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<title>My RSS Feed</title><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/index.html</link><description>Hot News&#x21;</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2008 Kerry </dc:rights><dc:date>2010-12-11T09:04:09+11:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Dec 2010 09:10:43 +1100</lastBuildDate><item><title>Still mostly painting and cartooning...</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-12-11T09:04:09+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/a74493fd509ec619c85fcf861f4d2de7-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/a74493fd509ec619c85fcf861f4d2de7-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I may not get back to illustrating books for a bit while I paint and paint...


The latest is Night into day.   It started off softly colourfully, but while it looked OK, had no heart and didn&rsquo;t take me anywhere.   I painted over it bit by bit, and by the end was feeling very excited. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Painting my story...</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-08-31T19:07:43+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/b2b8f52773dcd1a63b9910e76ea5fa8c-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/b2b8f52773dcd1a63b9910e76ea5fa8c-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The most recent paintings have been somehow linked with where I grew up in Canada.


&rdquo;The house next door&rdquo;  


(I grew up in the little house with the red roof)


Sun shower   


(we used to walk in a meadow near our house - I used to lie in the grass to watch the clouds and think)


Kettle Island 


(One time as kids four of us got stranded on the island when the wind came up and was too strong for our putt putt boat)


This last painting is the fist one I&rsquo;ve done on linen rather than cotton - its natural colour is light brown.   It makes the most beautiful mellow drum thrum when you tap it!
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>City ditty</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-08-02T21:03:47+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/d73ac8f4fac360a87c97b0afe85cc4dd-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/d73ac8f4fac360a87c97b0afe85cc4dd-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is called City ditty


- enjoying the rhythm and patterns of windows and buildings and street lights and markings on the road and fences and all the other details in a city.   It isn&rsquo;t quite finished yet.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>And now for something completely different...</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-07-01T22:54:58+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/ed977b22a033b0b61ddaa9cba3a06435-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/ed977b22a033b0b61ddaa9cba3a06435-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For ages I was madly painting and getting ready for my new exhibition of paintings which is now on at Gordon Library...


it&rsquo;s called &ldquo;Kerry Thompson - And now for something completely different...&rdquo;.   As you can see, I&rsquo;m painting under my proper name rather than my nom de plume, &ldquo;Kerry Millard&rdquo;.    I&rsquo;m still busy doing cartoons but don&rsquo;t have a book on the boil while all of my energy goes into painting and looking for different places to display and sell them.


My garden is a mess, but my wood stove is cosy to toast my toes by in the chilly evenings!


Here is one of my favourite paintings which will be going to a great new home after the exhibition has finished at the end of August...it is called Birch grove.   If you want to see what else I&rsquo;ve been painting, visit me next door at www.kerrythompsonsgallery.com


P.S.   Happy Canada Day!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>To Bendemeer and back</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-04-24T13:17:19+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/0ca759a2dd0f79049a391a7a571d0dd6-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/0ca759a2dd0f79049a391a7a571d0dd6-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Last weekend I travelled to Bendemeer (Tamworth district, NSW Australia) for the opening of the &ldquo;Colours of Autumn Bendemeer Art Show&rdquo; where I had seven paintings hanging.   It was my first show.   I made several paintings while sitting outside under several trees.   My current aim is to work on painting from life more. 


Here is the view from underneath one of those trees; the little starbursts on the left are cobbler&rsquo;s pegs which hitch a lift in socks and jeans.   Isn&rsquo;t nature amazing?   Imagine evolving to cling onto socks?   How did they know?


I have also been putting a lot of time into joining up to and uploading work to Red Bubble.   There are thousands of artists and artworks there.   Go and have a look!


http://www.redbubble.com]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Painting and painting</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-04-04T23:09:42+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/bd7f379bc2b6a7bfe9865201760e65d0-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/bd7f379bc2b6a7bfe9865201760e65d0-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Gully gum


I have been having a ball painting and painting and painting.   I will have lots to hang at the next exhibition from June to August at the Gordon Library, but that&rsquo;s not the only reason I&rsquo;m painting; I am excited to see what each canvas will end up looking like because I never know!


