Recently I was commissioned by a lovely couple from Victoria, to paint a commission of them (to be) on their wedding day, and turn it into wedding invitations. I painted the picture for the front (which they get to keep), designed the inside of the cards, and created thank-you cards for them too.

I hope they and their guests love them, and I wish them both a gorgeous wedding day and marriage!

This weekend we attended to the wedding of some friends. The groom is a cartoonist and the wedding was held in a gallery. Instead of wedding gifts they asked each guest to create a cartoon or illustration to hang in the gallery for their wedding.

The gallery, in turn, is holding an exhibition of them all, not just for one night, but for the next few weeks. There were over 60 works, and they were amazing!

The Wedding Show
May 27- June 17
The Bunker Gallery
Coffs Harbour, NSW.

They have matching tattoos, and the strength of their relationship was very clear. I’m hoping that even though I didn’t get to know them, I still managed to capture their connection.

A commissioned portrait and wedding invitation design… this one a little closer to home.

I got to paddle in cool mountain streams, and bask beneath big trees in July… well on paper at least!

I delved deep into two commissions… each for couples celebrating their anniversaries, each couple enjoys the outdoors and has a love of nature, and kayaking down creeks, each are yet to have children, but are devoted and in love with their pets.

The difference was that one couple lives in Sydney, Australia, the other in Minnesota, USA.

Once again I wove lots of symbolism and metaphor into these works, and had a lovely time doing it too.

A few months ago I was asked to create a commission and turn it into wedding invitations for some friends. The initial painting is bright and clear, but for the printed invitations we toned the colours back a bit and had them printed on cream cardstock, giving them a more vintage, art nouveau feel. Now the invitations are out, I’m looking forward to the wedding in April

The months leading up to Christmas are always busy with commission orders. This season was no different. Commissions this year spread from the Blue Mountains to Winnipeg in Canada!

My heart was stolen in April, by the vividly painted faces of the tribes people in Papua New Guinea, and although I have never travelled there, these folk have taken me to another place as my studio fills with brightly patterned faces.

The commission I mentioned last month has arrived to its patron, and has been given to her best friend as a gift. Now both recipients have seen the painting I can show it without spoiling the surprise. It was a gift from one to another, to mark the pregnancy of her first child. Molly sent me the most beautiful email of thanks explaining her interpretation of all of the elements, and also sent me a photo of the work after she had it framed. It’s so great to get feedback.
See the finished piece in the Gallery section of this site.

A couple of weeks ago I met up with some locals to help paint a series of murals for the upcoming annual fair of this little community. The paintings, that feature flora and fauna native to this area, will be displayed around the streets on the weekend of the fair at the end of May. It was a cool way of meeting some of the locals in my new town, not to mention learn about the native wildlife that I’m now surrounded by.

Also in April I contributed an acrylic painting to a local art exhibition. It’s not my usual style or technique, but it’s good to challenge the rustiness sometimes, and to break the “golden rule” of art teaching to never use outlines. Here’s a little bit of it…