Jack and the Beanstalk...Last step: Collapse exhausted!

What a weekend!
The Mountains to Sea Festival was amazing for me in many ways.
It was the first time I've been an artist-in residence anywhere and the experience of working away while hundreds of people went about their business around me was very strange indeed.
I'll make a fuller post about all that went on at the Festival later, but for now I just wanted to show you how the painting turned out.
I chose to illustrate Jack and the Beanstalk in the end, because I thought it might have appeal to the range of age groups who were attending. Plus it is a story I had never illustrated before.
I did all the photo reference and photoshop preparatory work on Friday and sketched the outlines and did some underpainting on Friday night. All of the rest of the work was done at the event in Dun Laoghaire County Hall on Saturday and Sunday....in between events with the children and meeting other illustrators and authors. (I'll tell you more about my meeting with Kate DiCamillo) anon.

Anyway, somehow I got the picture pretty much finished in the three days, and here it is.

Thanks to Conor for the photo and all of his unflagging assistance throughout the weekend.