I know, I’m tardy. Again!
But, better late than never! Here’s all my newses from the last few months, and a veritable explosion of colour that you’ve possibly come to expect from me…
I have been uncharacteristically stationary on the farm here in Aus these last 9 months, busying away in the studio on all sorts of things, and applying for 5 arts grants (with no success unfortunately). That’s all going to change soon as I’m off to the UK and possibly Europe this summer for some travel inspiration and ideas-gathering and friends and family catchups. Until then, here’s some of the things I’ve been creating. (I’ve actually surprised myself with how productive I’ve been – sometimes I don’t stop to look back down the trail of art I’ve made and consider it for long enough before starting the next thing…)
Firstly, I have tied a ribbon around 2 ongoing series inspired by Coney Island. I now have a set of 17 works on wood veneer bringing together my favourite bits from my Coney Island sketchbooks. Here are the final 5:
I also revisited a photoshoot I did there back in 2016, on the tenth anniversary of the London Clowns series I created with Jonathan Kyle Farmer . This time we enlisted sideshow superstar Wendy Blades as our 3rd clown, and the wonderful Laure Leber to shoot the remarkable photographs. I finally got around to feeling ready to cover the prints and polaroids with art, which has taken several months to complete. As with the original series, I was hearing the lyrics from a Placebo song throughout, this time “Pierrot The Clown”, hence it found its way into the art. Here is the full series of 23 works:
There have been a bunch of rather exciting commissions coming in too, beginning with these e-greetings cards for bespoke gift company Oparix.
And then there was this fabulous collaboration with Sydney swimwear label FOX and CLO:
I also created a really fun virtual storefront GIF for their homepage, below – or see it in action here.
Just before Christmas last year I decided I would make presents for my nephews and nieces. 7 year old Wynton is always asking me to draw him a dinosaur – hence this colouring book was born in which he is riding upon one! Each kid got a poster size colouring sheet of themselves doing something they love, plus a smaller A4 book containing all of their cousins.
It was really lucky that I got Christmas organised early, because on the eve of Dec 21st a dream project landed in my inbox! I was absolutely honoured to be asked to create bespoke lettering for amazing UK charity Comic Relief, for their Red Nose Day 2019 campaign: Come Together. Here’s some of my work in progress plus the finished design, which made the Comic Relief social media pages as well as being shown on British TV! You can see the animated version here.
Another client I am super proud to have worked with lately is Big Issue AU. Having been technically homeless back in London in my early 20’s, this charity is a cause very close to my heart, so I was delighted to illustrate stories for 2 issues of the magazine. I even got to buy my copy from Brisbane vendor Dom.
Most recently, I just finished this large scale 2.4 metre wide mural for my local independent restaurant; Deep South Chicken. The concept was to create a modern appropriation of ‘The Last Supper’, using musicians from The South, past and present, plus Anthony Bourdain because food. Left to right you have: Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, Childish Gambino, Leon Wilkeson (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Juicy J, Anthony Bourdain, Ludacris, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Master P, T.I.
Chad and I are set to hang the art in the restaurant this weekend.
Another thing I am working on right now is turning some of my favourite recent work into fabric prints on silk. Here’s a sneakpeek at some of the new fabric:
Plus I am also working on a very limited edition run of silk scarfs…. here is a peek at some of the designs! There will only be 1 of each and only around 30 produced – so once I put them onsale they will go quick! Keep an eye on my shop links for more info soon!
So that just about wraps up this massive ‘What I’ve been creating’ list – next up – I am going to be looking at creating art inspired by the School Strikes for Climate. Sneakpeak of initial ideas below!
Then, off to Europe!
I will update you again upon my return…
TTFN!
Love and Rainbows,
Sarah xxx
