Today we are excited to share a new book, Iceberg! Beautifully written by Claire Saxby, I worked on this book intensely during Melbourne lockdown – homeschooling at night, and travelling to Antarctica at night! It was such a pleasure to work on, and we have just begun receiving some wonderful reviews…

“Saxby’s poetic text and Racklyeft’s illustrations are matched in a dance as integral to each other as the life surrounding the iceberg bringing a new world of wonderment to young readers, one that will open eyes and minds and hearts in a way that will inspire them to know it and protect it in the same way my mum did since her childhood when she stood on the wharf at Bluff and watched the explorers’ ship sail South. “

A big thank you to Nicola Santilli for her guidance editing this book, and to Allen and Unwin for the opportunity to work on it. We also have a book launch on February 20th!

I recently received a newsletter from wonderful author and environmentalist Nicole Godwin, highlighting some of the plastics that can be recycled through the Redcycle program. It was amazing – as I was feeling so guilty adding these to our rubbish, and fantastic to hear there were options to give them a second life. With Nicole’s permission I created a downloadable poster, so we can stick this above a new bin for our plastics – hurrah! Feel free to print this for your house…

It’s a bit tricky working on a new avenue and wondering where to put it! But I’ve been having such a ball creating huge paintings, I wanted to put them all somewhere. So I am slowly building a new site: http://www.jessracklyeft.com!

If you have a moment, have a squizz, and you can also see more originals currently at Bluethumb.

As an illustrator, we are often working to a brief with a set outcome, and a bit of a known process – pencil sketches, research, more sketches, roughs, painted art, digital art etc… I know kind of what I am going to end up with.

During this long year of lockdown, I knew I needed a new outlet for my creativity and I’ve been having an absolute ball painting! With no expectations, massive canvases, and layers upon layers of colour. They are completely unplanned and it is such a peaceful process building shapes and colour as I go.

I’ve been thrilled that they have been selling – its so nice to find happy homes for these big pieces (as I’ve run out of space here!). You can see the available works here: Bluethumb

Here are some of the works mocked up into new homes neater than mine. xx

I am very excited to be sharing images from Welcome Baby – my new book with Affirm Press! It is almost like a dedication from a parent to a bambino, celebrating all the things they will do together in their life ahead. I hope you like it! A few images from the book below… And a special thanks to the wonderful ladies, Davina Bell and Anna Walker, for helping me get it to the best it could be.

I’m excited to share some images from my DELUXE edition of TOODLY – out tomorrow in Australia! It was another that I have the honour of illustrating and writing… I loved working on this book, with the amazing Affirm Press team including Davina Bell and Anna Walker and this fancy edition ticks many book dreams I’ve had for a long time – including cloth spine and foil! You can read more about the book here…

Ohhh two posts in one week! An exciting video was shared by Affirm Press with me today, with the little characters from my upcoming book, Welcome Baby, To This World. Out September 9th in Australia…

Ahh, poor Melbourne. We are feeling pretty – glum, concerned, strong, sad, confused, fine – all of the above here! It’s really difficult going back into lockdown take two, but of course, important with the cases of corona rising scarily. Homeschooling has been announced today (it really took it out of us all last time) and my friends are all ranging from feeling powerful to completely flat (again).

But, like last time, sweet ideas are emerging from the dust, and I saw via The Little Bookroom an idea to post window fairies, unicorns, dragons etc – to replace our previous rainbows and teddy bears. I tried to get the kids to help me paint some to no avail (I’m sure, given the choice of homeschool vs craft fairies they will cave in!) but in the meantime I did my own to print for the window and cut out and glitterize, and I thought others might like it too. So here is a downloadable A4 print “Spread Magic Not Germs”.

Here you go, and good luck Melbourne. We can do it! Download: MagicNotGerms