Northern Exposure
Matryoshka, 2010Illustrators Australia’s Annual A3 Print Show is starting today. It opens in Melbourne as part of Northern Exposure 2011, the High Street Northcote Visual Arts Festival, held on 18-20 June. After that it travels to NSW for July/August. All open-editioned archival Giclee prints will be produced and presented unframed for the one price of $125 each.
These are my two entries. I really wanted to produce something brand-spanking new, but I just ran out of time before I headed off to Spain. I was planning to do an updated illustration of one of my Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant contestants, but they will have to wait for my return.
It’s a pity I am unable to attend the exhibition, but if you’re in Melbourne, go check it out.
Dyevushki, 2010
Moroccan Leather (With a Little M)
A clever inlay for Einstein’s ‘The Meaning of Relativity’Well, since I am actually in Morocco right now, it seems appropriate to talk about moroccan books. That little ‘m’ there is deliberate. But more on that in a moment.
Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’ Leather has for centuries been the traditional material used in bookbinding: it’s easy to work with – stretching and cutting easily; it absorbs dye; and is beautiful in its own right, adding to the aesthetic appeal of the book as an object.
Although there are inherent problems to using this material – susceptibility to extreme temperatures, moisture, humidity, light – leather is today still often the binder’s choice for fine jobs. (Late last year I saw a fascinating exhibition of modern leather-bound books at the Queensland State Library.)
Rosas: Roses Real and Imaginary. With Poems. By Susan AllixThe most traditional leather bindings are sheep, roan (a thinner, cheaper sheep leather), calf and goat. It is goat leather specifically that is called ‘morocco’.
Inlaid leather is a style of binding decoration that often resembles a mosaic or quilt. Pieces of pre-cut leather are inserted into an existing leather binding to create a pattern or design; nature scenes; floral decorations; and even portraits of people. Some of these bookbindings are so intricate it is a fine testament to the skill, steady hand and patience of their craftsmen.
Perhaps I will look for some in the souqs of Fez today, although from the fact that the rare books pictured here cost thousands of dollars, I think I could only afford a tattered vintage volume!
‘Innocence in Extremis’, by John Hawkes
‘Wrenching Times. Poems from Drum-Taps’ by Walt Whitman
Sunday Afternoon
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, (1884–86)I have a childhood memory of my sister Star wearing a t-shirt with a print of Georges Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–86). I remember being fascinated by it.
This was Seurat’s second monumental composition on the theme of Parisians at leisure. It was painted at Asnières, on the island in the middle of the Seine known as la Grande Jatte. Seurat made over 30 preparatory drawings and oil sketches in which he studied the details as well as the overall composition.
When it was first exhibited, much of Seurat’s public were puzzled by the stiff, controlled figures seemed so at odds with the setting and the notion of leisure. Did they stop to consider that he was making a commentary on contemporary society?
Quite apart from social archetypes, Seurat has succeeding in capturing the shimmering brightness of a summer day. His pointillist style – applying paint in dots – seems to be ideal for this object. One can almost see the heatwaves; feel the stifling warmth; the prickly grass beneath one’s skin.
The Seine at La Grande Jatte, 1888
Click on image to view the detailThe Seine at La Grande Jatte (1888), above, is another painting that completely sums up summer for me. Kenneth Clark, author of Looking at Pictures describes it rather lyrically. He was referring to Bathers at Asnières, (scroll down to see) but it applies equally to this hazy river scene:
There are moments on hot summer days when we are prepared for a miracle. The stillness and the gently vibrating haze give to our perceptions a kind of finality, and we wait listening for some cosmic hum to enchant, like Papageno's bells, the uncouth shapes and colours which surround us, so that they all dance to the same tune and finally come to rest in a harmonious order. In life the miracle doesn't happen, and it is rare enough in art, because great painters have usually created imaginary worlds, outside the range of our ordinary visual experience…
Bathers at Asnières, 1883-84
Seascape at Port-en-Bessin, Normandy, 1888
To see some of Seurat’s charcoal drawings, click here.
Arthur Rackham’s Frightening World
“O waken, waken, Burd Isbel”, from Young Beichan, Child balladIf you liked reading when you were a child, and in particular, fairy-tales, then chances are you would be familiar with Arthur Rackham’s illustrations. They certainly transported me into a world of imagination.
Rackham (1867–1939) was born in London as one of 12 children. At 18 he was earning a crust as a clerk at the Westminster Fire Office, but was also studying part-time at the Lambeth School of Art. He quit his day-job in 1892, and started working as a reporter and illustrator. His first serious commission came in 1894, and he illustrated Anthony Hope’s The Dolly Dialogues. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Alice in WonderlandApparently he invented his own unique drawing technique – it doesn’t seem so unusual to me, as it is exactly how I work when I make ink drawings. Rackham sketched an outline of his drawing, and then lightly blocked in shapes and details with multiple washes of colour. Ink was applied last; the pencil was erased when the work was dry.
He also used intricately cut silhouettes in his illustration. I once owned a couple of his books, and I remember as a child staring in fascination at the silhouettes. (Sadly, the books have mysteriously disappeared from my shelves, along with my entire collection of children’s books. I suspect nefarious doings by one or other of my nieces or nephews.)
Note the use of an engraving in the background to give depth to the illustration
…it is often one’s nightmares that are most memorable
Rackham still influences artists today. Interestingly, the director of Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo Del Toro cites Rackham as an influence on the design of the Faun in the film. He liked the grittiness of his drawings. Certainly many of Rackham’s illustrations are quite dark, with a definite hint of menace under the surface. The giants seizing Freia (right) are certainly a nightmarish example, as are so many traditional fairy-tales.
I find his dirty, subdued colour palette and frightening world with its sinister undercurrent very inspiring – especially in this day and age when so much story-telling is painted in bright, candy colours – and computer-rendered to boot. After all, it is often one’s nightmares that are most memorable.
The Rhinemaidens of Die Gotterdammerung
A light note to finish: a Kensington Gardens fairyThe End.
Strange Landscapes
Pink forest; I thought at first this was a forest of toon trees, but sadly it is FAKE (shock, horror). Note: Unfortunately I have lost the original URL of this image.Last spring I discovered the Chinese toon tree. All year round it is a plain green tree – that is, until spring, when all its foliage turns a magical candy pink. Researching this beautiful tree online, I came across a few more other-worldly landscapes – all dressed in pink.
Pink Forest, by Stan Zimny. (This one is real.)
Rainbow Sunset, by Steve Jurvetson
The piece de résistance: the pink Yucatan Beach, by Nicolas Malleville and Francesca Bonato