stripes

Al ittle light relief. Good old Al

scary

the next installment in 'Sleeping Beauty'......

fuel

Eco-rough to do with fuel and how mice will rule the world with their cunning new cheese fuel

sleeping Beauty-The story continues...scattered, the artwork

Here is the finished picture. The text changes, the layout changes, for the better one always hopes! I have included the text in the picture, which changes the way that you look at it. Don't want to be repeating yourself. I say 'you don't want to be ...'
Anyway, the story...

The ferocious creature split into bits and scattered!
Beauty smiled and put the contraption away.
In the distance they could see the land of the ever sweeping broom.

The story is compiled from random words given to me every week by strangers. Then it is up to me to weave the strange, complex and compelling tale of....

SLEEPING BEAUTY - The true story..

so far....

Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought. The sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied, nervously
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children, 
Beauty sighed.
'it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it! Every day it's the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, wazzoom! -more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........
They thought and thought and then finally the girl said 'We have two choices. We can either go across the pond to the forest of never-falling-leaves, or I have heard about a broom that does all it's own sweeping. Lets get in the boat and we can decide.'
Beauty settled down in the boat and thought, while they sailed through the day and the midsummer night and sang to the stars and the moon.
'Ahhh! Sweet music!' swooned the moon, who had been feeling a little off-colour. Recently there had been far too many cows jumping, and she had a headache. The music soon made her feel better though and she cast her light on them. She wondered how she might help them....
STAY.
'Why not stay and have some of my lovely cheese? I have plenty..' asked the moon, 'it will give you strength for your journey' The children were a little hungry and Beauty hadn't eaten for a long time.
'But how would we get your cheese?' asked the boy.The moon smiled, 'just leave that to me,' she said and lo and behold a dish and a spoon came laden with lovely pale green moon cheese. Beauty had two plates full on his own, and when they had eaten their fill they thanked the moon and continued on their journey.
GESTURE
They had decided to go get the broom that does its own sweeping, and the moon laid down moonbeams to light their way.
'This way!' gestured the boy, and they flew into the air!
PERENNIAL
They passed through the cloud gardens, and sang to the plants.

OBSESSION
All Beauty could think of though, was the ever sweeping broom..

IMPERFECT, SWELL, MYSTERIOUS, INFLUENCE, DISGUISE
....but Beauty's thoughts began to run away with themselves. The ever sweeping broom took a rest, and then finally a snooze. Somewhat unusually for an ever sweeping broom, it snored all sorts of letters not just zzzzz's. Nobody knew that, because a never sweeping broom had never been to sleep before. The letters formed themselves into words, -words that Beauty knew not: imperfect, swell, influence, disguise. Beauty was pretty sure that influence must be like sneezing, but she didn't know the others.

It was most mysterious. She hoped that the broom would wake and sweep them all away.
MESMERIZING, FEROCIOUS, BOUNDARIES.

But as Beauty dreamt, she was awoken with a jolt. A fearsome creature barred their path, with eight heads and an enormous amount of ferocious teeth. It stood on the border between them and the ever sweeping brooms.
HIBERNATE
'You shall not pass!' the creature said fiercely. 'Well, not unless you know the magic password.'
The children hadn't a clue.
'Erm, abracadabra?' tried the girl
The FEROCIOUS creature made a face.
'Pah!' it said
'Erm, HIBERNATE!' tried the boy. The creature just rolled its eyes,
and showed even more teeth.
'Ha! Too late for that!' it hissed.
Beauty sighed and pulled out a CONTRAPTION from an unseen pocket and pulled the trigger.
There was a hiss and an explosion of light...
The ferocious creature split into bits and scattered!
Beauty smiled and put the contraption away.
In the distance they could see the land of the ever sweeping broom.

sleeping Beauty-The story continues...scattered

This shows the process of 'Beauty' works, so roughs for Friday, artwork later!
See the previous posts to catch up on the story so far, as.....

The story continues.....


'Eeeek!' said the ferocious creature, split into bits and scattered!
Beauty smiled, put the contraption away, they lifted the barrier and went on their way.
Down below, in the distance they thought they could see the land of the ever sweeping broom.

