Featured in Rockport Publishers' 1,000 Dog Portraits book!

6 months in and so far 2014 has been an amazing, whirlwind, non-stop, jam-packed, exhilarating adventure - so jam-packed that time to blog has been absolutely non-existent! But for the next 6 months and onwards, I intend to get better at blogging and let you in on this exciting adventure!

So to kick off, I'd like to share some fantastic news I received earlier this year - an illustration of mine was selected to appear in Rockport Publishers' new book, 1,000 Dog Portraits by Robynne Raye!

With 1000 illustrations of hounds, herding dogs, mutts, terriers, beagles, pugs and every dog you can think of, in 1000 different interpretations and styles (quirky, realistic, collage, paintings, drawings etc) this book is sure to be a great collection for all you canine lovers!

It is such an honour to be featured alongside the likes of Debbie Millman , Marian Bantjes , Robynne Raye (Modern Dog Design Co.) , Jessie Hartland , Joey Ellis , and a plethora of incredibly talented illustrators and designers!

It is also with a lot of mixed emotion that I share this news - at the end of that very same week after hearing such great news of being featured in the book, we lost the very family pet I had illustrated, to tick bite fever - how much life can change in the space of a week.

Sometimes life unfurls in the most mysterious, ironic ways. 

~ For Lily AKA "Lilybug" "Woolly" "Woolligan" ~ 

~ 22 November 2011 - 15 April 2014 ~

Airport Awesomeness III

Don't mind me as I pore over pretty pictures of all things airport and flying related. (Yes, I am obsessed with airports and flying. And yes there are also two previous posts on pretty pictures of all things airport and flying related - here and here).

At the Airport by Marco Goran Romano

A colouring-in page by Miriam Bos for Transavia Airlines

A photograph for Macquarie Private Bank's Brand Book, by SouthSouthWest 

A spread from Graphic Design for Rainy Days by Studio 3

Late afternoon departure by e2kmaster

Illustration by Marc Boutavant

Photograph by Mark Wagtendonk

Hakodate Airport, Hokkaido by Ryo Takemasa

Illustration from the Visual Grammar Student Book by James Gilleard

Illustration by Rami Niemi for Monocle

Love this Expedia print campaign by Ogilvy London via Creative Review

Photograph entitled "Cleared for Landing"

Illustration by Timba Smits

Venetia Scott for Paule Ka's 2012 Fall line, featuring Caroline Trentini

Airport Runway prints by Nomo

Aerial images of famous airports by Jeffrey Milstein. 

Pictured here: Newark Airport.

Airport Code pillows by Airportag

Illustration by Atsushi Hara

Bright Night piece for .M Contemporary Gallery

What an incredible honour it was to be invited along with my other fellow Alexander Bander's and amazingly talented high profile South African illustrators to create a one-off print for the .M Contemporary group exhibition, "The Path Less Deconstructed" in Sydney, Australia, running from the 14th December 2013 to 1st February 2014. 

It is just incredible to think that a piece I created here in Cape Town, South Africa is not even on the same continent but elsewhere in the world!

Following is the piece I created, some detail shots as well as an artist's statement on what the piece is about - I hope you like!

For the topic of “ The Path Less Deconstructed”, I looked to that which inspires me most in my work and my analytical albeit playful nature, namely the city at night. I am fascinated by the architecture that can be found in my city: a contrasting mix of sleek modern and 18th century decorative buildings juxtaposed alongside each other, especially the patterns of windows, façade details and building shapes that become starker after dusk. At night in the city, there is an unspoken air of excitement – the feeling that the evening could take you on an adventure anywhere, never quite knowing what you may discover along the way. I see the city as a playground with the carousel as its whimsical heartbeat, the symbol of childhood dreams that never quite leave you; a place to be explored and re-explored, a place of great excitement, of intersecting lives and unlimited possibility. It is at night in the city that I feel most alive and most at home.

Some detail shots

Some pictures of the piece up at .M Contemporary

Many thanks to Emma Cook heading up Alexander's Band and .M Contemporary for organising such an amazing opportunity!

It's A Shape Christmas 2013

I was very honoured to be selected again to create a piece for this year's It's A Shape Christmas!

It's A Shape Christmas is an interactive advent calender, in which 25 creatives (illustrators, typographers, designers and photographers) are each given a particular shape to work with and give a Christmas slant to it. (I was given a pentagon to work with.) Each day a different creative's piece of work is revealed. There are iPhone and iPad downloads of each image for each day and there's also the option to donate some coinage before downloading to the Wood Street Mission, a Manchester based charity that helps and supports families, especially at Christmas time, so please support a good cause!

Yesterday was the reveal date for my submission! Here are a few detail shots of the final piece.

You can view the full piece online here at It's A Shape Christmas.

My submission for last year's It's A Shape Christmas can be seen here.

Between 10 and 5 Feature

Being an avid reader of Between 10 And 5, I was very honoured to be contacted for a feature on their site! You can read the full interview here.

Featured on The Wall Breakers!

Yesterday I was very happy and delighted to see that I was featured on The Wall Breakers site! Such an honour!

Read their very lovely feature here.

On the Boardwalk

Yet another ridiculously busy month, September has flown by as quickly as it started! There's something about this quarter of the year - time seems to launch into warp speed compared to the slow crawl of time at the beginning of the year. So crazy to think that there are just 12 weekends to Christmas..!

A deluge of posts to still come, but let me kick off with this illustration I recently completed for a soon-to-be-launched Australian dog accessories company. One of the many items they sell are hawaiian dog coats, as pictured. I had so much fun on this and it was so lovely to work with such bright, summery colours especially on some of those very rainy days we had in September!

Some detail shots: