http://www.kerrymillard.com/index.htmlOn the Drawing BoardenKerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorCopyright 2008 Kerry Millard2010-07-04T09:30:22+10:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:20:44 +1000Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-07-04T09:30:22+10:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/b3c6ceb75ca7dd82d0ba5c038328de29-116.html#unique-entry-id-116http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/b3c6ceb75ca7dd82d0ba5c038328de29-116.html#unique-entry-id-116I mostly have my painter hat on at the moment - but next month is Book Week so I’ll be visiting a few schools to talk about illustrating and writing which will be fun!



Two of my paintings have gone out into the world and are with Gallery 41 in Woolloomooloo - inner Sydney in a gallery district - not far from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I’ve just become a member of the Art Gallery Society and so I will be going to a free (to members) viewing of the Paths to Abstraction exhibition which is running at the moment. It should be fantastic.



And the Gallery person who had to cancel our planned exhibition is back on deck and has asked if I’d like to give her a small collection of paintings to hang...so I said YES!!!! Exciting! A gallery in Tamworth would be happy to take a couple, as would one in Canberra, although the person at the latter called my work “decorative”. My back went up AND my nose out of joint. To me “decorative” means that its only purpose and value is in matching the curtains. Then I thought - hmmm...I suppose when it comes down to it, ALL paintings could be called decorative, because they all hang on walls! Anyway, she said that being the nation’s capital there are always politicians moving in and wanting to furnish houses. Come to think of it, we DO have an unexpected new Prime Minister since I last wrote, and there WILL probably be an election within the next few months, with possibly a few politicians involved...like I said, hmmm... I wonder what colours go with red hair...???

A few weeks ago I went for a bushwalk with my daughter. We have very similar navigational skills.

It’s chilly and I have the wood stove on. Cosy! I wonder how much longer we’ll be allowed to burn wood for heating? I love that in this modern day and age some of us still use the same source of heat as earliest humans. And I was reading “African Genesis” by Robert Ardrey and came to the bit about insects clustering together to form a flower that doesn’t actually exist in nature. I emailed a zoology professor of mine at the University of Toronto from 1975 and asked if they could be mimicking a flower which itself died out millions of years ago - he answered!!! He remembered me (red hair and pigtails) and said yes! Isn’t that thought exciting?!! They could be a living fossil in the most literal sense of the term!!!! I love this planet!!!!!




]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-06-12T20:37:15+10:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/6ce5c0e23c2a620700fc2fe5c4b353e4-115.html#unique-entry-id-115http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/6ce5c0e23c2a620700fc2fe5c4b353e4-115.html#unique-entry-id-115Something in the air or maybe It’s a bit bouncy out today...yup I think that’s it.

The exhibition is hung, the opening has been had as of last Sunday, it was a lovely afternoon with some very special bush tucker food, and several paintings will be going to new homes. The exhibition is a solo show of 49 works at Gordon Library running from June 3 to August 30 2010. I paint under my non nom de plume so it is called “Kerry Thompson - And now for something completely different...”

At the top of this page is a new little painting which I did today - first time I’ve had the chance to paint for weeks..apart from one which I did yesterday but which doesn’t photograph very well because there’s a lot of silver and opalescent paint on it. I had a bit of stage fright at first - what to paint - can I still paint - how to start - then just put colours I love on the palette, switched on the radio to music, and let the painting go where it wanted without trying to make it turn into anything. VERY fun and happy-making!!

It is cooling down as we move into winter, and I toast my toes by the wood stove every evening.



......I took my dog to the dog beach (Bayview) and was delighted by the house boat with a dog house. I guess it’s a doggy house boat with a boaty dog house. Or something.

I went for a bushwalk and found wonderful lichens, aboriginal rock carvings, and a tiny insect-catching sundew.







One item in the exhibition is called “Watch this space...” and I put new things up on an irregular basis. So far there has been this cartoon:



then I hung a little pink hat with a feather on it and this:


Hermit crab


Hermit crabs are known for their habit of living in second hand shells. It is not always good to be known for your habits. Luckily it isn’t something worse.

As it grows in size, the hermit crab has to abandon its old home and find something more up to date. As the hermit crab doesn’t get out much it can be a little hazy about what’s up to date.

