Coming out of the darkness

Well, here we are, with the bungee jumping and all the festive little characters living in colour!

Actually I'm going to have to play around with the colour adjustments a bit more, as these are much muddier than the original watercolour, which was nothing but sweetness and light.

This is despite the fact that I have only used process colours on this - yep, all the different hues are blends of process cyan, magenta, yellow and black. I once did a painting where I only used the pure colours, e.g. purples were made by overlaying red cross-hatching over blue cross-hatching. The painting is smaller than A4, but it took WEEKS. Haven't tried it since - had to be a reason why the technique's never caught on!

Illustration Friday - Buzz

This is based on my own back garden, and the only reason this really qualifies to answer the theme 'Buzz' is because of the beehive in the background.

In fact, the real life 'beehive' is a composter, and most of the buzzing that you hear in the summer comes from the critters on the pyracantha (not shown in the picture), which does get very loud at times.

But as far as I'm aware they don't make any honey in the composter, though there are some nice stripey worms in there.

I have, of course, produced an illustration to Aristophanes' play 'The Wasps', but I thought you might like to see something new.

Puflet Politics

Could somebody please explain to an unsophisticated small water bird why, in the recent execution of Saddam Hussein, it was deemed uncivilised to taunt him? While it was perfectly civilised to break his neck by hanging?

And why the News of the World describes him as a monster (yes, for sure, many thousand times over), but still deems it acceptable to gloat that they heard his neck snap?

Don't understand. Best get back to the sand eels ...

And while the morris dancers were hanging out at the back ...

Here's the final ruf (if that's not a contradiction in terms) for the front of the CD. You may notice certain similarities between this and the ruf I posted a little while back, but this one's more, well, crowded.

While I was drawing the new arrivals I was listening to a piece on Radio 4 about the latest bunch of immigrants to arrive on these shores.

It's funny the way this sometimes happens.

When I was adding the finishing touches to the infamous watercolour 'March past of the Kitchen Utensils', I was also listening to the book at bobotime on Radio 4, and the incidental music was, indeed, Vaughan Williams' 'March past of the Kitchen Utensils'.

Here are the rest of his mates!

Here's the final design for the back of the CD!

And the title as you see it is the actual title!

Honest!

Another apology

For crimes against typography. In the post below. There are some more horrors. And I can't be arsed to do anything about them; I know a hopeless cause when I see one ...

And this one's Morris ...

Two posts in two days - I must be getting bored!

This is just the first stage of an illustration to
'Folk Festival', and will appear on the reverse of the CD of which you have seen the front.

I ought to warn you that this morris dancer is just one of a team, and more will be arriving eventually. I'm not sure this is the CD to entice non-folkies to come to these events:

Folk Festival - everybody sing now - Folk Festival

Young man young man it's so cool to be nerdy

Young man young man get yourself a hurdy gurdy

Folk Festival a wop bopaloop Folk Festival

Young man young man you might lose all control

Young man young man take your own toilet roll

To the Folk Festival

(Donnelly 2006)

Select Bibliography:

Donnelly, K. YMCA/Folk Festival. Pub. Epson Stylus Color 760. 2006