Sad

This photo was taken on Monday, down at Point Chevalier beach. The kids had a day off school and my friend and I took them down for a swim, but the weather was strange - misty, muggy and incredibly still - and there was a giant full tide, just after last week's full moon. The boys were acting like madmen; screeching, swearing and whacking each other with driftwood, so we decided they were under the moon's crazy influence and took them home before they killed each other. The next day, Christchurch was shattered by a violent earthquake, which was the beginning of another kind of craziness. Being so familiar, so close, so much part of our history, the scenes of destruction are surreal and still unbelievable. Those sedate English names of streets and suburbs - Shirley, St Albans, New Brighton, Manchester St, Cathedral Square - are so at odds with the never-ending images of flattened buildings and crushed cars. Then there are the people we know down there; friends and family, and the anxious wait to hear that they are safe. Mine are (some with lost homes), but the latest death toll stands at 113, with many people still unaccounted for. I keep deleting what I'm writing here, because I can't find the right words for such a big, horrible thing.

Layer

This week's Illustration Friday theme (I haven't done this for ages) is 'layer'. This is something of an awkward layer; not feeling quite right in your own skin or giant pink coat. I've definitely felt like that at certain times in my life (although I am not a cat nor do I own a giant pink coat, thank goodness).

Mad Monster Friends

So excited to see one of my designs on a real life T shirt - this one's from RedBubble. The monsters were the result of a doodle I did one night half-watching Coronation St! After bribery, blackmail, a million bad pseudo-gangster poses and silly faces I finally managed to get my unwilling model to crack a smile, which in his opinion is not at all cool. It's really good to see how the colours have printed, because up until now it's been a leap of faith - it's one thing to see something on the computer screen and another to see it translated to fabric. I'm happy!

The Invisible Anti-Whining Shield

One of my Thing-a-Day drawings from this week, influenced by days of endless nagging and pleading. It just makes my invisible anti-whining shield even stronger (at least I like to think it does).

Panic

Into my fourth drawing for Thing-a-Day. Changed my mind lots about themes, but for now it seems to be a mixture of what's caught my attention that day, and the ups and downs of the creative process. Here's a familiar subject - panic! Panic at the idea of not coming up with something, time running out, having no ideas, repeating myself endlessly - you know, all the usual stuff.