Saturday, September 18, 2021

Yellow Diggers & Wearable Art

Where did that half year go? In daze of book illustrations, more lockdowns and many cancellations for me at least. Just before this current lockdown, my publishers at Scholastic NZ sent me an advance copy of the lastest Little Yellow Digger Book written by Peter Gilderdale and illustrated by me! But it got lost somewhere on the way from Auckland and magically, 5 weeks later turned up on my doorstep. 

Better late than never- just like the ship stuck in the Suez, which inspired this book. It's due out in shops next month in October and I hope The Little Yellow Digger and The Big Ship brings lots of kids yellow digger joy!


In other news, I'm getting a new website made. I'll post a link to it when it's live and it will look pretty nice and easy to navigate with emphasis on my book illustration and Wearable Art. 

Speaking of WOW, you will have heard that it's been covidly cancelled which is super gutting for all of us- the WOW team, the production crew and last but not least and actually the whole point of the show, the designers. Bruce Mahalski and I will have to wait and see how our collaborative finalist entry did when the team decide how to show them at a virtual event/exhibition. And no, they won't just move over the 2022 show as that's a whole new theme. I hope by time this year is done we can show you how our creation looks (spoiler alert- it's AMAZING!) These are challenging times for the arts thats for sure.

Bruce meanwhile has been busy organising the next Great New Zealand Poster competition, this time for youth.

This year’s one has the slogan - Kia pai ake tātou! – We can do better!  

Watch his video here talking about his inspiration for the project.

You can support this fantastic initiative by chipping in at Boosted for the prizes here. It would be a huge help and get young peoples art out into the streets!

I am running another Draw Like an Artist holiday programme, these October School Holidays, this time in Christchurch. Here are the details!

In the meantime, take care, wear your mask and get vaccinated.