Australian Artists on Poverty Line

Today's Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting article called "The poverty trap ensnaring creative Australians", which discusses that nothing much has changed since the Australia Council released its Don't Give Up Your Day Job report ten years ago on the financial status of artists and identified that a third lived below the poverty line with half earning less than $7300 from their art.

Dancers, musicians, composers, painters and photographers remain vulnerable to economic cyles, enduring long periods of unemployment and often juggling one, two or even three jobs ... The latest census data suggests that things might have become worse for the nation's artists.

The recent Australian Society of Author (ASA) Comics/Graphic Novels Porfolio survey backs this up – comics creatives are not terribly well paid either. We actually salute the Danish solution presented in the SMH article which mentions that select artists are granted a stipend for their entire lives.

Yes, this situation reflects the current economic reality but let's not make this news a self-fulfilling prophecy – maybe we need to embrace our chosen professions from the point of view of attracting abundance. According to Law of Attraction principles, as much as we are creators of our various comics properties we are also co-creators with the universe of our own lives. To tune in properly we must be focused, passionate, and activate our imagination and our internal resources so that the we live the future we want to create for ourselves as if it is happening already. So Australian comics creatives can lead the charge and dream the dream ... perpetual comics work in the genre we love, BIG paychecks and opportunities to do what we want when we want. Sigh. Bliss.

Mermaid Artists 1 – Henry (O'Hara) Clive

We thought we might bring you a new series of posts on celebrated artists who have introduced mermaids into their body of work. We thank our friend Nick for alerting us to this absolute sumptuous piece in pastel by Australian Hollywood artist Henry (O'Hara) Clive. We couldn't find much information on him or indeed the piece – we think it's a cover called "The Mermaid" from the American Weekly magazine (26 March 1939).

There are variations on the spelling of his name so we've got little to go on. However, we did find this one piece so if you want to read more about Henry go to the grapefruitmoongallery website.

Apologies

We've both been working 16-17 hour days, seven days a week and have been too tired to blog – hence the silence. We'll probably be back on track in mid March some time so we'll been blogging sporadically till that time and be fully on board from then. In the meantime ... watch the space above for some recent discoveries.

Shimmer Baby Mermaid Tails [LINK UPDATED 19/06/12]

We've been corresponding with Renee who recently opened the Shimmerbaby Mermaids website – an online shop for all your mermaid needs. She sent us these pics yesterday so we thought you might want to have a peek at her tails for sale. Oh, and she runs mermaid-themed birthday parties and mermaid camps. She has three mermaid tails on order for the Australia Day celebrations an is working on a black mermaid tail – we definitely want to see that one!

Read and Heed - Children's Book Creators' and Graphic Novelists' Perspectives

Colleen Doran is constantly looking after the needs of comics creators and has given us two articles about how the Google Settlement might impact children's authors and illustrators and graphic novelists. Read them on her A Distant Soil blog: Google Behaving Badly: concerns for cartoonists and Children's Book Author Diana Kimpon clarifies Google Book deal on graphic novels. We owe Colleen and her contributors a big debt of gratitude for keeping us in the know. Thanks, C.

New Valentine Black Mermaid™ Design Revealed

Jozef has just delivered the new 2010 Valentine design in our Celebration Black Mermaid™ series. The design is called "Dusky Rose". The musk-pink colour of the heart matches the new pink patent shoes I bought myself as a Christmas present. Hope you like our new interpretation of our lovely logo. She's available for a limited time at our Black Mermaid Boutique, so don't be shy in ordering a gorgeous cushion, t-shirts, prints, or all matter of pressies for your sweetie or yourself. We certainly will and we're the shopkeepers! What's more, we'll be wearing her after Valentine's Day to the various Supanovas we'll be attending all over Australia over the upcoming months. Oh, and I'll be wearing my pink shoes there too!

Elf~Fin Leaks & Peeks 14

And now for something a little more dramatic!