Tiger, Tiger

In Korean mythology the tiger is a symbol of protection, "a guardian of the west". Here he is portrayed as an instigator of creation, and imagination, but also destruction of a kind.
The idea is of the tiger devouring itself, and through this process regenerating; a kind of cyclical regeneration through violence. The destruction of an idea, its fulfilment or its demise- a cycle, always churning, moving, evolving, devolving-in a state of constant flux, much like the creative process of a writer or artist...

Initially inspired by a poem by Helen Calcutt, it is now going to be used in conjunction with our Save the Tiger WWF petition.

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Perfection Limited

This is a sneak preview of the new painting I've been working on. Its all finished now besides having it properly photographed, which will take place tomorrow. Once its been put on disc I'll post it on my website. Superdeadly.
There are a few layers of meaning to this painting but I’ll briefly outline the basics. The idea deals with the over-exposure, by all facets of the media, of the supposed ideal female figure. The idea of this absolutely flawless female body that is ubiquitous in our magazines, movies, advertisements et al. A body that women often feel pressured into attaining because that's the only way, it is suggested, that they can be seen as attractive or desirable. So because of this hugely false image that has been created by the fashion industry and its immoral sibling of marketing etc, many women strive desperately to live up to these mythical standards of ‘perfection’. The painting represents not how we see these women, but instead how they see themselves because of this lie.

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Sketchbook Scree

Some quick, loose sketches for a couple of paintings that are scheduled for early next year. Thats a fair bit of time away yet of course but when ideas lurch into the mind its always wise to get them down on paper, however raw they may be.

Imagination

This is a personal project in which I had a great deal of fun painting. I honestly dont quite know why I decided to put a flying pig in there, but I'm sure I had a good reason at the time. The man/floating head on the left is a famous Irish author. Those of you looking at this who are Irish, and dont know who it is then great shame must descend on you until you find out...

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Fidel Castro

What I like about this pic is the variety in the composition compared to the others. The article in which the image is based on deals with the idea that Fidel's socialist regime largely failed to liberate the people of Cuba despite the initial romantic ideals , and both he and Cuba are in sharp decline. I framed his face with the communist star, which is sometimes depicted as a gold star on a red background. The origins of the star being red are to signify the blood lost in struggle. A motif first incorporated by Marx and Engels.

Bob Dylan

I probably approached this illustration too cautiously, as it still feels and looks a little safe to me. I think if this had not of been the first of the series it may well have been more adventurous. The article the illustration is based on deals with Dylan in the early to mid sixties, when he alternated from being a folk singer to an electric rocker. The title of the article reads: "The contrarian of a generation", so I focused my idea around that concept. Obviously "contrarian" suggests an opposite to something, but also a conflict. In this case it was a conflict between two kinds of music; acoustic and electric. But for me it also focuses on a kind of 'natural' evolution. On one side of the pic we have a younger Dylan; the folk-style singer and musician based in the early years of the sixties. Whilst on the opposite side we have the musical progression, the slightly older Dylan, bursting away from the past, moving forward into the peak of the sixties. This musical 'freedom', or breaking away from tradition, moving forward and evolving, was a constant theme of the sixties, and therefore something I felt would be appropriate to capture in the illustration, however slight.

Heath Ledger

This is probably the most serious of this series of six paintings, certainly the darkest. The decision to use the Joker as Ledger's alter-ego, his inner strife, was a natural choice considering all that has happened.

Marilyn Monroe

This pic was the trickiest of the series because Monroe is so iconic and therefore the most engrained in peoples minds. I wanted to avoid presenting her in any familiar way. The decision to paint the background in (mottled yellow) colour, as oppose to Monroe herself, was a significant one. The yellow background mainly symbolises the 'brightness' of her public persona; a subterfuge to mask her true self, and therefore her melancholy.

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Cuchulainn II

This is an older pic in which I always felt a little more work on tone would improve the overall atmosphere.

Enbarr and Epona

I'm pretty pleased with this overall result. The mane on the mare could have been brighter perhaps, more defined. My main gripe concerns the birds. I had planned on making them quite garish and generally more prominent in the painting but that idea got a little lost, although the focal point is undoubtedly the horses. The title of the piece concerns two famous horses from myth and legend. Enbarr, meaning "imagination", is Niamh's horse in Irish mythology. The horse could not be killed by man or god. Epona translates as "Great Mare", and derives from very old Roman texts. Epona was the protector of all horses, but was also responsible(in a spiritual sense) for escorting or guiding the souls of the deceased. Its role was not to judge, but simply to provide safe passage.

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Self-Portrait

The first in a series of light hearted self-portraits I have planned. I enjoyed this pic. I've just recently finished reading "Steppenwolf", and although I had this idea long before I read the book, it has added more depth to the illustration. The area below my face arguably needs better lighting to draw the eye a little easier to the focal point, but generally I think it does work. The next installment in the series is probably more gruesome than this pic but not as dark...

Cuchulainn

I have a soft spot for this illustration. It was tempting to portray Cuchulainn in one of his many epic battle scenes but I was determined to avoid this cliched, gung-ho approach constantly associated with him. Instead I wanted to capture something much more atmospheric and thought provoking. Although he is most famous for his exploits in war I always found the melancholy and solitude of his character more appealing in terms of depicting it in an illustration. Although the predominant theme in this illustration was a subtle kind of sorrow I also needed to keep in mind an element of his strength and his aura of power. The only element of the image that Iam not sure works to good effect is the spatter of blood on the face...Its over-stated I think...

Ominous night activities...

This was the final painting of the four double-page spreads I did for my children's picture book. This is easily my favourite of the four. I started off quite tentatively with these pics but got much more confident as i progressed. I was so very conscious of what colours to use and where and when to use them that I had to sometimes take a little step back and look at them from a distance. This is the night scene near the end of the story and i wanted to make it ominous and a little eerie. Other than the creatures(obviously) its all various shades of blue, mainly ultramarine. Hope you like it folks...

NO PHOTOSHOP WAS USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THESE PAINTINGS. ;)

Finito!!

This took a few hours but I'am relatively pleased with it. The colours amongst the creatures work well together and i think there is a good contrast of dark and light spread around them. The sky brings the island forward, which was what i was aiming for, but it has been commented that it is perhaps a little too striking, that I should have gone for a more neutral colour. This is indeed a worthy observation but its such a dramatic area of the story that I wanted the sky to be quietly menacing. I loved doing this pic but I am glad its finished as it was time-consuming and delicate work...It has been a valuable learning curve tackling this type of pic, and a good exercise in patience too!

Double-page spread from book

Here is the first pic 'done' for the children's book...Honestly I dont really know how I feel about it yet...I think I like some of what is happening in there but its one of those strange cases where I've been working on it for so many hours that I've become a bit numb to it... The light green area in the top right of the pic is where the text will appear...It appears to have a good balance in places but there is areas that still need work...

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

I was very tempted to go for something very dramatic from the story as there are many exciting scenes in the book. I decided that perhaps something more atmospheric and mysterious would work better. I like the murkiness of the pic, it seems that alot of the time the simplist ideas turn out to be the most effective.

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The strange case of...

The finished piece at last. I actually finished it last week but i havent had a chance to post it. Hope you folks like it.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This is a relatively finished version. It lacks the text(title and authors name)and some of the lines in the background need to be smoothed over but its almost done.