Sleeping Beauty-The story continues...contraption

But as Beauty dreamt, she was awoken with a jolt. A fearsome creature barred their path, with eight heads and an enormous amount of ferocious teeth. It stood on the border between them and the ever sweeping brooms.

'You shall not pass!' the creature said fiercely. 'Well, not unless you know the magic password.'
The children hadn't a clue.
'Erm, abracadabra?' tried the girl
The FEROCIOUS creature made a face.
'Pah!' it said
'Erm, HIBERNATE!' tried the boy. The creature just rolled its eyes,
and showed even more teeth.
'Ha! Too late for that!' it hissed.
Beauty sighed and pulled out a CONTRAPTION from an unseen pocket and pulled the trigger.
There was a hiss and an explosion of light...

Sleeping Beauty-The story continues...ferocious!

To recap; the story so far....

Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought. The sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied, nervously
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children, 
Beauty sighed.
'it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it! Every day it's the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, wazzoom! -more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........
They thought and thought and then finally the girl said 'We have two choices. We can either go across the pond to the forest of never-falling-leaves, or I have heard about a broom that does all it's own sweeping. Lets get in the boat and we can decide.'
Beauty settled down in the boat and thought, while they sailed through the day and the midsummer night and sang to the stars and the moon.
'Ahhh! Sweet music!' swooned the moon, who had been feeling a little off-colour. Recently there had been far too many cows jumping, and she had a headache. The music soon made her feel better though and she cast her light on them. She wondered how she might help them....
'Why not stay and have some of my lovely cheese? I have plenty..' asked the moon, 'it will give you strength for your journey' The children were a little hungry and Beauty hadn't eaten for a long time.
'But how would we get your cheese?' asked the boy.The moon smiled, 'just leave that to me,' she said and lo and behold a dish and a spoon came laden with lovely pale green moon cheese. Beauty had two plates full on his own, and when they had eaten their fill they thanked the moon and continued on their journey.
They had decided to go get the broom that does its own sweeping, and the moon laid down moonbeams to light their way.
'This way!' gestured the boy, and they flew into the air!
They passed through the cloud gardens, and sang to the plants.
All Beauty could think of though, was the ever sweeping broom..
....but Beauty's thoughts began to run away with themselves. The ever sweeping broom took a rest, and then finally a snooze. Somewhat unusually for an ever sweeping broom, it snored all sorts of letters not just zzzzz's. Nobody knew that, because a never sweeping broom had never been to sleep before. The letters formed themselves into words, -words that Beauty knew not: imperfect, swell, influence, disguise. Beauty was pretty sure that influence must be like sneezing, but she didn't know the others.

It was most mysterious. She hoped that the broom would wake and sweep them all away.



But as Beauty dreamt, she was awoken with a jolt. A fearsome creature barred their path, with eight heads and an enormous amount of ferocious teeth. It stood on the border between them and the ever sweeping brooms.

Mysterious, Sleeping Beauty, the saga!

After a bit of a break, due to small children insisting on having a long summer holiday, it's back! I didn't want to miss anything so all the last words are in there. Cunning. Mysterious even!
So:

Sleeping Beauty: Mysterious.

....but Beauty's thoughts began to run away with themselves. The ever sweeping broom took a rest, and then finally a snooze. Somewhat unusually for an ever sweeping broom, it snored all sorts of letters not just zzzzz's. Nobody knew that, because a never sweeping broom had never been to sleep before. The letters formed themselves into words, -words that Beauty knew not: imperfect, swell, influence, disguise. Beauty was pretty sure that influence must be like sneezing, but she didn't know the others.

It was most mysterious. She hoped that the broom would wake and sweep them all away.

sleeping Beauty-The story continues...Obsession

All Beauty could think of though was the ever sweeping broom..

Sleeping Beauty-The story continues...PERENNIAL

They passed through the cloud gardens, and sang to the plants.

The continuing story of Sleeping Beauty, the alternative version..

