A little bit Giddy with a little bit of Glee

My heart leapt a gleeful leap this weekend as I picked up some copies of Tony Bailey's hot-off-the-press book(let) of poems.  It's always exciting to see your (er...  I mean my) work in print!

If you scroll down into the depths (not too deep a depth) of this blog you can read more about my cover illustration (or just click here and here) and the title which is taken from Andrew Marvell's poem, The Bermudas.

The English Boat (again)

Phew, that took longer than I thought.
Here they are, all coloured in and singing in hats.

They're looking a lot fancier than in my pencil sketch-  I think I lost a bit of gravitas when the paint came out.

Clicking the picture below should let you read the poem.

The English Boat

'Thus sung they, in the English boat,
An holy and a chearful Note,
And all the way, to guide their Chime,
with falling Oars they kept the time.'

I've been working on an illustration for Andrew Marvell's poem The Bermudas.  Marvell's poem is a beautiful song of praise and thanksgiving by a party of 17th century emigrating puritans to the god that led them 'through the watry maze' to Bermuda, another island far kinder than England itself.

I have been endlessly drawing men rowing boats to foreign lands and, after a lot of drawings which didn't quite look right -boats that didn't look right and men that didn't look right-  came up with this sketch.  I am now working on a colour version which I'll post up soon.

(And yes, he really did spell cheerful with an 'a'.)