GIVEAWAY - yay! It's that time of the month -- ha! Not that time! Excuse me. I mean that it's time for giving away something to like, go on yer wall. If you don't have one of these (image above, not including frame) but you think you might like one, let me know. There's no pressure, you don't have to say anything witty, you can just say "hi" if you like, it's all the same to the impartial hat thingy.

I'll draw a name from the hat thingy on the 15th of October and post the winner's* name here at Zukzuk. Please make sure to leave me a way to contact you; blog, email addy or whatever just in case.

Thank you to everyone who comments, lurks, reads or just blows by occasionally, it's nice to think you're all out there!




Here's the necklace I received the other day from a yummy trade with Katrin from Kaleidoscope Style. She has loads of beautiful, fun and of course, colourful pieces. I feel very lucky to have mine!



In celebration of all this delectable Auntumness we are enjoying at the moment I made an Autumn themed landscape print and also a version with more of a Summery feel for those not quite ready to let go of Summer or perhaps for those southerners soon to come into Summer. Maybe just for folk who like yellow, green and red together!! Anyway, these along with dear little Sugardrop baby will be finding their way to ye olde Etsy shoppe soon.



Sugardrop Baby - Limited Edition Print





Tiny Summer Landscape - Limited Edition Print


Tiny Autumn Landscape - Limited Edition Print


I really don't mean to keep banging on about myself but it wouldn't be nice if I didn't mention that Ariadna from the blog Design This Design That has put out the second issue of her fab on-line magazine with lots of stuff about people who draw things and somewhere amongst all those colourful pages is a Zukzuk interview. Take a look if you have a lot of time to spare, are trying to put off some sort of unpleasant task or are my mother. Gee, that's not what I meant, that sounded dreadful, like I was putting the magazine down! Of course you should look at the magazine even if you are being eaten by wild dogs -- you should look at my bit/interview only if you have time to kill. There. That's the self deprecating sentiment I was going for.

http://issuu.com/designthisdesignthat/docs/issue2




If you happen to live in Canada, by chance, Hamilton, you might like to zip along to the opening, sorry, GRAND opening of the White Elephant next Friday. Jane and Hollie are opening a lovely boutique gallery there and you might just see some of my stuff!


And, it's that time again, thank you to everyone for your support.

*Excuse me for using the word "winner" it's such a dirty little word...

I've been to New York!


On our very first day we spied a friend in the crowd, cool.

Well, you know where this is! Time square, visually and olfactorily arresting.


What a place!

I had a great time, I barely complained at all about having to schlep child and stroller around this fabulous city. We were so giddy we even found the cab rides thrilling; as exciting as a dodgy fairground ride and just a wee bit more dangerous.

Carousel - Central Park

We did many of the touristy things with plenty of park time thrown in for kid and parent relief.


Central Park

For you North Americans I'm sure all of this is not so interesting, you've no doubt been to New York a bunch of times, but for me, all the way from little old New Zealand, it was mesmerizing. Please excuse these photos, they are, I think, primarily for my mother's benefit.

Museum of Modern Art


Lovely hidden courtyard in Greenwich village


Brooklyn Bridge


I hope I find my way back here one day. It was truly lovely.


Manhattan skyline

I Run to You - Limited Edition Print
(This will be available in 2 sizes at some point in the nearish future).


Bear Hug - Limited edition print

Hello there! I think it's time for the GIVEAWAY draw!!

The winner of the peacock print, in this case a white one, is: Frizz!

Congratulations Tricia Tharp a.k.a Frizz, I hope you like your new boyos.



I'd really like to send prints to everyone!! This giveaway business is hard! If it is any consolation, there will be another GIVEAWAY in October and hey, that's just around the corner. Hasn't this year just blown by? Whoosh.

It really is a lovely treat to hear from you all and your interest in my work makes me feel very honoured, thank you.

Happy vibes for a great week to all!

This is a picture of Martin the rooster's beloved chair collection. He's the kind of guy who can't drive past a chair on the side of the road without taking it home and fixing it up. Well, sometimes he fixes them up, a lot of the time they just get added to the ever growing brokeny tree forest in the garage.