Gesture: Sleeping Beauty, the story continues..

GESTURE
They had decided to go get the broom that does its own sweeping, and the moon laid down moonbeams to light their way.
'This way!' gestured the boy, and they flew into the air!

Stay- Sleeping Beauty

STAY.

....'Why not stay and have some of my lovely cheese? I have plenty..' asked the moon, 'it will give you strength for your journey'
The children were a little hungry and Beauty hadn't eaten for a long time.
'But how would we get your cheese?' asked the boy.
The moon smiled, 'just leave that to me,' she said and lo and behold a dish and a spoon came laden with lovely pale green moon cheese.
Beauty had two plates full on his own, and when they had eaten their fill they thanked the moon and continued on their journey.

See previous blogs for the story up till now...!

Remedy -The story of Sleeping Beauty

Continuing the story of 'Sleeping Beauty'

The Story so far...
Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought. The sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied, nervously
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children, 
Beauty sighed.
'it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it! Every day it's the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, wazzoom! -more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........
They thought and thought and then finally the girl said 'We have two choices. We can either go across the pond to the forest of never-falling-leaves, or I have heard about a broom that does all it's own sweeping. Lets get in the boat and we can decide.'
Beauty settled down in the boat and thought, while they sailed through the day and the midsummer night and sang to the stars and the moon.

'Ahhh! Sweet music!' swooned the moon, who had been feeling a little off-colour. Recently there had been far too many cows jumping, and she had a headache. The music soon made her feel better though and she cast her light on them. She wondered how she might help them....

Sleeping beauty....midsummer night

...so they sailed through the day and the midsummer night and sang to the stars and the moon....

Sleeping Beauty-The story so far...Launch

The Story so far...

Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought. The sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied, nervously
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children,
Beauty sighed.
'it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it! Every day it's the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, wazzoom! -more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........
They thought and thought and then finally the girl said "We have two choices. We can either go across the pond to the forest of never-falling-leaves, or I have heard about a broom that does all it's own sweeping. Lets get in the boat and we can decide "
Beauty settled down in the boat happily to think....
Here is the final piece for the 'launch' - it's interesting to see how far it has come from the original ideas, well, interesting for me anyway!

Story-launch

This weeks adventure 'IF' is just at the rough stage so far, so here is a glimpse into what happens in the illustrator's mind before the final artwork is done. The next word for 'IF' is tomorrow, so this may be reworked! I've got to give myself a fighting chance of this all making sense after all!

The Story so far...

Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought. The sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied, nervously
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children,
Beauty sighed.
'it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it! Every day it's the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, wazzoom! -more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........
They thought and thought and then finally the girl said "We have two choices. We can either go across the pond to the forest of never-falling-leaves, or I have heard about a broom that does all it's own sweeping. Lets get in the boat and we can decide "
Beauty settled down in the boat happily to think....

The summer fair

If you happen to be around Earlsfield at the weekend, it's the summer fair. Excitement for all the family...!

story- swept

the story so far:
Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought.......

...they stood transfixed, staring at the wonderous creature until the sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children were a little surprised....!..

they had never been asked for a ticket in the middle of a forest before.
'Er, not on us,' they replied.
Sleeping beauty stood up.
'Oh,' he said, 'oh well, never mind then. You can give it to me later..'
He looked a little sad though.
'What's the matter?' asked the children, 'we could see if we can find a ticket?'
'No , no, it's not that, it's just I swept the forest last night and now look at it!' said Beauty, 'every day the same, sweep the forest and then, when i'm asleep, more leaves. My broom is nearly worn out.'
The children looked at the broom. It was very tired looking. They wondered how they could help him.........

story: shadows

the story so far:
Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought.......

...they stood transfixed, staring at the wonderous creature until the sun started to show its golden rays and shadows crept across the forest floor. 'Should we take it home?' they wondered, 'it might be hungry...'
As the sun warmed the creature's back, it yawned and opened its eye.
"What are you doing in my forest?' it demanded, 'have you got a ticket?'
The children were a little surprised....!

