Send a dagger to the moon: Cobracult

Cobracult's winter 2013 lookbook: Send a dagger to the moon. 

via the cult of style

Photography: Amanda Leigh Smith

Models: Skye Sengelmann and Tashina Hill

Styling: Tashina Hill  

Whenever Amanda Leigh Smith and Skye Sengelmann are involved in a project, it is undoubtedly and irrefuteably always excellent. And Portland-based jewellery line CobraCult's

winter 2013 lookbook is no exception -- always magical, decadent, slightly stoned and hazy, but also full of mystique and dead-on-point style. Tashina Hill's styling kills it.

So... what Cobracult piece are you after? It's pretty obvious from my art scrawlings that I might be a sucker for the palm/hand necklace, but I'm also quite partial to a bit of thunderbird jewellery too...
Anyway, show CobraCult a bit of love over on facebook here.

High hopes/Holy roller: Yen Female Art Awards

High hopes/Holy roller, 2012

So I managed to set aside a little time to work on an actual-proper-time consuming painting for Yen's Female Art Awards... You can read more about my entry here, and if you're into it, vote for it to go into the running of the people's choice.  

Holiday guest spot

I'm a holiday guest-blogger over on Spell and the Gypsy Collective's always-inspiring blog... 

And I'm in damn good company, with the likes of Sarah Wilson, Leslie Crowe and Alexandra Valenti all contributing from their areas of expertise... 

Check out the rest here, and enjoy this fresh, new year...

The fresh year: 2013

Here's to another year where we keep the good things going, and totally exceed all expectations and limitations. 

I can't believe how much things have changed over the past few years... but it is pretty awesome, to say the least. 

I hope you're all feeling the same way, and that in spite of the losses, you keep struggling to break better ground.

Happy new year.

Pony Gold 2012 highlights

2012 was a massive year... but there were some serious standout moments and adventures...

New Years Eve at Creekside… a very special, hidden place on the NSW north coast, with a funny boxer dog Rocky and his filthy red clay claws.

Roadtrip south to Melbourne with my baby (part I and part II) -- we moved cities for the second time in as many years, chasing exactly what we have now… a totally sweet and fulfilling life where we live in the same town!

I spent a whole unemployed-month-and-a-half drawing and hanging out with my Bay and Shadow… my illustration benefitted greatly, my bank balance not-so-much… Then I landed an amazing (albeit-creative-industries-unrelated) job, with a super intelligent and professional staff to work alongside, including an editor who is on the same grammatical wavelength as me -- a rare find. Also, it's an early-am refuge for an hour's worth of drawing each day, something that has impacted my process hugely.

We now live in the city that is pretty much Australia's artistic capital, with cool places to explore like Union Lane…

One innocuous instagram post acted as the catalyst for some amazing projects… Thanks, lazy afternoon and a gel pen. And also a massive thanks to Spell & the Gypsy Collective for taking me on for some very special and (to me) hugely important projects.

This logo design for Wild & Free Jewelry feels like a huge achievement. I love it. Also, working with Sugarhigh + Lovestoned, a collective that, just a year ago, I looked up to and saw as so far away, was pretty mind blowing.

I did interviews… weird. Ember, Yen, Loon, Crane & Heron, Coconut, Lemon & Lime.

Something I've wanted to do for years... I made a video of me sketching. Hopefully more time lapses in 2013!

We survived the winter!

And I bought some cool shit this year... This and that.

The Strange Totems series was a favourite of mine… Part I and part II

I got to head home a few times this year, for wildly different reasons -- twice for weddings and once for a funeral. But each time I return home, I remember how much I love my family, and I tend to forget how much we annoy each other when we all tell each other the same things ten times and no one listens. Anyway, I made my mum a drawing because I love her, and she loves Regent bowerbirds and waratahs. And because she heads out into the bush and collects skeletons for me.

I received unparalleled love and support from strangers this year… I'm a bit awkward, so I drew a picture about it… Thanks again for the ongoing support.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like my hand was delivering what my mind was seeing. 

We got comfortable and explored where we live… and found some gemspots, including a cactus garden, a river-meets-the-sea spot and a place with squid.

I started printing and selling works via my online store here.

My design printed on a tote? Fuckin' oath! They're available here.

I got to spend a year living with my beautiful sister... who got married on my parents' farm.

I got to live with this guy too...

And this guy.

As for next year, there's plenty of great stuff to come, illustrations projects...

and we're getting a dog, this Humble Bean!

For now, we're heading up the coast to Eden for New Years... off the grid and into the wild!
All the best for the new year and I'll see you in 2013. 

Raych x

Pony Gold: URL change

Just a quick heads up and end-of-year housekeeping, my URL here is changing from www.digvigilante.blogspot.com to www.ponygold.blogspot.com

Hopefully I don't lose too many of you in the transition, because your support and kindness over the past couple of years has been amazing! But over the years, my art practice has evolved hugely, from Dig Vigilante's dirty walls (above) to Pony Gold's less-angsty, more-together illustration. 

Raych x

In the mind...

Lately, I haven't been doing a very good job of posting sketches on this blog... But here's a little peek into two little idea-capturers, hopefully a sign of things to come.
Because there are good things to come! Hope everyone is having an amazing holiday/Christmas/whatever it may be.

Raych x

The holy ghost

This is about as festive as I'm getting via illustration... 

I hope everyone is surrounded by love and family, enjoying the roll over into a fresh year.

