Inspirational...

click to enlarge

Another little experiment in using my original sketches and turning that into a final piece. In this instant I doodled the little girl whilst waiting for a file to save in Photoshop. I drew her quickly and with biro which is something I very rarely use.

I then scanned her in and coloured her digitally in Photoshop. I'm actually quite pleased with the result as it still has the energy of the original sketch which can so often be lost when creating final, 'tidy' pieces.

What inspired me to create this picture is this piece of music from the film The Chorus. I'm quite often inspired by music. I can remember going to see a classical music concert when I was little. I didn't really want to go, but when I was there I just sat listening and enjoying the stories and images the music created in my head. They are often random little pictures, with bits I don't quite understand - why is the little girl above carrying a steaming teapot in her basket for example? But that's the fun of it - getting the drawing down and wondering about the story later!

I do love a good mystery!

Illustration Friday: Expired

Click to enlarge.

A Dead Mouse in the Classroom

Inspired by a true story!

When I was in Year 3 in Primary school, we returned from a holiday to discover a revolting smell wafting about the classroom. We searched everywhere for the source but couldn't find it anywhere. Drawers were emptied, bins were sprayed with air freshener and stinky discarded clothes were sent packing to the Lost Property Dept. It was only when one of the naughty boys had a good root round behind a set of drawers that we found a dead mouse, stinking to high heaven.

As you can imagine, this resulted in absolute mayhem and disorder as we watched it, fascinated, until the caretaker arrived and bravely removed the poor creature to loud whoops and screams from the gathered crowds. As a class we dined out on that story for weeks, eagerly recounting the story breathlessly (and with added, revolting details) to anybody who came to visit. Any supply teachers were in for a TREAT!

Alas, my teacher looked nothing at all like the one pictured above, but as this was the early 90's I'm sure she was equally stylish in , I imagine, some sort of long, floaty silk bouse and startling lipstick. The 80's lived long at my school.

She did, I remember, have the most enormous hair which was both fascinating and amazing.