Artists Down Under - Australia and New Zealand - December 2022

DOWN UNDER

69 | december 2022 | digital artistry

Australia and New Zealand

DOWN UNDERartists

A very Merry Christmas to you all, and a safe & healthy New Year.

This month we have one jam packed edition for you, hope you enjoy.

Our artists excelled this month with their challenges, competitions and achievements, well done to all involved, it’s great to see that we can hold our own with the world.

Maureen has been busy this month and organised several interviews. One is with a very special person we all love, Santa Claus. With the help from Maureen’s neighbour, Ethan, they devised a series of questions that I know has been on everyone’s minds over the years, now all answered for you.

The second interview Maureen has organised for you is with the Author and Artist of the Mia and Milo’s Magical Adventures series of Childrens books, Lesley Coppolino and Pam Henderson. Learn how they started out and their journey through to publishing.

Our girls from the Redland Digital Group share with you another in their Chinese Whispers series, well done girls, amazing as always.

Andrew Haysom delights us all again with another of his Photoshop tutorial tips. This month he delves into “Even Better Masking Features”.

This month I would like to introduce you all to our special Featured Artist, Julie Powell. Julie is a very talented Artist, Teacher and Photographer. Read all about her journey through her career.

Well that’s it from me, until next month, stay safe, eat heaps & care for each other over the Christ mas holidays.

Artists

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Merry Christmas

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Happy Cow

Backgrounds: Foxy Squirrell Laitha’s Designs - Jai Johnson - White Lane Studio Copyright 2017 ©

in this publication are responsible for any rights appertaining to their work.

Pam Henderson

Australia and New Zealand

ARIEL

https://www.theartinspires.com/ http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-3/meaghan-pryor/

MEAGHAN PRYOR

INDIAN PRINCESS

https://www.facebook.com/snapnshootdesigns/ http://www.artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/pam-henderson/

artists Achievements monthly down under

artists down under facebook page

The Artists Down Under Public Facebook page has been set up to allow the artists in the group to showcase their work and to enable them to share promotional information about themselves, e.g. exhbitions, awards etc...

You can find the Artists Down Under Public Facebook page at this address; https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtistsDownUnder/

So, if you are an artist in the group, don’t forget to regularly share your work and information here, and to let your friends and family know about the page if they are interested in viewing the latest art and news from the group.

If you are a reader of the magazine who does not have access to the page, please click the link above and request to join. When you request to join you will be asked to answer three simple questions that will allow us to determine if you are an eligible artist who may wish to join the group and therefore be able to post on the page, or a member of the public who can view, comment and like the work on the page. It’s a great place to see some great art from this vibrant group every day!

Maureen Maxwell - Nearly Home

Kaylene Helliwell - Flower Arrangement

Kaylene Helliwell - A Moment Of Magic

Penny De Jong - Dilapidated

Meaghan Pryor - Queen

Three ADU members receive a special gift

Our very good Awake friends Teddi Rutschman of Foxey Squirrel and Diane Stafford from WhiteLaneStudio continue to give gifts as a reward for members of the Artists Down Under group who contribute to the ADU Facebook page by regularly posting their artworks and supporting other members with their comments.

Teddi, from Virginia, USA, is well known for her fantastic sets of digital designer backgrounds, masks and all kinds of wonderful elements ready for designers to add to or build a wondrous creation.

Teddi Rutshman can be found at http://www.foxeysquirrel.com/ http://www.oscraps.com/shop/Foxeysquirrel

Teddi has given a $10.00 voucher for one very lucky member to spend in her on-line shop.

Diane Stafford from Chester, UK, designs Photoshop textures and overlays for photo artists and photographers to use in their digital artworks. Diane has created another special kit just for Artists Down Under for the month of DECEMBER.

Two artists will receive a Diane kit each. Diane Stafford can be found at https://whitelanestudio.co.uk/biolinks

The DECEMBER lucky winners are

Teddi Rutschman (Foxy Squirrel) Gift Voucher of $10.00 - Sharon Rankmore

Diane Stafford (WhiteLaneStudio) Texture & Overlay Kit - Kevin Sims - Kye Thompson

Julie Powell - Spring In The Garden

Penny De Jong - Loss

Prue Wright - A Dreary Morning

Julie Powell - Witchy Vibes I

LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE

https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue93-final?fr=sMGRiMTI1ODEw

Congratulations to the following artists for having their images chosen to appear in the International magazine “Living The Photo Artistic Life”.

