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I hope desktop number 12 finds you well, it’s the culmination of a whole year in my creative practice and a milestone of commitment for me. At the beginning of the year I had the idea to do monthly desktops on a whim but I’m really proud of myself for sticking with it because I have learnt so much and used the exercise as a way to explore my own visual language.

People have asked me if I’ll continue doing these desktops in 2010, and you know what? I probably will. I’ve thought about doing other regular and ongoing projects, but none of the ideas I’ve come up with have really been as practical and useful as monthly desktops! Thank you so much if you’ve used my desktops throughout the year, I always feel an odd mixture of pride and embarrassment when I see them on people’s computers and phones.

I have done a special limited release desktop for Blanket subscribers only this month. If you subscribe, I hope you enjoy it, however if you don’t subscribe go and grab December’s issue because there’s an interview with me in it!

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320×480 – iPhone

240×320 – mobile phone

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
You may not upload this desktop to other websites, nor may you use it for any other purpose than to wallpaper your desktop. This also means it’s uncool to alter it and reupload it somewhere as your own work. Soz

I very nearly didn’t submit my report today because I just didn’t feel like it. Instead, I put on some music and squeezed out some fance!

⇒ Incredible needlework by benjibot, asking all the hard questions. Who DID die and make you Mr. Fancy? Hmmm?

⇒ For a while I was completely obsessed with the Large Hadron Collider, so I was glad to see these amazing photos come up in my Google Reader. Shiny. Fancy. Amazing!

⇒ When I grow up I want to be Mrs. T. Charlton Henry and sit for a photo with an incarnation of Diane Arbus. So fancy it hurts!!

⇒ This Anna French wallpaper could have been torn from the pages of The Fancy Wall Fanciers Quarterly. Well, it could have been if such a wondrous publication existed.

⇒ I wish I knew who shot this, but I got it from Luxirare. I think it sums up my mission statement quite well: Science, big hair and fashuns!
*ETA: It’s photographed by Eugenio Recuenco – taker of amazing photographs.

My friend Kathleen wrote a tweet about forgetting things and tying red string around her fingers, and it inspired this image. There are so many things you have to do to remain a lady, sometimes you can tie yourself up in remembering it all.

This piece is for sale, if you’re interested in buying it please contact me with your best offer. Highest bidder wins, and I will close bids by next Wednesday 2 December.

Details: Ink, coloured pencil and watercolour on Arches Aquarelle paper, 282mm x 354mm.

When Damien asked me to draw some lettering for the cover of the International Superheroes of Drawing, Illustration and World Domination book I was totally flat out but I really wanted to do it. I met quite a few awesome people, like Damien, on Red Bubble (where the International Superheroes HQ is) and I wanted to support my fellow (talented!) artists within the group.

Check out more info and where to buy it here!

Once Upon launched last Thursday night, and by all reports it was a fantastic night in Sydney. I wish I had the cash for plane tickets down for the last week, because Happenstance were launching their second issue (which I’m in!) as well!

One of my pieces sold, but the other three are still for sale! They are all framed in gorgeous white ornate frames, I totally want to start using frames like this for my work. I love them!

If you’d like to buy some of my work (which is very affordable, go onnn) you can check out it and the work of the other participating Once Upon artists here!

I keep forgetting to do the My Place and Yours theme! This week’s is My Collection, set by Fox’s Lane.

I have collections of a few little things: pens, pencils, doilies but nothing big. They’re all useful things too. The biggest collection I have is buttons… just random buttons. Pearl buttons, shirt buttons, spare buttons, leather buttons… none of them are especially pretty, they all found their way to me in rather boring ways too. It’s just really handy to have a lot of buttons, you never know when you can use one.

Do you like my heavily abused work table?! I always spill my ink.

The weekend means mystery flowers from the market! The sign in the bucket said “Lizzies $5 or 3 for $10″, so I bought three for a very plump looking arrangement. I did a bit of a google for Lizzy/ Lizzie flowers but the image search results turned up some flowers that didn’t look like these at all. Apparently Lizzies are part of the Impatiens family, and there are quite a variety of flower heads within the genus so they could well be Lizzies… who knows?! Do you?

Here’s a closer shot so you can have a look at the buds and flowers.

The other week I was introduced to the wonder of kumatoes: small and round tomatos with a brown or striped skin. They taste crisp and sweet, perfect in salads if you want something crunchy and fresh in summer!

I love colourful foods, they make life so much nicer.

These muffins look better than they taste unfortunately. I didn’t have any buttermilk and I forgot to whisk the egg. ALWAYS WHISK THE EGG! It makes things much fluffier.

And now… I must do laundry. Fancy’s on weekend

I am drawing my arm off lately for lots of people, but the other day I had a day to do something for me. This piece is bigger than I usually draw, but as a result I can’t scan it without doing bits and stitching them all together. I don’t have the time or patience right now!

This is the artwork for the cover of a book being put together by the “International Superheroes of Drawing, Illustration and World Domination” group. Big title = lots of lettering, horah!

I am struggling to keep up with my inbox at the moment, and I’ve just discovered that a whole bunch of emails have been marked as spam, so I’m trying to go through everything to catch up. If you’ve emailed me lately, hold tight please and thank you!

⇒ Charlotte Gainsbourg in Vogue Paris – so lovely!

⇒ Rebecca Wetzler’s illustrations for Bloom combine ink and watercolour, two of my favourite things!

⇒ Bugs and Fishes makes some really adorable felt objects, and she often writes up tutorials on how to make things like these lavendar teabags. Cute!

⇒ I would love to have a cut paper installation like this in my home, amazing. It’s by Swoon, a NYC street artist.

⇒ I don’t have much information on this, other than that it was the slide shown before the “Late Friday Movie” on West Australian television in the 1960s. Fabulous.

Tumblr has been having a lot of “maintenance issues” lately, but I was heartened to see this marriage proposal on my dashboard just then!