roots and clouds

roots and clouds, originally uploaded by aesop.

[gasping out moonlight/ at grass thrust/ down flat]

night

night, originally uploaded by aesop.

['the night breathes between torn clouds']

after poussin

after poussin, originally uploaded by aesop.

awfully muddled though. I'll have another go sometime when I'm not ill!

squall

squall, originally uploaded by aesop.

['no sound of swifts now']

listen

listen, originally uploaded by aesop.

['while the wind-miller listens/to sweeps bidden into motion/by the shortening days.']

Another one that I think will benefit from some digital jiggery pokery.

One thing that's a benefit of deciding to do this thing with digital print is that I can now think about greys (and even colours!) again. I might also incorporate

cullin-stones

cullin-stones, originally uploaded by aesop.

turndust

Untitled-23, originally uploaded by aesop.

dust down

dust down, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text: 'but you must keep the dust down.']

I'm fairly happy with this as is. I might do a bit of retouching though.

burn eight hours

burn eight hours, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text reads: 'go all night.They'll burn eight hours.']
At the time I thought this was a pretty good way to work with the patience and watchful trust in the machinery that I wanted to be part of the book. But I think now that it needs some reworking. Not least because the figure looks distinctly like he's going to drool on his chest. However, I think I'll keep the lighting/sihouette arrangement, and the winfdow becomes a kind of spatial anchor later in the series when the internal space of the windmill goes bonkers. I'll definitely be reworking this.

Newton St Loe Rebus sketchbook

Newton St Loe Rebus sketchbook, originally uploaded by aesop.

Some ideas for a new book in my 'Whistling Copse' series.

Apparently there's also a significant Roman floor mosaic at Newton St Loe, too.

adjusting the damsel

adjusting the damsel, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text reads: 'Go all night. They'll burn eight hours,']

I'm still not happy with this version, but it does have some of the darkness and enclosed feeling I want.

lantern

lantern, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text:' Hurricane lanterns, tallow candles was all we used.']

Grain

Untitled-19, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text: 'and the creeping advance of the grain']
Again, I think this'll benefit from some colour. The original certainly had that going for it. I'm also looking forward to working with this digitally.

swift

swift, originally uploaded by aesop.

Wishing it was Spring again.
[text: 'the unfolding of wings']
from my ongoing Turndust project.

Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore, originally uploaded by aesop.

soon he will scoop us up in his mighty wings and bear us off to his mountain eyrie, there to gaze in wonder at the sublime beauties of the firmament.

original

08, originally uploaded by aesop.

This is the original version of the 'resting under trees' picture from the sketchbook. I don't think that the new version has the same freshness, but I'm hoping to muck it about a bit with the digital process and the hand colouring.

[Unlikely in this silence/ excepting swifts' glassy screams/ overhead,]

This is a version of a page from Turndust, an artist's book project I am currently working on. This is an early stage 'storyboard' version. I've posted it because I am interested in seing if I can use the community to add something to the design process. What do you think of it? What could be improved? What's good? What does it make you think about?

I'm planning to develop the book for screenprint in one or two colours with hand colouring in watercolour, so each book will be a little different, although still part of an edition.

Since this book is intended as a narrative, it's best read from beginning to end. I recommend looking at the Flickr set.

Thanks for any comments.

from Turndust

from Turndust, originally uploaded by aesop.

From Turndust, the book I'm currently working on about windmills. Here I've got a bunch of guys having a break under a tree, seemingly having spent the day at work in the field. My aim is to work with this image digitally before setting it up for screenprint. After that I'm going to hand-colour all the individual images.

a party of tourists

a party of tourists, originally uploaded by aesop.

from the newspaper. I was just drawing random stuff while watching telly last night.

Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere lunam

, originally uploaded by aesop.

moon drawing

moon drawing, originally uploaded by aesop.