Science fiction and New Years stuff

Bayta, a photo by Eating ghosts on Flickr.

I finished this the other day, just before leaving for Christmas with my family.

I have lots of new things happening this coming year.. everything is in very early stages but it's all very exciting. New Tshirts, fabric designs, laser-cut brooches, collaborations.... it is looking like it will be a vast improvement on 2011, although that won't take much.

I have a tumblr account now, http://www.devonannasmith.tumblr.com which i have only just started using, but there are a few things on there..

I also just got a spacephone, so i have an instagram account, which i am probably going a bit overboard with. The best things i put on tumblr, too, but if you want constant updates about what coffee i am drinking it is also devonannasmith.

Zine Party

This is coming up on the 19th of November!




I will have a table there. It should be very fun, there are lots of amazing zine-makers in Wellington. I'll have Imaginary Lovers issue one, and the brand new Issue two for sale. Also a tiny little mini zine about books i like.

Sketchbooks

I've been off work with some sort of awful sickness the past three days. Sitting in bed watching cartoons has even become boring.

I tried to do some drawing this morning but couldn't decide which sketchbook to do it in. I thought it was time i actually counted how many sketchbooks I'm currently drawing in.



Too many. Way too many. The problem is i always have this dream ideal of how a sketchbook will turn out but then i draw something ugly in it and move on to something new. Or I assign too specific a role to a book, like my life drawing book (the big one at the bottom). I haven't been to life drawing in six months!

This doesn't include any of the mostly finished books I have put away. I remember when i visited my parents a while back and decided to clean out the bookshelves i'd left full there, i must have thrown away 20 or more books of drawings.

Anyway, top to bottom:

1) Little moleskine, previously my work sketchbook, which has been usurped by...

2) Softcover book with multi-coloured pages. Stays in my back pocket. Drawing and writing and lists of the first 150 pokemon (this is the game i play with myself at work when i am bored)

3) A6 Hardcover book with really nice 200gsm off-white paper. Was for "what i wore today" drawings but it only has three in it so far.

4) A5 book with bright white cartridge paper, for comics and zine drawings.

5) Older square sketchbook i took away with me last year. It has some kind of depressing things in it so i guess it is mostly retired.

6) This book was supposed to be for exhibition & painting planning. It is what i draw in at cafes.

7) This one is for illustration jobs / plans. Although it has kind of become just an every day drawing book.

8) As previously mentioned, life drawing book.


(these are all resting on a cushion from Evie Kemp )

EDIT: This was written really poorly because i had a fever.

Cupcakes

I make these all the time. People ask me for the recipe just as often, but it is super basic so i never bother (also, laziness). So here it is in all it's roughly-drawn deliciousness.


(you might want to click the images so the are readable size)

Make them and eat them because they taste good. Sometimes i put m&m's in there too, just because i like m&m's.

Geometry

Working on a some different sort of things - all are single straight-from-the-tube watercolours, at different strengths.

This one is quite big, but i only have a tiny scan. I'm not sure why. It is very mysterious.


I am also in/on the latest issue of Domestic Etch, you can preview and buy it here. It has some delightful people in it, including my all time favourite Mel Stringer.

Things are still a little rough at the moment, I finally have two days in a row off work this week so i can draw and paint as much as i want. I am also taking a mini road trip with some friends on friday to the amazing Staglands and we are going to pet so many animals. Feeding deer and baby goats and a huge aviary full of native birds.... I am very excited.

Presents for nice people

I've decided it's time I say thank you to all the nice people who look at my art and like it, so here is a little giveaway!

The prize is an original painting, professionally matted/mounted and painted in watercolours.


All you have to do is comment here, blog about it (and let me know), mention it on facebook (make sure you mention the Eating Ghosts page so i can see when you do) or tweet ( with @devonannasmith so i can see that, too). Each will get you an entry, so there's a chance to have your name in the draw 4 times.

Winner will be drawn on Sunday the 28th of August (which gives you two weeks).

xxx

EDIT: Competition is now closed. The winner has been notified (it was a sweet girl from Auckland named Sophie)

A couple of nice things

I am in the current issue of Frankie Magazine ! Just a little thing about my T-shirts, but it is very nice.


