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Welcome
Once again, almost a year – a tumultuous, roller coaster of a year, has passed, and I have found myself way overworked again.
Wanting to find time to upgrade my websites, and just not finding that time.
However, I have at last spent much time over some months reworking the look of the website, and assembling bucket-loads of new things to post – so check back and see what you think when the new make – new model megabytes your way in the proximal future.
The new site will finally be closer to what I always wanted the site to be; new presentations, features and more sections and pages.
I apologize for two things: Firstly, for not being more of a fanatic for site updates and frankly, the site largely said much of what I wanted it to. Secondly, I am looking into whether it’s viable to have a Shop section, to help sell posters and so forth.
I’m just an average working shmoe, not massively enterprising, but massively enthusiastic and passionate about my work.
A friendly reminder – some stuff on this site is Adult Material, so parents are advised to show vigilance and discretion when allowing family members to view it.
Ciao for the nonce
M
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News
An exhilarating and creatively fulfilling fortnight.
The past few weeks have been fullbore, and for the most part, exhilarating and creatively fulfilling, but with one sad note which I will mention later in the update.
ART GROUP TOUR
A few weeks ago, I was asked to entertain an Art Appreciation Group Tour of my Home/Studio. I had some trepidations, and almost passed up on the opportunity for several reasons – one was I didn’t know if I could accommodate very many people, and didn’t think my work would be of interest to such a group. But the occasion was an overwhelming success, and I was delighted by how well it went and how interesting and interested the group were. Many of the twenty-strong group, at the finish of the 2-hour exposition wound down over coffee and cakes up at GG’s Café in Dulwich – my favourite café.
MERMAID DREAMS
I am really stoked to be able to announce I now have a new piece of art available. I have such a soft spot for mermaids, and in this piece, I was attempting to draw something that had a serene quality. Dreaming Is one of Humanity’s greatest gifts, and greatest vices – of course, who knows what a mermaid dreams of? Floating weightless immersed in a lustrous gem-like blue-green – a Mermaid Insensate enshrouded In the mists of Morpheus. This Is a special new version never before seen.
So if you’re a lover of all things mermaids, I hope you’ll add Mermaid Dreams to your collection – available from RedBubble and CafePress in a wide range of formats; you can purchase T-Shirts, cards, mugs, fridge magnets and all manner of stuff…..
And on that note, the next piece is almost ready – so I should be able to make an announcement about that one in a couple of weeks.
THE LAST REALM
Just a quick mention of the Last Realm series – I am currently doing some extra art for TLR-BOOK 1: DRAGONSCARPE. Yes – strange and very true – that very same Book 1 (which is already crammed to bursting with art) is having a few more pieces drawn and coloured, for reasons I am not at liberty to mention here and now. But I’m thrilled to be able to do a few more pieces that I felt were missing from the first book – and show a bit more of the world that was missing …but much as I personally would love to depict more of the mundane Day-To-Day-InThe-Life stuff – well – this is action fantasy after all – so the new pieces will unfortunately be exciting and action-packed for the most part.
JAN SCHERPENHUIZEN PROJECT
And another exciting point of note – I’m in early talks with one of my past collaborators, Jan Scherpenhuizen, who helped out on LOST IN SPACE: VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SOUL and WOLVERINE: DOOMBRINGER. We are developing plans to work on some projects together
It’s very early days yet, we haven’t even settled on which project, but I am enthusiastic…
SHUTTERBUG TRIP TO STIRLING
My brother Adam and I had a spectacularly fun Autumn day up in Sterling in the Adelaide Hills snapping shots of the seasonal colour change – not so noticeable with the native Australian trees, but the deciduous exotics were beginning to look spectacular.
We slowly worked our way from a bus stop beyond the town back towards the centre of town, stopping for quite a time at the Aptos Cruz Gallery – that had several works in oils on wood veneer by a marvellous painter called Nina Rupena – I haven’t been so taken with the aesthetic sensibilities of an artist in years.
