Magic Jelly

My Passionate Love Affair...

...with paper continues... I've just given myself blisters from cutting hundreds of little paper shapes for a new collage project. Someone needs to invent scissors with fur-lined handles.  Fake fur of course.

After cutting (what seemed like) the 40 billionth shape, I started fantasising about buying a digital die-cutter, but for this project at least, part of the beauty is in hand-cutting the paper.

I really do love paper & ink...I hope my passion for them shows in my work. The finished collages, which are bases for paintings & prints, are just so tactile & lovely...all the mellow, aged papers & the different textures & patinas. The blisters are worth it, darn it!

Notice anything different? Take a look at the top of my left sidebar...pretty spiffy, eh? Turns out Julian Lievano (of Heart-o-Matic fame) is not only the Evil Knievel of glass blowing, but the Steve McQueen of coding too. He made this nifty little gallery widget especially for my blog. Thanks Julian, I love it! :)

In other news...a new Melbourne-based online art gallery was launched last week called I Vote for Art. You can buy lots of amazing giclée prints & original artwork there, & it's nicely interactive because not only can you buy art, you can vote for your favourites & leave comments too. The artwork that receives the most votes makes it to the front page.

I'm very happy to be selling my work there, so please go & vote for me so I don't look too sad & pathetic! At the moment, I only have one piece for sale, a little original drawing called Pan Drives a Volvo, but I'm on the verge of completing a couple of new gocco prints & some more originals, so there'll be more for sale from me soon! Meanwhile, go check out all the incredible artists selling their stuff there.

I'm holding off on my next giveaway until I have my new stuff finished, so stay tuned...

Toodle-loo for now! :)

My Favourite Circus Fonts

My blog has now moved & I won't be updating this blog anymore. Please visit me at my new location http://magicjelly.com.au

You can also visit my brand new shop right here.

I collect fonts of the Circus/Sideshow/Carnival/Wild West ilk. I tirelessly trawl the depths of the internet to find them.

Here are 12 of my favourites, & I've spared you the trouble of searching for them...

• Big Top
• De Louisville
• J F Ferrule
• URWWood Typ D
• Cast Iron
• Circus
• Pointedly Mad
• Armenian Circus
• Hoedown
• Romantiques
• Coney Island
• Abilene FLF

EDIT: I just posted thirteen more fabulous circus fonts over at my new blog...

http://magicjelly.com.au/blog/2011/07/my-favourite-circus-fonts-round-2/

I Love Paper

10mm wide strips of vintage paper, waiting to be collaged. My friend's comment when he saw me painstakingly cutting them: "You're insane".

I Love...Mary Blair

Please note: This blog has moved to a new location & is no longer updated. Please visit my new blog here: http://magicjelly.com.au/blog/

Hands up who's a lifetime member of the Mary Blair Appreciation Society (if there is such a thing)? Meeeeee!!!

I've loved Mary Blair since I was little & first read I Can Fly. Isn't it funny how kids study things so intently? Well I know every brush stroke of every illustration from that book, & when I recently got hold of a first edition copy & flicked through its pages for the first time in over 30 years, it was like being dumped over the head with an ice-cold bucket of 'OMG, I remember that!' My favourite picture was the one I've featured here, of the little girl as a make-believe worm in her fuzzy green beret & matching cardie. I wanted an outfit just like it when I was 5 - so stylish!

The beauty of Mary Blair's work is that it's just as fresh as it was 50 years ago, & her influence extends into the 21st century with so many artists (either consciously or otherwise) borrowing a little something (or a lot) from her style.

There's so much I could say about her work - about her amazing instinct for colour, how much I love her textures, the way she uses paint, etc, etc - but what I love most is her energy & spontaneity, the boundless sense of joy, & most of all, the memories her art evokes.

If you'd like to find out more about Mary Blair, Wikipedia is a good place to start. You can also check out some more of her work at the ASIFA Hollywood Animation Archive & Cartoon Modern.

The illustrations I've posted are scanned from my own collection as follows...

Top Left: from the front flyleaf of The Golden Book of Little Verses by Miriam Clark Potter, first published 1946.

Top Right: also from The Golden Book of Little Verses.

Centre Top: from I Can Fly by Ruth Krauss, first published 1950.

Centre Bottom: Two spot illustrations from The New Golden Song Book, first published 1945.

Bottom Right: from the endpapers of The New Golden Song Book.

Little Things

When my sister Josella & I were kids, we used to collect little treasures such as toys from cereal boxes, Christmas crackers & vending machines, & keep them in tin toffee boxes (we had one each) which we called our 'Little Things Box'. We'd spend hours looking through our prized collections, & sometimes we'd swap pieces. I remember in particular, a pink plastic poodle I loved, & a tiny deck of playing cards. I wish we had kept those relics of our childhood (remember Bretodeau's boyhood stash in Amélie?) - I'd love to see them again!

I still collect plastic toys & keep them in vintage cigar boxes. Here's a small sample from my collection. Some were bought from Covetable Curiosities' & A. Bel Emporium's Etsy shops. The rest I found foraging at secondhand markets. I love my collection of little things!

Sunday on the Lawn

Check out this voluptuous little number...it's from a 1950s outdoor setting that I made my friend buy last week. I'm really good at convincing people to buy things...I'm that little cartoon devil that sits on your shoulder & whispers, "Go on...you know you want to..."

He did want it, but just needed that extra little push.

There's another chair & a two-seater. I just love those curvy lines & curlicues. So elegant & fine, like an ink drawing. In fact, it reminds me of mid-20th century illustration that has that organic sketchiness & spontaneity, & lots of curly lines. Much like the work of one of my favourite illustrators, Mary Blair (I'm planning a little Mary Blair tribute in my blog soon!).

I think I'm going to sit out in the garden in the sun & draw this chair...