Rooks Books Intern!

On Tuesday I will be starting a three month internship here: Rooks Books! Watch this space for updates on how I get on.

An Easter Offering

It's not long 'till Easter now and I've been getting into the spirit of things by painting an Easter hare for the Plawhatch Farm e-newsletter. (The original isn't quite as green as this upload has made it look!)

Illustrations for a Brave New World

I mentioned a couple of months back that I would be entering the House of Illustration and The Folio Society's competition to illustrate Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.....well, I got an e-mail from them the other day to say that my entry was unsuccessful. While there are possibly no words to describe how disappointed I am not to at least make it into the top 25 (and if there were it would be a little depressing to list them all anyway) over the last few days I have been trying to look at the positives: 1) They e-mailed me to let me know. There's nothing worse then having to assume it didn't go well through lack of any form of communication. 2) As clichéd as it sounds, I'm still proud of myself for entering because it wasn't the type of text I would usually have chosen to illustrate and although I struggled hugely I managed to complete it. 3) I am pleased with the work I produced. That is a big achievement for me! Even if they're not the best pieces of art ever done, I still like them and (I cringe slightly at the cheesiness but it is definitely needed in this case) that's what counts. So here, I am proud to present.....the illustrations that should have won ;)

 Cover.

 "And this," said the Director opening the door, "is the fertilizing room."

 "The on a low bed, the sheet flung back, dressed in a pair of pink one-piece zippy jamas, lay Lenina, fast asleep and so beautiful in the midst of her curls."

"I claim them all" said the Savage at last.

Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. "You're welcome," he said.

And here, for those of you interested, is The House of Illustration's chosen top 25 

A little bit of summer to warm the last edges of winter

We've had a few hints that spring is on it's way here in the south-east of England and for a little while at least, I was vainly optimistic that we might see it early this year. False hope I know. Today the sky is an uncommitted shade of cool grey and even though I'm sitting inside with a jumper on and a cat curled on my lap, I can still feel a chill and a nip beneath my clothes and in my bones. As I have the house to myself and the whole day to do with as I please I thought I'd shake out a few of last summer's memories in the hope of spreading a little warmth, so desperately needed!

Some pages from my sketchbook.

In honour of my previous post I have scanned some of my own sketchbook pages (well, if Rossetti and Burne-Jones can do it then so can I!). These are the scribbles that have informed some of my own finished pieces; my magic behind the magic.

p.s The last two pages on here are preliminary works for After the Fairytale Collective's February challenge. If you would like to see the final thing, click on the link below or the "Collective" tab at the top.

After the Fairytale Collective

The Magic behind the Magic...

This book was a Christmas present which, on opening, I nearly wept over. Not to sound overly dramatic or anything (I really did almost cry) but I was overwhelmed at having such a beautiful book in my possession which I first came across, and had instantly coveted,  in the obligatory gift shop at the Tate Britain's Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde exhibition (check out this online review of it). The pages of this book are just pure inspiration to me; filled as they are with the romantic work of the Pre-Raphaelites. But what makes it even more so is that it focuses on the sketchbooks, drawings, and preliminary work of these great artists rather then the final artworks themselves. It's rather like the unveiling of a magic trick or behind-the-scenes footage of a film. However, instead of being disappointed at the seeming simplicity of an ostensibly incomprehensible trick, it is reassuring to see the super-human talents of these artists be made more human in the revealing of the work that lies behind such beautiful finished pieces of art. In flicking through this book such phrases as "but those are the kind of confusing scribbles I have in my sketchbook!" spring to mind and, although I could not hope to achieve such skill in oil painting, it is pleasantly thrilling to think that I'm at the right beginning and to see my idols brought a little closer to earth. 

 Top: Simeon Solomon, A Pre-Raphaelite Studio fantasy. Bottom left and right: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Caricatures of William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Page 25 of Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise.

 John Everett Millais, Study of the Head of Elizabeth Siddal for "Ophelia". Page 58 of Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise.

 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Fanny Cornforth. Page 94 of Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise.

 John Everett Millais, Recto and Verso of a Sheet of Studies. Page 125 of Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise.

  John Everett Millais, Study for "The Order of Release". Page 125 of Pre-Raphaelite Drawing by Colin Cruise.

Holy Cow!

Just a small offering today. Another drawing for the Plaw Hatch Farm newsletter. There isn't much to say about it except that... it's a cow! An MRI cow to be precise; named after the three main rivers in Germany (Meuse, Rhine and Issel). Enjoy :)