We then photographed the authentic Buddhist stone statues in the environs of the Gallery’s Garden and I made many dismal attempts to photograph a huge, gnarled old lichen-crusted Oak with phantasmagoric recurving branches shaped a little like oxbow loops in a river. Then we safaried out onto the roadside common strip, which was covered in flowers, grass, moss and trees such as silver birches, where we discovered a spectacular array of 100 or so Amanita muscaria toadstools (also called Fly Agarics) pushing through the competing verdancy and leaf litter – their resplendant, decorous red tops and white spots screaming – “Shoot Us, Please Shoot Us!!!”
So we snapped happily away for ages, eating as many of them as we could pick and stuff into our mouths – KIDDING! They’re toxic if not cooked properly, but they’re apparently a delicacy in some regions of Northern Italy
Wandering on, I experimented with my new Nikon L110 Coolpix, but shot the bulk of the shots with my Canon Powershot SX110 IS – which gives such a beautiful result – a snapper’s camera that punches above its weight quality wise. I can’t wait to move on to a proper Digital SLR – but I don’t feel I am anywhere near ready yet.
We finished with dinner at a Thai joint with a wide view of the tree-lined main street, and then came home by bus and did a post mortem on the shots – a lot of grain in Adam’s pics – not sure if it’s the quality of his camera or mostly the ISO settings – I have tried to remove the grain in these.
GOODBYE EVA REHOREK
Lastly, and sadly, I must announce the passing of the mother of my very good friend, Ivan. She is survived by her devoted husband, Karel, and her sons, Ivan and Daniel, and her daughter Susan, and her grandson Ambrose and his sister Madelena. My heart goes out to them and to Ivan’s wonderful wife and staunchest friend and ally, Caroline.
ATB
Michal.
Easter and Beyond
Between friends and Siblings and Walks and Work Commitments – the
last few weeks have been a spin-out.
First up on the Newsworthy:
I’ve added a new Devilia print to my RedBubble and CafePress shops,
available as a T-Shirt, Prints and a mousepad… soon to also be
released as a poster. Devilia is one of my favourite characters –
combining childhood nightmares with Playboy-like Pin-Up Pizzaz.
Devilia was a fabulously fun character to create, and I never get
tired of drawing her. I have produced many versions of her, but some
elements are unchanging – This version is close-to-classic, but the
horns are unridged.
This version of the picture “DEVILIA – MANIC” is more directly
appealing than the more disturbing original version, which at some
stage will see print again – I have a new version of that ready-to-go – hopefully I can find time to finish both the second GIRLS-FROM LINE
TO COLOR, and a book I have tentatively titled (but not finished
writing) called HYPERBOLIC. This work will be my finest work,
including many retouched pieces not published internationally, and
some new works.
I have also set up a profile on DeviantArt... and on myspace....
There seems to be an endless amount of these networking sites,
but I’m told it’s what you do in this era of the wired world, so
I’ve jumped in with boots on, so to speak.
This last week, I have also been working on art for Nat Karmichaels
publication of the classic Australian Adventure Strip AIR HAWK, by
one of my childhood art heroes: John Dixon, who established a strip
about the FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE and had a very modern, respectful
attitude towards Indigenous Australians, The Bush, Women, and a
grittily realistic and authentic feel reminiscent of the work of Alex
Raymond and John Prentice. Reading it now, it still feels authentic
and contemporary, with the exception of course of technical
innovations that occurred after the comic was published. I have been
helping with the presentation of the cover and Retooling of the main
logo. I will also be doing the art for the cover of issue 2, which by
the way I regard as a great honour, much the way I felt when I was
asked to do BATMAN.
The Adelaide Festival of Arts has played host to a monumentally
spectacular nighttime outdoor art event called the Northern Lights,
which features the transformation of Neo-Classical buildings along
North Terrace into psychedelic whimsical fantasies courtesy of huge
anamorphic projectors and some very imaginative photo-collages. This
was a personal dream fulfilled, because I had always wanted to see
our city transformed in this way. Here are a couple of my shots from
that event:
I am also starting sketches for a new piece to be included in Sal
Quartuccio’s (SQP Publishing) upcoming fantasy Pin-Up collection
called SPELLBOUND.
Lastly, here is a pencil sketch based on a character created by Matt
Cantley quite a while back, and I am including it here because I
absolutely have to …
ATB
M
