Still Lifes - Pencil & Paper

Currently obsessed with watching Razia Sultan. It's very addictive. Exerting extreme self control by not allowing myself to watch it during the day in an attempt to draw (I may have lapsed in my self control once or twice). Here are a couple of still lifes I have completed recently. The first is for Ian who helped me last year make wood boards with a routed centre, as I wanted boards that looked like traditional icon boards. In return he asked me for a 6 hour drawing. I thought he might appreciate the measuring tape and the eclectic still life (including a wonderful steampunk sculpture by Dan Gittens) as his workshop is full of different types of wood and different things. I hope he likes it!

K Fisher (2018), Still Life for Ian, Pencil on watercolour paper [210 x 148 mm]

The other is a still life I did at a friend's house who went through a stage of collecting jugs. She said she stopped when she realised that a true collector has to collect items they don't like to have a proper collection. I found it quite amusing yesterday when she said she found something I did 'appalling'. I knew at the time she thought it was a bit naff but she hid her 'appalled' feeling very well! Chuckle. The sun is shining yet again - bliss!

K Fisher (2018), Still Life Vessels, Pencil on paper

Hessie, Sonita & the Dancing Squirrel

Howdy friends. As my sister rightly pointed out today, I have been terrible at keeping my blog up to date. The main reason for this is that I have been working on illustrating and designing a children's mini-chapter book (pitched at about 8-year olds) and haven't wanted to reveal too much until the book is printed. My collaborator, Rosemary who is the writer, and I are meeting with people this week to chat about getting it printed and we hope very much to get it out to you soon! 

In the mean time I have continued to work on projects for the children's book illustration course I am doing through London Art College. I am just about to submit Project 4 (finally!) and have to get the remaining 2 projects completed soon. Here is my submission of images (development and final for the exercise and project). I still have difficulty in finding a way to make the text work in well with the illustration (bold enough to read yet subtle enough to not distract from the image). Any feedback/suggestions on this is very welcome - as are any other comments. 

K Fisher (May 2018), Hessie and Sonita (Project 4 - The Cow Who Went Looking for a Friend (London Art College). Illustration, text, character name and development by K Fisher [406 x 305 mm]

K Fisher (May 2018), Hessie - character development

K Fisher (May 2018), Sonita - character development

K Fisher (March 2018), Dancing Squirrel 

K Fisher (March 2018), Squirrel character development

K Fisher (March 2018), Squirrel research drawings

Digital Illustration

I recently did a short course in Concept Art and Illustration with CG Spectrum, a College of Digital Art & Animation based in Melbourne. The course was phenomenal and our group mentor, Fabrizio Bortolussi, was super encouraging and gave good constructive criticism on how to make my work better. It was great to have weekly online Q&A sessions with other students from around the world and find out from Fab what it was like working in the industry and other questions we had. He is an amazing artist and I was inspired to do art every day, even if for an 1 or 2 hours to really improve. If I had the funds, I would definitely have gone to do their Diploma Course in Concept Art & Illustration. Here are the two pieces I completed on the course. 

I also now have a new website kirraleefisher.com

K Fisher, Hat Robot [2017] Digital Illustration [35x40cm]

K Fisher, Still Life [2017] Digital Illustration [38x50cm]

Oxford Street Art, Leederville

Currently working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I have just finished Week 4 and my Artist date this week was a trip to the buzzing cafe strip on Oxford Street, Leederville, Perth, to hang out with the Perthians. 

Part 1 enjoy street art, some photos below (there is a whole page of work you can find at https://www.streetsofperthwa.com/map/)

 Part 2 hot chocolate and colouring in therapy at Foam Cafe where I was nosey and asked the guy next to me what The Untethered Soul was about (the top book in his big book pile). He glowingly gave praise to it, so much so, I may need to read it myself. 

Part 3 watch the film Kedi at Luna Leederville. Definitely need a kitten in my life!

Part 4 markets in Murray Street. Incredibly lousy at resisting the temptation to eat a nutella and custard donut from the Italian Donut Company stall. Glad I didn't resist, I would've missed out on something pretty fantastic. 

Fintan Magee - Artist (Section close up)

Sh Ryo (?)  - Very sorry I can't figure out the artist...