Sandra Dann

- Taking The Fish For A Walk

Helen McLeod

- A Cliff Hanger

- Revolutionary Journey - Urban Escape

Gitama Day

- Petitte Phillipe “Lost In Paris”

Rosa Perry

- Home Sweet Home

- House Of Memories

Sonia Pusey

- The Duck

Louise Smith

- 1920s Glamour

- Lost In Time

Ilona Abou-Zolof

- What’s Out There?

Christina Brunton - Movement - Corner To Corner

Julie Powell

- Inner Peace

- Kitchen Light Painting

Judi Lapsley Miller

- Peekaboo (piwakawaka)

- Aroha Nui - All My Love (ruru)

Maureen Maxwell

- Whats For Dinner?

- That Was Delicious

Judi Lapsley Miller - Aroha Nui - All My Love (ruru)

Louise Smith - 1920s Glamour

Rosa Perry - Home Sweet Home

Maureen Maxwell - Whats For Dinner?

Louise Smith - Lost In Time

Rosa Perry - House Of Memories

Judi Lapsley Miller - Peekaboo (piwakawaka)

Maureen Maxwell - That Was Delicious

Helen McLeod - A Cliff Hanger

LIVING THE PHOTO ARTISTIC LIFE

Julie Powell - Kitchen Light Painting

Sandra Dann - Taking The Fish For A Walk

Christina Brunton - Corner To Corner

Christina Brunton - Movement

Sonia Pusey - The Duck

Julie Powell - Inner Peace

Ilona Abou-Zolof - What’s Out There?

Gitama Day - Petite Phillipe “Lost In Paris”

Helen McLeod - Revolutionary Journey - Urban Escape

Bev

Rosa

hmvc gallery new york rebel rebel exhibition

https://www.hmvcgallery.com/exhibitions-group/

Congratulations goes to Ilona Abou-Zolof

For being chosen as a Featured Artist in the HMVC Gallery’s “Rebel Rebel” Art Exhibition in New York with her image “I Am Not Shy”.

Ilona Abou-Zolof - I Am Not Shy

meraki artists

“impressions” art exhibition

28th November to 4th December 2022

TAP Gallery, 259 Riley Street, Surrey Hills NSW 2010 12pm to 6pm Artists Talk - 4th December 2pm to 4pm

Featuring Christina Brunton and Ilona Abou-Zolof

We have been instrumental in setting up the Meraki Artists, which is a small group dedicated to collaboratively working to produce fine art and to exhibit them. We like to work on a ‘project of pas sion’ over a number of months and then exhibit the finished body of fine art.

“Meraki” is a Greek word which means “to do something with soul, creativity or love; when you leave a piece of yourself in your work”. This is the approach of the artists and the result they endeavour to produce in their works. It gives each of them a challenging personal benchmark by which to assess the quality and success of their art.

Impressions exhibition

Four friends (Tony Naumovski, Debra Phillis, Ilona and Christina) from the Meraki Artists group are exhibiting our work at the TAP Gallery in Surry Hills 28th November to 4th December 2022. Tony has art work based on Artificial Intelligence. Ilona has digital paintings of her memories in watercolour from her trips she took before Covid times. Debra’s artwork is on Multiple Occupancy of her subur ban home, her plants and other crit ters in the garden. Christina’s art Title is ‘Tribal Spirit’ and is in honour of the African tribes and animals from past visits to Africa.

Christina Brunton “Tribal Spirit”

Christina Brunton - Elephant Spirits

Christina Brunton - Namibia Spirit

Christina Brunton - Feathered Friends

Christina Brunton - Spiritual

Christina Brunton - Leopard Spirit

Christina Brunton - Tribal Spirit Woman

Ilona Abou-Zolof

“Memories in Watercolour”

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Berlin Museum

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Hamburg Speicher Stadt

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Hill End

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Potsdam Dom

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Queenstown Station

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Wilcannia Post Office

st george motor boat photography club

2022 Project of Passion Photographic Exhibition

Starting 29th November 2022

St George Motor Boat Club Function Room - 2 Wellington Street, Sans Souci 7.30pm

Featuring Christina Brunton and Ilona Abou-Zolof POP Exhibition

A number of friends are exhibiting our art on the 29th November at 7pm at the St George Mo tor Boat Club as part of a ‘Project of Passion’ with the St George Motor Boat Photography Club. Each person works on their own project based on their passion and we have all worked over many months on our art. The group have been mentored by Barbara Seager, who is also exhibiting her Cyanotype art.

