New aquisition for the Kensington house


I splashed out and got myself this amazing "Betsy" rug from legendary rug designers TSAR. It's huge, it's gorgeous, it's pure New Zealand wool, and designed by Yvette Balderston. I f#%king LOVE it. We have polished concrete floors, and while they look awesome they can get a bit cold underfoot, so this is going to fit in perfectly. You can now find me rolling around on my floor basking in it's beauty. xx

Morteza Zahedi



Check out this guys work!

His linework + animals and strange monster characters are drawn much like a genius child's eye. Remember when you were fearless and could draw without thinking. Picasso once said. All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once you grow up. - Eye-Likey

Morteza Zahedi

Born in 1978 , Rasht ,Iran

2002, B.A. in Painting , , Islamic Azad art & architechture university, Tehran







It is exactly ten years that I have been in this profession. Though I live and work in Iran I am satisfied with my current position. For here in Iran we have many limitations for an artist to be seen, acknowledged, to live artistically and professionally, especially on an international level. My work room is the very place I live in: a small 3 in 4 room at the third floor of an old apartment building downtown. It has two large 2 in 2 windows, one facing the north and the other south. The northern window is always shut and the other one opens into a large balcony which keeps my room bright enough during the day.





I was doing my military service at one of the army bases of Rasht, and since I was a painting graduate, I was used in the worst imaginable way in the section I had to service. I painted the walls and rooms of the commanders there. I was even ordered to paint and decorate all the seats of the base’s stadium with red and yellow…Meanwhile I was informed of having won the second prize and the golden pen in the International Belgrade Illustrating Exhibition and so would the president of the time award a number of young prize winners of Iran – me among them. I gleefully went to the commander’s office and told him all about it and asked for a short leave to attend the ceremony. He gave me a sarcastic look and said: “Ain’t there a bigger lie to tell me? Or may be the president himself has called to invite you?” He didn’t let me go. I escaped from the base the same day and attended the ceremony. That night, the ceremony was broadcasted for an hour on national channels while the cameras had long zoomed on me…



I Think, two types of artists: the diligent and the spontaneous. The artists of the first type start their daily work at a certain time and go on for certain hours per day; they have achieved a formula of their own and get their desired results by merely iterating that. But the second type can create a piece of art only through long pauses and in certain conditions. Quite the contrary, painting is not a daily routine for these artists and they are rather mentally involved with the process of artistic creation. I belong to the second type. Whenever I accept a new project my heart is filled with an odd fear of not being able to make something new. And then I blame myself of having knowingly got into such trouble. Hence I postpone the work for a while. Hang out, get back to my desk and draw for myself.


















Pop corn

Pop corn by sister planet

Inspired by this beautiful picture!

Process




After months of sketches and tests... I think I finally managed to get a result I can be happy of!
I've been trying really hard to obtain a retro look to my illustrations. I just really love the mid century advertising style!

It took me almost 4 hours to paint this illustration. I used a very lovely hot compressed watercolor paper, some inks, watercolors, and my new favorite thing in the world : masking fluid!

Next one soon!

New work I can finally share with you!


So... a while back I posted about a big illustration job I was working on. Well the files were sent and the production approved and the new Denim Labeling for Jay Jays is now instores! Despite the resulting labels being small and simple, this job was MASSIVE. I first had to shoot all the denim styles on a model, pic the best shots, illustrate them, add hand drawn text (after establishing what the text actually was going to say), choose finishes etc. Luckily Chris Isbister had come up with the overall concept so I didn't have to worry about that! I loved his idea and it was a really nice job to work on. Chris did all the men's denim and I did the womens range; incorporating:

Swing tags for 4 denim styles for: straight, skinny, flare and bootcut, for three different countries Australia, South Africa and New Zealand (12 artworks)
Waist band flashers for 4 styles and complete size range from 4 - 18 for each style (40 artworks)
Sew in labels for 4 styles and complete size range from 4 - 18 for each style (40 artworks)
A new line of embossed and engraved buttons to coincide with the denim launch. (2 artworks)

So all up, close to 100 separate art files I worked on for this. With the new labeling and instore denim launch, Jays denim is off and racing. Really great to see it through from start to finish and lots of fun to work on. I also must give a big high five to my buddy Matthew Kovacs for shooting the photos pictured here, total champ!
xxx

Don't give up Japan!

Don't give up Japan! by sister planet

Here's my submision for the wonderful project by Illustration Rally!

Cinema



My beautiful friends Phillipa and Megan have the most divine baby girl, Cinema. My best friend James is Cinema's Godfather. I've been hanging out with Cinema alot this last week, and safe to say - I'm obsessed! I'm normally not a 'baby person' but Cinema is the exception to the rule. She has a peace about her that is so magnetic and she is completely beautiful. On top of that her Mum's are two of the best people ever. What an amazing family. I can't wait to watch this little chicken grow up. xxx

STUDIO INK!




So too bad if you missed it... cos this was a one night party to launch the Pyren Vineyard's artist series at Hogan Gallery in Collingwood. Amazing artists like Sarah Larnach, Andy Murphy (in the photo with me), Danny Young...and heaps more (including me) created an artwork especially for this series. There was a super nice crowd there and some cuties even bought my work which is always lovely. The show was a one nighter, taken down the next day to make way for Chopper Read's exhibition. Apparently he was in the gallery during the day. Sweet! Check his show out for sure!! xxx

It's been a while..


Having just completed a MAJOR project at work (launches in April - will post once it's instore!) I now have some SUPER exciting projects I'm working on. Have to keep them top top top secret for now but I am dying to unleash them. In the mean time, I found a gorgeous brand while I was in the NGV shop today (now there's a hint...) called Ferm. I want this felt cushion by Ferm SO bad. xxx

Featured : Mark English


Mark English

If you are "twenty something", you are probably unfamiliar with Mark English. This guy dominated the illustration field for over thirty year's-from the late 60's-to the 90's. He stopped illustrating year's ago and ventured into the fine art world. English can manipulate the surface of a canvas creating the effect of lost and found probably better than anybody out there today. Me and my cohorts had the opportunity of learning from him back in college. He was an incredibly nice + humble guy.

-eYe-LiKey



ABOUT

Born in Hubbard, Texas, in 1933. His first job was paint signs for visiting rodeos. He attended the University of Texas and graduated from The Art Center College in Los Angeles in 1960. English moved to Connecticut in 1964, and so began his meteoric rise as one of America’s top magazine illustrators.The recipient of over a hundred awards from arts organizations nationwide, English was named “Artist of the Year” by the Artists Guild of New York in 1967. His work was selected with astounding regularity for the Society of Illustrators annual exhibitions. The Society further honored him with the Hamilton King Award in 1967, and in 1983 elected him to the their prestigious Illustrators Hall of Fame. In 1977, an offer from Hallmark Cards to serve as artist-in-residence prompted a move to Kansas City, Missouri. English’s interest in Kansas City and its surrounding countryside began to predominate his paintings. English creates rich patterns using simplified geometric shapes and abstract planes that echo the topography and coloration of the land. His landscapes evoke remembered scenes and associative feeling rather than represent particular locations – it is the essence of the experience, gleaned from his continual observation. He currently lives in Kansas City, Mo.