rain

I've been having a bash at digitally illustrating poetry of late.....this weeks IF topic had my addled brain singing creedences Who'll Stop The Rain..an anti Vietnam war protest song.....so seeing as a song is a poem set to music....




Long as I remember the rain been comin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun.
And I wonder still I wonder who'll stop the rain.

I went down Virginia seekin' shelter from the storm
Caught up in the fable I watched the tower grow
Five year plans and new deals wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder still I wonder who'll stop the rain.

Heard the singers playin', how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together tryin' to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin', fallin' on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain

-creedence clearwater revival

dance

Everytime i spy the illustration friday topic i get an image that wont go away... this time...The pied piper leading the children off, dancing, after the towns mayor went back on his word.....unlike Browning in his poem of the tale{im still hunting Grim brothers and original German versions}..who described the piper as a young lad,not a hair on his face..., i see the piper as a wiley fellow... not necessarily all that young...a romany gypsy to the stodgy englishman..one who has travelled and knows all too well the ways of wicked establishments such as mayorships and small town councils...a fellow mistakenly taken for a fool because of his strange dress and mysterious talents

started out as a sketch intended to progress to a full colour wood block print style peice... but time time time...and my revised portfolio work forced it into the quickly-sketch-it-in-and-get-on-with-the-plan realm...and around about the 7th dancing child i realized a-4 was far too small... the border was photoshop rubber stamped...for rushings sake

jungle

This is a ten minute reminder sketch. I have been training myself to get into the habit of doing these, rather than leave an idea alone until I have the time for it..and promplty forget about it. I have a sketchbook slowly filling with these ten miute reminders, which is just wonderful to go back to when I have the time and no new ideas are flowing.
This one.."junglebook" I originally saw in my minds crooked eye as a realistic pencil sketch...a sorry play on words...but I couldnt get the image out o my head...and while it is just a quick roughy I mist say it turned out better than the serious detailed peices for poetry that I've been working on all week!.. so thanks to this weeks Illustration Friday I think I shall develop another habit of when its all turning to crap.. leave it alone and doodle for ten minutes!

portrait

I don't have the time this week to do an illustration for IF, so here's one I prepared earlier!... about 3 years earlier...its a portrait of a dear friend Lobo the one armed trumpet playing clown......his alter ego is a one armed artist ninja collector of many things...and the boyfriend of the gal with the greenest thumbs in the world