Ilona and Christina are part of the Artist Down Under group who are exhibiting our artwork and include some of our exhibition art here. Ilona has digitally created Art Deco style portraits and Art Deco abstracts. Christina has created a variety of artistic Agapanthus buds from her garden.

Christina Brunton - POP Agapanthus

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Pop 01a

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Pop 02a

SECRETS

artists

Australia and New Zealand

AN INTERVIEW

WITH SANTA CLAUS

By Maureen Maxwell

Thank you for allowing me to interview you Santa Claus, particularly when you must be so busy preparing for Christmas. I’m also very thankful that you find my home every year. Many people of all ages are very curious about you, the elves, and the reindeer, as we don’t know very much about you all.

Most of us in Australia and New Zealand don’t know what it is like at The North Pole at Christmas time. For us, it is summertime and quite hot, so we spend our time at the beach, in a river or in a swimming pool to keep cool.

So, many of us would like to know more about you and your life.

I also want to say a big ‘thank you’ to my young friend Ethan for helping me put together the questions.

WHAT IS IT LIKE LIVING AT THE NORTH POLE?

Ho Ho Ho, the North Pole is a wonderland of icy mountains and sparkly snow. The air is fresh and crisp, with soft white snowflakes gently falling, covering the trees with a white blanket.

In Santa’s Village, we have a magical shield that protects us from the outside world and makes us invisible. We are always warm and cosy as we go about our daily work making toys for children all over the world.

INTERVIEW - SANTA CLAUS (CONT....)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE THING TO EAT, AND YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK?

Well!! My favourite food to eat is cookies. I like all different kinds of cookies, especially those that children have helped to cook just for me. I also love a glass of milk to help give me energy as I travel from house to house carrying all your presents to put under your tree (and sometimes a sneaky beer).

WHERE DO THE REINDEER LIVE AND HOW DO YOU CARE FOR THEM?

My Reindeer are very special and live in a big stable in Santa’s Village. They are groomed daily by my Elves and are fed special food like sweet smelling hay and juicy carrots. My reindeer loved to be spoiled, especially Rudolph whose red nose lights up with happiness every time he is brushed and patted.

DO YOU EVER LET RUDOLPH EAT THE CHRISTMAS CAKE?

No, sometimes Rudolph is naughty and tries to steal a piece of Christmas cake, but he is told he will feel sick and have a tummy ache as cake is not good food for a reindeer to eat.

WHERE DO THE ELVES LIVE AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The Elves and Pixies live in Santa’s Village all the year round. They help me make the toys for all the children, to be delivered all around the world on Christmas Eve. They work very hard and live in quaint little houses under a magical shield that hides our Village from the outside world. Elves and Pixies are always very happy and love to sing and dance as they work.

INTERVIEW - SANTA CLAUS (CONT....)

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THERE IS NO CHIMNEY?

When the house has no chimney, I have a magical way of delivering your toys that is Santa’s secret. No-one must know my secret, but never fear I don’t need a chimney to deliver your presents. I just need boys and girls to be good. So be asleep when I arrive at your house.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF I’VE BEEN GOOD?

I have a magical list which can tell when you are naughty or won’t listen to your parents or teachers. Your name pops up on the naughty list every time you don’t listen, say no, or argue with your brothers, sisters, or friends. But when you do something nice like help by cleaning your room or clear the table after a meal, help your family and support your friends, a big star appears with your name on it. I love to see your name appear in a star. It makes all of us at Santa’s Village very happy.

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE PRESENTS SO GOOD?

Elves and Pixies are very good at making toys and do it with a bit of magic as well. They know what each child would like for Christmas, then work very hard to make sure the toys are perfect. They are all tested and given a stamp of approval, then wrapped and stored in our huge, big warehouse ready for Christmas Eve.

DO YOU REALLY TAKE ONLY ONE NIGHT TO GET AROUND THE WORLD AND HOW DO YOU DO THAT?

Yes! I only take one night to deliver all the presents to all the children around the world and it is done by magic. The reindeer have special food sprinkled with fairy dust that makes them superfast so we can travel all around the world. It is so fast that no-one can see us.

INTERVIEW - SANTA CLAUS (CONT....)

DO YOU HAVE MAGICAL POWERS?