The tip


I put all of the paintings on my online gallery as I paint them (www.kerrythompsonsgallery.com  -&rdquo;Kerry Thompson&rdquo; is my non nom de plume) and I leave them there even if I later paint over them.   I always think it is interesting seeing just how somebody&rsquo;s work changes as they develop and what came before what and what ideas pop up again later.    I&rsquo;m putting everything in the gallery so that the whole story is there.


I met this tree in France
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Painting from life</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2010-01-21T22:44:36+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/b9108328a2e30b233699ed5bacef102c-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/b9108328a2e30b233699ed5bacef102c-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In Western Australia over Christmas I nutted out the logistics of how to paint from life...i.e. what do re water and brushes and paints and cleaning up without a house to do it in.   How to actually paint from life in terms of what ways to paint I still have a lot of learning and exploring to do.   Here are a few efforts.   The first three are from life, and the last four from memory, variation on a theme, the very last using reference photos as a starting point.


...


............


......]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>3D painting</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-11-02T23:15:22+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/1a935c00b2eedcc6f12d10593644d2a0-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/1a935c00b2eedcc6f12d10593644d2a0-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In my Gallery you can catch up on the most recent paintings. 


Hill house,  is one where the colours vibrate against each other.   If I keep looking at it, it seems to separate into layers and become 3D with the white floating above the rest, and the pink hill becoming see-through like ice.   Very exciting!


I&rsquo;ve also been enjoying using gesso to create a lot of texture...  I love its whiteness and thickness.


Spring - there is a lot of texture to the surface of this painting.


There is one tiny canvas on the easel at the moment - it is painted green and I don&rsquo;t know where it will go from here...]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Giddy postcards</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-09-28T21:35:54+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/3b8ffcb8c1c5e6494034291d6c379e70-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/3b8ffcb8c1c5e6494034291d6c379e70-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I have spent most of the day designing six postcards of individual paintings to distribute here and there in cafes and the like.   The feedback from the exhibition (Kerry Millard- Unplugged, Unframed, and ever-so-slightly Unhinged) has been so wonderful that I want to share the paintings further and hopefully bring people to the gallery here.


......


......]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Pearly Paint</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-09-22T10:27:07+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/07cf815745d3500f11e84a49dbbfd0ac-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/07cf815745d3500f11e84a49dbbfd0ac-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I was a bit scared to start painting again after weeks of preparing for the exhibition and its launch- hard to explain why.   What if I start trying too hard?   What if I can&rsquo;t paint anything?   What if don&rsquo;t know what to paint?   What if it&rsquo;s all rubbish?...


 So, one day I bought some more canvases.   Another day I got as far as putting on my overalls.   Finally I picked up the brush and begant by playing around with a painting I&rsquo;d already started, using it as a base. ...  I discovered amongst my paints a tube of opalescent orange- which looks pearly actually - and while part of me was saying it&rsquo;s too gimmicky, the rest of me wanted to dive into it!   I love how, as in reality, light hits it and you can see it from some angles and not others.


I was also busting to try to capture the seabed/moonscape which is nearby bush after hazard reduction burns have removed all but the trees.   It is hauntingly disturbing and beautiful...which I hesitate to admit of something that represents destruction and a lot of loss of life of wildlife.   It occurs to me that it may also resonate because the effect is similar to winter in Canada - undergrowth hidden under snow, only trunks emerging.   This is actually the opposite - where everything is blown away and the bare bones and hidden secrets are revealed.


 This one was very patterned - I like it but wanted to try a different direction.


Smoothed out a bit - removed a lot of the leaves to reflect the barren feel, even though in reality there are lots of fallen dead and burned leaves.


After The Burn


Final version, although I think I&rsquo;ll do another where I go back the the earlier style with the patterned feel.