Another nice thing is a small collection of works I currently have up. They are some of my favourites from this year, and are matted nicely (not fully framed, so I could keep the prices low!) and hung in this sweet little space. Go and have a look if you are in Auckland, it is only running for a short time!

Zines

So I printed / made some more of my zine and it's up now in my etsy store. I am still so surprised at the great reactions I've had to something so potentially embarrassing / silly! It makes me very glad.

Here's a couple of sample pages... I'm already starting issue two, but i want it to have lots more drawings & details so it will be a while. I'm selling some in Wellington soon, and am a little fearful someone in it will get ahold of a copy. Maybe my drawings are just vague enough that I will get away with it. We shall see.

Home Again

Home from the Auckland Craft Fair! Bit of a whirlwind trip to Auckland, very exhausting. The wonderful Evie Kemp let Dear Colleen and I stay at her lovely house, and drove us all around, and most importantly let us play with her dogs.


This is Bonnie, who licked my feet a lot. I didn't get a good photo of Jasper, probably because i was too busy cuddling him.

The fair! All three of us were right at the back, far away from the door, on a little platform area, so i think quite a few people missed us, but it was still very fun. It was only 4 hours long, which was a great length, so i was only drooping a little by the end.


I finished my first zine, and it made it's debut here. It will be on etsy soon, i didn't expect it to sell so well but I have none left!


Craft fairs are still not really my thing (I don't actually do any craft at all...) but the trip to Auckland made this one very worthwhile, I met lots of amazing people, and had a nice break from work. I did intend this to be my very last but I may have just signed on to do another very soon....

Here's a photo of what i came home to. Bright blue skies, after rain the entire Auckland trip.
(also Wal and the cat were there but they are currently both asleep and so I shan't bother them with terrible photo-taking)

I still draw, I swear.

A little sneak peek at what I'm working on / have been working on. Lately i just seem to be drawing silly things in my sketchbook or making ugly comics. I started a super-secret tumblr for them, which is probably actually very easy to find if you wanted to look.

I started making myself a nicer website here thinking I could switch it over to my own URL, but it is beyond me how to do this. I suspect I am actually not allowed to.

Life has all been a bit overwhelming lately, all I have the energy for is sleeping (I guess this means i have no energy at all) and reading old science fiction novels. I think i am due for a burst of productivity though, so i am looking forward to that. I have just enlisted a 'life coach' (not actually a life coach, but a very organised and motivating friend) who i have to send reports to every week on how much art i have made. This sounds kind of horrible but it is surprisingly very fun for both of us. It is also so good to keep track of what i actually accomplish.

I am off to the Auckland Art & Craft Fair in two weeks, if you are around and come visit me and tell me you follow my blog i will give you a free postcard. Unless you are lying! But i guess that would be kind of dumb....

I am taking lots of photos of nice things I see, I am by no means a photographer (but i guess i studied it in Art school for a long time) but it is fun and i think i will do a little photo post sometime soon so you can see what my life looks like. I look at the sea a lot, do you like the sea? You will probably like the view from my house, then.

Stickers & Skating

How did I forget to mention stickers??!? Here are some pictures, because. I sent out freebies of these to people, to get some 'action' shots, but no one sent me any photos back! Naughty people... So these are just photos of me holding them. You can use your imagination as to what to stick them on. Not cats, cats do not appreciate having stickers stuck on them. They are up on etsy, and also for sale on Foxes.co.nz




My sickness has mostly gone, which is lucky as I am back to work tomorrow. Last week a friend of mine took me roller skating - she does roller derby and is very good. My coordination and balance is pretty bad, so i fell over a lot, and have lots of little bruises everywhere. It was still lots of fun! I bought myself some second-hand skates, and although I don't think I'll ever get into derby ( I am not competitive enough) I have big plans to skate to work and do fancy tricks.

Coming up soon is the Auckland Art & Craft Fair , on the 11th of June. And I will be there! I know I swore of craft fairs, but I got very cheap flights up to Auckland and it is really just an excuse to visit friends. I have a full table and will be laden with new Tshirts and brooches and giclee prints. So if you can make it, come say hello! Maybe i will do some sort of blog-readers special...