Robert Jenkins - Artist

Greece, doughnuts & cheese pies

Lovely hot Greece, with your ancient ruins, modern cities, doughnut sellers on the beach and let us not forget your wonderful cheese pies! Oh and I dare not forget to mention the not to be missed cold chocolate drinks. Memorable moments. As always, mostly around food and drink! And the time when looking out over the water of Nafplio, watching the yachts go by, my friend spilling wine all over herself when we were all laughing at a joke. Nafplio had little alley ways, where al fresco dining spilled over into the walkways and shops selling paintings on found wood and miniature sculptures of ships and bikes in metal. I bought a little boat made of red metal, deliberating between the tug boat which was more bold and solid and the one I finally chose which was slighter in build but taller. I also bought a painting of a little boat with a background of a warm brown sky at a found wood store. The artist also painted icons on found shutters and twisted branches of trees. He said the icons weren't painted with egg tempera but egg and I think pigment. As my Greek is very minimal we couldn't quite communicate what the difference was. The icons I would have loved to have purchased but they were too big for my bag. 

On a very hot day in Athens we tried in vain to find the National Art Gallery, which we found had turned into a construction site and had been temporarily relocated to the suburbs. We stumbled instead across the Byzantine and Christian Museum, which if we had more time I think I would have explored further, and then we wandered along the streets to the city gardens. On the way we saw the changing of the guard, with pom poms on their shoes and their flamingo like dance as they walked in a focused manner on the pavement, their moustaches still and faces serious.

In our walking and in the search for sweet treats, we stumbled across these street art pieces. I love that the entire wall of this house has been made into a separate world and that the flying creature looks as if it is just about to launch into the blue sky above. And of course, I love these fish - the sad and happy ones and the scraggly tags in between.

Athens Street Art 1 - Photograph K Fisher (2017)

Athens Street Art 2 - Photograph K Fisher (2017)

On another day we visited the ruins of Ancient Corinth and the museum there, with its beautiful pottery from around 450BC. The painting on the pottery is still magnificent after all this time. The owl - symbol of the Goddess Athena and good fortune. I can almost see the scene on this vase as wall art itself.  

Ancient Corinth Museum Pottery - Photograph K Fisher (2017)

Sink City

Well it has taken 2 months to complete my exercise and final project for Sebastian's Under the Sink City. Still so much to learn - particularly about tonal values with watercolour and how to integrate watercolour effectively with ink. I am always worried about going in too hard with block colour and making things too flat, but I think in the final piece I probably held back too much and the colour wasn't bright and bold enough. Maybe the trick is to go full swing for the next piece, learn how far I can push it and make a mess and then back off a bit for the one after that. I enjoyed this project - and thanks to the wasp who landed in my bath a couple of months ago which inspired me to make lots of little wasps. I also learnt not to include text in the actual body of the work due to translation issues - but I am glad that I made that mistake now in a course, rather than later on. I also need to keep up to date with what subjects, styles and themes that are currently being covered by major publishers in the field of children's illustration. That is my to do list - what is yours?! Over the next 2 months, I am going to be focusing on the illustrations in my collaboration project. I can't wait to see what happens from there.

K Fisher, 2017, CBIC Exercise 2, Ink on Cartridge Paper

K Fisher, 2017, CBIC Project 2, Ink and Watercolour on watercolour paper

Under the Sink

Time seems to be flying. I think I missed my 10 year blog anniversary! Congratulations to me! I don't seem to be pushing on enough with my art as I would like to, so I am currently trying to re-navigate ways to do this. The prospect is a bit frightening, but maybe it is time to grow up and follow what I should be doing.

I've just started Project 2 of the Children's Book Illustration Course with the London Art College. My first project was pretty shocking I admit. I have been looking at the newsletter with other students work and getting inspiration and get up and go to do a better job this time around. Here are my initial doodlings.

The wasp landed in my bath this weekend and initially I was too freaked out to take it outside, but finally got the courage to do so. There was something immensely beautiful about it. After I took it outside I think it ended up dying. Rest in Peace dear Wasp.

K Fisher (2017), Doodlings 1 - Project 2 Children's Book Illustration

K Fisher (2017), Doodlings 2 - Project 2 Children's Book Illustration