Some time out...

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted! I hadn't realised it's been quite so long :( Christmas time was slightly crazy as always and went by in a flash. I saw the new year in in Eden on the far south coast of NSW with some good friends and it was an amazing way to start the year. I have had a lot of beach time over the summer, lots of swimming and feel amazing for it, refreshed and energised. Now to focus that energy on getting back to work! Many of you know that Eveleigh Artisans' Market, which was my regular monthly market and where I've met so many of you, was cancelled by the management at the end of last year. Without that monthly deadline I have felt kind of without focus so far this year and am still trying to work out quite what to do and which projects to start on first. I have been drawing though and am slowly figuring it out, so I'll have some news and some new drawings to share with you soon x

Free shipping for Christmas

Hello my friends! Well, doesn't the time fly? Only seventeen days until Christmas. If you're like me and haven't even thought about all the lovely people who you'd like to send a card to this year, it's not too late. All of my Christmas cards and Christmas gift tags are available in my online shop. I also have all of my illustrations for sale as prints on art paper and canvas which are sure to bring a smile to adults and kids alike :) To make things even easier I'm offering free shipping for all orders within Australia. Just head to the Big Toast shop and enter the code 'TOASTIES' at the checkout. As always, I'm happy to send directly to your loved one and can include a hand written note. Happy Christmas!

New Christmas Cards!

Angel Orchestra

We wish you a Merry Christmas

I'm very happy to have two new illustrations to share with you. I did these recently to add to my range of Christmas cards :) For these illustrations my starting point was thinking about some of the rituals of Christmas, like decorating the tree, putting up Christmas lights in the suburbs and family dinners. "Angel Orchestra" comes from that simple idea of the decorated tree but as always I have a slight obsession with inanimate objects becoming animated, and so at night when no one is around the angel decorations start to play their instruments and have a little party. "We wish you a Merry Christmas" initially came from thinking about families. I had this image of a family standing around a piano having a sing-a-long. My family doesn't own a piano and as far as I know none of us can sing so this is not something my family actually does, but I'm sure some families must do it and have a jolly good time! This image then morphed into a dog sing-a-long because I do love doggies, and then it hit! It should show a neighbourhood dog choir going door to door singing Christmas carols! I hope you like them :)

I have just updated my online shop with all the new cards and prints, you can check it out here or from the link at the top right of the page. The Christmas cards are available as single cards and as packs along with the rest of the Christmas range shown below, which includes some of my favourite illustrations X 

A family portrait

I have another new illustration! The idea for this has been in my head for years, it's just taken a long time to get it out. It's about capturing a moment we're all familiar with, that moment just before you get a photo taken. Mum's making sure her fur is in place whilst keeping an eye on her son, who is hoping she doesn't notice he's picking his nose. Dad's trying to get the other boy to stand next to him but he just wants to climb on his lap and the little girl hates having her picture taken and is not very happy (yep, that's me). I always pictured the family in olden days dress as I've always been kind of fascinated with old black and white family portraits, they are so formal and everyone looks so serious that I often wondered about the moments before and after they were taken. This is the photo of me with my big brother that I always had in the back of my mind when thinking about this image and is the inspiration for the girl bunny :)

I'll have this illustration available as a greeting card at Eveleigh Market on Sunday and also as a canvas print and print on paper. I'll be doing a shop update over the next couple of weeks to add the new illustrations as well as Christmas cards and Christmas gift tags. I have a couple of new Christmas illustrations too so I'm looking forward to sharing those with you soon x

Sun and sandy paws

I have a new illustration! This one features my favourite bear and panda who you may recognise from an earlier illustration capturing the beginnings of their romance. It seems like forever since I added a new card to my range so I'm pretty excited with this addition and spent this morning printing and making some cards for the market on Sunday (details to the right). I'll be adding it to my online shop soon too in card, print and canvas form so stay tuned for that. I really love drawing these two, I have a feeling their adventures may continue X

The start of something...

There has been a lot of this going on this year but in the last couple of months I can feel a change and things are finally starting to work again.  Phew...

