A Marsupial Gastronome (or Mulgara)

Gday! Here we have a Mulgara, or marsupial mouse. Don't ask me, I've never seen one and until I had to search out reference photos of the little fella for the commission, I'd never heard of it either - there must be many creatures that dwell on this continent that most Australians are unaware of I should think. (I - as most Aussies were - was unaware of the existence of the Bilby until I did this book back in the late 1990s. It was only when the Bilby, as an endagered species, was being promoted as an alternative to the Easter Bunny, that most of us became aware of its existence.)

Back to our Mulgara. This little species is to be found in the desert areas of Australia -most of Australia is desert, so I would imagine that it has a wide range to wander about in ; wonder where they go on their holidays? The Gold Coast probably. - it lives on insects and what it does for water I haven't the foggiest - probably buys it in plastic bottles like the rest of the world seems to be doing these days.(?)

So you see, not only is it fun to be an illustrator - being paid to draw and paint pretty pictures, what a life! - but I also gain knowledge while doing research...most of it useless and hardly likely to impress that blonde at the party...but...oh well...never was any good at chatting up the ladies, so I'll just continue to stand in the corner with my Indian Tonic Water and mutter, like Michael Caine, "Not many people know that," to the standard lamp.

Cheers. RWS

Will the real Ed Burra please laugh

Gday!  'Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree...eee...' Actually the photo shows him/her sitting in our Claret Ash in the back garden. This bird - and it's mate - the first Kookaburras to be seen here in almost five years. Australia's last drought, of almost as many years, had driven many birds and other fauna to seek water and shelter...somewhere else Where? Dunno. Where would they have found a decent source of water in this, the driest state, on the driest continent in the world? Murray River, as low as it still is, would have been the only reliable source I can think of. Speaking of that scarce liquid, there's water in our local river for the first time in the same number of years, and this, it seems, has drawn our feathered visitors back. It's also the first Winter for some time that I haven't had the need to water our garden - fancy having to water the garden in Winter. But, at last, we've had rain!

Cheers, RWS.

Lew Wombati (Singer ordinary)

Gday! Lew was modelled on a well known operatic personality and singer...apart from the name, the pose and handkerchief should be a dead give away. For those of you from outside of Australia, and who have not seen a wombat, they are large sturdy fellows that live in burrows. To give you an idea of a wombat's size and weight, cars have been known to overturn when hitting the poor creatures on our country highways and outback roads. No, they are not sturdy enough to suffer such impacts unscathed...does the term, 'road kill', give you an idea of the outcome? Road kill usually ends up being nibbled at by our native bird of prey, the wedge-tailed- eagle, the second largest feathered predator in the world...the first being the South American condor. (A wedge-tailed-eagle will feature in a future post.)

Oh, the little Lego pieces and the odd marble at the bottom of each illustration page of this book, are part of a little visual story I created as a bonus for the reader. These items are left behind as evidence of Petal's journey through the book. Petal, is Bill Bilby's little sister - I invented her too. Enjoy and cheers. RWS.

Salt-water Crocodile or Tea for Two

Gday! This greeting is apparently expected of Aussies, as we inhabitants of the Great Southern Land are called by those of you who live...not in Australia...but in the wide wonderful world. Oh, nothing wrong with living in or being an Australian, far from it; except of course when we were being ruled over by the former, Liberal, Prime Minister, John Howard. A bit embarrasing then I'm afraid. Let's face it, anyone who identified themselves so closely with and regarded George W. Bush as a friend can only be an embarrasment - shrub, my friends and I called him... George, not John.

So, leaving John and George to their mutual admirations, let us proceed with the next inslallment of the Art of Gondwana...post a picture I mean.

The Salt-water Crocodile is the second full page illustration in the above "Bilby" children's picture book. The first was of the same Bilby wrapped with string around his head and rather large ears, but, at the present, one Bilby picture is quite enough to be getting on with I think...Don't you?

The subtitle I'll leave for you to work out...oh all right! Here's a hint. Who is looking at whom? That should give it away I should think.

Hope you like the image...a bit of fun for me when I was doing it, little knowing that this was just the beginning of my more and more reluctant foray into the depiction of Australian wild life.

Cheers. RWS

The first of SO bleedin' MANY!

My very first children's picture book commission - previous work had been in black & white and devoted to illustration of poetry, medieval fables and history, (Lots of lovely battle scenes with blood, swords and headless corpses; and the occasional naked damsel). Little did I know that I was painting myself into a corner; a corner filled with Australian wildlife...and no bleedin' newspaper to put down anywhere!

I have always followed - and have striven to practice - the motto of, 'If a job is worth doing, it's worth doing well'. It seems that my depiction of the animals found between the pages of this book, were perceived as evidence that I was, above all, an illustrator of cute, furry, feathered or scaly Australian animals. All I ever seem to draw or paint for publishers are the aforesaid animals. I feel like the actor who, in the early part of their career, puts in a good performance as a villain and ends up only be offered roles as the baddie. Type Cast, that's me.

over the following weeks and months I'll be posting all of the Australian creatures I have depicted so far. I'm still a relatively young man, so this could be a, very, long running blog if past commissions are an indication of what's to come. (I'll probably be doing Aussie animals on my death bed.)

A confession here before this blog goes any further, I draw and paint animals of other nations quite willingly, I also enjoy doing so. See my other blog, here, and you can view the full gamut of my illustrations of foreign creatures.

So, without further ado, here they come.

Cheers. RWS