Loose threads

A pony without a mane is not really a pony.
One thing I learned last month, was that horsey-things are hard. My multi-talented blog friend Meliors, of Bibliophilia asked me, very nicely, to recreate a little pony she had dancing about in her dreams. I thought it would be a challenge, but I had no idea...in the end, this poor little chap had more surgery than an aging Hollywood actress - bits sliced off, and added and removed and so on and so forth, until I finally got the proportions right. But the mane was to be my Nemesis. I looked at as many methods online and in books as possible, but they all involved sewing. I knew there had to be another way.






So I started off with an extravaganza of pins and needles...






Finding my latest tool, a wooden hand gripper very useful.






It started to get complicated...






...and developed a distinctly tribal feel. Kind of Zulu princess.






I decided that weaving was the answer and after about 6 hours of fiddling about, unfiddling, and fiddling some more, I had woven a little rug down the nape of his neck. I forgot to photo the finished result - suffice to say that I wasn't sure about it, and even less sure when Andy looked askance at my efforts. I went to bed on it.





I woke the next morning knowing that I had gone about it in completely the wrong way and a clear idea of how it should have been done. I dismantled the previous day's muddlings and cut an ugly, but useful gash into the little fellow.




I did try looping the cords round a piece of card, just to keep them regular, but that didn't work, so I returned to my method of pinning and hooking. This time I poked the threads down into the neck and laid big stitching over to hold them down firmly. It worked - to my relief. Bald horses look bizarre. After that it was just a matter of felting it all back together and giving 'Winnie' a good tidy up. Meliors was pleased with the results and he is now on his way to sunnier climes.





January - a month I normally love - was really odd and not very settling, clearing out deadwood and old ghosts, getting on with things which needed doing and generally decluttering my head.

A couple of irons I placed in the fire last year are looking very promising. My little animals are taking off in a way I always dreamed my illustration would, when I graduated in 1993, naively thinking that having put in six years of art and design study, I would miraculously start getting work. It happens for some people, but not for me. It has taken fifteen years of tilting at the Children's Publishing windmill to realise that, for whatever reason, it isn't for me. Or rather, I am not for it; I am tired of being told my work is too 'melancholy', too 'sad', 'not right' - or even worse - 'it's beautiful, but not suitable for children...'

The unexpected miracle of seeing my creations enchant people worldwide has encouraged me to show them to people who can take them even further, with exciting results - and all this, in less than a year since I picked up a felting needle. When fate pushes you so strongly, it's best to go with it. And I'm having more pleasure making little things than painting ever gave me. I'm not giving up illustrating - I've just given up breaking my heart over it.



Looking forward to an approaching time when all the loose threads will be swept away.

'No more twist'

Gordon Roque - Sea Horses

It seems an unlikely alliance - a young Filipino born American singer-songwriter from Nashville and a British forty- something, reclusive, sometime-illustrator. And yet when Gordon Roque contacted me out of the blue last year, having read my blog and connected with my artwork, we instantly hit it off. The race which knows Joseph. So, knowing that he instinctively understood the darker side to my toy paintings, (which many people miss) I was more than pleased when he asked me to review his debut CD, 'Sea Horses'.

I was worried I wouldn't like it. But I needn't have; I was in safe hands. As the first song 'the Boy in the Room' trickled from my CD player, I found myself quite overcome. It crept under my defences and wound its way into the tender corners of my soul which I normally keep close and safe. And I had some insight into why Gordon found a connection with my work. Some things transcend age, background and nationality.

'Sea Horses ' is a lovely, lyrical and deeply poignant album, a peephole into a wounded, but joyful heart. Deeply moving and at times, wrenching, the songs have quietly stitched themselves to me, as I have played them again and again. They dip into mellow soulfulness, then soar up rippling and tumbling like a woodland stream, before gently growling into melancholic, bluesy shadows. 'The Devil Prayed' is a particular favourite of mine. with a rousing chorus, which showcases his versatile, elastic voice and I loved the dark, disconcerting, broken music box feel to 'Mr Stranger'. Each song has been carefully crafted by an accomplished musician, combining gorgeous keyboard playing with a sublime voice.

By the time I reached the end of the album, I would have bet my last fiver that Gordon had generously slipped in a little something , and so I let the CD play beyond the listed tracks. I was not disappointed. And that's all I'm going to say - it is a delicious little secret which you have to discover for yourself.

Gordon has self produced this professionally finished album. Like me, he is dedicating his life to his chosen path, no matter how difficult or discouraging things get. That is just another reason I respect him and his music so very much. Doing things the hard way, with complete commitment and one hundred per cent immersion into one's craft seems to be a bit of a rarity nowadays. It offers no instant reward, is often lonely and, as the saying goes, 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. It's tough and there is no guarantee that there will be any payback for your efforts, though I have a gut feeling that in this case, the world will be hearing more from this multi-talented artist. Gordon often plays live, and an up-to-date list of dates can be found here. His blog can be found here - Where Pianos Roam, with it's sister blog, The Oreo Gallery, following the sweetly funny adventures of the miniature piano Oreo and her little friend buttercup on their travels.


If you want a flavour of this extraordinary debut album, then do watch this sampler video, or just listen to selected songs here. And if you are persuaded, then the CD is for sale from his website - it would be $13 well spent.

I wonder what he plays when he is alone in his room, if this is what he gives to the world. I think you would have to be a very quiet cat in the corner to know.