...And a whole lot of fun.   Bits of patterns extend around onto the sides.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Wicker Barn</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-07-28T22:40:56+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/2fb239208af519ab6fc4d06f36691d20-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/2fb239208af519ab6fc4d06f36691d20-16.html#unique-entry-id-16</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Lately I&rsquo;ve been enjoying using dabs of paint for reflections in water, or cobblestones, and suddenly felt like trying to make a painting as if it were woven.   It was always fun at school when we wove paper strips together and I wanted to see what would happen if I tried to paint that way.   I decided to do a rural scene, and simply started at the top.   I did a checkerboard painting, then had fun filling in the remaining white squares trying to make a ploughed field, pond, cloud, hillside, house and barn.   It was challenging and satisfying choosing the colour for each square so it added to the picture and played against the other squares.   To me it is weaving, but it seemed familiar in a way which I couldn&rsquo;t quite place...then realised: any kid today would say it&rsquo;s pixillated!


.........]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Painting Paris</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-07-27T23:17:44+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/1eba68fa6238bc8d34b4dc21e45d6aac-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/1eba68fa6238bc8d34b4dc21e45d6aac-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This painting was inspired by the view from the escalator in the Pompidou Centre in Paris.   I intended originally to paint a very simplified picture. 


I started with a full palette then reduced it to yellow, violet and blue to pull the painting together better.   I darkened the sky, then added detail to it, then made it quite a bit more dramatic. 


I had light spilling onto the pavement from two windows but today realised I&rsquo;d used a cartoon technique and had represented the light by a yellow glow.   If you think about it, you can&rsquo;t actually see light  like that.   Where it falls you can see the objects it falls on in their full colours, and where it doesn&rsquo;t fall you see shadows with less or no colour.   By knocking the glow back the emphasis is now more on the sky and chimneys, and on the faces of the buildings which delighted me so much.   Now there are two theatres of interest- one up on the rooftops, the other way below in the street.


Paris


 It looks better in the flesh (and at 102 cm x 102 cm the detail is easier to see)...here are a couple of photos of detail to show you what I mean.


... 


I think I&rsquo;d like to try the view again with a really really simplified version, almost geometric.   Hmmm...isn&rsquo;t that where I started last time?]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Painting and paintings&#x21;</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-07-22T18:39:24+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/c9a73c29492b4cd2e135f01c97f2229e-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/c9a73c29492b4cd2e135f01c97f2229e-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[There are already quite a few which you can find in the gallery, but I&rsquo;ll let you in on some of my recent discoveries!


I did a little one which didn&rsquo;t work (which was painted over another one which didn&rsquo;t work), turned it on its side and thought it looked like rush hour, worked on it but realised that it still wasn&rsquo;t working because when I sat it beside another painting,  I had no desire to look at it!   It began to feel pretentious in that it depended on its title...so I decided to run white brushstrokes down to be trees, leaving bits of pattern showing through the white to be the bark.   I discovered, though, that I preferred to leave strips of pattern as the trees themselves.   I painted blue and white between to be blue snow and white sky (It was white snow and blue sky but I preferred it upside down). ...  I loved how the patterns on the trees are reminiscent of First Nations art in Canada. 

...I covered the next canvas (102 cm x 102 cm) with colourful  patterns, just wallowing in colour. 

...Turned on its side, it was then ready for me to apply white paint leaving strips of colour for the trees.


Some of the colour bled through from behind, so I went over the white again to make it cleaner.


At this stage I decided I preferred it with the colour bleeding through, so added touches of blue and green and yellow  between the trees.   Also, a friend thought the white was the trees, so I added one small branch to give a clue.   At the same time, I&rsquo;m learning to embrace ambiguity...it is nice if you imagine you&rsquo;re looking at a colourful landscape from between white trees.


...Next I wanted to do a second painting in the same way but where there would be white trees against a tapestry background, the way my friend saw the first painting.


I didn&rsquo;t get a photo when I had turned it on its side and painted white strips for trees- they just didn&rsquo;t work.   I also found TRYING to do the same kind of painting as the one before really exhausting- the first one had been so fun - I discovered that painting is all about invention as I had to think up what to do next at each stage. 

...The slender trees in the foreground give it a lot more interest and personality, and the highly patterned background becomes almost an afterthought, and so quite tantalising.   I played with twilight sky between the branches, interlacing twigs, foreground grasses, bringing the white down to the bottom of the painting, adding little details to the bark...really learned a lot.