Occasionally, a rare hermit crab will throw caution to the wind and move into something bold, possibly with feathers, which it always wanted to wear and which it thinks looks quite fetching, while at the same time, deep down, being a little worried that it just looks silly.




Pome:

I know a little hermit crab
She hides inside a shell.
I think she smiles when I go by,
It’s kind of hard to tell.

K.T.



A couple of days ago I changed “Watch this space...” again and hung an odd sock with this:



This is my favourite sock.

It used to be a pair but the other one has gone missing.

Where DO odd socks GO?

I think this one’s partner has gone to Perth.

Which makes me wonder, WHY do socks disappear?

We treat them as a pair, but when you come to think of it, only because they LOOK the same.

Maybe below the surface they are quite different and crave individuality.

Or maybe they both prefer the same foot and one gets tired of sharing.

Or maybe one finds a solemate in a sporty little anklet.

Or runs off with a shoe.




Hmmm...all food for thought.

Which makes me wonder about knives and forks...






Stay tuned...
]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-05-14T18:51:35+10:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/f340c061fc0a1acc55798ae5c39ce434-114.html#unique-entry-id-114http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/f340c061fc0a1acc55798ae5c39ce434-114.html#unique-entry-id-114
Some of the paintings were done on paper when I was in Western Australia over Christmas, and they’ve been framed with white mounts and frames and look fabulous!!!! I’ll try and get some photos over the next few days to show you.

One recent painting is called The tip
- a place where you can find pathos in the things we have left behind - a record of our progress and changing fashions and changing sense of values, and at the same time there’s something inherently funny seeing objects completely out of context - like a fridge or a bed on a hillside...



I’ve also been making up invitations and information cards for the exhibition........





There’s a great website for looking at photographs and paintings and writings by a worldwide group of people - it’s called RedBubble (www.RedBubble.com) and I’ve put work there under KerryThompson. Take a peek if you’d like an amazing way of seeing a whole spectrum of works from a whole spectrum of people!

It has cooled down in Sydney and I’m toasting my toes by the fire as we speak. Time for a cuppa!]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-04-24T13:56:10+10:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/18ce1113d88facb98431d871bda5c050-113.html#unique-entry-id-113http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/18ce1113d88facb98431d871bda5c050-113.html#unique-entry-id-113......

Last weekend I travelled to Bendemeer (Tamworth district, NSW Australia) for the opening of the “Colours of Autumn Bendemeer Art Show”. It was a new experience to see my work hanging amongst so many other people’s paintings. The countryside was lovely, people friendly, and I had a nourishing few days painting with friends under trees overlooking golden paddocks on their property.



As I drove up to and back from Bendemeer along the highway, I was bemused twice, once in each direction, when I hit the spot where signs call out,”FALLING ROCKS. DO NOT STOP” Something about these signs always seems very wrong. I mean, if I stop, what are the chances of a rock actually falling exactly where I am? On the other hand, I admit that if I stop, I’m in that particular spot and a sitting target for a lot longer than if I speed past, but back on the first hand again, if I speed past I’m likely to collect every rock that falls. It just seems a rather whimsical way of the roads and traffic authority to deal with boulders rolling onto the road...



Paddocks at the moment (autumn) are full of weeds and succulents and grasses that have devised all sorts of methods to pierce, cling to and travel along with you and your clothing. Pretty amazing to think that they have evolved to include socks in their life cycle...

”Cobbler’s pegs”

]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-04-04T17:25:55+10:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/bb4fbe37afde353969f182bbe349b688-112.html#unique-entry-id-112http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/bb4fbe37afde353969f182bbe349b688-112.html#unique-entry-id-112Gully gum

Susie, now 14, (my dog), I am convinced, is a bit touched with dementia. She is beginning to get excited about dinner earlier and earlier, in fact, almost directly after breakfast. Add to that the fact that today we went back onto eastern standard time so tea was that much later and you can understand why I was keen to take her up to the park to distract her for the extra hour until it was time for her dinner. As it turns out, my dinner was also an hour later so I had to hurry her back from the park so I could eat.

......

We have just had some lovely rain. Which is lucky. I installed a watering system comprising some of those hoses that leak water gently into the garden, and my ex fish pond pump lowered into the rainwater tank. Unfortunately, the pump doesn’t have enough oomph, particularly after slugs have left their silver trails sealing the hoses, so I haven’t bothered to turn it on. But because I have a watering system I haven’t thought to water the garden Hence my garden had almost expired when the rain started. Phew. Luckily the tank is now full. I expect it will be full for some time.



