Tjanpi Desert Weavers

This poster is inspired by the Tjanpi Desert Weavers. Tjanpi (meaning grass) supports the production and the marketing of baskets, sculptures and seed jewellery made by over 400 women from 28 remote communities across three Australian states, Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. Check out their work as it is absolutely beautiful!

Telek/Sing Sing

This portrait is of legendary PNG singer and musician George Telek or just 'Telek' as he is known. I love listening to his albums.. 'Serious Tam' and 'Akave'. One of my favourite tracks being a freedom song for his neighbour West Papua called 'Merdeka Mix'. He is signed up with the Wantok Musik label.

Mataso/Wan Smol Jif

This portrait is of another friend in Vanuatu. His name is Simeon 'Simex' Shem. He is part of an artist group in Vanuatu called the 'Mataso Printmakers'. They come from the island of Mataso in Vanuatu and their artwork is about the legends and stories that are unique to that island. I met a few of them during a trip to Vanuatu and became good friends with Simex, a very talented young artist. Simex is the second son of Mataso Island's Paramount Chief so the Matasos in his village call him 'Smol Jif'' which is Bislama for 'Small Chief'.
Selected as a finalist in the 'Wilson Art Awards 2012".

Tuff Tumas

Another Vanuatu inspired piece. This is a portrait of a young lad called Geraldo. He has such a great face and his profile is so amazing that I had to include it into the mix. 'Tuff Tumas' is Vanuatu-speak and has a wide variety of meanings. "Tough too much" would be the literal translation but it is used more as an exclamation such as 'That's great!" or even "Fully Sick!" You get the gist....

Free West Papua

This is my second 'Free West Papua' poster. I sent my first poster to the 'Office of Benny Wenda' who is the West Papuan Independence leader exiled in London and they really loved it. They are going to have them printed up for sale so they can make vital funds for their cause. They asked me if I had the time and inspiration would I design them another one. When I found an amazing photo of a West Papuan  protester by Alexander Pototskiy I was inspired and here is the result. All for a worthy cause!!

Merdeka

My greatest inspiration is the South Pacific region where I live. This poster art was inspired by Benny Wenda, a West Papuan Independence leader who is exiled in London. "The forgotten land of West Papua is under brutal Indonesian military occupation. Its tribal people are being slaughtered and their environment destroyed." Merdeka is the Indonesian word for Freedom.
Again this piece was highly influenced by the art of Obey Giant.

Edukesen Blong Yumi

This is my new Vanuatu inspired artwork highly influenced by the art of Obey Giant. When I visited Champagne Bay in the northern island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu a few years ago, there were some pikininis offering the tourists 'a photo with a snake' for $1. It was to help pay for their school fees and books. I used this photo of a little 'aelan' girl that was taken that day.
I didn't want to work straight from the photograph as I thought it would be too clinical. I sketched the girl first and then using tracing paper I simplified the drawing into layers of tones. I then scanned all the drawings in using crop marks for reference. It was pretty rough at this stage but I proceeded to trace and colour in Illustrator adjusting as I went. I really enjoyed doing this piece. I think this might be a start of a new series.

Platform 2009 - 2012

KASTOM BLONG VANUATU

MIXMASTER BLONG JESUS CHRIST

NAMBAWAN PIKININI BLONG MISSUS KWIN

BASKET BLONG TITI

JOHN FRUM CARGO CULT

I submitted my series of Vanuatu inspired art which I call 'Pidgin Tok Tok' to the Museum of Brisbane as they are curating a public art installation at the Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital Busway Station. My work was accepted for the Outbound Bay for Season 8. June, July and August 2011 is Season 8. There are only four light boxes so four had to be chosen out of the five. We decided that 'John Frum Cargo Cult' would go as the others were more self explanatory.

RBWH Busway 2011

Here are my 'Pidgin Tok Tok' posters at the RBWH Busway. Thanks to the Museum of Brisbane for sending them to me. The photographer is Carl Warner.

La Bella Toscana

I drew up this illustration years ago and tried to render it on the computer using Illustrator. It was meant to be a learning curve but in the end my lack of knowledge made me put it to rest. I rediscovered it a little while ago and made an attempt to colour it. It was easy this time round and I had a lot of fun rendering it already having had my learning curves on many other projects since I began this. Click on the illo to enlarge.

The Headmistress

My husband Arthur Filloy and I were commissioned by a friend of ours to come up with a cool logo for her new Hair Salon. She is an edgy chick and absolutely loved the design we came up with.  Oh yes she really does own a greyhound.

They're Back!

I do a bit of graphic design for my local pool shop. They look after our pool and we usually barter for services. The owner wanted to send a flyer around that said Summer was approaching and it was time for people to think about getting their pools ready. He wanted an interesting graphic on the front of a card which didn't mention 'Pool Shop' but would make people open the card to see what it was about. He was really happy with my idea and design and best of all he got some new clients out of it. The other good thing was that he paid me for this job!