...If you don&rsquo;t want to look at a painting it is probably not working for you!


If it needs its title to be something it is probably not working.


...This is hard for me because in my usual work as a cartoonist and illustrator, being ambiguous is failure.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>A poem about embossing</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-05-26T13:22:53+10:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/4830622c1f62be2a0104fe5a71919bea-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/4830622c1f62be2a0104fe5a71919bea-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Having my first embossed cover (My Sister Has a Big Black Beard)... (with raised splats that you can feel)... inspired me to write this poem:


Embossing, while trendy and cool,


Was something she scorned, as a rule.


For lumps, blips and bumps


She required no thumps,


Just soaking, till pruned, in her pool


Don&rsquo;t worry, the poems which Duncan wrote for the book are much better!!!!!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Final Cover for My Sister Has a Big Black Beard</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-03-28T19:50:28+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f03e767378902e2c5c5c047b5451faff-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f03e767378902e2c5c5c047b5451faff-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[My Sister Has  Big Black Beard is all finished now, and here is the final final cover!!


I have a lot of bits and pieces to catch up on since being away for three weeks, and then...  I wonder what the NEXT project will be???!!!!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Sister Has A Big Black Beard is finished&#x21;</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-02-26T21:25:38+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f58f5d980841116e74503ac04aba4c08-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f58f5d980841116e74503ac04aba4c08-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[And the winner is...........


Using this background and other odds and ends, the cover has finally been all put together and sent off...and approved...so now Duncan Ball and I sit back and wait to look at the final version of it and the internal illustrations before they are sent off to the printer who will go mad and make thousands of books.


 It&rsquo;s scary knowing that if there is a mistake, it turns into thousands of mistakes...so a this stage everybody is looking with eagle-eyes for anything not quite right.   It&rsquo;s still amazing how things can slip through, though.


So...although this is just a rough rough version and the writing on the back is not exactly what will be there and is all messy because it got wrecked with some sticky tape, here is the cover!!!   YAY!!!!!
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The cover</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-02-14T14:14:24+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/193c8f80601d4e11cdebbca517b1197e-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/193c8f80601d4e11cdebbca517b1197e-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now we are trying to come up with a good cover for My Sister Has A Big Black Beard.   We&rsquo;re playing with various ideas and I invented some background patterns...but they ended up being too crazy and it is hard to read the writing once the title is added.   So we&rsquo;re trying something different...but here are some silly patterns...


......


... 


A book&rsquo;s cover is really important because it has to be true to what&rsquo;s inside the book, and it has to be appealing enough that you want to pick the book up and read it.


Sometimes authors and illustrators don&rsquo;t agree with what the publisher&rsquo;s marketing people say the cover should look like;  marketing people know what&rsquo;s selling in the current market but authors and illustrators may want to do something original.   It can be a complicated process coming up with a cover that everybody is happy with.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Sister tweaked into place</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-01-31T17:33:47+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f8b81dfd13c8b5fd4445faeacfb602fc-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f8b81dfd13c8b5fd4445faeacfb602fc-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Last week I went in to HarperCollins Publishers and worked with the designer to put all of the illustrations for Duncan Ball&rsquo;s &ldquo;My Sister Has A Big Black Beard&rdquo; into place.   It is all done on a computer - I had scanned the images at home and had emailed them to the designer (and the publisher and Duncan) so he could make them smaller or shift them a bit to the right or left- whatever was needed.


 It is always a fascinating process.   Sometimes a designer might put an illustration in the middle of a space where it looks balanced, 


but maybe the illustrator wants it down at the bottom to add to the feeling that it&rsquo;s a teddy bear that&rsquo;s been squished flat on the ground, for example. 


Or the illustrator may want it up at the top to make it feel bigger if it&rsquo;s the scary door to the staff room at school, 


or may want it off centre and odd because the character is a bit odd.


.


It is a delight to work with a designer who also gets a kick out of using the positioning to add to the feel of an illustration so together we can make everything work really well.   The illustrator doesn&rsquo;t usually, or even often, get to work directly with the designer at this stage so it was a BLAST! 


