Book Illustration Fan Sites #2

Prancing knights, geometric landscapes - I absolutely love this blog.

Thank heavens for people who are passionate enough about book arts and illustration to scan pages and pages of historic book plates and put them up on the web. If I ever need inspiration, BibliOdyssey is one of my first ports of call.

A fiendlishly interesting selection of work, nicely presented. Bravo, Peacay!

Book Illustration Fan Sites

Two bloggers who know what they like.

Now here’s a gorgeous blog with a great title. (I’m going to make you click on the link to learn what it is. I think it’s worth the trip.) Its author, Will, is a connoiseur of beautiful historical illustrated books whose images he takes the time to post for our enjoyment. His blog is thoughtful and well researched, especially on his series of Lost Illustrators from the past. (The concept of Lost Illustrators intrigues me. There are a number of ways you could imagine them…a desert island full of people busy scratching images into books made of bark? Illustrators seized by the urge to run away to said desert island? I could go on.) Will has chosen some very worthy illustrators to spotlight. All of them have inspired me, so thanks, Will.

I also recommend the extraordinary early 20th century book covers from Japan. There are delightful and strange images here, clearly influenced by Western art trends like Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

The other blog I am enjoying is Julie’s Children’s Illustration blog. Nice images of illustrators’ work she admires and a whole lot of links to other interesting blogs and websites.

It’s Friday. Go on, put your feet up and look at the cool artwork on both these blogs. Enjoy.

What I’m Working On Now #3

Rosmore by Teresa Flavin

Now you may be wondering: who is the Rosmore in the image? She was inspired by a powerful character in the historical fantasy novel I, Coriander by Sally Gardner, published by Orion Books. Sally is also an accomplished illustrator and designer, which comes across in her highly visual writing style.

I enjoyed the book very much and felt inspired to illustrate Rosmore in her feathered stole and head-dress, sitting in a chair with huge carved wings. She regards herself in a mirror. You might guess from the image that she’s not a particularly sympathetic character, but I don’t want to give Rosmore’s role in the story away - so why not read I, Coriander yourself? It’s well worth it.

I have Sally’s subsequent books about the French Revolution, The Red Necklace and The Silver Blade, in the queue of books I will be reading next!

Tales from Outer Suburbia

Another stunning book from artist and writer Shaun Tan

Maybe this week’s theme should be “My Heroes”, what with Nick Bantock yesterday and Shaun Tan today. Both gentlemen are certainly alchemists, creating lush worlds from the seemingly ordinary.

Today I have been swooning over Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun’s new collection of short illustrated tales. It took me quite a while to get past the end pages, wall to wall doodle-fests of tiny creatures, aliens, robots and caricatures. And then come the full colour illustrations, many bathed in dusty late afternoon light. There is a sense of space to these paintings that reminds me of the American West: big sky and endless tracts of boxy houses. But then Shaun Tan is from Western Australia, so perhaps that big sky feeling is something shared with America.

But just when you are thinking, yeah, wide open spaces - bang! - the next story is about a tiny foreign exchange student who lives in a teacup. Here Shaun’s virtuosic skill in drawing close-ups of household objects is breath-taking. It reminds me of one of his other books, The Arrival, a wordless picture book that was so moving it made me choke up in Borders when I first looked at it.

And then another surprise…the next story’s illustrations are homages to Japanese wooodcuts, with delicate colour and texture. Is there anything this man can’t do? Because as you go along, you find dense hatched ink drawings, beautifully tinted with subtle colour. And then further on, ye gods - is that scratchboard (scraperboard to some folks)? Toward the end of the book, there is a full page spread that looks like pastel or oil pastel, a
riot of pink textures.

Ahh, what a pleasure to read and look at. And so are Shaun’s other books: The Red Tree, The Viewer and The Lost Thing.

If this isn’t enough inspiration for a Friday afternoon, have a look at Shaun’s website and prepare to swoon.

The Robert Burns Banner Project

For those of you reading this from outside Scotland, the poet Robert Burns may be vaguely familiar from high school or college literature classes, as he was to me. Only when I moved to Scotland did I find out what a superstar Burns is in this country and to people all over the world who celebrate his January 25 birthday every year with a Burns Supper.

There are lots of activities happening in Scotland this year to celebrate Burns’s 250th birthday and one that has caught my attention is artist Stephen Raw’s Burns Banner Project.

Stephen is collecting handmade letters to make up selected verses of the Burns poem and song “A Man’s a Man for A’ That”. You can read the poem or hear it read and sung here, or take a look at this annotated version that has links to a glossary. Burns wrote in the Scots language, which has fantastic words to get your tongue around. You’ll be able to guess the meaning of some words: the abbreviated “‘a that” stands for “all that” and “hing” is “hang”. “Gie” is “give”…a word you hear every day in Glasgow! You’ll also hear “hamely”, which means “homely”.

The Burns Banner Project is coming to WASPS Studios in Glasgow on May 12, so if you are in the area, come by between 11am and 7pm and make your own letter. It might just be chosen.

But you don’t have to attend a workshop to submit a letter - check out other ways you can do so here. And check out the blog to see what others around the world have already made.

West End Indoor Art Market

I’ll be participating in the West End Indoor Art Market on this coming Saturday, May 2, in the Large Hall upstairs at Hillhead Library in Byres Road, Glasgow. There will be thirty-five artists and artists selling their wares, so there will be a wide variety of work on sale. We’ll be there from 12pm to 4:30pm for one afternoon only, but the event will be held once a month after that.

What I’m Working On Now #2

More Magic Mirrors

Mariposa

Philomela and the Nightingale

What I’m Working On Now

Magic Mirrors

Morwenna sketch

One of the themes I love working with is “enchantment”, both in my writing and artwork. One tends to feed the other. While I am painting something, bits of story ideas float around somewhere in my unconscious mind. Sometimes I just have to stop painting and write for a while to get it down on paper.

While the next novel’s plot ferments in my head, I am painting a series of acrylic paintings on paper and wood that have a fantasy feel to them. Six of these pieces are wooden frames with mirrors in them. I like to think of them as Magic Mirrors.

The first one I am posting here is called Morwenna. She’s a dark character I sketched while I was leading a workshop recently for Young, Gifted and Talented teenagers in Keswick, Cumbria. I thought she’d look interesting on a mirror.

I don’t know why she came to mind. Maybe it was because the students and I were chatting about how wildly popular vampire novels for teens are at the moment (Morwenna seems a bit vampiric, but I don’t think she is really).

Morwenna Mirror

Here’s the finished painting. Yes, in real life the mirror is square, but I had to photograph it obliquely so I wouldn’t catch my own face in the reflection!

Detail

I am working on the second and third mirrors now and I’ll post them when they’re ready.

Welcome to my Blog!

Dragonfly by Teresa Flavin

At last I am stepping out into the Blogosphere and embracing true interactivity. I ask myself what I would like to talk about and show. The top priorities will be to share my experiences of being an artist and a new writer. I would like to tell you about inspirations I have found in the physical world and in the virtual world. I hope also that this site can direct aspiring artists and writers to resources that will help them move their practice forward. Oh, and of course, I’ll share fun stuff, too.