Casing the joint at the museum

24 May 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, stories

I spent the morning at the Natural History Museum in town doing research for my new book.  It’s a strange place.  Part of it is brand spanking new: glossy displays with beautifully lit objects, enhanced by multi-media sound and video shows .  And part of it is a sort of time warp, with the stuffed animals crammed together into huge glass cases backed with hessian.  I was relieved because this is just what I needed for the scene that is supposed to play out here:

 

Also happy to see that there are no security cameras in this older area, and the locks on the display cases look very pick-able.   No, I dont intend to break into the museum, but one of my characters might need to!

Some of the older parts are lovely, though.  Particularly the bird displays and the dioramas.

Cleaning Rainham Lane – work in progress

06 May 2012 8 Comments

by mashadutoit in Myself Tags: ,

Yesterday a small team of us, residents of Chamberlain and Salisbury street, started cleaning up the servitude that runs along the back of our houses: Rainham Lane.  It was pretty bad. Some areas of the lane were completely choked with weeds.

We could hardly open the door leading from our backyard into the lane, and everyone got covered in burs.  Did not stop the dogs from having a total ball though:

The weeds by themselves were not so bad – home to praying mantises, crickets, snails, spiders and earthworms.  But there was also a lot of garbage woven in among the plants.  Plastic packets, chunks of concrete dumped after renovations, condom wrappers and so on and on:

There were also some pleasant surprises, like this gooseberry bush :

We ripped weeds out all along the lane, cleared doorways and the gutter  all along the lane, and caused a slow-motion panic among the snail population.

 

We soon saw that there was far more rubbish than we could dump with our single bakkie.  The plan is to get a truck in next weekend to get rid of the worst of it.  In the end we managed to take out the entire weed forest and sort the rubbish into piles.  It does not look pretty at the moment, but this is just the beginning:

He’s called “The Hidden Paw”…

18 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in Myself Tags:

The Hidden Paw strikes again.

OK so I know that poem is about a cat, but this is pretty impressive. Yesterday I baited the rat trap in the cellar with some cheese.  Today I find it – cheese gone and trap sprung onto the garden fork 😛

We already caught a young rat with this trap.  Seems we are dealing with an older and wiser customer now.

Image

“The Story Trap” is launched!

29 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in stories Tags: , ,

I pushed the final button and my book, The Story Trap, is published at last.  What a rush! This is the e-book version.  The print version should be ready some time in late May, if all goes according to plan.

What is this book about?  Here is the low down:

The Story Trap is an illustrated contemporary fantasy novel set in Cape Town, South Africa.

Book description
Rebecca stared out of the train window. How could it be dark already? She had been on the train home, reading in the familiar crush of the rush hour commute. Now the carriage was empty and outside impossibly tall buildings stretched up towards the night sky.
She was alone in a strange world.–Somewhere close by, an old woman watched, and waited. The trap had worked and her quarry was caught. Now all she had to do was keep Rebecca dreaming.

Now all I have to do is write the sequel…

If you are not already on my e-mail list and want to be notified when the print version  is published, please sign up using this form. I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

The Story Trap cover finally finished

10 Mar 2012 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, books, stories Tags:

I’ve finally finished the cover for my book “The Story Trap”.  I changed her eyebrows and ears, added more chains and leaves, and changed the background to the lettering as well as some changes to the colours used.  I’m done now.  What a process!

There is going to be a print edition this time so I had to do the spine and back cover as well 🙂

If you would like to be notified when this book is launched, you can join my “new release” mailing list at this link.

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like 🙂

Grey roses, shadows and chains

23 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags: , ,

This might be it: the cover for my new book The Story Trap.  Is it finished?  Not sure. I’ve been working on it all day and can no longer see it.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll look at it and start changing things again…

The big change from previous version is the pattern in the mirror, the roses are completely redone and no longer pink, and I’ve inserted more shadows.

The Story Trap will be available as a  print – as well as e-book. If you would like a notification when it gets launched, please leave me your name and e-mail address in the form below.  Would love to hear from you!

To be notified when I release a new book please sign up using this form.

I will not share your information with anyone.  You won’t receive many mails from me – I only send a notification when a new book is launched, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

 

 

Pippa gets a digital haircut

12 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

I trimmed Pippa’s hair.

She used to look like this:

In the story, this is the moment when she’s just climbed over a gate into somebody’s backyard and is about to try and break into their house.  She’s wondering why they have no burglar bars…

Pippa with lavender

11 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories

OK – so this is a drawing of a character in my story called Pippa.  Except that I imagined her with short hair when I wrote her. Whoops.  Will probably have to give her a digital haircut.

Mirror in hand

10 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories

This is an important moment in my story: The main character looks at a small mirror.

Strangled in plastic

09 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags: ,

One of the more difficult things to research for my book was plastic pollution in the sea.  So grim.  The images of birds, fish and seals strangling in plastic are so unbearably sad.

Here are some illustrations.  If you go down to the Waterfront here in Cape Town, you can see seals with plastic bags cutting into their necks just like this one:

 

Sun branches moon roots

07 Feb 2012 2 Comments

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

This is a bit of an experiment – not sure if it works.  Another image from the book I’ve almost finished writing.

Locket and rose

07 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

Some more drawings for my book.  The chain was quite tricky – had to redraw it many times.

 

Teapot with dragon.

02 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

There’s something satisfying in drawing a teapot 🙂  Another illustration for my book: done.

A witch’s tea-set, a hare and so on

30 Jan 2012 1 Comment

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories

More drawings for my book: I plan to insert small drawings in the scene breaks and at the end of some of the chapters.  Here are some rough pencil sketches of a hare, a witch’s tea set, a washing up glove and so on.

 

 

 

 

Enter Mistress Mouse

30 Jan 2012 4 Comments

by mashadutoit in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings, stories Tags:

Another drawing of characters from my book: Miss Mouse against a backdrop of burnt protea bushes.   Miss Mouse was not planned.  She just appeared and took over in her gentle but insistent way.

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