I did. They were a little hasty you might say. Considering the time frame given to complete said animations...this is kind of understandable, however I feel I would deal with such constraints differently now. Perhaps step back and plan my designs to suit the given deadlines rather than just dig in, animate, and discover that I can only get it done properly if I don't go to sleep. Which I did for a couple (of stints). The Dancing Skeletons. I don't mind those chaps. Anyway - you'll have to go to the site and check it out to see what I am ranting about. So, to rant on about something other than my small contribution to the project, you may well find it an interesting site. Interactive/educational/pitched at youth.

Picnic went to Russia. With his snaz film: Luminary

He met Regina Pessoa from Portugal. Her animation Tragic Story With Happy End was screened at MIAF this year. Lovely stuff.

Lucky chap.

Time to go!
Bye

Here I am

This is an old drawing, but I like it. Suits my current mood.


Hallo I am still here. Just wandered off briefly. Animation facts to note? Well MIAF was great. Lots of magnifique animations. That was a while ago.

The Springvale Monash Legal Services Child Neglect Advert is on TV. If you've not seen it you can have a look here on the SMLS website (linked flash file)

Current projects? Some old, some new...you know how it goes. Something horsey - that is to say..animating something horsey. Quite a challenge methinx...but thats a project for later down the track. I'm in an awful rush can't you tell. Catching a taxi at 5:15am tomorrow morning to the airport. Gosh too early. I'm off to Port Augusta to work on an animation project with some of the local youth. Should be great. Checkout the usmob site.



Bye.

Tease

The New Zealand comic anthology was launched on Friday night. You can order a copy here if you fancy: My Soiled Sample
You can sample it here


Almost there. That is to say I am almost at the point where I can pick up the Render Project again. I am both daunted and excited. I'm excited about having a couple of weeks where I can just work on one thing. (Hopefully)
Daunted because there are some issues that need to be resolved with one of the plates, which may involve tossing it off a cliff.

The Melbourne International Animation Festival opens tonight.
These pics are my 'teasers'

Animation

Oskar Fischinger
is featured in the latest issue of Tate ETC. Tate Modern (in London) are screening some of his work at the end of the month. Pictured below is an image of Fischinger's Wax Slicer that he invented in the 1920's to create his fascinating 'sliced-wax' animation technique. This seems to be the technique used by Peter Lord (in 1986 along with with Steven Johnson, Nick Park and the Bros QuaY..and others), in their animated filmclip for Peter Gabriel's song Sledghammer. Though it looks to be plasticine - and figurative rather than abstract. Nonetheless it presents a curious and refreshing effect. Well judging from what I've seen in Sledgehammer, I've not actually seen the Fischinger wax animations. Yet.




Fischinger's Wax Slicer

It'll be interesting to see his animation Spirals at this year's MIAF. I don't know if this one contains wax-sliced animations. I imagine the ones screening at the Tate Modern do. I'll have to nip over.

Good grief!

A spontanious sketch of musicians








A quick initial harp about Melbourne International Animation Festival

miaf


Well the tix are on sale and the program is out. I am most excited - particularly as there is a new Marv Newland animation. Also new work by Chris Hinton, and Steven Woloshen. I haven't spotted any Paul Driessen..but I've only scanned through the program quickly. Hinton's looks like it might be abstract.???? Can't wait.


Here are some jellyfish pictures from the aquarium visit I ventured on afew months back.









I am listening to a Miss Kitten remix called Greyscale For Slow Building, from Radio Caroline compilation. Very very pleasant.




Good grief! I've discovered that Deathcab For Cutie are playing the very week that I am going to be away in mid July. I am tempted to venture to Adelaide specifically to see them.

5 in the morning

Tim's bird

Comics news
Finally I finished the comic for NZ anthology. I 'digitally propelled' it over to the Zealand at 4:55 this morning. To be honest I'm not 100% happy with the overall design of the comic - My crafting of the tonal elements needed afew more draft stages methinx. We'll see, it might look okay printed.



Here is a sneak preview.

It's not published yet so I'll not upload it to scale, just a web-friendly-coloured version to get the gist.



See the link for Tim Danko's snazzy design.

In tune

Ferret, Frets, and floating

Tooday just wizzed by. Here I was thinking I had everything runnning accordian to plam.



News is: The 2nd new computer has made itself at home in my studio.
The new Ferret Face comic, which is finished though not composited, may or may not get into the NZ anthology. I have been stressed all weekend about it. Everytime I feel deeply engaged in its production I have to tear myself away and do things like.... watch James Morrison and Joe Cindamo (spell?) at Bennet's Lane, or wiz over to the Ollistar abode to watch TOTORO (what again?), or float around in the pool for an hour, or venture out to Curly Kiz'z opening, or amble down to the Hib's opening, or trot off to some glorious music explosion at Hamer Hall. OR I have to play my guitar for two hours. Everything GETS in the way.
....which has been kind of nice I must say. Is it called displacement behaviour? Or is it just me and my dizzy-slowpoke-comicscreation-mode?

hmmmm... I could be scanning.


Here, a couple of snapshots of Ferret Face comic in production. Featuring Fat Whippet (left), and Herman O. Stickwhipple (above)






Animator of the week
Koji Yamamura

I've had him in my mind for a few weeks, showed the class Mt Head recently. It only just struck me the other day how 'Noh Theatre' the narrator/sound/music is. I knew it was traditional japanese. Maybe I am wrong, its just the whole build up of anticipation in the voice..

Far away in New Zealand

Tim Danko (dead xerox), Indira, and Stefan are putting together a comic anthology titled MY SOILED SAMPLE.


Here is a sample of my comic in progress.

inks and anims

I haven't been writing here much of late. My soup of thoughts have been venturing elsewhere. Nonetheless I shall pop down afew links to things I have been looking at lately.

BFI British Film institute's page on animation. Unfortunately one can't view the mov clips which is a real shame as there are some great works listed.

See positively lovely short animation Badgered
Interview with Sharon Colman creator of Badgered link

Here is an ink pic I drew. Actually it's part of a diptych - will post other later.







Animatorz of the week Daniel Greaves and Dave Daniels. See
Tandem films


Also an interesting site with snazzy pictures from lovely old animations (UPA era) Cartoon Modern

Speaking of 'cartoons'......Have you finished that stinky June anim? I hear you ask.











Yes ofcourse.

$20

Is that all I'm worth!?



ebay
I wonder if the buyer thinks they are going to get some comic about bums



(Thanks John
and Greg for that)









New computer and new Stereolab Fab Four Suture. All very pleasant.

This little Chap is by Mark Craste, from an anim Still Night - I have mentioned it before I'm sure.

Shopping List

Here

I'm a little busy of late.
Almost finished 'Project June'
Al has produced some exquisite ukelele for it.
Nearly there, just have to keep working on the animated smell to make it look like a smell rather than a mysterious steamy waft.



I don't have much time to experiment with the "look" so it will probably remain a cartoony bright thing - which was the initial request.



Whats hamihami up to...

William at the NGV

Look
whats on!

A print.

Thunder, lightening......blackout. Just as I was about to print.







Next day.









Inking up









Ready to print.




Here is a 'bit' of the etching.

The plate needs alot more work.....as do the other two. My enthusiasm hasn't waned as yet - even though I am continually realising that the time I need to complete what I want to achieve is ....far...greater than what I had initially planned and proposed. Hmmm..sounds familiar.

Leaving Megalo soon. Its all gone so fast - I've tried to stretch time. It has been fantastic. ...I'll fill you in later.



Animated Exeter

Wish I could be there. Particularly for the screening of The Snowman in Exeter Cathedral.