As you all know one of my favorite activities is being glued to Instagram and following the suggestion of accounts of other dog people I admire! So, @growlmama, when I finally get to meet you, I will hug you, for one of the brilliant accounts you led me to was this: Kate Perry of RED CHALK, who is a wonderful illustrator and was inspired by one of my photos enough to do it doggie justice with a drawing! Lucky Raggio, you made the Australian cut! As you would assume, I reached out and here is the "poop" on Kate and her wonderful illustrations!

When did you decide to make your Instagram more illustrative?

I print and stencil my designs and illustrations onto fabric, clothing and accessories with my own fashion label R C / K P, and I planned to use Instagram as a marketing and PR tool for my business. The platform also gives me a voice as the designer. Being in between collections, I needed something to grow an audience and keep them engaged and that’s what I love about Instagram. I’ll always filter through production photographs and especially travel shots, but I am having a lot of fun sketching and interacting with an audience! What a cool way to meet talented, engaging people! Another thing about Instagram I really enjoy is the daily deadline I set for myself. Creatively, this is so much easier for me than composing an exciting photo, yet is still relevant to what I do. Funnily, it has now opened up a niche market and has proven to be a fruitful opportunity to do commissions! I have accidentally stumbled into the business of Dog’s Breakfast Illustrations!

When did you start drawing?

I have drawn for as long as I can remember; however, I am more a Jill-of-all-trades when it comes to my business. I oversee the entire process including making, building, problem-solving, painting, sewing, printing and of course illustrating, and all of it is done across many mediums. Winning a design competition trip to the UK snuck me into the art world where I worked for Artist Damien Hirst, back in 2000 as a graphic designer. Later, I used that experience to secure a job at GOMA Queensland doing computer illustrations for the Children’s Art Centre, among other things.

Why animals?

Animals have always been my go-to-theme, my default; but with my daily illustration deadlines, I’m challenging myself to branch out and create a style. I enjoy trying to capture an expression in an animal that we can relate to. It could be a blotch of color and a few scribbles, but it brings to life a calculating cat, surprise of a giraffe or the cheekiness of a dog. And who doesn’t love animals?!

Tell me about your dog?

We bought Bruce from the pound when he was roughly one. He’s brown and a pure breed mongrel, most likely crossed between a Labrador and Staffordshire bull terrier - but we believe that he’s part dog, horse, cat and human. You can definitely notice traits of all of those! He’d be about 7-ish now. He is a very cool dog. He has a certain swagger in his step and is very tolerant with kids,especially when he’s the target of my son Reg's headlocks. He has this look of higher intelligence too. I have caught him rolling his eyes at our nonsense at times. But like I mentioned, he’s very tolerant of most company! However, in all his composure, he is TERRIFIED of balloons, bubbles and of course thunderstorms!

And family....

There’s four of us in his immediate family: Dan, Olive (5), Reg (3) and me, Kate.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

Well, Olive is in Grade 1 and Reg goes to kindergarten next year; so when I grow up, I want to do exactly what I’m doing now, but with way more time to do it!