Yes, I have magical powers, but the strongest power that I have comes from all you children

DREAMING

COMING TO LIFE

artists

DOWN UNDER

Australia and New Zealand

SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION

EVEN BETTER MASKING FEATURES

By Andrew Haysom

The latest versions of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and Lightroom CC (October 2022) have fur ther improved the masking features. The diagrams in this article show ACR, but the features are very similar in Lightroom.

Options have been added to automatically select the image Background, and to select Objects. In addition, Adobe AI will automatically identify people in the image and give you the option of selecting all of them, or selecting them individually.

[Fig 1 – New masking features]

[Fig 2 – People Masking]

When you choose People, a second ary screen is displayed allowing you to add additional people (if you only chose one on the first screen) and also allowing you to decide if you want to select the entire person(s) or individually choose any or all of Face Skin, Body Skin, Eye Brows, Eye Sclera (whites), Iris and Pupil, Lips, Teeth and Hair. If you choose individual items you then can also choose whether you want individual masks for each item, or just one combined mask for all of them (see Figure 2).

[Fig 6 –

Pressing the Create button will then create the masks (see Figure 3).

With any mask, you can use the Add and Subtract buttons to adjust the mask by adding to or subtracting from the mask with any of the tools (Subject, Sky, Background, Objects, People, Brush, Linear Gradient, Radial Gradient, Color Range or Luminance Range).

Holding down the Shift key will cause the Add and Subtract buttons to be replaced with an Intersect button, allowing you to update the current mask by intersecting it with another mask created by any of the tools mentioned in the last paragraph. This can be very powerful when intersecting with the gradient and range tools.

The new Select Background essen tially is the same as an inverted Select Subject mask.

[Fig 3 – People masks created]

[Fig 4 - Adjusting masks with Add or Subtract buttons]

[Fig 5 – Adjusting masks with Intersect]

Select Background]

SOME PHOTOSHOP INSPIRATION (CONT.......)

[Fig 7 – Select Object]

The new Select Object allows you to use either a brush or a rectangular marquee to roughly select an object in your image and then Adobe’s AI will accurately select the object for you.

[Fig 8 – Curve panel]

Adobe have also added the Curve panel into the possible adjustments that can be made for any of your masked areas. This provides another powerful tool for image ad justments.

[Fig 9 – Mask drop-down menu]

Clicking the ellipsis (three dots) to the right of any mask will display a dropdown menu with options to rename, invert, duplicate and invert, intersect, duplicate, hide, delete or reset the adjustments for the mask.

Clicking the ellipsis at the bottom of the right navigator (see Figure 10) reveals a drop-down menu that includes an option to create a preset. These presets can include your masks. To include any masks with the preset click the Masking check box on the Create Preset dialog (see Figure 11) and then select the masks you wish to include.

[Fig 10 - Masks can now be included in presets]

[Fig 11 – Create Preset dialog]

Note that any masks that include any AI features (Sky, Background, Subject, etc.) will update automatically to reflect the different sky or background, etc. when they are used on a new image.

The masking in Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom is now incredibly powerful. Over the last two major upgrades my usage of masking in ACR (as opposed to doing it in Photoshop) has gone from almost never to almost every image.

I strongly encourage you to look at the masking features and work out how to take advantage of them for your images.

Andrew Haysom

COLIN KILLICK

www.behance.net/colinkillick https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artists-1/colin-killick/

PERRY

https://rosa-perry.myportfolio.com/artwork https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-4/rosa-perry/

PRUE WRIGHT

GRACIE’S ADVENTURE II

DOWN artistsUNDER

Australia and New Zealand

DIGITAL ARTISTS GROUP

A COLLABORATIVE GROUP OF PHOTO ARTISTS

CHINESE WHISPERS #61 “WELCOME”

STAGE 1

STAGE 2

Henderson

‘Welcome to the wonderful land of fairies and that poor rabbit who is always running late’.

Pam and I would like to wish all our readers a very Happy and Fun Filled Christmas.

We also want to thank you for your interest in our collaborative efforts. We have a lot of fun and look forward to continuing into 2023.

Pam

Maureen Maxwell

Maureen Maxwell

JULIE POWELL

CELESTIAL BEING

THE SEER

ROSE GOLD FANTASY

PUPPET MASTER

Meet

artist

1. Tell us a little about yourself and where you live?

I’ve lived in Melbourne pretty much my entire life. I am currently living in the SE suburbs of Melbourne, VIC. It used to be mostly rural when we moved out here over 30 years ago, but now it is just suburbs. Thankfully I am not far from gardens, the country or the bush. I’m married with two grown children and have a background in arts. I love to travel and explore around my own area, as well as interstate. I am very fortunate my Hubby is so supportive of what I do and we have converted the garage to a small home studio.

