Illustration rock ‘n’ roll

Some illustration stuff for today:

Beautiful new Bugs and Butterflies stamps (“fla fla” Amelia would say as she opens and shuts her hand like a flapping butterfly) were released last Thursday from Australia Post with sublime illustrations by Graeme Base (of Animalia fame and fortune). I bought Amelia a first day cover for her treasure box and a box of 100 stamps for me to use on special mail.

Speaking of fame and fortune; While Madonna’s new kid’s book The English Roses (the first of five) meets with mixed reviews, there is no doubting that the illustrations are quite luscious in all their candy-coloured loveliness. I had a look at a copy of the book last week and searched for the name of the illustrator on the cover. No such luck! Not even in weeny tiny letters. I managed to find Jeffrey Fulvimari’s name buried on the title page.

Likewise her second book Mr Peabody’s Apples, which will be released in November, has no mention of the illustrator on the cover… and after much searching online, I find a tiny little shout-out on a Madonna fan forum that it’s illustrator Loren Long.

Madonna’s publisher Callaway tells us that “Each of Madonna’s books will feature a different, internationally acclaimed artist” but not so acclaimed that they are worth a by-line on the cover?

Meanwhile, Madonna turns up to book launches and book signings in her new “children’s book writer” chic attire. She’s a little bit J K Rowling and a little bit beatnik…

Talking baby and talking fish

Amelia J now has a few more words besides “bir”. Daddadadaa, Mummmm (still very rarely), du (asking for her plastic ducks in the bath) and “THA?”, or sometimes “Was THA?”, accompanied by a wild pointing action to something in the nearby vicinity. Of course, you have to congratulate learning and curiosity by telling her what “THA” is each time… even if she really doesn’t care which I can tell because she will point to something and say “THA?” without even looking at. Friday she spent all day shouting “THA?” while I tried to answer her with equal enthusiasm but by the end of the day the best I could muster was a kind of flat monotone from an almost comatose state; “Couch, wall, chair, book, teddy, wall, scratch on the wall, another scratch on the wall” and then when we went out walking “tree, tree, bird, magpie, tree, dog, tree, fence, errrr… sky, sky, sky… dirt”. Children are apparently sponges after all, so perhaps she is storing up an incredible vocabulary and will one day soon astound us with perfectly formed sentences.

The holiday cards are back from the printers and look as spiffy as I could have hoped so that’s pretty exciting. I am planning on getting them up on sale around October 10. Don’t forget to sign up (by sending a blank email when clicking here) to be notified of their release. Now it’s time to work on that business plan.

We saw Finding Nemo last weekend and I loved it. I agree with some of the harsher reviews that the film was a little sentimental at times, but the animation was exquisite – the character design was flawless and the colours (inspired surely by Mary Blair herself) were to die for. For almost all of last week I was convinced that I was going to have to reinvent myself and become an animator and move us all to California so I could work for Pixar (because I want to work somewhere that sounds like this (via ben) — but who wouldn’t really?). I can’t tell you how many times I have flicked to this interview in the last 7 days for a little vicarious living. I have calmed down a little since then and decided that I will just order the movie on DVD and add it to my collection of all time favourite movies… and perhaps work out how to use Flash to do a little homemade animation in the mean time.

Have a cupcake!

Today is the Mother’s Group baby’s first birthday party! The eldest of the wee tots is turning 1 today and over the next few weeks all the others will be reaching this momentous occasion too so we’re having a big end of term bash to celebrate. I can’t believe Amelia J is almost one. It has gone so fast! In a blink of an eye she is already a shoe fetishist (saying “SHOE!” with great delight any time she sees a pair of shoes – or socks) and already laughing at her own jokes (food on the floor? “AHHAHA!”, patting daddy on the tummy? “AH HAAAHHAA!!”). I am taking the video camera, a bottle of champagne and pink swirly cupcakes that mum and I have been decorating with glee. PARTY!

Costume Drama

The Forsyte Saga season 2 is incredibly disappointing (ABC, Sundays at 8.30pm). There’s no doubt that season one was soapy — but it was good soapy. Season 2 is just boring and listless and full of characters behaving out of character.

To make matters worse the costumes make me cry out “and what is THAT?” every time a new one is strutted across the screen.

These are upper class English folks who would have been wearing the best there was of the era. At best the dresses look badly fitted and at worst some of the costumes are just plain U.G.L.Y. Almost all of the suits look like they were found in an op-shop (or at the back of ITV’s costume wardrobe) and the dresses and hats are awkward and unflattering. Perhaps they were captured from the pages of 1930s fashion catalogues and are historically accurate but that’s no excuse for clothes that make the most beautiful heroines (both old and young) look frumpy and mismatched and the (unfortunately rather wet) heroes look like they have grown out of their suits.

I love a good costume drama — and often costume is the operative word for me.

The Gangs of New York is a film that I would watch again just for the costumes (certainly not for the rambling story line). We got the DVD out a month or so ago and most interesting (for me at least) was the short featurette about the costume design and production. Fabulous fabrics and detailed research. Sandy Powell was the designer heading the team behind the 7000+ costumes required for the movie and her vision was brilliant. After a IMBD search I find that Sandy Powell is also the designer behind the costumes in Shakespeare in Love and Orlando. I also see that she has done the costumes for a film called Sylvia starring Gweneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath!

“There’s a beauty in dirt” [She says,] “When I go to the movies, I think, Why is that dress so clean? The boat is going down and they look perfect. You want to have beauty in a film, but if something looks a bit worn, a bit soiled, it usually has more depth.” From a great Salon article about her work.

I am looking forward to seeing what wondrous frocks come out of her imagination for The Aviator — Cate Blanchette plays Katherine Hepburn to Leo Caprio’s Howard Hughes.

Stick Insect Spring Activities

In a story that Disney – Pixar could bring to the screen: “The adventures of the world’s rarest insect took a jubilant turn yesterday, with a pair of stick-like, creepy-crawlies showing off their new baby at Melbourne Zoo.” The Age.

Along with the great photo of the new baby Lord Howe Island Stick Insect is a scary description of the traumatic birth that the poor mamma stick insect went through. My friend C (mother of two human babies) exclaimed “let’s hope she had private health insurance!”.