SKETCHBOOK: SOUTHERN DUST, NORTHERN BONES


I don't know about sketchbooks anymore. I've pretty much been working exclusively on ripped up pieces of watercolour paper or painting on bones. 
It's going OK so far. 

I'm getting to the end of my last few commission pieces, and looking forward to actually getting somewhere with pieces for my show in May.
I'm nervous/excited about all the things I want to do, but may/may not be capable of.
We'll see.

SOUTHSET



This past Sunday was an excellent day. 
For one, it was one of those rare, remarkably perfect, crisp-blue Melbourne days that you are all more the grateful for given the city's usual erratic and somehow emotional weather patterns.
Secondly, we took Weenie Mutt down to the beach for a run and found more than 50 sea urchin shells, not to mention a bucket to carry them all in. How fortunate. I understand that for normal people, this isn't exactly exciting, but for me... let's just say the breathtaking wonder of existence is personified by sea urchin shells. 
After I recovered from my sea urchin delightedness, we headed over to the other side of the city for the launch of the new Southset gallery and retail space, run by our friends Beth and Luke. 
Southset is home to lots of my favourite things: turquoise jewellery, Pendleton rugs, eagle pillows, Millie Studio chopping boards and Howlin' Wolf jewellery. On this particular visit, there were cans of softdrink with cacti on them and Mexican food. What's not to love about that?!
Also, the Southset gallery is the site of my upcoming exhibition, and in the meantime, a few of my prints and posters are available there too...

Southset is open Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and the online shop is here. 



WHITE HEAT



White heat print, available for a limited time here. 

I like to work on drawings at least a little bit every day. Even if it's nothing important, or it's directionless or silly or self-indulgent. 
Somedays, nothing comes out of it and I've -- in isolation -- wasted my time. But other days, I make something that I love, and it's well worth the time. In a way, I gamble with my hours to see if I'll come up with something good. And the more I do it, the better the odds. 
You've all heard that saying: 'The harder I work, the luckier I get'? It's like that.
This piece really reminds me of that ethos, because I worked on it during a painfully insistent heatwave earlier this year, with no air conditioning of any sort and not even the nights offering a break in the temperature. Being from the north, I'm used to a big thunderstorm rolling through in the evening to break a hot summers day and cool everything off, but that doesn't happen down here in the southern parts of Australia. I'd never experienced anything like it, but I was determined to keep working, to keep making stuff. 
Because eventually, something good comes along. 


FOREVER SUNDAYS


Flynn Skye dress; vintage boots and hat from Camberwell Markets; vintage glasses and jewellery, with rings by Buffalo Girl, Lakota Jewellery and Rejoice the Hands; concho belt via eBay.

My favourite thing to wear, ever, is black jeans, Harley boots and a shirt with the sleeves cut off. But, even though it's the most comfortable-happiness-inducing combination ever, it's a combination that lacks a bit of drama.
Which brings me to my second favourite outfit: long dresses, heavy boots and big hats. Preferably with conchos and silver jewellery, and dark lips. And a Flynn Skye dress, like the above. Or, like the one I've added to my (somewhat jumping-the-gun because it isn't until June) birthday wish list.
Too many maxis, too little time...


WILDNESS


Wildness print, limited edition of 10, available here.

...he reached to hold what cannot be held, what already ran among the mountains at once terrible and of great beauty, like flowers that feed on flesh. What blood and bone are made of but can themselves not make on any altar nor by any wound of war. What we may well believe has power to cut and shape and hollow out the dark form of the world surely if wind can, if rain can. But which cannot be held never be held and is no flower but is swift and a huntress and the wind itself is in terror of it and the world cannot lose it.

Inspired by Cormac McCarthy's The Crossing, a book that hijacked my mind, made me cry on the train and had me talking nonsense about wolves and horses to anyone who would listen.

FEATHER ARCH


One-off handpainted denim jacket available here. 
Vintage turquoise necklace, tassel necklaces from Ishka, vintage glasses, shirt and hat, earrings from Tree of Life, rings: vintage, Southset, Rejoice the Hands and Lakota Jewellery.

Macrame knotting. Banjo playing. Reading the whole Border Trilogy in a weekend. Shell collecting. Listening to bands you've never heard before. Looking at the night sky. Sewing. Letter writing. Exploring new lane-ways in the city. Ceramics. Planting a bad-ass cactus garden. Painting on old denim jackets...

It's hard to get around to all the rad things that its possible to spend time doing, but it's always worth making time. 
I've finally got it together and painted on some vintage denim jackets. This is the first... more to come soon!

