gracetaylorillustration

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All the illustrations I made for my March newsletter. The April one will go out tomorrow afternoon so make sure to sign up if you want to receive it! The snake was to illustrate the craft section of my newsletter where I shared my visible mending projects. The mouse was for a recipe I shared for nutmeg, pecan and white chocolate projects.

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Happy Autumn Equinox! 🍂

Here is my annual self portrait for 2025! As always I have included some objects that represent what’s going on in my life at the moment. 🧶 yarn for my knitting. I’ve got a lot of projects planned but for now I am working on socks and thinking of knitting myself a pixie hood with some nice brown wool I found at the op shop.

🪕 My banjo because I’ve been messing around on it and starting to write some banjo songs.

🥄 A spade because I’ve been thinking a lot about changing careers. My whole adult life I’ve been a graphic designer as my day job but I think I might have burned myself out too badly to go back. I think a career that’s outdoors and not focused on a computer would be nice.

🐈‍⬛ Rosemary on my lap because she always is and I love her.

🍄 Mushrooms because they are always on my mind in autumn.

These ones specifically are graceful parasols, because I feel like I haven’t seen them in ages and I miss them.

🥾 My clothes are my favourite dress that I’ve made myself and wear multiple times a week. It’s got lots of stains and it’s very faded and I think I’d like to make a second one exactly the same that I can wear places stained clothes aren’t the vibe. And my favourite trusty Blundstone boots that I’ve worn almost every day for 7 years and have featured in every one of these self portraits.

🌳 There is a paperbark tree on my block the council cut down and it’s growing back more vibrant and bushier that before. It makes me happy to see it resisting the will of the council and I’ve included a little homage to it growing off the stump this time. I’ve returned to my old favourite watercolours for this painting and it was nice after a break working mostly with gouache and acrylic so far this year. One nice thing I’ve noticed is how much easier it is to draw myself with each year. I remember the first year it took me so long and I still don’t think it looked that much like me. But this year I barely even needed a reference. I suppose it’s a combination of practice and knowing myself a bit better with each passing year.

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Apple Fairy

Each of the little garden dwellers was equally shocked to see the other at the first ripe apple of the season.

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illustrations I made for my newsletter, The Greenwood Observer.

It's a monthly newsletter filled with nature observations, foraging and gardening updates, recipes, recommendations and art of course!

If you would like to sign up to receive my next one you can do so here

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I can't see my replies right now for some reason, but someone asked if I have any prints available and I do! you can find prints of most of my recent illustrations at gracetaylorillustration.com/shop

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Tiger Snake and Greater Mullien

Kind of a study and kind of a record of a snake I saw on a nature walk earlier this year.

I'd like to start making more art inspired by the wildlife I see in real life. I'm particularly interested in combining Australian native animals with introduced plants.

Greater Mullien in invasive in Australia and native to Europe, North Asia and Africa. In folklore it was believed to protect you from curses and spells, and also to be used in illumination spells, probably because it was dipped in tallow and used as a torch by the Romans. It has also historically been used to treat lung disease and as a substitute for people trying to quit tobacco.

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If you are the kind of person that likes to go walking in nature just to slowly amble around and touch moss, spot mushrooms, identify plants and watch the wildlife, then you may be a member of the slow hiker's club.

You may also be a member if your favourite part of the hike is when you get so sit somewhere pretty in nature and enjoy the picnic you've packed for yourself.

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Blackberry Bandits

Someone’s been stealing all the blackberries from my garden, but only from the underside of the vine. I suspect it was the little mouse family that live under the potting shed on the other side of the fence, but I don’t mid sharing with a hungry mouse.

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Since I last visited tumblr I've started making music too :-)

This song and a whole EP under the name Camphor Laurel

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Do you have any cat couple paintings??? 😱😍

Like this maybe?

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your art is absolutely lovely!! please never stop drawing!

Thank you so much! I have no plans of ever stopping :-D

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I just want you know you are one of my favorite artists of all time, your work is beautiful

Tank you so much that's so nice :'-)

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Hello! I would love to post the latest cute painting of the 2 dog friends on my Instagram feed, do you have Instagram account so I could you the credits? Or should I give your Tumblr username? Thank you in advance!

Hello! Sorry if you sent this years ago I haven't logged in for ages! And thank you, my instagram is @gracetaylorillustration :-)

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I just logged in here and I have so many messages about this guy! I'm not going to be able to answer them all so here is a blanket permission:

It's ok to have him tattooed

I don't mind you using him for your personal project as long as you won't be selling it and you credit me wherever you show it publicly or online

Thank you for all the love and interest for this drawing!

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Northern Rivers Flood Relief Fundraiser

$30AUD from every sale of my ‘Northern Rivers’ print will be donated to the Revive the Northern Rivers flood relief fundraiser (the other $5 goes to the processing/transaction fees on my website)

I made this illustration especially for the fundraiser and it’s inspired by the wildlife and landscapes of the Northern Rivers region of NSW, where I grew up, and which has recently been devastated by record breaking floods. The characters are a brush tail possum and an eastern whip bird, both local to the area. I decided to make them musicians because the eastern whip bird has a beautiful song that always reminds me of home. I like to imagine they’re walking down Myocum Road, on their way to play a show at the Mullum Civic Hall!

If you’re interested you can purchase a print here.

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It’s the first day of my favourite season and to celebrate I’m having a big sale in my online shop!

Use the code HELLOAUTUMN to get 25% off everything🍂🍁🦊🧡

I’ve listed a bunch of new prints and discounted the old ones, and the code is valid until the end of March so you’ve got plenty of time.

https://gracetaylorillustration.com/shop

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Summer Rain, 2020, watercolour and pencil