PJ's Pilgrims at the Society of Illustrators in New York

I am honoured and delighted that this illustration from The Boy Who Fell Off The Mayflower has been selected by jury for the Original Art 2015 Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York!

My work has been exhibited at the  Society of Illustrators  before and I wish I could be at the launch of this year's event to meet some of my New York based friends and illustrator colleagues, but not this time I'm afraid.

Storm at Sea

Another detail from a painting for that book that will publish next year.
I had a lot of fun doing this storm scene.

Loading the Ship by Lamplight

Here's another detail of one of the illustrations for the book I am just finishing up. 
The ship is being loaded and our hero and friends are on the gangway in the middle distance.

Burial at Sea

Here's a detail showing a burial at sea from the book I am just finishing up now.
I've got a ton of work still to do but I can't believe the end is finally in sight!

Mysterious Traveller Shortlisted for the CBI Book of the Year Awards

It's an honour to be shortlisted for the 24th CBI Book of the Year Awards for my illustrations to "Mysterious Traveller" by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham.

"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was too"

I had fun looking through some old work for a painting for a forth-coming group exhibition of Irish picture book artists that will take place in London next month. Looking for something with a particularly Irish flavour I chose my first illustration from The King Of Ireland's Son by Brendan Behan, which I illustrated for Andersen Press back in 1996.

Behan has a wonderfully funny and yet poetic turn of phrase throughout the story.

"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was too, when the streets were paved in penny loaves and the houses were white- washed with buttermilk and the pigs ran round with knives and forks in their snouts shouting, ‘Eat me, eat me!’ there lived a King of Ireland and he had three sons named Art, Neart and Ceart......"

A Sailor in Action

Here's a sailor from the nautically flavoured book I am working on now.
I had a lot of fun playing about with the light effects on this guy.

Pictiúr Opens at IMMA

These two paintings from The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey are the two of mine that are included in "Pictiúr" which opens at  IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art today! 

From "A Bag Of Moonshine"

Here are a few pictures from my very first book, "A Bag Of Moonshine" by Alan Garner.
It only sold a few thousand copies so not too many of my blog visitors will have seen it.

A New Edition of "The Snow Queen"

My friends at Andersen Press have just sent me copies of a lovely new edition of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by me.

Bustling London...... Final State

Here is a scan of the finished painting which I have tweaked a little bit in Photoshop.
This is very much a picture to be looked at up close so that the viewer gets to scan over the various details and incidents.
It will be the first spread in the book and is very much designed to set the scene, to give a sense of the time and the place for the action to come in the rest of the book.

Bustling London....Almost Done

I've pretty much finished this illustration now.
I have scanned the painting and am giving it a final tweak in Photoshop.
Here are the final three shots of the painting process.

Bustling London; Three More Process Pictures

Here are three more pictures showing the progress of my Bustling London illustration.
I've begun adding the characters on the streets and a lot more detail all over.

Bustling London.....Progressing

I'm really enjoying working up my painting of 17th Century London.
Although I did a very detailed drawing for this piece I have been changing elements and adding details as I paint.
Emmersing myself in the life of this late medieval market I find I naturally come up with details or incidents that I hadn't thought of at the drawing stage.
This process is great for my confidence in my technique, especially as I haven't painted in watercolour for a few months.
I had intended that the foreground houses would be all darker in order to show that they were closer to the viewer than the main action, but as I was painting it in, it struck me that I could vary the tone from darkest to lightest to imply that a cloud was passing overhead.

Please note that some of the photos are a bit darker and more contrasty than others depending on the time of day they are shot.

Bustling London Watercolour

I posted a sketch of Bustling London a little while ago.
It's the first scene from the book I am working on.
Here are a few photos showing how the colour painting of that piece is developing.

I'll post some more as I get on with it.

The North Wind

I've been illustrating a lot of stormy seas recently for the book I am doing now for Candlewick Press.
It's a subject I am continually drawn to.

Here's one from an earlier book of mine, "East O' the Sun, and West O' the Moon".

It shows the North wind carrying the "Lassie" to the castle that lies East O' the Sun, and West O' the Moon. 

You might  just be able to see the Lassie on the North wind's shoulder.

Storm at Sea

Here's another illustration from the book I am working on at the moment.
Another storm scene.
I have quite a bit more work to do on this one, but I thought I would post it now to show some of my process.
I'll post it again when I have added more detail.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Here's another one from a year or two later. It represents the wicked Queen who was Snow White's stepmother admiring herself in the magic mirror.
It was published in the Candlewick Book of Fairytales and was used on the cover of one edition of that book.

Images from The Once and Future King

I did this drawing at college. It shows the Wart meeting Merlin, a scene from "The Sword in the Stone" by TH White.

I'm sure I must have posted it before but it was a very key image in my college career and it directly lead to me doing this book cover for the book for Collins one of my first publishers.

TH White's "Once and Future King" series is still my all time favourite work for young adults.

The little vignette of the Wart and Merlin reading appeared on the back cover of the book. I can't find the book for sale anywhere on line. It must be a bit of a rarity.

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Two More Covers from the Chronicles of Prydain

I have found another couple of those covers I did for  the Chronicles of Prydain  by Lloyd Alexander.

I'd love to find the images I did for the boxed set.