Flowers for Friday

I've been practising various flower parts before I continue on with drawing WoW herbs.
Here's a few from the last month.

Last night's effort with a bit of colour using Aquarell watercolour pencils.

Gerbera

Various parts of the Moonpetal Lily, lily found around the pools in Shadowglen, Teldrassil. Collectible for a Night Elf quest. 

Poppy

Very quick sketch of a Songbell, grown by players in the farms of Valley of the Four Winds.

Click 14 Exhibition

At the end of this week Click 14, a photography exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery opens, and I have two photographs on show!

Opening night: Friday 17th October 6pm - 9pm

Location: 322 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

You can find out more information about the exhibition, and opening night at their Facebook event page.

Low side of the road

(after making this photograph I found it reminded me of the feel of Tom Waits music.)

Moor

The beginning of animal sketches

Yes I'm back over on blogger! I tried the blog over on my Shopify store but it just didn't 'feel' right, and I wasn't getting notified of people who had left comments which meant I was replying late and didn't feel happy about that.

So thought I'd start back with a few animal sketches I've done over the last month.

Two quick sketches of cats, I'm not really happy with these, although the first one is growing on me. The second the nose proportion is wrong and the chin is totally out.

The first marsupial I drew. It was originally supposed to be a small kangaroo like an Eastern Grey, but the more I look at it the more it reminds me of a sort of woodland rabbit.

My first attempt at antlers, something I want to expand on in the future.

I drew this long-eared animal while at the Mt Evelyn Community Market. I wanted to draw something with long ears and the rest evolved from that. I also played around with her colouring afterwards. 

She doesn't have a name yet, but she's very friendly. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments below! :)

Monash Militia Camp sign and book launch

100 years ago (Sir) John Monash and 3000 soldiers headed out to Lilydale and camped where the lake is now. They were out there for about a week and on the 13th they held a mock battle at Mount Mary.
To remember the event, yesterday a plaque and sign was unveiled at the hill above Lilydale Lake with information about the event. There was also a military band, guard of honour and volley salute to celebrate the unveiling. Afterwards a book with all the details of the week events and key people was launched at the Lilydale Lake community room.

Over the past few months I worked with Lilydale Rotary on designing the signage and Mt Evelyn RSL on designing the book layout. There will be a second sign unveiled on Thursday at Coldstream near where the Battle of Mount Mary was conducted.

I've done a few historic books in the past two years, but this is the first important piece of signage I've been involved in, so it was a great honour.

Below are a few photos I took during the event.

 

Anthony McAleer, author and historian

Michael Bennett - Great Grandson of Sir John Monash

Hon Ted Baillieu - Chair of the Victorian Anzac Centenary Committee

 

Photos below by Greg Carrick

 

Captain Bell - Adjutant 5th/6th RVR and Brigadier (retired) Michael Phelps AM unveiling the sign

 

Myself, Dave Monks (signwriter) and Anthony McAleer

Shaded Ladybirds

Been so busy and missed blogging!
I've been reading a lot of blogs the last few weeks with snow storms overseas. Enjoyed looking at all the cold photos while we've been melting in 40C temperatures.

About a week before the hot weather really hit I noticed a lot of little yellow eggs on one of our trees out the back. There were a couple of ladybirds wandering around them so I assumed they were ladybird eggs.

A few days into the hot weather I went for a walk around the house to make sure there were no birds needing water and noticed a bunch of ladybirds sitting in one spot on one of the trees.

They all seemed to be hiding from the heat, so I went and grabbed my camera to take a photo. When I got over to the tree I realised that all the ladybirds must have recently hatched because there were hundreds and they were hiding on every shaded spot on the tree.

Any other plant that was resting on the tree or climbing the tree (we have a fair bit of ivy) had ladybirds hiding behind each leaf.

2014 changes!

I've been working on some big plans for Tig's Garden in 2014. I'll be launching card packs, limited edition prints and moving my website to another system which will make it a lot easier to look after and offer more items through the website rather than just through Etsy and MadeIt.

One of the main changes will be with the blog. I've decided to break the blog up into two sections. The business side (with all business promotions, information, photo descriptions etc) will be hosted with the new website, while all the other fun stuff (photo journal, flower photos, dolls, awesome stuff I find on the net, games and other non-business related posts) will stay here!
After the change this blog will look a bit different and I'll be renaming it (haven't made a name decision yet), but it will still be full of awesome!

I hope everyone had a great and relaxing Christmas with friends and family.

And for those of you who play WoW, also have a happy Winter Veil!

The Lilies are open

Spring is officially here and the Arum Lilies have opened. I love seeing the various stages of opening as they start out as a thin upright line, turn into a squiggle and over a couple of days they've turned into a large bright white petal.