WHISKEY VISIONS


Pony Gold limited-run Whiskey Visions tee, available for pre-order here.
This is for eternal enlightenment seekers. For arriving in a place you’ve never seen before. For discovery. For hastily written notes and sketches. 
This is for Pink Floyd in the midnight dark. For hand drawn temporary tattoos. For real ones. For loved ones. 
For last night’s conversations and this morning’s coffee. 
This is for beat-up boots kicking up dust. For concho hatbands, for whiskey visions, for silver and turquoise. 
For McCarthy, Faulkner, Townes and Waylon.

 Pony Gold Whiskey Visions shirt is available for pre-order here (shipped February 17). 
Yay! I finally got organised and finished the artwork for another tee. I've been perfecting this one for a while, and I'm finally happy with the font size and the illustration elements of it.
It's printed on a charcoal (dark grey) slim-fit loose tee with sleeves, perfect for rolling up or cutting off or doing whatever the hell it is you like to do with your shirts.
I hope you guys love it as much as I do!
I'm not sure how many will be printed, but at the moment I'm planning on a pretty short run. And (thank god!) I'm not doing the printing this time, which makes me obscenely happy.


ON GOOD DAYS



Yesterday was a good day. After work we took Humble down to the bay and walked along the beach – I found an urchin shell, and a giant feather, maybe from an eagle or an albatross, but probably from a pelican. I stole some flowers from the car park as we left. I worked on some drawings that are going out into the world, and some that are going somewhere else.
And the first sample of these shirts I’ve been meaning to print finally arrived in the mail.

But more on that soon…

LATE SUNSETS / SEA SALT / WHISKEY / SABBATH


Both prints available here.

It's waking up in a mostly white room, with the sun already clear of the horizon but the air crisp in a house that never really gets cold. 
It's the incessant chime of a bird that only lives in this valley. 
It's silence except for a distant highway... or ocean... or something non-descript. It's the fact that on still nights you can hear the train whistle hundreds of kilometres away.
It's a shelf full of treasures -- of fox skulls and leatherwork and urchin shells and snake skins. 
It's the slide of gravel, the rasp of grass, the silk of sand, beneath feet that know them well. 
It's sunrises you watch over already-industrious hands, it's fresh white fish baking in the evening.
It's the simple human dignity of being able to stare out at a vacant plot and put your hands on the earth, directly. 
Of understanding that you're just like everything else in the chain, and no Mercedes, no Louis Vuitton, no house in Toorak, can ever put adequate distance between you and it.

And, after all of this, it might just be quaint and idealistic and all-very-nice-but, but it beats life in the city all to hell.

SKETCHBOOK: THE WILD WORLD

... Just taking advantage of another manic phase these last few weeks. 
I'm trying to organise my brain into logical progressions towards meaningful end results, but it's difficult. There's lots of distractions, namely, cute dogs and cactus gardens and 44-degree heat and other drawings I'd like to work on. 
But that being said, there are a few exciting projects on the go, as always. 

Also, I've posted a lot of original and larger pieces on my shop here. With some, I have been -- and still am, a bit -- debating about whether I should sell them, because I don't want to part with them. But I need to make way for new thoughts and growth... so, out with the old. 

THE COLOURFUL WORLD


Important life things:
Weenie Mutt and Bunny the Bunyip: best camping companions (on the anti bad vibes shield from Volcom) // T H A N K Y O U – For being rad, encouraging, positive, and supporting my artwork over the years.
Farm drawings: hydrangeas, ponies I’m not allowed to buy, and Christmas present leather rings from Buffalo Girl // Fox teeth, purple flowers, Nat Geo pages, dad's bullet casings.
Things that are strange, beautiful or gone for good. Respectively: hanging cacti, lavender and marsupial lion skull // ‘God’s Country/Stargazer’ flash sheet for my lover.
Wildflowers and feather collected in Eden, creating our own magic // A R D E N T H E A R T E D – All his reverence and all his fondness and all the leaning of his life were for the ardenthearted and they would always be so and never be otherwise. From All the Pretty Horses.


Hope you year is off to a good start! 

SKETCHBOOK: HYDRANGEAS AND FOX SKULLS


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Farm sketchbook scrawlings // mama's hydrangeas // leatherwork and bone collecting with dad (things I want to do more of) // a little new year's eve image-flash

This past year has been a big one -- I hope the next is crazy too, maybe a little bit gentler on us all, but we'll get what we deserve, work just as hard, and continue living in these interesting times. 


HAPPY WHATEVER


I hope your holidays are full of love and magic and joy and mystery. 

Raych x

SKETCHBOOK: HALF-STARTED


For things half-finished and just-started, for things evolving and ones that are growing... Lately I've hardly had time to draw at all, but here's some little things from the past week or so. 
And today is going to be excellent, because it's only a half-day at work, and then I'm hopping on a plane to go home to the farm.