Lockdown local (and a long story about Olive and the Westographer!)

Melbourne’s currently in week 1,000 of COVID lockdown (or at least that’s how it feels sometimes), which means most of us can’t travel more than 5km from our homes. While that can feel extremely limiting, especially if your friends and family are local but more than 5km away, I’m trying to focus on the positive things. One big positive - it means I’m slowly discovering every little green section of my zone, and I’m going on lots of walks in my neighbourhood.

One house that I walk past all the time used to have the sweetest garden, tended by its owner, an elderly lady named Olive. I met Olive briefly one day a few years ago, when I was walking by just as local legend photographer the Westographer, aka Warren Kirk, was photographing Olive and her house. Sadly Olive moved on not long after that and since then, the house has fallen into a state of decay. I was lamenting this recently, on a local lockdown walk, but then I realised I could bring the house back to its former state of glory by drawing it as it was, based on the Westographer’s photo. So that’s what I did. Above is a shot of the pen and ink drawing in my notebook, and below is how it looks after it’s been digitised and coloured (and yes, I take liberties here - Olive did not have a pink house :) Nothing like a good old lockdown to get you looking closely at what’s around you!

If you like it, West Footscray House is now available as a fine art print, in A4 and A3 sizes.

The finished art print, after the illustration has been coloured and printed.

Thanks to Warren Kirk, AKA the Westographer, for permission to reference his photo. Warren is a photographer who captures a world that is quickly disappearing, and is the author of multiple books, including Westography (2016), Suburbia (2018) and Northside (due out late September 2020). He also shares his shots on Flickr.

Together Forever

With the lockdown here in Melbourne extended for a WHILE LONGER, I need something to keep my mind off things, and what better way to do this than a new colouring in sheet (or 30!) My illustration is part of a project from the fab Together Gallery (ie: Claire Ritchie and Luke John Matthew Arnold) and this time they’re tackling the whole alphabet. I was lucky enough to illustrate the letter F and after much deliberation, decided the most important F at the moment is flowers, one of the few things getting me through this crazy time. Get your pencils and textas out and don’t forget to share your work on social media #togethergallery.

More Colouring In Fun

I’m so humbled to be one of 16 illustrators contributing to Edition 1 of Happy Colouring, a free downloadable colouring book from local not-for-profit LiftMeUp. The work is all SO GREAT (other illustrators include Brook Gossen, Melanie Johnsson and Sebastian Curi) and I cannot wait to get colouring. And let’s face it, who doesn’t need a bit of a distraction and some chill-out time in the midst of a global pandemic?! And don’t forget to share your creations @liftmeup.aus on Instagram

LiftMeUp is a Melbourne-based charitable organisation that provides free support group sessions and social events to connect people experiencing loneliness, social isolation, depression and other mental health issues. They rely 100% on donations, so see the website if you want to learn more or support the important work they do.

Downloadable Colouring in Sheet of a Fitzroy house for Together Gallery

I hope everyone’s doing OK out there, in these times of COVID-19. To try and bring some fun and distraction into our lives, Claire Ritchie and Luke John Matthew Arnold have created Together Gallery, where they’ll be sharing creative projects that will inspire and uplift you, as well as introducing you to an array of incredible artists from around the world. The first project is called Colour Full, consisting of a series of downloadable colouring in pages, and I’m thrilled to have a little Fitzroy house drawing included. Get colouring and share what you create - share on Instagram @togethergallery and tag with #togethergallery

New Yallourn House print & a bit of history

OK, so I *may* have an addiction to drawing houses. Often pastel coloured, wonky houses. Some are houses I go past all the time and some are houses I used to live near but the latest fits neither of those categories - not only have I never seen this house, I can't see it because it doesn't exist anymore*. In fact, the town it's from doesn't exist anymore either.

So what is this place and why did I draw it? It's from a town called Yallourn, which was built by Victoria's State Electricity Commission to house the workers of Victoria's open-cut brown coal mines in East Gippsland. It's also the town that my dad grew up in and it looked to be a wonderland of green spaces with a vibrant, engaged community. But it's a town I never got to see because it was all but gone by the early 1980s. You see as the mine expanded, it swallowed up the whole area, and all of Yallourn. You can read a bit more about it here on the new house print's shop listing page here.

So that's the story with the latest house drawing. And even without knowing the background story, I still think it's just a very cute little house and I do hope you like it. 

X Susan

* When I say the house doesn't exist anymore that may not actually be the case. A lot of the houses from Yallourn were simple constructions - a timber frame with weatherboard cladding - and were removed and relocated to towns nearby and also far away. So if you're ever in the Latrobe Valley region keep a look out and you might just see this house, or one like it. How cool is that?

Hello 2018

Yep, it's most definitely 2018 now but it took a while for the year to kick in here, due to a bit of an unexpected and crap end to last year. My advice: don't get food poisoning on Christmas Day, then faint with a glass of water in your hand and end up in hospital, needing plastic surgery on Boxing Day. Yes, that really happened to me. But there's nothing like being incapacitated to reevaluate your life and the point of your existence (and what you'll do with yourself if you can't take photos/draw/paint/use a mouse etc etc.)

Stitches!

And more stitches, just before they came out.

I'm glad to say that my hands are nearly all better, which I am sooo grateful for, and now I cannot wait to see what cool stuff awaits in 2018. At the moment I'm dedicating a bit of time each day to drawing (mainly because I'm so happy that I can draw) and have just listed a brand new drawing called North Carlton Houses, I've just sent off my first textile design to be digitally printed as fabric yardage (I really want to make myself some outfits from my own textile designs), I have a new batch of earrings waiting to be fired in the kiln and I am trying to finalise the design of a new multi-coloured screen print. Oh, and I can not stop taking photos and more photos. Hope your 2018 is going great. 

Digitally printed textiles! This is a sample I designed and had printed last year.

This brand new print, North Carlton Houses, has just been listed in the store