Boxing Bull and Bear

I did this illustration for my Dad for his birthday and used it on the cover of a book I made for him, which of course I forgot to take a photo of. I often make books and journals for friends and family as gifts and without fail I give it to them before I take a picture. They're always unique so it would have been nice to document them! Oh well. I've seen a couple of them return from overseas trips, full of stories and adventures, slightly battered and well loved. It makes me happy to see that :)

The Projects Curated Markets at The Vic in Enmore

Hello my friends. I'm going to be at a new market this Sunday. The Projects Curated Markets are held at The Vic, one of Enmore's most loved pubs :) The market celebrates local makers and creators so there'll be lots of cool stuff for sale, and there's great food and drinkies at The Vic too. So what better way to spend a lazy Sunday? Head down there, grab a beer and peruse the clever and crafty goodness at the market. Hope to see you there X

Happy Mother's Day

This is a poem I wrote for my mum when I was little :)

May Eveleigh Artisan's Market on Sunday

Hi there! It’s been awhile, I know. Is anyone else a little amazed that it’s May already? The past few months have been busy. I’ve moved house again so have been enjoying unpacking and settling into my new space. I have a beautiful little sunroom which is my new studio and I spent the afternoon in there today stretching canvases and getting ready for the market on Sunday. Luckily this year Eveleigh Artisan’s Market falls the week before Mothers Day so it’s the perfect place to find that special something for your mum. You have cards and all things illustrated covered if you visit me of course! But there is also beautiful ceramics, hand printed textiles, jewellery, bags, artwork, prints and so much more, all handmade by the artisans and designers at the market. Come by if you’re free and say hello (details to the right). If you’re not in Sydney but would like to send a Big Toast card or gift, you can visit my online shop and I’ll be happy to post directly with a hand written note x

My mum

Mum with me as a baby in Yorkshire

With Mothers day just a couple of weeks away, I wanted to share with you just how amazing my mum is. She is always saying that she doesn’t know how she has 3 creative children when she herself is not creative. Well mum, I beg to differ. One of my fondest memories growing up (and I’m sure my brothers feel the same) was when it got close to my birthday and I got to choose which cake I was going to have for my party out of the Woman’s Weekly Birthday Cake book (many of you probably know the one I’m talking about, it has a train cake on the cover.) Mum’s cakes were amazing and always looked better than the book. I fondly remember the pool, the sewing basket, hopscotch and I also had a watermelon one year and a knitting cake another year where she hand piped all the stitches over the whole cake. When we outgrew that book mum would just make the cakes up herself, like when my brother wanted a machine gun cake for his 12^th birthday (as you do when you’re a 12 year old boy). So she made a template and creating this amazing M16 machine gun cake. I wish I had a photo to show you, it was awesome. She is also an incredible knitter and has a really amazing sense of colour. Here are some of her beautiful creations which I have proudly displayed in my new house…

The cutest chicken in the world sitting in my kitchen

My bowl of knitted veges

My little penguin friend. Look at his little feet! 

Strawberry booties mum knitted for my friend's baby

She’s amazing in many other ways too. Like when I moved last month she did the market for me with my brothers girlfriend Caroline, she washed all my sheets and blankets for me because I don’t have room to hang them at home, she brings me food when she comes over and is always sending me recipes she thinks I’ll like. She’s an amazing cook and is pretty much just the best all round. Thanks mum, love you lots xxx

Greeting Cards now in shop!

Hello there! I've been devoting some time to updating my shop and am happy to announce that my full range of Big Toast greeting cards are now available online, hurrah! Check them out here. Now there's no excuse not to send a real life card to your nearest and dearest. Let's be honest, they will love it so much more than an email or text message x

Wild Ones Art and Design Market on Sunday

Hello! Yes, I know I have been absent for quite awhile :( After the craziness of Christmas time, I spent a lot of time doing not much, which was great! Alas, I must have been too relaxed over the holidays because it's taken me some time to get back into the swing of things. And so I'm very excited to be having a stall on Sunday at the Wild Ones Art & Design Market held at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre. It's their second Market with more stalls and heaps of fun things happening to coincide with Hazelhurst's 13 birthday celebrations, include Festoon "a craft explosion" which sounds pretty exciting. You can check out all the goings on here. Hope to see you there x

Big Toast online shop now open!

