Reader's Digest - Jan '08

5. quadriceps n -A: funny bone.B: leg
muscle. C: belly button.D: arm muscle

5. quadriceps - [B] Large four-part muscle
at the front of the thigh that extends the
leg. Latin (four-headed).

A piece I did recently for the lovely chaps at Reader's Digest.

It's for the Word Power section.
A number of words are given, with four possible meanings for each,
only one of which is correct.

My task was to chose one word
(the terms were all medical/ anatomical)
and create 2 images,
the first to combine all four possible meanings
and the second
to illustrate the correct sense of the word.

Click on the Images to ENLARGE

Guardian Finance 10 Nov 07

A piece for last weekend's Guardian.

The article was about a person's misgivings about the waste,
expense and hollowness of giving Xtmas presents, with other
people writing in with suggested alternatives, from making jam
to sponsoring an endangered animal ( the example given was
a pair of owls).

so here is the famous
Partridge in a Pear-tree
(the ultimate in pointless and excessive over-gifting!?)
with the eponymous game fowl
replaced by a brace of baby owls.
Ahhh!

As ever, click to enlarge

Guardian Sport 31 Oct 07

A piece by Simon Hattenstone
about the heartbreak and stoicism
of being a Manchester City fan
and in particular
after a 6 - 0 defeat at the hands ( or feet) of Chelsea

A reworking of the Club's Crest
based on this;



Click on Image to ENLARGE

Illustration Friday - "Scales" No.3

A third scaly friend
or fiend
The Cockatrice
or Basilisk
a rooster's egg (huh?!)
hatched by a viper or a toad,
noted for it's vile breath (hey cockatrice mouth!)
and its petrifying gaze,
only capable of being killed by its own horrific reflection
or ...er...a weasel
(look, I don't make this stuff up!).

Click on Image to ENLARGE
or my Name at the Top to View entire BLOG


Here's a red alternative
which I think perhaps I prefer

Illustration Friday - "Scales" No.2

Another scaly friend
this time
that old tail-devouring alchemical snake
Ouroborus

Or is he
Jormundgander
the Asgard Serpent of Norse Mythology?

Click on Image to ENLARGE
or on my Name to View the rest of my BLOG

Illustration Friday - "Scales"

My first post in a wee while
a few black clouds over my head
starting to clear

This is the Lambton Worm
a legend from the North-East of England
set at the time of the Crusades
about a knight who as a youth throws a worm into a well
only to return from the Holy Land years later
to find the Worm a huge Dragon
terrorizing the town

Click on the Image to ENLARGE
or on the Name above to View my BLOG

Letter To A Friend

It's been a while since I've been on here, Life got in the way.

I wrote a letter to my old friend
I walked across that burning bridge

For Sheila
A very dear friend
over in Co Sligo, Eire