A friend took my very first batch of paintings away to go into an art show. They looked very exciting all tucked up in their bubble wrap, but I still feel a bit awful saying goodbye to them. They are going into the Colours of Autumn Bendemeer show, and I’ll go up for the opening to say hi to them. I don’t know whether I’ll be more disappointed if they don’t sell or if they do. I must get over that!




The latest paintings include a storm brewing in Tasmania.



Happy Easter Bunny!

]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-03-20T11:09:00+11:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/27a587e7b4660c35f9c247015da03579-111.html#unique-entry-id-111http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/27a587e7b4660c35f9c247015da03579-111.html#unique-entry-id-111...Yesterday a few friends and I had our first painting/creativity day. I have had a chat with Chroma who make the juicy oil paint-like acrylics I paint with, and they were happy to supply paints for this first, experimental workshop. Chroma pays painters to demonstrate their products; I wasn’t paid at this stage but was interested to try to work out how to set up a safe, playful, supportive environment where people could be brave enough to do something new. It went so well that there will be more - although we may need to find a bigger venue than my living room!

The idea was to approach it as a cross between kindergarten and a mad scientist’s laboratory - to explore and experiment and loosen up, not trying to finish with an artwork but rather enjoying what happens when you put this here, or smear that there, etc. A digital camera is great to capture a painting if you like it, so you can then keep going and make a mess of the whole thing!

I ended up with a forest as autumn approaches - I keep coming back to trees!

...............]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-03-05T10:13:31+11:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/ebbb789cd03da498249baba95c05e4f6-110.html#unique-entry-id-110http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/ebbb789cd03da498249baba95c05e4f6-110.html#unique-entry-id-110.........
The other day I went outside to tip some vegetable water on the garden and heard a huge racket above in the Queensland Firewheel tree. It was a group of rainbow lorikeets squabbling and rabble-rousing. The next time I went outside they were still at it, but there was a mighty rustling of leaves as well. I took a closer look and as I stood below, the leaf-rustling seemed to be descending through the tree towards me. A dark shape emerged, and I was eyeball-to-eyeball (albeit two of them were upside down) with a baby fruit bat! It had a band on its thumb so was clearly one of the orphans from a colony in the bush below me who had been hand-reared and were newly released.





I dashed for the camera and took a few snaps, then moved inside and watched from the kitchen so it could go about its business returning to the wild. You have to understand that my kitchen wall in all glass. So, having had my moments taking a good look at her, she flapped across to the palms outside the kitchen, moved as close to the window as she could get, and proceeded to take a good look at me. We looked at each other for some moments in our various gravitational orientations, she slipping on the palm branches and me wanting to commune with her while knowing I should let her get on with her re-orienting to nature. However, she seemed to be more oriented to me. I guessed she was still bonded to her carer.



In front of the house next door are some power lines where bats are often electrocuted as their wingtips span the gap between wires. I knew I should leave the baby alone but was afraid she might get zapped, so eventually ventured out with a stripey beach towel. She happily climbed aboard and half clung to it and half to my shoulder as I maneuvered through gates and down steps to a small fig tree below the house. I unpicked her claws from towel and tee shirt fabrics and deposited her on a branch, then dashed back to the stairs. I couldn’t resist watching to see what she would do. She looked about, then, like one of those triumphant scenes in a movie where out of the skies a wild creature comes to its human friend (the sort of thing you fantasised about in primary school - that’ll show them!), she spotted me and flapped across to land beside me. VERY exciting. But, I knew I should make myself scarce so did. Later she was asleep and clinging to a fig root on a cliff face below the house, so was comfortably out of the sun, and by the next morning she was gone. Sigh.
......
Other nature recently - a little spider who catches its prey in a tiny net which it casts over them, and a china duck who sits out front where our elderly duck used to rest. Susie, my dog, lies out with it the way she used to lie with its live predecessor............................
]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-02-20T21:50:48+11:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/9a4b4997dc086d5f68d65a3adb2203b1-109.html#unique-entry-id-109http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/9a4b4997dc086d5f68d65a3adb2203b1-109.html#unique-entry-id-109screencast while drawing a...well, you’ll just have to check it out...Click on the picture below and the magic of technology will let you experience exactly what I experience when cartooning! Note: I was well aware of challenging Newton’s first law of motion. However, SOMEBODY has to do it.

