The Omission of the Commission Mission

I haven’t really talked about it too much, or  in fact at all,but I’ve been working, this summer, on a job for a man.

Yes, that’s right. A job for a man. And if that’s not an award winning feat of description there, then I just don’t know what is.

It’s been a really nice project actually, he wrote thirteen short stories for his great grand daughter to be presented to her, one a year, as she grows up. I think the idea is that as he won’t be around for all of her growing life, he wanted her to have an artefact from him that would remind her how loved she was.

Sweet isn’t it? A little gift from beyond the grave.

No, okay that made it sound creepy. Sorry, I might have ruined that.

But commission me he did for the project, to do one colour painting per story. And that’s what I’ve been up to these past few summer months.

I have since handed them over and, I’m pleased to say, he seemed really chuffed with the results, but I thought I’d shove a few up on here, to remind myself if nothing else, that I have actually done SOME work this summer and not just spent the whole think baking pies.

I did thirteen for him, but I’ll just whack up a few examples. Just so you get the gist.

An illustration for the opening poem.
A tale about the power of little girls’ tears. It’s not actually as morose as I just made that sound. I’m not doing well today.
He devised and detailed this character to me. I wan’t just being racially assuming.
A tale within a tale about a pie and an orange. Amongst other things.
The sorrowful tale of a missing, beloved family pet. (The dog, not the child HA!)
A humerous story of magical mishaps.
A light, carefree painting to go with the summery tale.

Like I said, a nice project to work on. A much more traditional style of illustration than my usual bag, hence my cracking out the watercolours , but it’s nice to have a change every now and then. And he seemed pretty happy with them so I think I made the right choice in doing so.

I enjoy writing my own work, but it’s definitely a nice change to collaborate with someone else’s words sometimes. Yes, there is less control but that’s almost part of the fun, bringing in your own creativity within the constraints of someone else’s vision.

Not the case with my current project though, speaking of which, I’d better get back to it.

B

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