Miriam the hen finds this all very vexing.



Martin's Chair Collection - Limited Edition Print

I have had an urge for some time... The urge to knit! It's pretty hard to avoid an urge like this, I mean, haven't you heard it's the new yoga? Wha? Whoa, anyway, I bought some disgustingly expensive yarn this weekend and am part way through... yeah, you guessed it, a scarf! I'm not totally new to the concept of knitting, at the first school I went to all the little boys and girls were required to knit a recorder case. You can imagine how these little beauties turned out:


Image borrowed from Alan Howard Waldorf School Catalogue

I suspect my scarf will look something like these (already there is a resemblance*) perhaps a little more scarf-like but then you never know...





Peacock Print GIVEAWAY! See details below.

*Hey, hey, it's... Garter stitch!

Hey!

There's this great gal called Amy who has a great illustration blog called Pikaland and right now there is an interview there with little old me. Don't miss out! Check out all my dorky responses!! This doesn't happen every day!

If you're into free stuff, and I know you are, you'll definitely want to have a look at Pikaland. Amy collects all manner of illustrative goodness from a variety of artists each month and then just gives it away!





Her blog is very addictive because it is chock full of great illustration. She has a knack of finding and then showcasing interesting artistic talent and she manages to cover a range of styles which is nice.

... And while we are contemplating bloggy bountifulness, let me not miss an opportunity to remind you of my own small GIVEAWAY where you stand a pretty good chance of winning yourself a rather fetching (if I do say so myself) peacock print. Have a look at the post below.


So go... What are you still doing here? Go get your own Pikapackage!

LA la la la....

This is NOT the giveaway, this is the hat-thingy that the names get drawn out of.

Well, I think it's GIVEAWAY time again! Hooray!

If you have a bit of a thing for birds -- they certainly seem to be a popular theme at the moment -- leave me a little hello in the comments section and my lovely assistant will endeavour to draw YOUR name out of the hat-thingy.

Up for grabs this month is a peacock print, your choice of either these pretty fellows :


Peacocks Orange

Or these pretty fellows:



Peacocks White

You can see more images of these prints in my Etsy store. Please let me know which you prefer in case the next winner is... YOU!*



DRAW DATE: 15th of September (ya know, give or take a couple of days)

*The only criteria for entering this giveaway, though I do hate to make conditions, is that you have to like chocolate.

Do I love these? YES I do!

Tea towels, artprons, pillowcases and artkerchiefs that you love to look at but are loathe to use, found at the Third Drawer Down

Yes, please.



Yay! The Magic Moss bears on the front page of Etsy!*

*If anyone knows how to get a not crap screenshot please let me know...

One of my most pleasurable memories from childhood was hunting for wild chocolate eggs on Easter morning. I'm guessing my parents (I suspect mostly my mother) rose super early and hid them all over the garden but maybe it was the Easter bunny, we never really discussed it. Finding something as wondrous as a brightly coloured foil wrapped chocolate egg amongst the everyday greenery is a truly special moment in one's life.



I also remember being highly enamoured with a juicy fruit gum advertisement where a bunch of kids come across this fantastic tree that seems to be fruiting the advertisers gum; somehow that was way cooler than an actual fruit tree, go figure. I don't even really like or understand gum but that advertisement left a magical impression.


Treasure Tree Hand finished in Watercolour, edition of 10.



We took a little trip to the Island the other day...

My cup runneth over! This nifty oven arrived in my mailbox the other day. Created by the extreme talent of littlebirdesigns over in Scotland who managed to pull my name out of a hat during her recent blog giveaway.

In other news, I struck up a lovely friendship with a fellow Etsian in Denmark and she sent me a box full of goodies; a beautiful Waldorf inspired doll and a treasure of earrings and she made them all herself!

There's a lot that separates those who can photograph things from those who cannot as evidenced below, I had a nice idea but managed to make a complete hash of it. Oh dear!



So, what to do with this overspilling of goodness? Amnesty International to the rescue!