]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-02-15T20:39:46+11:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/15a6ce8b032bf765f74da2aa567d8c3e-108.html#unique-entry-id-108http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/15a6ce8b032bf765f74da2aa567d8c3e-108.html#unique-entry-id-108
Coco with her boots on - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada Dec 2007


Having discovered I need to re-size every photo I’ve ever put in my blog because in their current condition they are causing the house to tip sideways, it has been fun to trawl through my album and revisit places and excitements from the past few years...including a wonderful stay in Whitehorse in the Yukon at Christmas 2007. Read on and you’ll discover a connection with something which is unfolding, and in fact, is almost flat, as I type...



My dear friend Anne gave me her old and classic Yukon Parka which I lOVE (and this is a photo of me in it and loving it). It is currently hanging in my cupboard in Sydney...pining for the pines.

One HUGE excitement was dogsledding (mushing) by moonlight at 35 below zero (Celcius) on a frozen (natch) lake in the Yukon Territory, Canada, near Whitehorse just before Christmas. The young woman, Jocelyne, who took us out that night, (until the ice cracked beneath us and spooked the dogs) (and they weren’t the only ones...apparently the ice was metres thick and was just - repositioning - so nothing to worry about...NOW she tells us...) is at this minute running the “Yukon Quest” - a 1000 mile (!!!!!!!!) dogsledding race (1,600 km) where the competitors carry everything except food for the dogs which is dropped at intervals for them.
I think they expect to take 10 days! Phew!!! You can read about it and check their progress at www.yukonquest.com

(We went out again in daylight, hence the non moonlight looking photos.)

The landscape was incredibly beautiful and silent as it glid past (OK, glided. OK, yes, we were doing the gliding, but you know what I mean)


Sigh...




It was magical walking through the frozen forest, although even though I’d been assured bears would all be asleep, I couldn’t help myself from trying to tip-toe. Difficult in boots.


Winter photo sent to me by friend Nancy in Nova Scotia



]]>Kerry Millard - cartoonist illustrator authorNone2010-02-07T09:00:14+11:00http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/fe53b7717a4cf0f18c1a23efa5d3eaa0-107.html#unique-entry-id-107http://www.kerrymillard.com/page7/files/fe53b7717a4cf0f18c1a23efa5d3eaa0-107.html#unique-entry-id-107Bones

I sent off two entries for consideration for the Glover Tasmanian landscape painting prize but heard on Friday that my pieces were not selected as finalists. It would have been VERY exciting to be included but there’s always next year (and the year after, and the next one...) It means I can still look forward to the first time my paintings get recognition somewhere. My main reason for entering was to have photos of my work in the hands of the three judges who selected the finalists; fun to think of people in the art world seeing them. Of course, like a lot of artists, I suspect, there’s the skillfully camouflaged worry that the judges will take one look, see right through you and collapse in hysterics.
One would be mean to hope they get a stitch.

My paintings were based on a trip through the drought-stricken midlands of Tasmania in March 2009. The second was an attempt to simplify down to the essential elements. I think that is what I aspire to in painting - something which is fundamental to my work as a cartoonist and illustrator.

Bare bones


I’ve also met a lot of people in the Philippines this week as I spent hours and hours and HOURS creating a new website and getting a new domain and trying to point each at the other somewhere out there in the ether and having to ring at the end of my rope for technical, emotional and mental support. And yes, I DID check the FAQs... but you have to know which Q to ask, and if you know the question you probably know enough to solve the problem. Frankly I’d be EMBARRASSED to have Frequently Asked Questions on my website. If a question is being asked FREQUENTLY, doesn’t that suggest that your website DOESN’T GIVE PEOPLE ENOUGH INFORMATION!!!!!????? But the people in the Philippines were very nice. People in the Philippines are very nice. Probably why they got the job.

While cartooning and illustrating and writing under the nom de plume Kerry Millard, I am painting under my non-nom de plume Kerry Thompson. I have a new online gallery at www.kerrythompsonsgallery.com

At least, I think I do.

If so, take a look when you have a minute. If you have any questions, I can recommend the Philippines.



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