It's been awhile coming but I'm pretty excited to announce that my new online shop is now open! Yes, I have been talking about it for ages but finally managed to put my head down and get it done, just in time for Christmas. You can click on the link at the top right of this page to visit the new Big Toast shop (yay!) It is filled with Christmas cards and Christmas gift tags as well as canvas and paper prints of my illustrations. I’m also happy to post cards and goodies directly to your loved ones if you’d like to do that and can hand write a message for you (I have neat writing I promise). Just send me an email from the contact page when you place your order and we’ll take it from there. I’ll be adding the rest of my card range and other goodies as soon as I can, but I wanted to start with all the things that would make great Christmas treats first. I hope you like my little shop, feel free to share it with anyone else you think would like it! x

Christmas Gift Tags

I was photographing some of my cards over the weekend for a little something I'm working on and wanted to share these with you. They are my Christmas illustrations printed as cute little gift tags and I must say they are quite sweet. I will have them this weekend at Eveleigh Artisans' Market, along with my Christmas cards, framed and unframed prints on paper, canvas prints and handmade books. If you can't make it to the market I'll be letting you know how you can get your hands on some illustrated goodies very soon x

Christmas cards

Chaos in Cookie Land

Stuffed Animals

Relaxing Reindeers

Christmas Birdies

The Great Escape

Christmas is almost upon us once again and that means time for Christmas cards! It is usually such a busy time of year for me and having been up to my ears in Christmas cards for months I always run out of steam before I send any of my own. I know, it's a pretty poor effort seeing as I'm in the card business! This year I'm determined that I will send cards to my friends and family! I'll have my Christmas cards and gift tags at the market this weekend and at all markets for the rest of the year. If you're not in Sydney or you can't make the market and would like some cards, please send me an email and I'll be happy to post to you.

Wild Ones Art & Design Market at Hazelhurst

Happy weekend my friends! It is such a beautiful sunny day in Sydney today. I hope the good weather continues tomorrow as it is the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery's open day tomorrow and I'll be having a stall at the Wild Ones Art & Design Market. The market is inside but it's always so much more appealing to get out and about when the sun is shining. I've never been to Hazelhurst before so am looking forward to checking it out. There's lots of things going on for the open day as well as the market- exhibitions, art class demonstrations, film screenings, music, kids activities and more. There's also the Hazelhurst Cafe for coffee and yummy food :) More details here. Have a great weekend x

&company

Hello! I’ve been wanting to let you all know about something that is worth knowing about and now seems a good time. My friends at &company are embarking on a journey to create a workshop for Sydney’s creative community and they need some support to make it happen. &company is a Sydney based design studio that works with emerging designers to bring new and inspired products to market. More recently they’ve been running an amazing range of short courses from their pop-up space up in The Rocks, from jewellery, ceramics, and wood work to animation and documentary making. You can see more about &company and the fabulous things they do here.

&company was started by the very inspiring Anna Lise De Lorenzo who I’m happy to say is also my friend and it is so amazing to see her vision for &company that we discussed many years ago over a couple of beers grow and develop into what it has become today. My first range of Big Toast greeting cards was launched with &company at The Finders Keepers design and art market in 2010 and I’ll always be grateful that Anna Lise gave me a bit of a push when I was procrastinating about it! It gave me a deadline to make it happen and that was the start of a new direction for me. So some of us need encouragement and belief, and some of us need space, tools, equipment and some old fashioned know-how to turn our ideas into reality, or to just dabble in something new and have some fun, and this is where &company’s workshop comes in. Their vision is to set up a fully equipped workshop that anyone can access and they’ve launched a crowd funding campaign through Pozible to make it happen. You can click here to see what it’s all about and how you can help.

Have a read and if you like the sound of it you can pledge your support. Then if you are near The Rocks you can stop by their pop-up shop and get your photo taken like this extremely dorky one of me!  

Photo by Meng Koach and top image by &company