Cows don't get milked in a diary

Over the years a few people have asked us if we could make a diary. This was something I have always wanted to do, but in terms of production it was always daunting. Finally things have occurred to make this year the year we make a diary for next year. We have a new printer that makes it all a possibility, now it is just up to me and my brains and hands to get to designing it.

I made a mock up yesterday due to being a big old visual learner as I needed to have something real in front of me. There is lots of things to learn with the process which is fun, hard work, sometimes frustrating and you learn from lots of mistakes along the way (which is another way I love to learn). Once I had the mock up in my hands I felt so much better about the whole thing, suddenly it was possible. As it is just me doing all our design work I find things take a lot longer than you expect and you need to concentrate really hard to get them finished, a hard task when there are cats on the internet and cats running around outside. (There is an unspoken rule in our office, if you see a cat outside you yell out CAT CAT CAT and everyone runs out to look at it or sometimes if we are lucky, them. The cats will not let you pat them FYI).

Often when I have a job to do I imagine it finished so my brain automatically feels like it is done, but then when I have to start working on it I do all these silly jobs that make me feel like I'm accomplishing things when actually I'm not. I often feel bad about doing these things but I've come to discover they can be helpful in the whole beast that is THE CREATIVE PROCESS. Take for instance the front of the diary of the mock up in the picture above. That isn't the real front, I just spent time drawing with all my colours, having fun and avoiding the real task at hand of actually designing the real cover. Even though it isn't going to be the good copy I will use some of the ideas from that to create what will be the front. Hopefully it will be ready in time for 2013.

PS: If you want to follow us on Instagram we are ableandgame and we don't post photos of our lunch and we like every single cat photo that comes up on our feed. 

PPS: If you're after updates about the diary you might want to join up to our mailing list. The newsletter comes once a month and has new products, silly drawings, giveaways, things we like and other stuff like that. On the left of our blog there is a spot where you can join.

What we've been reading

Anna

I just finished Murikami's Sputnik Sweetheart a few weeks back. It is the second Murakami I've read, the first being The Windup Bird Chronicles. This was much shorter which made me a little sad as I think I wanted more from the story. I still enjoyed it though and there was another mention of a cat which I always like.

Based on the cover Gareth thinks it is about: Russians develop space sex dolls.


Gareth

Gareth just finished Bone In The Throat by Anthony Bourdain and said it was an easy to read Mafia story, with culinary overtones.

Based on the cover Anna thinks it is about: I already know it's about cooking and the mob so I'm guessing that it is about a restaurant that is taken over by the mob who force the chef into offing people by feeding them a meal that will make them choke, so it looks accidental. A rookie cop with a pet pig investigates.

Art Class

Next week I will be teaching an illustrating class at Do Re Me in Elsternwick. The class is for school age children and you can book online here. Last school holidays I taught a similar class and I was a little bit daunted by the idea of primary school aged children. The secondary teacher in me got to writing my lesson plan and I suddenly worried it might be too difficult, too fast paced or not fast paced enough and I would run out of activities. Lucky for me the girls in the class were clever, funny and creative and they kept up with the many tasks I gave them and did a huge amount of work in the 3 hours. I was impressed with how hard they worked, they almost filled the little sketchbooks they were given.

People often ask if I still miss teaching and I always say I miss the kids. You can be silly with them and have fun interesting conversations and they keep right up with the silliness. We had a great time in the last class drawing some very strange and odd situations (a man riding on a dog who is riding a motorbike) to get their creative minds going. At first they were a little surprised about drawing such odd situations but it really helped to set the scene and get them thinking about things differently. So if you have a school aged boy or girl (last time it was all girls so I would love to have a few boys!) then book a spot and they can impress me with their drawing skills.

Things for Spring

Time to do a little change of season retail therapy and dust away the winter cobwebs.

//ONE// Pretty yellow cardi from David Lawrence.

//TWO// A cute bird mobile from Snug Studio to move around because you can now leave the doors and windows open.

//THREE// Have a party, get a piñata and fill it with lollies (not just for kids).

//FOUR// Get a nice floral bag for all your shopping from Depeapa.
 

//FIVE// Bright bowls for the kitchen from Wind and Willow Home.

//Six//  Fluoro dotty leggings from Harvest Textiles.

Deep Fried Charming Potato Blocks

Over the road from our office is an old school takeaway sandwich shop that has probably been around for 30 years. When we get lazy and don't pack a lunch we pop over to get something to eat, usually a sandwich but sometimes something from the 'hot' section. Gareth loves it because they are the type of place that when you ask for one potato cake you get 3 (Gareth covers his with vinegar and says they are the closest thing to 'Scottish Chips' available in Australia).


We drove past yesterday as they were closing up and I said to Gareth, wouldn't it be fun to have a take away shop where everything has a silly name. Gareth came up with the name for hot chips and there is a little nod to Flemish/Dutch and Scotland in there as well. When I showed Gareth the deep fried pizza drawing he told me that it should have been called Tasty Crispy Oil Sponge.

Brains and stuff

This is how I'm feeling at the moment due to printer settings, duplex, 2 up, double sided and flipping paper around when it comes out of the printer.

D. Shrigley

David Shrigley is one of my favourite artists. When we were over in Scotland almost two years ago they had some of his work at the gallery in Glasgow and it was good to see them in real life rather than on the interwebs. We also got his book Man In A Room mentioned in the above video in the US. It's been sitting in the secret back pocket of my bag, still in its cello bag for about two and a half months. I like knowing it is there.

Artworks that contain lists, observations or collections of things are particular favourites of mine. Looking in people's studios is another favourite as I love to see where people work, what materials they use, how messy they are and what they stick on the wall. This video ticks all the boxes. This picture of a pizza David took also made me laugh as it does remind me of food in Glasgow, although maybe with a batter. I so hope deep fried battered chip pizza is a thing when we go back there.