What's been happening in 2022 and 2023

 Lots and lots of stuff has been happening this year. 

I have a number of new drawings.

These two were for an exhibition at NERAM in February called Illustrate Armidale. These are both set around the old entrance to the swimming pool.

Last year I did this triptych all about my relationship to drawing.

I embarked on an abstract.

Started working on a graphic novel about my love of Tennyson's poems.

Did an illustration for Edgar Allan Poe's The Red Death.

And I am currently working on a portrait of some of my puppets as they sit in my studio.

I also started to do some print making.

And in an ideal world, or one with a bit more time, I would love to keep this blog up to date more often and add a lot more words. But this will have to do for now!

What's happening in 2022

Here we are already half way through 2022. Lots of things have happened, lots of drawings done. Not much blogging but I always have good intentions of updating more often.

This year I decided to try a huge drawing. I have always wanted to do this. Now I have a great studio space to do it in and no excuses. I have cut a length of paper that is approximately 2 metres tall and about 1.5 (or a bit less) and clipped it to some ply board. 

I thought it might be interesting to draw in Biro. It has been interesting but also frustrating because the Biro does not like working on a vertical surface even with the pen held at an angle so the ink can flow down. I love the scale and I love the effect. I will definitely be doing more large drawings.

(photos courtesy of Little Pink dog Books)

I finished the illustrations for my book, Edward's War which is being published by Little Pink Dog Books and will be out in October. This is the link to the publisher's website with details:

Edward’s War – Little Pink Dog Books

There has been time for some doodling too!

 

Blimey, another year almost gone! Where does the time go? An update starting with the most recent

 

One of the goblins was chosen to perform in the Arts North West Puppet Project for Lockdown, shown here in my new art studio.

He had been made for an interactive pop-up installation in the mall

2021 started with a microgrant from the New England Writers' Centre for the Summer in New England project

What happened at the end of 2020...

My knitted lyrebird that I designed for Angela Savage's project to support the book, 'Animals Make Us Human', published 202 by Penguin Random House

Compressed Charcoal Videos for the Arts North West Micro Grant

 

These two videos show how I build up darkness with compressed charcoal and below is the finished drawing. Compressed charcoal is much darker and richer than ordinary charcoal and extremely messy so use newspaper or a drop cloth under your easel. It will also make your hands very black. If this could be a problem I suggest using a disposable rubber glove. The charcoal will wash off with soap and water but it takes a bit of scrubbing. 

 

Some artists use a mixture of compressed charcoal, charcoal pencil and graphite in their work in order to get really dark areas. I am still experimenting with cross hatching graphite into areas of compressed charcoal in a way that gets a believable blend, the drawings below show such a work in progress.

Videos of knead-able graphite.

Here are two videos I made of myself trying out a product called knead-able graphite. It is very messy but lots of fun. These were my first videos and I didn't think about actually talking about the product while I used it. The materials were purchased courtesy of a micro grant supplied by Arts North West.  

 

Arts North West micro grant for a home-based residency.

 

In May this year I was the lucky recipient of a micro grant from Arts North West that enabled me to undertake a home-based residency exploring issues of loneliness and isolation generated by the Covid19 lock down. I have found it to be the most exhilarating experience and have  had a couple of extremely productive months. I have experimented with new materials and started working on a major theme revolving around Dante's dark and savage wood. 

I have made some mini videos of myself trying out the new drawing materials and aim to get these all posted to this blog over the next week or two to give people the time to see them without feeling they are being overwhelmed by the number of them. All of the videos have been posted to Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/123fionadolls

Creative New England also did an interview with me about the project which you can find here: https://www.unelife.com.au/blog/2020/06/30/fiona-mcdonald

Here are some photos of the works in progress and some of the finished pieces.

Thank you Arts North West! 

Update Long Overdue

It is so long since I posted on my blog, I apologise. In my defence I can truly say I have been busy. I shall try to make up for it by posting some of my creations that I have finished over the last year.
This one is pen on paper, approx. 51cm x 71cm. It began as an old drawing I'd made for an 8 metre mural I was commissioned to paint at St Agnes Catholic College in Rooty Hill in 2002. I unearthed the drawing and thought it was too good to leave as a sketch. I have made a few additions to make it something completely different from the mural. I am currently working on the second panel of this piece.