Nymph In Milk Bath. In The Snow (Normal Lindsay Made Me Do It)

I was looking to try out some more Water Colour brushes, and as i've never really tried to draw a female face i set out to do so. It seems i was unable to pull very far away from the cartoony faces i normally do, but managed to get closer to a 'pretty' face - though i'm not completely happy with it.

The ears turned up along with the hair as i began to be reminded Normal Lindsay's nymphs and playful nudes. If you don't know what I'm on about, look it up.

I needed to put her in some sort of context, and as i wasn't really in the mood for f*ck-arseing around concentrating on clothes, i just worked down the body til she appeared to be partially submerged. And i wanted to draw some boobs. Lets call it an exercise in painting buoyancy....

The Moon

Quick sketch that started out as nothing and didn't move too far from that.

Just wanted a very small light source on a dark night.

Still Life With Frock

I once hear a man lovingly refer to his annoying wife as pear shaped woman. It was at my wedding i think, and no, it wasn't me....

Alternate titles for this might have been:

"A pear, even in satin, is still a pear"

"Yes, but it looks good on"

"Satin 1. Pear 0."

There's something about this shape, and it's need to be draped in satin, that has a similar allure as a flame might for a moth.

Why? I have no idea.

A study of reflective cloth, and fruit skin. That being said, i didn't actually dress up a pear in a delightful lavender number, rather the scars on my brain, from witnessing outfits such as this, on nights out in Limerick, provided all the reference i needed.

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic Artificial -

"Sick of the artificial women in the media? Behold: the real shape of things to come."

Used in local rag's New Year's Resolution article.

Attack Of The Zombie Hotels

Zombie hotels, standing largely empty, lifeless, are being kept alive for no clear reason.

They are able to under cut accommodation costs of B&B's, Ireland's more 'traditional' form of accommodation, and the B&B's are feeling the pinch.

This is what i'm told, anyway....

Willie - Published!

A post without an actual illustration, rather a digital clipping from the online version of the local newspaper - The Limerick Post - who have used my illustration of Willie O'Dea in an article about his life and reflections after the kerfuffle of the last year leading up to his stepping down as MoD.

Link to article in the digital edition here.

Link to the original post here.

Breakfast: Ten Week Old Perspective

For Illustration Friday topic 'Breakfast'.

I have a 10 week old, and this weeks topic triggered the thought that this must be what she's looking at fairly regularly.....

Fall

And i dont't know if i'm ever coming home.... take that last train t Clarksville.

Don't be slow.

He Was All Like "Wha...??"

Quick sketch. Trying to capture a kind of confused look of the face of the hunter about to become the game.

Then i gave him ears like that...

There's a screen capture too i'll put up in a while.

Home Early

A quick study of skin, weight and shame....

No real reason for it, other than for the laugh.

Comrade!

Was just flaffing around, and ended up with something that was a cross between people i saw on a recent trip to Krakow, Poland, and a russian strength guru i've come across in my quest for fitting in exercise around small children.....

The Bear

Another in the Animal Series i'm working on.

Started this a while back and abandoned it as it wasn't clicking for me, but have it done now.....

The Octopus

Finally! Back to the animal series, and the octopus is complete.

This too a lot longer than the others because of the suckers and tentacles.

Damn near killed me....

In Event Of Emergency

Ever run out of toilet paper?

Every so often, through practical experimentation, over the past 20 years, this technique has proved it's self to be relatively reliable, if not quite time consuming. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of steps 5 and 6, and urge any who need to adopt this technique when the time comes not to rush. Take all the time available to you. Trust me.

Just felt that some knowledge needs to be shared, in the interests of surviving various otherwise potentially disastrous scenarios.

Submitted for Illustration Friday topic Satelite - When a fresh roll might as well be in space....

Limerick Vs Kerry (GAA)

Piece for Limerick Post.

Looks like Limerick hasn't won the Munster Senior Football title in 114 years, and they're going to give it a shot this weekend.

Kind of bizarre that Limerick hasn't won in that long, and for the Irish that's just how long it's taken, but as some one who is relatively new to Ireland and really knows nothing about the sport (other than the suspicion it's where AFL came from), it struck me that Limerick haven't won this title in about half of the history of Australia under white settlement.

Seems much longer to me now....

Australia Vs Ireland (Rugby)

See how i put Australia first?

Limerick Post piece, for the Australia Vs Ireland Rugby match played same day as edition. Needless to say, the picture, though dawn in advance, with the brief "Asutralia are gonna kick our arse" - or words to that effect, does reflect the gist if the match.

Ireland did play quite well, but unfortunately though numbering only 2, Australia were about 10 times the size, and looked like a couple of brawlers....

No Weeding. No Pruning.

Cartoon done for the Limerick Post.

An article about the ruins on farmers property that are heritage listed, and as such may not be interfered with in any way - not even to clear away any plant-life that may have over grown these teetering mounds of prospective rubble, which is what many farmers would like to do in order to maintain them somewhat- though it's apparently fine for the farmers cattle and sheep to graze all over the things.

Was that the longest sentence I've ever written....?

Cork Vs Limerick (Hurling)

Limerick take on Cork in the hurling, and are up against Aisake o hAilpin.

This is quite possibly a true representation of the difference in height between the average Limerick player and o hAilpin... not that we should let that lead to the assumption it will be an old fashioned arse-kicking.

Again.

Used in the Limerick Post newspaper (and online edition) for article about this match.

Ripple (Watch That Flubber Fly)

This is another Illustration Friday piece - a quick Oil Pastel sketch of what i initially thought doing of after hearing the topic - "Ripple", but before i read about the oil spill fund raiser thing....

A fat man slapping his flab. I have done this myself.

This was just for the laff - the proper one is here....

Ripple (Death By Oil Slick)

New one for Illustration Friday topic: Ripple.

The word was chosen to coincide with a fund raiser to help with the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe (Oil Spill), other entries can be found here.

My first response to the word Ripple was, as usual, puerile and mildly perverse, but then I figured it could give me a chance to do something that I hadn't done before, which was using the Water Colour brushes.

It was also nice, as they requested a particular size, which gave an added limitation to the piece.

What began as doodling away with the pencils, ended with some subtle colour washes and fiddling around, and I'm kinda happy with the way it turned out. Makes me feel all arty....

Ireland vs New Zealand (Optimistic)

It was suggested i do something for the upcoming Rugby Union match between Ireland and The All Blacks for Ireland tour of Australia and N.Z.

The possibility of it being used in a Limerick newspaper prompted me to pick one of Limericks most recognised and celebrated of rugby players, not to mention the current Munster captain, to use in the image.

I wanted it to be a Ireland supportive take of the match, with the giant man, O'Connell, towering over the kiwi's.

Later I learned that a) Paul O'Connell isn't on this tour, and b) Ireland are likely to be completely hammered by the apparently far superior team, the All Blacks.

I really should pay more attention to these finer details.... There's still time; i might have another go.