I began to doodle something one day - I had no clear idea of what I wanted to draw; I was just putting lines on the page. One bird emerged, then another. I didn't used to work spontaneously - I used to sit down with a project in mind and work out a study in pencil then when I was satisfied with that I would begin to add ink and acrylic and work for hours and hours. I like to work this way too. Sometimes it's good to fill a page and then sift through it afterwards - sometimes there's a nice surprise when you're finished - a little character who's been evading you so far has just turned up out of the blue. One of those "oh, there you are!" moments.
Here's a short stop motion film by Charley Bowers from 1930.
I was intending to post this before midnight....but here it is now; a quick sketch of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. It was the centenary of his death ( or not - author of books about the undead and all that....) yesterday. In all the photographs I saw of him he looked a bit shifty or nervous, as if he was worried everyone would figure out his books weren't all that..... Or, more likely, that he'd forgotten to iron Henry Irving's newspapers and now the great man was going to have inky fingers and shout at him.. I get the feeling he was the Waylon Smithers in the relationship.
Here's a clip from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I'd definitely go to this musical...
About two weeks ago I began work on this project. I am taking part in an exhibition organised by the Musical Youth Foundation, as part of the 6th annual Dublin Soul Music Festival next month (May 24th-27th). The Musical Youth Foundation is charity which aims to provide every child in Ireland with access to a musical education.
The brief was to use a guitar as your canvas.
The surface of the guitar was sanded down. I painted it white. Then I began to draw the figures of the children and decide what each one was doing - playing ball, singing, etc... When all the figures were completed and the place was decided for each I fixed them to the guitar and finally varnished the whole thing.
Then I got to work cutting up pages and pages of sheet music. I really really enjoyed that part!
The children I've drawn represent my daughter and her friends... They know who they are.... Each activity represents that particular child's interests/personality.
I used a different set of sheet music for the neck of the guitar as I knew I wanted a line-up of items on this part and I wanted the contrast of the older sheet music against the newer and brighter page of the background. The song on the newer sheet music is a song about youth.
The brief was to paint the front of the body and neck, but I was enjoying this so much I decided to carry on and decorate the back as well. This part I covered in sheet music.
Here's a detail from the front of the guitar; musical flowers, butterflies, even a happy musical snail!
You can see that I have glued my card to the inside of body - just noticeable through the sound hole. I wanted to put my stamp on it somewhere but it didn't seem right to scrawl a signature on the guitar after all my hard work. I noticed that the maker's name, brand, etc., is stamped inside the guitar so that's where my card went.
And now here's another celebration of musical youth; Bobby Benson and his Baby Band!
My little girl received (among other things) a present of a tiny teddy. His name is Benjamin and he's more than 40 years old, but young at heart. Age has not withered his infinite variety and all that... Anyway, he has become a beloved addition to her menagerie of stuffed animals and baby dolls. In fact she refused to go to bed until his portrait for tonight's blog was completed. A big thank you to Gordon for giving Benjamin to Gabi.
This is a work in progress - a friend requested a drawing with a Children of Lir vibe... he's been waiting patiently for a while now - but I did give two other prints, so maybe he won't mind waiting a while longer....
Marc Bolan (he gets my vote for prettiest star) on tv in Paris. Le wow...
A is indeed for Alex. Alex was 5 recently. I made this card for his birthday. I know he loves cars and crashing his toy cars together, so I know he will appreciate this post.....
They don't make 'em like this anymore.. for reasons of health and safety mainly....
I found some of my drawings I made when I was the same age as my daughter is now. I think they look quite like what she's drawing now. Or maybe this is just what a four year old's drawings look like? The top two are hers - the cat in a silver hat and the house. The bottom two are mine. Another house and a fancy lady... In the meantime, however, I will continue to daydream of the day when we are a powerhouse illustrating team....