Green Lady

Being a great fan and collector of Vladimir Tretchikoff I was inspired to do a tribute to his 'Green Lady' or 'Chinese Girl'. Avant Card chose to print this artwork as part of their postcard collection and distributed them to galleries and cafes all over Australia & NZ. I received a box of about 3000 of them in return. They are still sitting in a cupboard.

Logo Design

I did this logo recently for the 'Aspergers Partners Support Group'.

Logo Design

I designed these corporate logos for a software company.

Cajun Side Table

Here is another example of my Cajun/Mexican furniture. This one features Guadalupe.

Cajun Coffee Table

A few years back my family had a stint in LA where I discovered the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard. The outside of the Blues Club looks like an old rusty barn and inside it is decorated in Cajun and Mexican style. I had never seen anything like it and was totally inspired when I visited. When we got back home to Sydney I decided to have a go at my own interpretation and worked on a few pieces of furniture. The coffee table is decorated with paint, cut up tin cans, American beer bottle tops and even a little bit of cowhide. My coffee table features Frida Kahlo and the ribbon says 'ESTA MESA FUE INSPIRADA POR COLOR I LA CULTURA DE MEXICO' which means 'This table was inspired by the colour and culture of Mexico'. I'm lucky my husband speaks Spanish!

Xmas Card

I was commissioned to illustrate a Christmas card for an Ad Agency in the late 80's. They didn't want a Christian theme and they basically left it up to me to come up with something. They loved the illustration and the card was printed on a matt textured card with a beautiful embossed 'PEACE' along the side but that wouldn't scan.....alas. I used airbrush and coloured pencils.

Much Curious Pleasure

I was cleaning out a bookshelf the other day and found this old book cover I illustrated before computers came in and I was just using coloured pencils and Japanese paper.

Juju Mamas

I designed this banner for my Juju Mamas blog. I wanted it to look like an old rusty sign on the side of an old tin shed.

I Love Vanuatu

A blog banner I designed for my 'I Love Vanuatu' blog.

Party Time

This is another 80's illustration. I was playing around with airbrush,watercolour and pencils.

Fashion Illustration

Here is another one of my old 80's fashion illustration. I was just playing around with different styles for my portfolio.

Fashion Illustration

Here is a second fashion illustration in that style.

Fashion Illustration

I was playing around with fashion illustration a lot in the 80's. This was a new looser style I was experimenting with.

O Superman!

This illo I did at art school and it is at least 30 years old. Hence it's a bit rough round the edges from age. It is mixed media including pencil and collage.

Fashion Illustration

This fashion illustration was another I did in this style.

Fashion Illustration

This fashion illustration I did for my portfolio in the early 80's. I used airbrush and pencils.

Andy Pandy

This illustration is 30 years old and from my art school days. My daughter was 3 years old then and I took a photo of her in her Andy Pandy suit as reference. The mediums I used were airbrush and watercolour.

John Frum Day

This is my latest Vanuatu design. On Tanna Island there is a Cargo Cult which worships a figure called 'John Frum' There is speculation that this figure was an American and the name John Frum was a shortening of 'John From America'. The cult supposedly started in the 1930's but gained popularity during World War II when 300,000 troops established themselves in Vanuatu.
In 1957 a leader of the John Frum Movement, Nakomaha created the 'Tanna Army' a non-violent, ritulistic organisation which organised military-style parades. February 15th is John Frum Day when some 40 'G.I.s' suddenly emerge marching in perfect time. They tote bamboo 'rifles' and sport the letters 'USA' painted in red on their bare chests and backs. The US flag and the Red Cross are also symbols of this cult.

Kastom Blong Vanuatu

The most important thing to the the Ni Vanuatu people is their kastom, which means their native culture.

Basket Blong Titi

I spent 10 days in Port Vila in late 2007 with my family and when I came back refreshed I felt like doing another. This is another quirky Bislama translation. What else would you call a bra?

Mixmaster Blong Jesus Christ

This was the second piece in the series. This means helicopter in Bislama. I took the liberty of using an image of Bob Marley as Jesus Christ as reggae is nambawan in Vanuatu and Bob Marley is King. Of course the colours I've chosen reflect that as well.

Nambawan Pikinini blong Missus Kwin

After my first to Vanuatu in early 2007 I came back really inspired and busting to do some artwork. I think one of the things I loved about Vanuatu was their form of Pidgin that they spoke, it is called Bislama and it is Vanuatu's official language, I call it 'Pidgin Tok Tok'. This was my first design. If you don't get it it means 'Number one child of the Queen' ie: Prince Charles.

Lucky Lydia

In the nineties my partner Arthur and his cohort Bob Camp, from Ren & Stimpy fame, came up with some new ideas for some cartoon shows. The most successful was 'Lucky Lydia'. Cartoon Network green lit a pilot and I was thrown in as Art Director. This image was the initial 'Bible' cover which I designed of course using Arthur's drawing of Lydia.