The work of Su Blackwell is spectacular and inspiring. She turns books into magical scenes. Check out more of the work of Su Blackwell, found via Visualingual.

Labels: art, birds, books, owl, sculpture, Su Blackwell, tree, Visualingual

I have just come back from a short trip to Melbourne to check out the design scene there. The street culture there is seriously awesome!
I was lucky enough to find the paste-up work of one of my favourite artists, Ghostpatrol (right) and even luckier to check out Nesting and Dying, the exhibition currently on featuring him and his girlfriend, Miso.
His work is so dreamy and seems simple but has a lot of deapth. I love the style of the children he creates and the way they interact with the animals they often inhabit.
I didn't know the work of Miso before the exhibition but I really enjoyed her work too, it complemented Ghostpatrol's really well too.
I would have loved to have purchased some of the work there but it was a bit out of my price range, I did come away with the book though, also available online.
Nesting and Dying is on at the Metro 5 Gallery until November 9 in Armadale, Melbourne. Check out the Metro 5 site for more details. Find out more about Miso or go see more of Ghostpatrol's work on his site.

Labels: art, Australia, books, Ghostpatrol, graffiti, Melbourne, Miso

In the Tuesday edition of Ed!, The West Australian Newspaper's education liftout, my cover illustration was published.
I had a lot of fun researching the Jacobsen egg chair. I would love to get a small one like this for my little nephews to snuggle into while they read.
If you're a West Australian and have Tuesday's edition of the paper floating around, check it out.

Labels: books, boy, chair, child, Ed, illustration, library, Scott Cain, The West Australian Newspaper

The flickr photo pool called Eye Candy - trippy hippy kid's books from the 60's and 70's is definitely worth checking out. Some of the images submitted would seriously make you wonder if it were for kids or for spaced out 60's teenagers, ger-roovy!
This example is probably one of the less strange but I love the overprint look, strong limited use of colour and you just know that it would feel a bit scratchy and smell like an old library.
At first it made me think about the cold war and Russia v USA at this period and perhaps this happy little penguin was a slim disguise for some pro-communist propaganda, but on closer inspection (and to show my naivety) it's Greek writing, not Russian, so perhaps even Greek penguins think about reaching the moon one day?
It would certainly be a welcome addition on my bookshelf!
Check out the Eye Candy.

Labels: art, books, flickr, illustration, penguin, space