Publications and illustrations
For available publications to purchase, contact me to order.
The Journey of Tom Thumb II. Bass and Flinders explore the Illawarra Coast, March 1796.
A summary of the story:
In one short week exploring the coast south of Botany Bay, Matthew Flinders, George Bass and their servant-boy William Martin had a series of adventures.
They set out to locate a river Henry Hacking had described, but on their journey:
they sailed too fast and too far south
their boat was dumped by the surf on the beach at Towradgi
at Lake Illawarra’s entrance they cut the hair and trimmed the beards of the friendly Aboriginal people, but ended up fleeing in fear of their lives when a group of men jumped into the boat
a summer storm nearly wrecked their tiny vessel beneath the cliffs of the Royal National Park before they found shelter at Wattamolla ….
and when they finally ‘discovered’ the Hacking River they were surrounded by sharks!
Paperback 35 pages packed with full-page colour images interwoven with the story and excepts from Matthew Flinders’ own journal.
ISBN 7980994470508
Price $22 includes postage within Australia. Email purchase request to arrange PayPal or EFT payment
An Artist’s Book is a unique document, not mass-produced as are the books we are generally familiar with. Artists books may be simple pages of artwork (as mine are) or very complex and ingenious, imaginative, fabulously decorated as many professional artists’ books are.
The pages of mine are fastened in a concertina fashion, to be laid out across a shelf or table for display, or to be turned by hand for deeper study. Many books’ pages are hand-stitched and grouped with the aid of a book-press, then fitted with strong cover pages back and front.
By Train to Narrabri, NSW
The train journey from Sydney to Narrabri, in the Central West of NSW, takes about nine hours.
I always tried to sit by a window to made little sketches as the scenery changed from suburbs to river-crossings; gentle farming land to wild, rough and rocky landscapes, and then to the wide ‘Black Soil Plains’ with crops or lying fallow, depending on the seasons.
From lush paddocks of the millionaires’ horse studs to the moonscapes of the coalmining lands; from tiny homesteads to grand country mansions, tiny communities with their once-busy beautiful Victorian-era railway stations – so much was recorded. Many sketches were done quickly, while sometimes if the train rested a while, I had time to finish my drawing and watercolours.
A Sketch a Day 2018
My New Year Resolution was to make a sketch every day for January.
Mostly the simple sketches illustrated just one event or location of each day, and I assembled them all into a book, concertina-style. I had a bit of trouble keeping the pages together and because of the thirty-one days, it is really too big to display! However, it makes a very nice record of the simple days of summer.
My Thirroul - Tales from the valley of the Cabbage Tree Palms,
by Don Gray, OAM,(1919 – 2012). Illustrated by Christine.
My Thirroul is a collection of Don Gray’s stories of Thirroul on NSW’s South Coast, a small town set between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean. His family came to live in the town in the early 1920s when Thirroul had a small mine but was also a logging and farming community. It became a mining town, a railway town and an industrial town; by the end of the 20th Century Thirroul was a popular seaside residential suburb of Wollongong, and it continues to evolve.
Don’s book is full of the stories he wanted to tell, and it was finally self-published when he was ninety-two years of age. He hoped that his memories and stories would be recorded for the future in this fast-changing world.
Book price $20 postage within Australia. Email a purchase request, to be arranged by PayPal or EFT
The Little Border Collie book series, by Tony McGir, illustrated by Christine.
What began as a story about a Border Collie puppy feeling sad and alone in his new home has become a series of seven books. Each describes an adventure as he grows up, and the simple stories tell children that kindness and care for others are very important in life.
The list continues to grow ….
The Little Border Collie that barked,
Little Border Collie meets Fluffy Kitten,
Little Border Collie strays from home,
Little Border Colie becomes brave,
Little Border Collie meets Ding and Dong,
Little Border Collie saves the life of a friend.
Paperback, packed with full-page colour images.
Email a purchase request to arrange purchase. $25 includes postage within Australia.
Don Gray, setting out for Anzac Day service, 2011.
