Here's one of those illustrations that my mother posed for a number of years ago.
She modelled as the Wise woman in Catkin by Antonia Barber which I illustrated in the mid-nineties.
This was a key picture for me in many ways because it showed me I could handle more naturalistic scenes than the fantasy work I had previously done.
It certainly pointed the way towards the work I did on The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
The other models were myself, and Niamh, my girlfriend at the time.
She is beautiful. I love the tenderness you have captured in her look and the gentle touch in the cradle. I always thought you captured that level of natural and personal warmth in your illustrations.
ReplyDeleteI'm obsessed with the humanism in fantasy (as you know) and when I was much younger your illustrations really helped show me the texture and depth I felt was missing from other books... Your illustrations for the domestic scenes (the candle, when she is sleeping, the reunion) in "East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon" made it my favorite fairy tale of all time. ^_^
~Aladine
Dear PJ,
ReplyDeleteAt once, I found your mother in it. In the last post, I felt your deep love for the mother. In this work, too. Thank you for showing the lovely work.
Kind regards, Sadami
Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the original work !