It's always nice to make new friends!

I set off for Woodgate Valley Country Park today;  they have an urban farm there, and I was hoping to get some pictures of rare breeds, or, more specifically, breeds which look similar to those who hung out during British Neolithic times.  They didn't really have any, but I did get this nice shot of a New Zealand pig.  I won't be putting him in any of my archaeological illustrations, but I did think he was a rather fine chap!

The last of three ...

Here's the last of my group of three; you might just have noticed that there are lots more places on it than Wayland's Smithy, which I think you are all getting the hang of by now.  Having spent all week on this set of four watercolours, I then go and wreck it all in Potatoshop...

Illustration Friday - I Spy!!!

If you look carefully, you can see good old Wayland the Smith peering out of the darkness of his smithy to take a good look at this nice drawing of a horse which has replaced the photograph in
the previous version.

The more perceptive among you will have noticed that I have inverted the image of the
monument itself so that it is a bit more decipherable.  Recognisable, even.

Next stop ... I'm going to the British Museum to get some drawings done of the other photographed elements in this ... and have a look at some mummies and that sort of thing ...

Travelling Sketchbooks

The 'Floating Ducks' Travelling Art Journal seems to have got stuck in the mid-Atlantic, so when the opportunity came up to contribute to the 'Real Illustrators Phrase Book', and I've got a couple of days before I can continue my researches and therefore my MA work ... I went for it.

Here's the result.  The text, if you can call it that, reads:

The bat was holding a fish. 'Bats eat fruit and insects mostly', my mother said.  Sometimes they swallow cars.

It's not my fault, honest.  That was what was written on the page!

Top Ten Albums

A challenge has been issued!  From Real Illustrators!  To list your top ten albums ... I'll try not to think too hard about this, so here goes (for today anyway, and in no particular order)

Rain Dances - Camel
Automatic for the People - REM
The Captain and Me - The Doobie Brothers
A Richer Dust - Blowzabella
All Together Now - Argent
August - Eric Clapton
Six Wives of Henry VIII - Rick Wakeman
Close to the Edge - Yes
Foxtrot - Genesis
Protection - Massive Attack

This could easily change at a moment's notice.  

Why do you get the impression that I listened to most of my music in the 1970's???

More work in progress ...

Next of three panels for Wayland's Smithy - this is mainly to establish the design, as I will be using a real, live drorin for the horse rather than a photograph.  The other bits, coins and the bit of carving from the Franks Casket, will eventually be my own drorins cos for I'm going to London to seek my fortune next weekend, 
and that's where they are too.

Illustration Friday - Total!

After all this computer-generated and composittitted stuff, here's a bit of unadulterated watercolour.  Although, that said, these fish are totally p*****d off with all the pollution in their river, which is why they're sitting here with such grumpy expressions.

Hope they bring a smile to your face, though!

Aha! To stop all the text turning into a hyperlink, you do your writing first, to fool it, then upload the image ...