29Mar
I visited Kinokuniya Sydney today (for Japanese language study purposes ONLY … not). I noticed they currently have 3 – 4 rather nice amigurumi books in stock. The books are around the $30 AUD mark, a couple of copies of some. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen most of the books online, nonetheless, they are good looking and have clear photo instructions.
So, did I buy some amigurumi books? Umm, no. Why not, I hear you ask? Well, several reasons. There’s a definite upper limit to the amount of cuteness I can handle. Sure, I like cute stuff, but there’s a point at which the head is just too big, too distorted. I think my limit is rather lower than other people who are interested in “crafting Japanese”. (By the way, there’s an interesting post on that phenomenon “country craft” 2006 Spring edition. I noticed a lot of (French??) country style inspired magazines actually. Wonder why?
28Mar
For me, monsters are as much about what you don’t see (but imagine) as what you do see. They are also so much bigger than you, just as everything must seem so big to little A. Still, this could be a friendly monster, it might be reaching out to touch the child’s hand, or the child might be reaching out to touch it.
Materials: cut up magazines, staples, texta, pencil. I’ve been wanting to try collage ;D
24Mar
The things on my desk, from left to right: A red apple-shaped ceramic container, from a grocery store in Cabramatta, bought maybe a year ago. There were lots of colours at the store, but red’s my favourite. The design is plum blossom and bamboo. Blue/green ceramic jar, from Glebe markets, around 1997. I have a matching teapot, and the guy selling the teapot said if I left the jar a week, it’d be sold. I came back next week, and it was still there! Pretty green tea tin, from a Marrickville Asian grocer’s. Black ink, from Chinatown. Hand-painted pot, from a pavement / moving house sale in Redfern. I think they’re all beautiful, and all under AU$10 when I bought them ;D.
Mood: First assignments done, maybe I can do some craft this weekend … before I start on the next lot of assignments
23Mar
Nup. Some days, I’m just not inspired. Or maybe it’s the topic, or the drawing from life (which I rarely get to try). I’m showing you guys, as part of the discpline of doing a drawing every week. Suppose some weeks it will work well, like last week, and some weeks it won’t. Rest assured, A’s feet are quite normal for a 9 month old ;D
21Mar
… learning Japanese. Above is the simplest, first letter, ‘a’ or あ. In Hiragana, the native-words syllable system. It’s an interesting process, learning to write again – starting to feel comfortable that it’s my hand writing the letters, that they’re part of my world now, not just some foreign (VERY FOREIGN) script. I guess it’s a process that illustrators must go through to develop their style, their look. When I get time, I’d like to try and find faces I like, as Lynn Roberts / mollychicken has recently.