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Opening at Pixel Ink Tonight

Group Show (featuring Ani Fourie, Autumn McGrail, Rebecca Robinson, Carmen Rogers, Charlotte Ellayne Welch, Devon Smith, Florence Thornburn, Jinx in the Sky, KIRAN-X, Lucy Yu, Melissa McDougall, Rachel Walker, Trevor Kohing and Rosalind Clark)

Pixel Ink Gallery, 219 Cuba Street, Wellington 6011

Exhibition runs from 29 April – 29 May 2011

Opening preview: Friday 29 April 5:30 – 7.30pm

I had planned to go to the opening, but I've picked up some awful sickness. I am confined to bed watching movies and not moving. It's pretty great, actually, except when i do move (and my back hurts) and the odd spew.

Tomorrow a friend of mine is helping me sort out my website, she is super smart so maybe she will help me pretty up this blog, too.

I have lots of sketchbook photos waiting to be uploaded, but they will have to wait until I am a little better.

Also, T-shirts and stickers are now on my etsy store.

T-Shirts!

So.. some things arrived in the mail.




Excuse my goodball expression, i was very excited. So far I have Unisex Small, Medium and Large, and girls Small. I'm getting more girls sizes in May.

These aren't on etsy yet, and i only have 12, you can pre-order them direct from me now by emailing deer_face(at)hotmail.com

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Tshirt Designs

Okay, so i managed to finish two of these today. Which do yu prefer? Which colour is better? Is there anything that should be changed? Should i have drawn a cat instead?

Please let me know what you think! i can only afford to print one at this stage. Might submit the other to threadless...

Auctions

Foxes is running a little auction to raise money for Christchurch. I donated this original painting, but there are lots of other great items to bid on.



Visit here to bid and have a look at all the other goodies.

Earthquake

Gift certificates now in store.

I had a big blog post planned out, but the Christchurch earthquake has kind of pushed everything else out of my head. Every one i know personally is safe, but it is still horrible and sad. The amazing cathedral has partially collapsed, among other terrible things.

I'm going to donate 25% of all sales for the rest of the month to fixing the city.

Working

I don't have much to say, so just some photos.

On getting old

I just updated my website for what must be the first time in months. The trouble is i don't like the design, so i don't even like telling people about it.

Anyway, whining about it won't do anything, i should just look more actively for someone to help me fix it up a bit.

My birthday is coming up (Next Thursday), it is kind of a non-event, as i guess most birthdays are past 21. I have plans to throw a small birthday party, mainly so i can make frozen chocolate dipped bananas. I already bought myself a few little presents (a new bag, and a cute ring) and i'm lucky enough to have the day off work. I also made myself a treasury on etys (my first!).

Then i made another one because they are fun.

Studio time has been very productive, lots of new paintings.

In shop news.. I have some new giclee prints and some new brooches, too.

Lots of people were wanting this one, and it came out really nice.

Studio!

I am finally all moved into my studio. It is so nice to have a space just for working. It's nice to be at home sometimes, but there are so many distractions. Like tea, and the internet, and my cat.





I still need to get some bookshelves, books are just floating around, and i need more nice postcards and things for the walls.

Sketchbooks

I've been trying, lately, to get back into drawing in sketchbooks. I used to do this so much, but somehow it tapered off in recent years and i would just do quick plans for paintings and nothing more. I think it is good to draw for no other reason than just enjoying it.

So..here are lots of sketchbook pages. None of them are my best work, none of them are finished and they are all very messy but i like that. I have more to photograph, and i will, and you will be seeing some of my better pages in print very soon..


I just moved into a nice new studio last week. It is sunny and big and in the centre of town. I'm hoping I can work a bit better there away from distractions (mostly the internet... i am deliberately not setting up a connection) and improve all the things i've been hating about my drawings lately. I'll take some photos because it really is a lovely space, and of course i've covered the walls with nice postcards and magazine pictures and drawings. It's just like art school, except no one bugs me during the day, so it's better. Even the toilets are creepily identical!

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