2. How did you become interested/get started in Photo Artistry?

I first found film photography in high school, but then put it aside for work and family. I got back into photography after a gap of about 35 years and while I was enjoying it, I wanted more. I stumbled on some conceptual artists and their approach to digital artistry and wanted to learn more. Being mostly self- taught, and having used Photoshop for years with my job in graphic design I wanted to learn and stretch myself even further than the stodgy graphics I was used to doing for work. After trying a few online classes I stumbled onto Sebastian’s Photo Artistry course, I think it was in it’s 2nd year running and have been heavily involved ever since. It gave me the skills and more importantly the confidence to take my art full circle with my photography and evolve my own voice and distinctive style. To be able to tell my stories and other stories I enjoy in a whole new way is so rewarding.

3. What inspires you or gives you inspiration to create your art?

So many things inspire me, a particular person, or a movie, a book, a song, a painting, the time of year. I adore anything dark and moody, or creepy and spooky. I adore symbolism and quite often involve that. I like to delve deep into philosophical topics and what they mean to me. I also love taking well known stories and giving them a twist. Something unexpected. I am inspired by the creative and artistic people that I now surround myself with as well. From all walks of life, I may never have had the chance to meet if it were not for my art.

4. Do you have a certain approach to creating your art?

I am a planner. I map out my ideas with mood boards and brain dumps. I research what others have done on the same theme or topic and work out what I can do different. I work with props and models and colours and work out basically what shots I want ahead of time. We often work months in advance.

Other times I do just jump into Photoshop with a few images and see what happens. Try different things and see what works and what doesn’t. There is something so freeing and liberating as just playing around in Photoshop with no plan or idea of what I want to create. But mostly I plan everything out.

5. What does your art mean to you?

My art is my world. Whether it is straight photography or even straight art, or a mix of both. I now run a studio full time for portraits (creative or otherwise) but I am now also heavily involved in education. I run classes and workshops (both online and in person). My art gave me the ability to truly live a photo artistic, and an artist’s life. It is where I go to escape, or to day dream. My mind has so many ideas, it is hard to capture them all with my camera.

6. Do you think since starting in photo artistry it has changed you and if so, how?

To grow as a person, but to also have the confidence in myself and my ability. I used to day dream as a child of living such a wonderful, fulfilling artistic life, but never did I imagine what I have now. It has also opened so many doors to connect with so many different people. To make wonderful lifelong friends. To experience things, places I probably would never have gone. Just 10 years ago I went to work in a job I didn’t really like and did nothing on the weekends. I was so bored! Now my life is full and I am my own boss. I also take great joy in sharing what I have learnt with others, education is so fulfilling and rewarding.

7. Is there anyone that you draw inspiration from?

So many people. Renee Robyn, Brooke Shaden, Rusty McDonald, but there are also photographers, Annie Leibowitz, Douglas Kirkland, and Richard Woods. I love a blend of photo realism and digital art. There are many people within our own ADU group, but also from Kaizen and Awake.

8. Where do you see (or hope to see) your art taking you in the future ? What are your next steps?

I’d love to run more workshops, bigger workshops. Travel around Australia and New Zealand teaching. I adore teaching as much as I do creating. I have just started a new series, Dark Alice in Wonderland and I look forward to finishing that and perhaps making a art book with the images.

I’d love to travel and see more of our wonderful country too and even meet up with wonderful photography and artist friends.

DANCING IN THE ATTIC

AUSTRALIA

( NEW ZEALAND )

TRACEY PERRIN

FIELD OF DREAMS

MORNING LIGHT

WHERE ARE THE BALES?

https://photos.kogekar.com/ https://artistsdownunder.com.au/artist-2/hemant-kogekar/

ZEALAND

A BIRD IN THE HAND

HELEN MCLEOD

DEAD ON TIME

https://www.2-galleries.com/

DOWN UNDER

Australia and New Zealand

A CHAT WITH THE AUTHORS

OF MIA AND MILO’S MAGICAL ADVENTURES

A CHILDREN’S BOOK SERIES BY PAM HENDERSON AND LESLEY COPPOLINO.

