Mountains to Sea 2012

I had great fun painting my Jack and the Beanstalk picture over a long weekend as the artist in residence at the Mountains to Sea Book Festival 2010.

After that lightening start I am still tinkering with it two years later.

I have been asked to mention a terrific illustration panel event that is happening at this year's festival on Sunday 9th Sept at 1pm in County Hall, Dun Laoghaire.

Here's the blurb:

"What does it take to create a truly exceptional picture book? What role does the designer play in combining story and artwork into a successful whole and how can illustrators attract the attention of publishers? If you would like to know the answers to these and many more questions, then join us for what promises to be a cracking panel event. Top Irish illustrators Steve Simpson (Lúlú agus an Oíche Ghlórach) and Chris Judge (The Lonely Beast), will be joined by Sarah McIntyre (You Can’t Eat a Princess) and David Mackintosh (The Frank Show), both making their first visit to Dún Laoghaire to take part in this year’s festival. A unique opportunity to hear from those working at the coal face of the picture book business and hopefully get a sneak peek at some exciting new projects in the pipeline too!"

The good news is that you can get FREE tickets if you are an illustrator or are particularly interested in illustration.

Just e-mail Sarah Webb on sarahsamwebb@gmail.com if you want to go along.

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.

Jack and the Beanstalk...first step:prime the canvas

As artist-in-residence at the Mountains to Sea Book Festival, I have undertaken to do an illustration over the next two days at the festival. This is the blank canvas for the painting as it is now on Friday afternoon.
I've already done a lot of work on the rough, and I'll scale it up tonight. If all goes well it will end up with a nice big illustration of Jack and the Beanstalk.
I'll hopefully be able to post again on Monday with the results.

The 2010 Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival

Gif animator
Here's a practice piece I did in preparation for my contribution at THE 2010 MOUNTAINS TO SEA DLR BOOK FESTIVAL.
I'm going to be painting a large (this one is 4 foot tall) oil painting a bit like this one over the weekend (11th and 12th Sept).
Anyone who's attending please come and say "Hi"... I reckon I'll need the moral support.
I still haven't decided on the final image I will be painting, but, given the time constraints, it will have to be simple with just one or two figures and a nice plain background perhaps stencilled like this one. I'm pretty sure I'll be using gold paint and gold leaf as I have done here. (I have tried to show the shiny effect by making an animated gif)
I've considered The Children of Lir and Gulliver but they could both get a bit complicated.
Maybe I'll do something like Cinderella or Sleeping beauty or Jack the Giant Killer.
Anyone got any great suggestions?