28 Friday Jul 2017
Posted in Books, Illustration
Quatrain XXXII ~ Watercolour and gouache on Arches cold pressed
There was a Door to which I found no KEY:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE
There seem’d–and then no more of THEE and ME.
‘Throwback Thursday’ to this illustration for Quatrain XXXII of Rubaiyát of Omar Khayyám, published by The Folio Society, 2009. This piece borrows directly from Rene Bull’s illustration to the same quatrain from 1913.
19 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Illustration, Personal Work
Tags
chinese new year, Goat, Grimm, Lunar New Year, The Wolf and the Seven Kids, Throwback Thursday, Year of the Goat/Sheep/Ram
I’m recovering from a rather horrific bout of food poisoning (or possibly Norovirus). It’s far more incapacitating than I’d imagined.
Anyway, here are two old pieces from 2004 or 05 of Mother Goat and her kids from The Wolf and the Seven Kids by the Brothers Grimm. A ‘Throwback Thursday’ and Lunar New Year post at once.
Mother Goat and the seven kids. Ink and gouache on Sennelier heavyweight drawing paper.
Mother Goat and the youngest kid. Ink and gouache on Sennelier heavyweight drawing paper.
Happy Year of the Goat!
24 Wednesday Dec 2014
Posted in Illustration, Personal Work
The Coventry Carol. Ink, gouache, and acrylic gold on Arches cold pressed, 297 x 420mm. Christmas card, 2006.
A slightly early seasonal Throwback Thursday. This was my Christmas card for 2006. As with the Man and the Satyr card of 2005, it was reproduced on an A4 sheet of card which was then concertina-folded into thirds.
11 Thursday Dec 2014
Posted in Illustration, Personal Work
Another seasonal Throwback Thursday.
Pencil, pen & ink, and watercolour on Arches cold pressed, 297 x 420mm Christmas card, 2005.
My Christmas card for 2005: Aesop’s The Man and the Satyr. The piece was originally reproduced on an A4 sheet of card (210 x 297mm) and was then concertina-folded into thirds.
05 Friday Dec 2014
Posted in Books, Illustration
Tags
1001 Nights, Aladdin, Djinn, Folk tales, Genie, Novelty books, The Genie of the Lamp, Thousand and One Nights, Throwback Thursday, Walker Books
The Genie of the Lamp. Ink and gouache. Original artwork on the left, together with the panel as it appears in the book. The border motif was also originally painted by hand in one section and was then stitched together digitally by the designer. Illustration for Aladdin, Walker Books, 2011.
Less kindly-looking than the Ring Genie, the multiple horns and arms were my attempts at combining a wilder appearance with something more akin to a deity for the Genie of the Lamp, whose powers are of course far stronger also. The design of his ‘collar’ borrows rather freely from Southeast Asian ornamental art.
23 Sunday Nov 2014
Posted in Books, Illustration
Tags
1001 Nights, Aladdin, Djinn, Folk tales, Genie, Novelty books, Thousand and One Nights, Throwback Thursday, Walker Books
The Genie of the Ring. Ink and gouache. Original artwork on the left, together with the panel as it appears in the book. The border motif was also originally painted by hand in one section and was then stitched together digitally by the designer. Illustration for Aladdin, Walker Books, 2011.
Let us return to Aladdin for another late ‘Throwback Thursday’, shall we?
Jingle Bells is now published, though I’m realising to my embarrassment that I failed to mention that at all here, even though I did so on my Facebook page and have been sharing pictures of copies of the book in stores. There will be more on this as I embark on a Vanity Tour of the independent bookshops in London which have taken on the Jingle Bells window display. But with that flurry of promotion in mind, I wanted to return again to this favourite of mine. Not Christmas-related, though nevertheless somewhat appropriately festive in its own right.
I wanted the Genie of the Ring, who first appeared out of the ring which the magician had given Aladdin when he entered the cave, to look markedly different from the Lamp Genie: more benevolent and less intimidating. His costume is mostly Persian with some Ottoman elements. The illustration was flipped for the panel in the end as it worked best with he and the magician facing each other at opposite ends of the book spread.
15 Saturday Nov 2014
Posted in Books, Illustration, Sketchbook
Oh, dear, I’ve been busy and have neglected the blog again. Allow me to post this quick stopgap to keep it ticking over.
‘… in this state of swelling resentment, and mutually deep mortification, they had to continue’
Pencil, sketchbook page.
This rough sketch of Emma’s ‘tête-à-tête drive’ with Mr. Elton was one of the many pieces which turned out to be far better than their final counterparts when I did the illustrations for Jane Austen’s Emma in 2006, published by The Folio Society (with perhaps one exception). I gave Emma a calash, a pelisse, and a muff here, but eschewed all in favour of simply a hooded cloak in the final illustration, since I felt that the short distance between Randalls and Hartfield together with the carriage drive probably made them unnecessary. It was a pity, as I felt the visual interest was considerably reduced then. If only that was all that was wrong with the final piece…
02 Thursday Oct 2014
Posted in Illustration, Personal, Personal Work
Ink, tinted charcoal, pastel pencils, Conté, and gouache on recycled paper, 210 x 280mm.
Another Shower, 2011.
Autumn is come. And I am afraid.
19 Friday Sep 2014
Posted in Events and Exhibitions, Illustration
Tags
British Library, Emma, Events & Exhibitions, folio society, Houseful of Books: 60 Years f the Folio Society, Jane Austen, Throwback Thursday
‘Part of my lace is gone… and I do not know how I am to contrive’
Emma Woodhouse, Harriet Smith and Mr Elton.
Pen & ink and watercolour on 140lb/300gsm Arches hot pressed, 287 x 202mm.
Illustration for Jane Austen’s Emma, published by the Folio Society, 2007. This is the only illustration I’m happy with from this book, and one of the (increasingly) few pieces from the three Austen novels I did for Folio that I can still stand. Though I would alter Harriet’s feet now (in fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel it must be done, past work notwithstanding).
It was displayed at the British Library in the Folio Society Gallery as part of the exhibition, ‘A Houseful of Books: 60 years of the Folio Society’ in 2007. At the private view, one lady very kindly told me that it was her second favourite illustration of the exhibit, her most being an illustration for Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina by Angela Barrett, which, incidentally, was my own favourite piece there. I couldn’t have been more flattered.
14 Thursday Aug 2014
Posted in Books, Illustration
Tags
1001 Nights, Aladdin, Folk tales, Novelty books, Thousand and One Nights, Throwback Thursday, Walker Books
Amayas the Magician. Ink and gouache.
The scan of the artwork together with the panel as it appears in the book. The border motif was also originally painted by hand in one section and was then stitched together digitally by the designer. Illustration for Aladdin, Walker Books, 2011.
In the original Thousand and One Nights tale, The magician from the Maghreb who sent Aladdin to retrieve the lamp doesn’t seem to have been given a name. Entertaining ones have been used in retellings and pantomime performances, but I wanted to give him an earnest north African name. After a little research, I felt that ‘Amayas’ suited him best. I haven’t been able to locate my source again since, much to my chagrin, but in trying to track it down again as I’m writing this post, ‘Amaya’ was yielded as an Arabic female name meaning ‘night rain’.
His costume design has a basis in Tuareg and Berber clothing, with a liberal helping of Mongolian shamanistic elements. I imagined that he had probably supplemented his magic arts in central Asia during his travels along the Silk Road. His staff is topped off with half an addax skull.
More to come! Here is a reminder of last week’s post, in case you missed it.