Wild & Free

Logo design I put together for Wild & Free Jewelry... as much as I fret about commercial work preventing me from chasing personal projects, there's no doubt it's sharpening my skills. I really love this piece... the mojo was good, I think. 

Share the love II

1. New Spell and the Gypsy Collective skirt with a killer print, teamed up with turquoise and typography // Christmas party braids.

2. Working on a lovely little project -- sometimes people are very easy to work with, what a blessing!

3. Taking my artwork literally // Just love this printed tank by Evil Twin.

4. Sketch time before work... I routinely cruise in to the office an hour or so early, which means I get some uninterrupted drawing time. Usually nothing serious, but always something fun. 

5. Making wishes // Playing in the creek with Shadow, enjoying some beautiful summer weather.

6. Ambitious sketches -- I'm hoping to work on some large pieces over the holidays.

7. Posting prints... thanks so much for all your support!

8. I know, I know, I've said it before but... that jacket! // My cactus, which I was convinced I'd killed, broke out in bloom... I'm like a proud parent, and duly impressed with myself for not killing it. 

9. A steady diet of ink drawings on Saturday mornings. No time for hangovers in my current life.

10. Ebay shirts // Logo work for Wild and Free Jewelry... very happy with this piece.

11. Shadow (and my sister) moved away today... no more sharing grapes with him and letting him sleep on my back when I'm lying on the ground drawing //  On the upside, meet Humble Bean, my soon-to-be daughtepup. Shadow has set a formidable standard as far as huge personality goes, but I think she's the girl for the job. 

They're all...

bold as love.

Pony Gold X Market HQ Design-a-Tote

So, a while ago I was carrying on about (or pleading with you, whatever way you want to look at) voting for my artwork in Market HQ's Design-a-Tote competition... Turns out, I won!
So thanks so much for voting, it's a really cool outcome and I can't wait to see the print in the real. They're available here, and the best thing about it is that all profits go to Youth off the Streets, which is a community organisation that helps young people who are disadvantaged, homeless, drug dependent and or recovering from abuse.

 

Holy roller

Racktraffic jacket via Etsy, American Gold Bandito Bells via Spanish Moss, vintage/markets glasses, belt, fringed scarf, and jewellery, MC5 shirt via Ebay. 

I have been acquiring a lot of rad stuff lately...but I have had absolutely no time to take photos. 

So here's a little glimpse at a few of my favourite pieces and possessions -- namely that jacket, which is borderline too crazy to wear, but is undeniably an art piece in its own right.

Ah... I can't wait to ditch the corporate uniform for a few weeks and live in my weird, mostly trashed, favourite outfits.

๏۞ 121212 // End of days ۞๏

Images from here, here and Tumblr.
Just posting a little mid-week inspiration magic as a nod to this most mystical of dates -- indeed, the last consecutive-number-date we'll see in our lifetimes. 

Texas Radio and the big beat.

Wild, wild horses

All images by Alexandra Valenti.

One thing I miss most about the farm is the horses.

Among them were a stockhorse-cross named Mohawk -- who basically babysat me from age nine to 15, and only threw me off to teach me how to stay on -- and a copper-coloured quarterhorse named Reverend's Dee Sciple, who seemed to be about three-parts cattledog and one-part rebellious teenager, and only threw me off to see what he could get away with. 

Anyway, it's safe to say I loved them a lot, and whenever I was on the ground, I followed them around with a camera. 

So, that was a good 10 years of horse photographs. Ten years of photographs that all really should be given the Alexandra Valenti treatment. Her most recent artworks (above) have been popping up on my Facebook feed and making me so happy -- they are by far the most vibrant and brilliant take on horse photography I've ever seen.

Wild minds II

In my first year of school, I sat next to a girl with beautiful, smooth olive skin, and I can clearly remember her looking at my hands and asking me, "Why have you got old hands?"

So, for years after that, I cursed my parents and ancestors for a lineage of pale Irish and Scottish skin, and for giving me these tiny hands that were, apparently, born with about sixty years of weather under their belt.

Anyway, I'm at an easy peace with the tools of my trade now, I even kind of like them, even though they haven't gotten any prettier over the years. The Wild Minds piece is a nod to the aspects of our lives we can see in our hands, or the things that our hands may influence -- as a vehicle of creativity, healing, love, mischief, or the search for knowledge. 

Prints of my favourite recent work are available here.

SH+LS X Pony Gold

1. Sugarhigh+Lovestoned's new logo, designed by me.

2. Crawling king snake 

I wrapped up work on these two pieces a few weeks ago, and have been dying to send them out into the world. They're two pieces that I love a lot -- sometimes, rarely, the idea just flows out: no snags, no tedious redraws, no minor slips that throw the whole thing off. These two worked like that... and I'm so, so psyched that Sugarhigh+Lovestoned have picked up the top piece to use as their new logo. It's quite special to be able to share something with creatives I admire across the globe. 

Also, the lovely ladies gathered up a post of my artwork here, and as it turns out, they've chosen most of my favourite pieces...

☽ Star mystic ☾

Images from: Tentative Decisions etsy, Davis Ayer, tumblr, Planet Blue, Melancine Moon, Pamela Love.

Edge of Urge X Pony Gold

Stoked on this fun little project with Edge of Urge... the creative masterminds over there in NY have incorporated some of my illustrations into a mini-shoot for their homepage -- linking up the ideas and inspiration between drawings and photos... Love it!