Random word story

I liked the drawing I did last week, I thought it had 'something' - then I had a bit of a brainstorm. Maybe it would be interesting to carry on with the character and attempt to use words given from 'Illustration Friday' to weave a story from it. So, I will have no idea where it will go and it all may just crumble if some bizarre subject crops up, I just wait to see the next word and try to work it all in somehow ...! I may well need help!

Asleep

Whilst wandering through the forest one dark night the children discovered a sort of sleeping beauty. Well, not very beautiful, but definitely sleeping. Or so they thought.......

Brasil

A few sketches from a recent trip to Brazil. Funny how you don't quite seem to get the same amount done when the kids are there! Bless. These are done in Belo Horizonte and Jacaraipe.

More tragedy.....A journey in small pictures

Another tragedy in small pictures...bottled

duet

here's my pic for IF

'UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA.'

UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA.'
Words just designed to make you want to throw down your un-bought shopping and punch somebody. Oh, it's a supermarket and somebody is unexpectedly trying to buy something. How could they have expected that? It would be unreasonable to apportion blame for that. I wonder when it might be expected? As the phrase blares out over and over from each and every self service area, I start to wonder how many times it will take for them to become aware of it and expect something...?
Maybe one day, just maybe, they might, just tiny teeny weeny might expect something random like that to happen. But it may be a while.
I love it that they follow up with 'PLEASE WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE'
Ah! Now I understand! That's why there are no staff at the checkout! They're all busy being surprised by hundreds of unexpected items and shoppers in the bagging area!
'Bagging area.'
Where did that come from? 'bagging area'
It should be called 'pointless hell designed by supermarkets to make your life just a little bit more crap area.' Maybe it's a bit long but there are products called things like I really can't quite believe that it's not imitation hydrogenized fat, so why not?
It's the area you can never checkout from.
It's the area where people mill about mindlessly putting things in bags, then removing them before shuffling guiltily to the next bagging area and doing it all again. Can it become addictive? I think we should be told.
After repeating the process several times, go and wait in the long queue of ex-bagging area-ites.

Bright orange uniforms are used for the subliminal fear. The idea of having being transported to Guantanamo Bay, is quickly suppressed, but the sneaking suspicion remains, thus keeping complaints to a minimum. I suppose I could just let it go.....?

cultivate

'cultivate' for IF.

stir

Here's a bit of an experiment. I seem to doing lots of experimenting! This guy has been known to create a bit of a stir, i'm sure..

warning sign

"Information given in a triangle bordered with red is a warning sign." This is directly quoted from the highway code. ...as far as I remember. So clearly this illustration has extra gravitasSo much gravitas that it may sink in fact. Or is that gravity? I get them mixed up. Actually, thinking about, just a little, gravity can't sink an illustration. I hope someone edits this soon so it all makes sense......

swarm

What on earth would possess anyone to have a beard of bees? Words fail me.....!
Actually is that some sort of 'terrist' there? There is one in hiding I believe.... has anyone checked these bee-bearded wonders. There has to be a reason for it somewhere.

progress

As promised, here is an update on the digital painting side of things, I'm quite pleased so far at high resolution, but I think you need a while for the critical eye to set in! It might look a complete mess in the cold light of morning! I may print one to see what that looks like..

layers

A cartoon, which has layers and layers of turgid wordage...!

sweater

not sure whether this is a sweater or a jumper really...XXXL perhaps?

book cover ideas

Just discovered theses little jewels tucked away and thought I should share them. They are little pictures. Tiny tiny jewels, loosely based on books. Maybe I will design a few and repost...

digital portrait

Here is the first postable version of a portrait of my daughter. It's still not finished, but getting there. Still looks a bit too worried and serious I think. I'm sure it will need lots of tweeks and repainting. I'd forgotten that doing portraits is highly demanding, and lots of time is required! It has been done digitally, but that doesn't make it any easier, it just makes the choices different!

archive

Here's a picture I did nearly 8 years ago whilst trying to get to grips with a computer. It has a certain naive charm, I've not done anything like it since though!