Karaoke!

OK, who doesn't like Karaoke? Only people who haven't tried it at The Apostles, that's who! So, a silly bit of fun deserves a silly, fun poster. Naturally, I updated this poster, with myself and a few of the staff of The Apostles.

Also, while I did not video my amazing rendition of All These Things That I've Done, I did get the other 3 people in the poster, so here they are for your enjoyment (and also one of our patrons, who was just amazing:

©2010 James Mathurin

Rediscovered pieces

It's amazing how good computers are at making it hard to find stuff. My first night back from Australia, I found a few things that I believed had been lost for good, so here they are. Ikeabot returns, on a design that was meant to be folded in four as a leaflet. Looking at it does make me realise how far I've come since then, as I can see about a hundred things I'd like to redo in it. I also found a better quality version of the page I had to scan in the original post.

This is  another response to an editorial brief on the idea of holidays in hot and cold places. I prefer this to the first idea I had (the first image on this entry).

©2010 James Mathurin

A few more sketches from Australia

These are just a couple more things I did in Australia.

©2010 James Mathurin

Train sketches

Again, as an exercise in doing some different inking styles, I did a few observational (and a couple of imaginary) sketches while I was riding around Sydney.

©2010 James Mathurin

Windsor (the Australian one)

One thing that's slightly strange about going around Australia is the number of places that were named after British towns by the European settlers. I went past a Richmond, Croydon and many others, including a small country town called Windsor, whose main claim to fame is the flabbit (flying rabbit), a creature created by a hoaxer and which now adorns their posters and flags. I also did these sketches of the river that borders the town, a colonial house, Willy Wagtails and a boat out on the river and a lorikeet.

©2010 James Mathurin

Art Gallery of New South Wales

These are some sketches I did in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which is an absolutely fantastic place, which really highlights the individual character of Australian art, as well as having some great pieces from around the world. Although I sketched in pencil at the gallery, I was keen to try some different inking techniques, something a bit less busy, as an alternative to the cross-hatching I like. I'm quite happy with the results.

The pieces are Circe and The Dancer by Bertram Mackennal.

©2010 James Mathurin

Benini @ the Powerhouse Museum

Sydney has some great museums and galleries, and I really enjoyed the Powerhouse Museum. Slightly surprisingly, for a science and engineering museum, they also had a collection of photographs by the fashion photographer Bruno Benini, which I did a few sketches of, and some photographs.

©2010 James Mathurin

Sketches from Sydney

So, I am back from Sydney, and back to doing some more regular updates for the blog. While I was there, it's not a big shock that I did some sketches and stuff as I went around, and I'll share a few of those as I get back into doing some new illustration work.

The first one I wanted to put up was a couple of sketches I did in Sydney's beautiful Chinese Garden. If you're in the city, this is a fantastic place to go, incredibly relaxing, and I loved the  way they make use of the incongruous urban surroundings to highlight the importance of Yin / Yang - style balance. The first is of the Moon Gate, and the second is of a lizard I spotted basking on a rock. I've also included my photographs of the two subjects, for context.

©2010 James Mathurin