Snowgum Brewery & other tidbits

         

I’m nearing the end of my graphic design program (almost finished!) and the current task was to design a package label for something, anything: I chose to do a label for my husband’s home brew. I’ll admit that the ‘client’ here is a bit biased; however, the snowgum tree logo and associated beer bottle labels were quite well received!

I also had an assignment to do an entire company brand (logo + letterhead, business card, and envelope design). I opted to redo the ANU logo – a daunting task! I wanted to courageously tackle the ideas of classicism and university shields while also propelling the forward thinking nature of a university. I think the toughest part about a university logo is the audience – the logo must appeal to Nobel laureates, academics, emeritus professors, and high school senior students looking for freshness in their potential university! Did I do a good job? You be the judge.

 

[I should state here that this was in no way commissioned by ANU, nor should it be used for any such official purpose: it was made purely for fun (unless(until?) ANU decides to buy it from me!)]

 

 

 

 

Nicholas

A photo of my friend Jill’s baby grandson was so cute, that I just had to do a little sketch! It’s almost as if he is 6 months old going on 40!!

corset cake!

We were asked to make a corset cake for my calligraphy teacher’s son’s wedding – and wow, it turned out alright! We had so much fun joking about “which part do you want to work on Honey”, and of course we heard that there were similar jokes about eating it during the reception! (Yes, I made the black roses, one hour each; no, we did not make the figurines, although I did add the wings.)

birthdays

I calligraphed the menu (modeled after my friend Deirdre’s script from the workshop she led!) and cooked all the food from scratch. I really do love my hubby. Please visit Deirdre’s website if you want to see her work http://www.calligraphicworks.com/

hackers

So my art blog and photo site was hacked by some guys in Russia. I didn’t realize that my art sketches were that good…. This is a default appearance until I find time to revamp the blog. Thanks to my cousin Jason for figuring it out !

Émile Zola

I got a new (well, it’s vintage, so new to me) Blackbird fountain pen. So much fun! Here’s one of my first sketches with it (after a Manet painting…)

I certainly am wavering between two styles – wanting to do more of a Brent Harris’s Leo Schofield type thing, like my life drawing (with Gillot 303 nib) from a few weeks ago:

; but instead my hand simply cannot seem to get away from detailed sketches, like my graphite renditions of Jannis and Nick below.

It’ll be interesting to see where my hand takes me in the next few months… My favourite calligraphy nib (the Gillott 303) has significantly more flex than the Blackbird. But the Blackbird is good fun in the meantime and for regular writing too.

cakes

Our most recent creative food pursuits: wedding cake for Oliver & Sazz (fresh not edible roses) and the birthday cake for Adam.

25 yrs

The Canberra Calligraphy Society celebrates 25 years this year. We had a little party at the AGM two weeks ago. Nick and I made the cake, fashioned after a William Mitchell Scroll Nib.

shadow mapping

Intimidated by the beard on the model at drawing class last night, I decided to try out a new technique – shadow mapping, still using my copperplate nib – and received a really wonderful compliment on showing this and the last few Copperplate Portraits (as I call them) to my Art Friend. Thanks John :)

just before a swim

I did this one a few weeks ago and still quite like it. She’s part of my Emotion Of The Day sketches that are still continuing strong. I’m quite struggling with shoulders for non-frontal views, but I can see improvement, so that’s good.