La Cours Des Miracles at the UAC

Tonight sees the opening of a show by the Illustrators Ireland group at the United Arts Club in Dublin.
It starts at 8pm, so pop in if you are in the area.
I helped Brian Gallagher and Eoin Coveney (above) with the hanging.
My piece in the show is this preparatory drawing for an illustration to A Christmas Carol.
A French friend said this one should be called La Cours Des Miracles.

The Art of Pete Suart

Speaking of old friends in the music business, Pete Suart who was with me at Brighton Art College has some gigs coming up.
You can see the details on his poster.
Pete is a man of many talents, and although he concentrates mostly on his music and performance these days, he still continues to illustrate books.

Check out his version of Gulliver's Travels for the Folio Society.
This means that Pete, Chris Riddell and I, who were all best pals at Art College, have each illustrated Gulliver's Travels in some form or other. 

‘An Indigo Sky’ launch concert

I was privileged to be at the launch of the West Ocean String Quartet’s new album, An Indigo Sky, in St Werbugh’s Church in Dublin last Friday.
Many years ago I was at school with their cellist Neil Martin, who is also the quartet’s primary composer and arranger.  Neil is a terrific raconteur and is great craic, as we say here in Ireland, so it is always a bit of a surprise for me when I am confronted with the extraordinary beauty of the music that he and the West Oceans create.
In her  Irish Times review of the  concert Siobhan Long writes how Neil has "infused the new material with a rich melancholia ....albeit with a glint in the eye". 
Take a moment an have a listen.

Mysterious Traveler

I got my first copies of Mysterious Traveler from Walker Books today.
It's written by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham with illustrations by me.
It was a great pleasure for me to work on this book as Mal and Elspeth's story is so involving, and, with it's desert setting,  it took me a long way away from the usual kind of subjects I tend to paint.
As usual Walker's design team have turned the project into a really beautiful production.
The book publishes in April.

Scathach

I came across this formidable lady when I was looking for the Children of Lir rough.
She was one of a series of character designs I did for a short film about Fionn mac Cumhaill that was made by the Moving Still studio.
I like this one because it has a looser watercolour technique than I would usually use in my book illustration work. 
I'm calling her Scathach.

Got the T-Shirt!

I was delighted when I received a nice parcel from Carol Lasky in Boston to-day.
It contained all sorts of posters, programmes and even a t-shirt that Cahoots had designed using my painting.
That's me at work on it in my old studio.

The Country of the Young

I was recently asked to hunt out this rough I did several years ago for a stamp design based on "The Children of Lir".
The rough, complete with sticky tape and photocopied serrated edges, will be used on the cover of a book of academic essays edited by John Countryman and Kelly Matthews.
It is called "The Country of the Young: Interpretations of Youth and Childhood in Irish Culture" and publication by Four Courts Press is in April or May.
Below is the finished artwork that I did for the An Post stamp design.