Things are so hectic right now I can hardly stop to think. Daughter and I have just moved house, and before we have a chance to unpack we’ll be off to Japan for the rest of the summer where I’ll be exhibiting and running a workshop. Nevertheless I’ve just time to post a few images of work-in-progress from my current project, a non-fiction picture book by Jane Sutcliffe, The Stone Giant, the story of Michelangelo’s creation of the statue of David, which will be published by Charlesbridge in the United States sometime, erm….. after I’ve finished! The house move and Tokyo trip have inevitably put things on hold for the moment, but I’ve completed all the pen-and-ink line work and will get straight into painting watercolour when we get back from Tokyo.
So here’s a sneak preview at the black and white stage!
Naturally a lot of research was necessary (and boy did I love that!), and in some cases a degree of estimation. I hope the results are not too far off the mark.
I’m trying to steer a path between imagination and historical accuracy, a flavour of the period, and a flavour of me so to speak.
The final spread showing a panorama of the Piazza Signoria from the Palazzo Vecchio. There are no historical images from this angle that I know of and none of these buildings exist now, so a lot of detective work was required to estimate the architecture of the square in the Renaissance. Fingers crossed the experts will be happy!
