The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

Here are a few images from my latest book/zine, The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry. it's been a poem that's interested me for a long time, so I enjoyed doing it. :) Thanks to everyone who bought a copy at the zine fair, particularly Fehmida, who gave it a great review on her blog. <3

 I'd encourage you all to read the story, or - better still - listen to it sung as a ballad (it really is beautiful). Or, y'know, you could buy a copy of my book. ;) But maybe that's a topic for another blog entry, eh?

Poem: "The Eagle"

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Poem: "Saint Francis and the Birds"

I'm not especially religious, but I find religions and their stories very interesting. I also enjoy poems, and I liked this one by Seamus Heaney so I decided, as a quick exercise, to illustrate it.



Saint Francis and the Birds

When Francis preached love to the birds
They listened, fluttered, throttled up
Into the blue like a flock of words

Released for fun from his holy lips.
Then wheeled back, whirred about his head,
Pirouetted on brothers’ capes,

Danced on the wing, for sheer joy played
And sang, like images took flight.
Which was the best poem Francis made,

His argument true, his tone light.

—- Seamus Heaney

Fun with charcoal

Some more development sketches for "Silkie". :)

Little gouaches

Sorry these are a little pixelated. I thought it was my scanner being awful, but apparently it is my laptop misbehaving; a different scanner produces the same awkward results. Nonetheless, here are some little gouache pictures from one of last summer's sketchbooks.

The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry

"I am a man upon the land

And I'm a silkie on the sea

And when I'm far and far frae land

My home is in Sule Skerry."

I may have finished my degree, but [in between clearing out my student house and planning holidays...] I'm still working on my next project. I'm planning a black and white book, based on a folk ballad from the Orkney Isles called The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry. As with many folk stories and songs, versions seem to vary slightly (some are longer or shorter than others, for example), but it's very beautiful.







Here are some rough drawings I did to start things off. :)

Whirlygig Does Whitstable

Whirlygig, the fledgling collective I'm one-fifth of, recently had its first exhibition at the Show Off gallery in Whitstable. Borne of a chance encounter at very short notice, it was a lot of fun, if extremely stressful! :)




(still setting up in this picture, hence the spirit level and Doritos... :))



We weren't expecting to make money, as we were really doing it for the experience; but we ended up not only breaking even but in profit, which is wonderful!

Not only that, we got some really helpful and encouraging feedback (our first collaborative project, Birds in Hats, proved a hit also). Onwards and upwards!