Now we&rsquo;re working on finding a FUNKY pattern for the front cover!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>New Year plans...</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2009-01-04T17:51:27+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/c31273dda66fa9ebbbf253397db9c964-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/c31273dda66fa9ebbbf253397db9c964-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I have had several publishers ask to see my next project so I think this year it is time to write another book.   But...  I&rsquo;m taking a little holiday over Christmas and New Year so won&rsquo;t think about it for a week or so.   That was easy!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Paintings</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-12-10T16:45:38+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/a1661091f10baf52f29aefcd5202cecd-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/a1661091f10baf52f29aefcd5202cecd-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you have  quick look at my blog, you&rsquo;ll see paintings at different stages as I have fun experimenting with acrylic paints.   The first painting below will have lots of new things added to it over the next few days, the second has already been changed, and the third I think I&rsquo;ll leave as is.......]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Almost finished...</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-12-06T18:46:40+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/27ebadb5ccc4c19c33997380b805d783-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/27ebadb5ccc4c19c33997380b805d783-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Jake the Snake made his appearance when I did the final illustration for &ldquo;My Sister Has A Big Black Beard&rdquo; a couple of days ago.   Just the cover to do and making sure everything is where it should be and it will be about ready for the printer.


I took some scrap paper to my French class on Thursday evening.  Each student has to give a little presentation and it was my turn; I chose to  give a little cartoon workshop and handed out the paper for people to draw on.   It was the manuscript for My Sister Has A Big Black Beard and I think my French class was very surprised when they looked on the back of their drawings and saw bits of Duncan&rsquo;s crazy poems.]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cranky tortoise</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-11-29T13:19:18+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/418fa63ef58e82d670e8bdec08106bff-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/418fa63ef58e82d670e8bdec08106bff-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Yesterday I sent off almost the last illustrations for &ldquo;My Sister Has a Big Black Beard&rdquo; by Duncan Ball.   I&rsquo;m waiting for one Jake the Snake poem and a rough cover to turn into a final cover then I&rsquo;ll be done...the last poem in the book is a DOOZIE!!!!


A few days ago one of the poems mentioned a tortoise shell plate that somebody was eating from.   I immediately thought of the tortoise, of course, and drew him, understandably cranky having had his shell snatched for a plate, but no matter where I put him or how I drew him, unless I drew lots of arrows and signs and explanations there&rsquo;s no way anybody would have the foggiest idea that he&rsquo;s a tortoise* let alone the particular tortoise whose shell is on the table. 


(*see today&rsquo;s blog re taking a class to learn how to paint things which are unrecognisable...clearly I was already there)


He ended up being left out of the book which has made him even more cranky so I thought it was only fair to let him onto this page.


This week I also met a little person with nothing to say.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Daylight Savings </title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-11-19T17:47:11+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f0d9dcd73636b8091cc20edd9b21d59b-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/f0d9dcd73636b8091cc20edd9b21d59b-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I was trying to keep up with Duncan Ball&rsquo;s poems (My Sister Has A Big Black Beard) and was scratching my head a lot!    At one stage a cheeky little dog appeared but got rubbed out to make way for somebody else...that happens sometimes.   Sometimes I keep such characters and try to build an illustration around them but it doesn&rsquo;t usually work if they don&rsquo;t fit the idea in the first place.   Sigh.


Here are a few ideas that I was fooling around with as a starting point while trying to find an idea for changing clocks and watches from Daylight Savings, and another about a rather precocious Mozart.   Yesterday the challenge was to find a fun one in a cemetery.   You&rsquo;ll notice that sometimes the images don&rsquo;t mean anything yet but are just something vaguely related to the topic.   Hopefully they&rsquo;ll kick off thinking in different  directions.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Scanner spanner in the works</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-11-16T12:01:41+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/076d14a59690b87cd802bcb7b0cdbaf8-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/076d14a59690b87cd802bcb7b0cdbaf8-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Today I get to do some more drawings for Duncan Ball&rsquo;s &ldquo;My Sister Has a Big Black Beard&rdquo;.   Yay!


