My Angel Stamp Design

This was one of my favourite stamp designs but sadly it didn't make it through An Post's vetting process.
It's a shame because it was certainly quite a different approach from my usual work.

My First Day Covers for An Post

Here are a bunch of the first day covers that I designed to go with the stamps I did for An Post.
The top one with the rooftop drawing and the old fashioned typography is my favourite by a long way.

The Children of Lir; Unpublished Stamp Designs

I think these pictures, and other roughs I posted earlier, give a good idea of my stamp design process.

I decided against using the full image of the swan children of Lir sheltering from the storm and went for the transformation scene instead. But I was able to adapt the first design for use as a decorative panel on the stamp sheet.

Amongst some old roughs I found the mock-up below where I was considering the tragic image of the old children of Lir from The Names upon the Harp. 

It makes a nice companion piece to the scene of the four of them huddling together as swans.

Nativity Stamps from 1999

 Here are another set of roughs paired with the printed Christmas stamps that I did for An Post back in 1999.
I think these were the Christmas stamps I was most pleased with.

Oisín and Niamh of the Golden Hair

I recently rediscovered another of my roughs for the mythological stamps I designed a number of years ago for An Post.
This one illustrates the story of Oisín and Niamh of the Golden Hair.

And this is the finished stamp.

Two Views of Des

Staying on the black and white theme, I thought that one of Conor Walton's recently posted drawings of the RHA life room looked very familiar.
On closer inspection I realized that the model is Des and that the guy in the white t-shirt is me drawing him.

This is the drawing I did of Des that day.

I always love to see the same subject as depicted by different artists.

Conor has a show of his extraordinary still life paintings entitled "Elements" running now at the Beaux Arts gallery in Bath.
If you aren't in the UK you can see a number of Conor's wonderful life drawings here.

Some Ink Line Illustrations

I rarely get the chance to do ink line work these days.
These are a few from quite obscure books of long ago that I found when I was hunting through some old folders.

United Arts Club Exhibition Launch

A great evening was had by all who attended Brian Gallagher's latest Illustrators Ireland show at the United Arts Club.
There was a great turn out to hear Bren B of Offset launching the show and there were plenty of sales on the night.
Thanks to Mario for recording the merriment.