By Maureen Maxwell

Congratulations to you both in successfully publishing your books, I think they are superb and will have widespread appeal. I am sure our members will be interested to read about the journey you have taken from the original idea to publication. So, thank you for talking with us.

Can you please give us the history behind the series? What made you select the under 8s as your audience target group?

I think we have both always had secret dreams to write/design children’s books, but as you all know, life’s journeys get in the way & dreams get pushed to one side. Joining Sebastian’s group for me gave me the skills and confidence to finally pursue that dream and I knew my sister has always wanted to write, so I approached her one day and said let’s have a go at doing a children’s series of books together. What’s the worst thing that could happen, we have fun together doing it.

We decided to write a story about two friends who live in a magical fantasy world, they were always getting involved in lots of adventures in their day to day lives.

We thought we would try to bring back a little magic and adventure into children’s lives, as all too soon, the children grow up and move on. So, by bringing them some fantasy and magic, to let their imaginations sparkle as they listen to our stories, then our dreams are finally coming true.

After each book was completed, we would trial them on Lesley’s grandchildren, Scarlett aged 5 and Leonara aged 3. They were the best critics anyone could have asked for, and certainly came up with lots of inspiration for new books in the series.

Have you both had a lifetime interest in frogs? Or do frogs just “fit” with boys and girls in the age group?

We were trying to decide on what characters to use and came across these cute little frogs. I thought I may be able to do something with them so started to play around to see if they could work. The fun was trying to turn one into a girl … lol. We thought that they would fit with both a boy and girls’ imagination, so decided to just go with it and see what happens.

What came first? The stories or the illustrations?

The stories, Lesley would write the stories, then bring them to me & I had the pleasure of trying to illustrate the images to fit the story lines, OMG, the challenge was certainly real.

Lesley, you wrote the interesting stories about the adventures of these two frogs, please tell us how the characters, and the stories, evolved?

We started with one book, “Mia and Milo’s Magical Adventures – The Lost Treasure” and enjoyed doing it so much that we decided to write a whole series based on these two frog friends finding adventures and solving mysteries.

To be honest, we fell in love with our two frogs, Mia, and Milo, who live in an imaginary land called Frogtopia, so decided to expand our stories to star them in lots of whacky adventures of magic, fairies, elves, witches and all kinds of creatures and strange lands, but always solving the mysteries in the end.

Saving Christmas

The Lonely Ghost

Pam, your illustrations are beautifully created and will have a lot of appeal to young children. What approach did you take to first creating the characters, and then to illustrating their adventures?

Thank you Maureen, I wanted to create something that would spark a boy and girl’s imagination I guess and what better thing than frogs … lol, your gardens will never be safe again. The thought of a young child finding a frog in their back yard and wondering if it is Mia or Milo on another adventure is just so cute. The illustration part I guess was the most challenging for me as I could not really plan ahead of time. I had to wait for the story, then work my images into how the story unfolded, trying to also help tell the story with the eyes. It was fun and is very addictive I must say. My sister has a very good imagination that’s for sure and set the challenge with every paragraph she wrote.

The amount of effort you have put into these books must be considerable. Are you able to quantify the amount of work and time that has gone into each book? How did you decide the number of pages to include, and how many illustrations to put into each book?

Yes, there is so much to consider when illustrating for a book I just never imagined before I started. It’s not only the story that you have to try to tell visually, it’s all the little bits and pieces in the backgrounds to keep the children interested, trying to get there eyes to focus on every thing while they are listening to the story to be told, trying to spark their imagination into letting them believe they are part of the journey and what it would be like to be in that strange land with Mia and Milo.

As much as we planned to stick to a certain page number, it really all depended on the story line that my sister came up with and yes sometimes we got carried away and the book grew, but at the end of the day we were really happy with the end results. I think if you really love doing something, time and effort is never really taken into consideration. To be able to immerse your self into the journey that you are working on is really all that mattered.

Dreamland

The Pirates

A CHAT WITH THE AUTHORS OF MIA AND MILO

There is a huge amount of work in getting books published, and then to marketing them. What process did you follow? And what are the pitfalls to avoid? How crucial was the involvement of the publisher?

Oh my goodness, we never imagined all the steps that were needed to be taken. From learning about ISBN numbers, where to purchase and register them, to researching whether to try Submitting with a Publishing agent or to Self Publish. When we decided to Self Publish, you then have to research into finding a reputable publishing platform, one that will market your books for you without wanting to rip you off. You also have to take into consideration the print quality of the books. Then you have to learn about the uploading process onto the publishers platform, the different formats that they require, how to format to suit etc. But everything was all worth it when we made our first sale.

