As some of you might know I have returned from a trip to Europe with beautiful Bobby. London, Paris, Rome and of course Michelangelo's home town; Florence. It was hard to keep in mind that it was not all just a theme park like Disneyland. The Duomo for example. Look how dark and dirty on the right then how clean and bright it looks on the left. It looks new which from a theme park perspective is all wrong. Disney would build something like this then dirty it down for a feeling of authenticity yet here are the Florentines cleaning it all up. What do you think?
500 years of dirt is hard to reproduce. Yet 500 years ago, before so much carbon was in the air, it might have looked clean anyway. What is authentic and what is just dramatic stage craft. Like ageing make up on an actor or using stage smoke to give a scene in a film more atmosphere this dirt makes you realise how old this building is even though it was probably just the last 100 years of pollution that made it this way.

Lovely Melbourne

I would love to show you progress on the book but Oliver likes to keep his illustrations under wraps till publication day. Something smart about that. Meanwhile here is a cosy image I found while looking around Toorak on Google maps. Do the same and you'll find the photographer's details. I like it because it says so much about what makes Melbourne good. It used to be considered a wet and cold place but our reservoirs are down to 15% capacity so any rain is welcomed and rejoiced over and we have had such sunny days this winter that if you get just the right spot near a sunny window you'll get quite red. No gloomy days anymore.

The trams are it's gondolas and chapel street, seen pictured here, it's playground for the fashionista. There are rich people here but Melbournians are less impressed by wealth than Sydney people are. Sydney snobs would never ride a tram yet in Melbourne millionaires travel to the opera on this transport. They are more down to earth and relaxed here than anywhere I have seen. They work too hard and dress like sparrows and wave when you let them merge into your lane in traffic. They leave each other alone and just get on with minding their own business. Bobby is in love with Melbourne. It is her city now... I heard her say.

Positive energy

CORRECTION. In my last post I said our deadline came and went. Not true and I'm sorry this hurt my son. He's pro and would have made it. This deadline has been a sliding slithering thing. Our editor at ABC gave us till April 20th 2009 and as I say Oliver would have made that but, sensing we needed more time, she recently changed that to Sept 1st 2009. I don't care when it hits the book stores as long as it's the most beautiful book we can make with our present skill level. As I said to her, during a phone conversation last week, I go slowly and patiently in my career and though I may have wanted to be another Walt Disney I'd need to live till 140 to do everything. Oliver has made more books possible but it is our ABC editor, Belinda Bolliger, who is really driving this push for more books. When I come to think of it I am still uncertain as to why.

Distracting... isn't it?

The latest book Oliver is illustrating for me, The dragon's lie, goes slowly but his latest toy certainly doesn't. So the deadline came and went and my gracious publisher has instead allowed us to finish by September 1st 2009. PLEASE OLIVER GIVE ME A BOOK BY THEN. As you can see his motivation is low but his happiness level is high. I gave him ALL of the first advance money $4000 but Money did not motivate him to complete the illustrations so I'm all out of ideas. Any suggestions Dan? (I know you read this blog) I don't want to come the guilt trip yet... wouldn't work anyway. I suggested that the virtuoso is his own reward but that notion failed to inspire. If the story was important enough to him perhaps that would make a difference. Having a book in schools and bookshops leaves him unimpressed. Knowing thousands of kids will be receiving this book for Christmas does not move him. I thought making nice pictures was enough of a buzz but that's just me. Oh well. As a young man in the 1980s I found that girls were interested in me because I wrote and illustrated kids books. Their pretty eyes sparkled with interest, they smiled and moved closer when I talked about my latest picture book. Maybe he'll do it for love. Or maybe girls are more impressed these days by small, fast, black, convertible BMWs... Ah phooey ;(

Congratulations Chris

Chris, originally uploaded by kymlardner.

I know he won't mind if I share a recent email I got from my brother Chris you, my small and trust worthy Brigade of readers.

Hi Kym and Oliver,

Just an update on Perth. It would seem that this little town has exceeded my expectations. Get this, I have taken a job with an international school and I am now involved in international business development. It's really cool because I am going to be flown all over the world starting mid March. I will be flying out to Mumbai India around March 7 followed by trips to Singapore, China, Japan, South Africa and South America. Then I think I have to go to London... All in all I'm quite pleased with the current job. My role is to visit agencies that refer international students to Australian educational institutions and make sure that they are at a standard that is in keeping with certain guidelines set out by Dept of Immigration and the Dept of Education. If the Agent is reputable then I can have them enter into an agreement with the school to refer students however; if the agents seem a little dodgey I advise the school not to proceed with business. Interestingly the first stop is Mumbai which is where the Lardners departed India around 61 years ago. Dad thought that was an interesting irony. I'll keep you posted with my soon to be global galavant...

C.

Publishing interest from Denmark

Proud Oliver, originally uploaded by kymlardner.

A letter from ABC

Dear Kym,

I’m in charge of overseas sales here at ABC Books and I’m pleased to tell you that I have a Danish publisher who is keen to publish “The Naked Penguin” in Denmark.

They would print 1,000 copies and would pay a royalty of 6% of their retail price. The advance they are offering is AUD$1,500 a percentage of which would be on-paid to you as per your contract. I’m keen to go ahead with this deal if you are agreeable?


Best wishes
International Sales and Production Manager
ABC Books | ABC Commercial

Dragon Dummy

I made this full sized colour pencil dummy so Oliver and our editor at ABC Books, Belinda Bolliger, could get a better idea of what this story is about. Oliver said it helped, Belinda read it to her little boy who didn't get it and I realised my initial idea was not quite there anymore.

Back to the old drawing board

I'll do another and rework the words and a few of the images and then see how it hangs together. I guess it's all part of the challenge of making any work. If it were easy more people would attempt it.

Whale

A New Sky

Bobby didn't like the "sky with nude" painting I did 20 years ago and which I thought looked good in my autumnal coloured lounge room. I thought it kind of pulled the room together like the rug in The Big Lebowski. When I removed it the room fell apart.

Bobby had her reasons and those are for another blog another time. She became upset every time I put it back on the wall. I felt confident that she might grow to love it as I did or at least understand the need for blue in a mostly timber and beige room.

So with this new canvas I have achieved a win-win situation. Obama would approve. I painted another sky, sans nude. Ta da

I'm back

It has been a long time since the ABC closed their audio dept. and unceremoniously put an end to the distribution of my 65min 'father and son stories' CD. Not to be too harsh, the head of Audio at the time did revert the copyright to me as a farewell gesture. This was later questioned by the ABC legal dept but an arrangement was agreed to and a fee of $250 charged. I also agreed to grant ABC nonexclusive rights to distribute digitally should they decide to do so. They will have to hurry to catch iTunes but I wish them good luck.

Last week I was excited to parcel up the copies I've had duplicated locally, two by two in bubble wrap, as instructed by the national buyer and send them to ABC head office in Ultimo Sydney. Each also wrapped in a brochure and an invoice addressed to each of the ABC Shops around Australia. We will share 50/50 the $2550 RRP total this order makes.

Out of my half I will pay per disc the GST of $1.13 , the picture disc duplication including crystal cases $1.28 Also .67cents to print the CD covers .26cents postage and .06cents of bubble wrap. I'll make $9.11 each disc. Perviously I made $2.50 per disc as a royalty but did none of this messing around. The ABC did everything.

For now it has been fun doing it all but to be sensible I should hand it over to a volume distributor.

The discs look beautiful and sound better that ever. I wonder what other artist have done since ABC Audio closed.