 I had to stop for a few days while I travelled to Manilla near Tamworth to visit friends and met a lovely painter, while I did cartoons for other people, while I crashed my old computer lots when I was trying to re-scan the drawings I&rsquo;d already sent to the publisher, while I tried to find a new scanner, while I learned how to use it with my new computer and then while I re-scanned everything. 


I had to re-scan everything because after sending all of the illustrations I&rsquo;ve done so far to the designer to be put into place around Duncan&rsquo;s poems, I discovered I&rsquo;d had my scanner on the wrong setting the first time around and everything was grey and fuzzy instead of crisp black lines on a white background.   Poop!!!


Then the new scans were too big to email easily so I had to learn how to send massive files.   But after a cup of tea I&rsquo;ll see what Duncan&rsquo;s characters are up to next. 


I did some housework yesterday too.   I got the leafblower out and blew the dust out of the house.   It&rsquo;s quicker than vacuuming.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Long-nosed bandicoots</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-11-05T08:47:47+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/4586ddc4a32cd549717b714e6cec1c40-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/4586ddc4a32cd549717b714e6cec1c40-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Working on Duncan Ball&rsquo;s &ldquo;My Sister Has a Big Black Beard&rdquo; today:


I&rsquo;m having a struggle trying to get some long-nosed bandicoots to behave themselves...one of Duncan&rsquo;s poems has me stumped at the moment and the bandicoots in it aren&rsquo;t co-operating.   I love the poem but it has turned out to be a hard one for finding an excellent enough idea for the illustration.


I won&rsquo;t tell you the poem but have a look at what bandicoots are turning up.   These are pencil sketches.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Sister Has a Big Black Beard&#x21;&#x21;&#x21;</title><dc:creator>kerry@kerrymillard.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Drawing table</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-11-02T12:22:55+11:00</dc:date><link>http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/da4ed032d8de623eaeb02a472add2485-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.kerrymillard.com/page15/files/da4ed032d8de623eaeb02a472add2485-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[A few weeks ago I began drawings for a fantastic new project! 


Duncan Ball, who is a complete nut, has written a book of poems which is called, "My Sister Has a Big Black Beard".   When I heard that he had written it, and that he'd like me to do the illustrations, I was VERY excited.   I was ready to sign the contract straight away but the publishers (HarperCollins) thought it might be a good idea if I read the book first.   So they sent it to me as a manuscript, which is what a book is called when it is just pages of typing and before it has been poked and prodded and turned into something between two covers.


OK, I agreed, it probably would be a good idea to read it, but knowing Duncan and having heard some of Selby's poetry (Duncan writes about Selby who is a talking dog and who sometimes writes poems) I knew they would be fun.


But there was a catch!   When I illustrate a novel, I read it lots and lots of times before and during the time when I&rsquo;m doing the drawings.   But with poetry, and I've done a lot of illustrations for poetry in "The School Magazine", I like to read a poem and draw the first ideas that come into my head.   The illustrations evolve as I draw them and I invent new bits and pieces, but usually a main idea pops into my head the first time I meet a poem which is why I didn't want to read the ones in Duncan's manuscript all at once before I was ready to start sketching.   So, I read a few, I looked at a few others with my eyes closed, and flipped a few more pages while looking at the ceiling, then told the publishers I'd like to sign the contract now please.


A contract is very important...it is the agreement between the publisher and the author or illustrator about what everybody is supposed to do and how much they will pay each other to do it.


This week the editor (who makes sure the words are all OK) and the designer (who makes sure it all looks OK) and Duncan and I had a meeting.   The others wanted to read through some of the poems so I had to put my fingers in my ears. 


I have started the drawings and am having a LOT OF FUN!!!!!


I'll show you a few bits now but you'll have to keep wondering what they're about until it has all finally turned into a real book in June 2009.   I know that seems like a long time but it takes a long time for everybody to finish all of their jobs and there are other manuscripts stacked up in front of the printing press waiting to be printed first, and then the pages and cover have to be stuck together, then the books will have to get to shops and onto shelves...but it&rsquo;s fun to think that a pig I draw on my drawing table today will appear on a shelf in my local bookshop in June! 


I&rsquo;ll keep you posted on how it&rsquo;s going!!!!!
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