Blacksmiths, Fighters and (Invisible) Monks*

I've been working on this one thing for ages now and I finally finished it yesterday. I'm going to post the finished piece later, but just thought I'd put up some of the sketches that led to the final.

Wash Out Your Mouth!

I'm crazy about working with a brush and ink at the moment. I'm still new to it, but it is really fun! I've been debating getting a brush pen...

The above is inked traditionally and coloured digitally. I think I like the yellow one best as it is the punchiest, but the pink and blue make me happy too... I dislike the green face.

Also(!) I'm moving from one room in our beautiful city centre studios, Morgan Arcade Studios, to another room which needs a big clean and fix up so I've been doing a lot of wall painting recently (all white), but I've discovered I'm really good at painting walls! Super fast and efficient. I also discovered I really hate painting walls! Whodathunkit!?

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Jazz Gallery

SUNDAY 13th MAY 2012 Nanna Koekoek, Daniel Hamilton and I will be exhibiting work at A Shot In the Dark café to provide the gallery section of the Jazz Gallery which has been providing some pretty hip jazz since March of this year.

poster by Dan and Nanna

There will be live jazz on the night (and every Sunday actually) and the exhibition will run until 4th August 2012. I'm putting up new work, so stop by if you fancy it.

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Gossip

I want to draw/paint MORE MOUTHS!

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What does your dog say about you?

I really enjoy girly magazines - mostly Seventeen, CosmoGirl (no longer in print), Teen Vogue and Company. It's super light reading (it almost doesn't even qualify as reading)...maybe a little vapid at times, but I find it fun nonetheless.

Anyway, I have taken to doing little editorial exercises with the kinds of articles they publish. The above was inspired by a Cosmopolitan (UK) article.

An aside: I am so addicted to the ink + paintbrush combo I've started trying recently. This is the first time I've combined that with digital and I feel like such a dufus for not having done this before. It's so fun! But I need a new paintbrush now because I'm a total novice about inks and brushes and the proper maintenance of those magical devices.

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The Troop

Girl scouts!

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Water

Been doing some traditional stuff to loosen my tight brain.

And soon all my inhibitions will fall away and something fresh and exciting will emerge.

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A Blue Tit

Can you guess which social media network I have finally joined!? YAY!

I am @nicolemillu

Hopefully it will be filled with wonder and friendship and chirpings (rather than terror and lawsuits and pain like my deepest fears would have me believe). If any of you guys are on there, drop me a tweet. It would be great to see some familiar people!

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To Dry For 2012 & WOMA 2012

To Dry For had a competition to design a new tea towel for them and this was my entry:

Unfortunately my sailor* didn't win. It would have been so cool to see him on a (manly) tea towel! But, alas, it was not meant to be...
*I think he actually looks a little more like a Whaler, but "Ahoy Whaler" didn't have as nice a ring to it as "Ahoy Sailor!"

* * *

However, I also submitted my Pandora piece to Women Make Art's 2012 and it has been accepted into the exhibition which takes place in Grenada, West Indies.

This one actually means quite a lot to me: being recognised in my own region for my illustration which is very different from the aesthetic norms and typical subject matter of most Caribbean art. I believe that - having grown up in The Bahamas - Bahamian influences are inherently going to be part of what I produce in some way. But I have grown very tired of the way I see the same tired old story of the Caribbean has been told in the same old tired way: serene beach landscapes, palm trees, hair plaiting, slave faces, quaint old island living, still life paintings of Caribbean fruits.
Are Caribbean artists drawing these same old subjects in the same old way because they want to, because they are used to it or because it is what is expected of them (from outsiders who do not realise there is more to our lives than beaches, sunshine, fishing, etc)?
I appreciate that element of our culture as well, but I have no interest in being a part of that 'single story' approach.

The exhibition will run from March 31 - April 14, 2012 at the Gallery, St. George’s, Grenada.
If you're in the area, please give the show a visit. (Take photos! I'd love to see them.)

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Viking Dudes

Apparently they were not as brutish and unclean as popular belief would suggest! Nor did they wear horn-hats...Or drink from horn flasks...Next thing you know they'll be telling us they didn't actually have magical Norse god powers. hah!

Nonetheless, I am a fan of horn-hats and hammers! So the next time I post about Vikings it will probably (hopefully!) involve some fact-bending horn-hats.

Also, on Thursday 1st March 2012*, I launched my official website! YAY! Please go have a look see :)

WWW.NICOLEMILLO.COM

*That day was also St. David's Day and World Book Day! Did you know?

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