We have been asked if we would be interested in doing a book launch at our local art gallery, they are very excited, so hopefully that will be happening in the near future along with a media release in our local area.

What’s next? Do you have plans for more books in this series? Will you think about a different series for the same age group or a different age group?

So far, we have written eight books in our Mia and Milo series, all now available for sale. We plan to launch more in our Mia and Milo series early next year with one in progress at the moment.

We are also working on another series based on a 2 to 5 year old age group. We have successfully published the first one called “Down In The Barn”, which is selling extremely well over seas at the moment, with another one to launch early next year called “Down In The Garden”.

We are also creating a series of merchandise to be launched with our books, caps, t-shirts, mugs, plates, drink bottles and cutlery. Are we a devil for punishment, … lol, yes, I think we are.

The Fairy Portal

The Lost Treasure

Do you have any tips for other members considering writing and publishing books?

This has been the best and most exciting experience of our lives, especially to be able to do it with your sister and make her dreams come true.

If you ever thought you would like to do it, then go ahead, you can do it, you are good enough and you are worth it.

After all, “Magic is everywhere, if you believe”.

penny de jong

monthly artistic down under

Pam Henderson - Christmas Night

Karen Waalwyk - A Wren’s Christmas

Andrew Haysom - A Lorikeet Christmas

Gitama Day - Burning BarBQ’s

Penny De Jong - Christmas Postcard From Australia

Ilona Abou-Zolof - Aussie Xmas

Mick Rooney - Hold Up

Bev Terawskyj - Aussie Fractal Xmas

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Helping Women with Endometriosis

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Art by Margaret Kalms

When I first heard about endometriosis I felt a deep compassion and need to do what I could to help. Women with endometriosis suffer debilitating pain, disruptive symptoms and often endure multiple operations simply to function normally. Few people are patient when listening to descriptions of pain, symptoms or illness. This can have the effect of silencing people who are ill.

My compassion inspires my photoart which I show in presentations to raise awareness. I joined Awake to teach me advanced Photoshop skills, specifically to expand my photoartistic skills to create imaginative and dramatic images.

My photoart opens dialogue enabling freer expression of hidden feelings, experiences too private to mention in ordinary conversation. I create photoart inspired by the concerns of women with endometriosis. Several women have said that the process of imaging their suffering has helped them to face their pain and illness. There is immense strength in being heard. I want my photoart to become visual screams!!

26 women with endometriosis have told me about their experiences. They spoke to me about their concerns and collaborated during the photo session. We explored meanings of body, ideas of self and impacts of illness together, agreeing which ideas we would explore photographically. My photos are often carefully arranged, but that doesn’t mean they are fake. They represent the personal truth and experiences of 26 women with endometriosis. These women are remembering and acting out their OWN experiences. They choose their own stance and facial expression. Women with endometriosis are the only people who truly know what endometriosis FEELS like.

Unfortunately endometriosis is relatively common; an estimated 1 in 10 women living with endometriosis, being over 175,000,000 women worldwide! And an estimated 500,000 women in Australia! Their experiences are heart-breaking. Regular illness and debilitating pain result in missed education and poor career opportunities leaving them women vulnerable to poverty.

Women with endometriosis need real medical progress to reduce their suffering. I passionately desire to raise money for endometriosis research so that faster diagnoses are made and more effective treatments are found. To raise money for endometriosis research, I host events and sell products on Redbubble. Recently I gave $3,000 to Canberra Endometriosis Centre!

Share ‘EndoWomanArt’ with your friends on social media to raise awareness and money for women’s health!

We all need clothes & household goods. Buy yourself a treat or buy a special gift for your friends. Make your shopping count!

Remember 50% of profit goes to endometriosis research!

https://www.redbubble.com/ people/EndoWomanArt/shop

Follow ‘Life with Endometriosis’: https://www.facebook.com/ LifeWithEndometriosis

See Margaret Kalms photoart, ‘Life with Endometriosis’: http://www.endowomanart.com

Margaret Kalms

Bunch Of Butterflies On Grevillea Sweatshirt Butterflies False Colour Grey Stripes

50% of profit donated to endometriosis

Bunch Of Butterflies On Grevillea Pencil Case