Or Dark Light and Bright Shadow
Ever wonder just how much of your world is bound up in light and dark?
It seems we live in an age of good guys and bad guys.
Manichean, machiavellian, how it is that we have taken two of the subtlest of statesmen of all time and transformed them into such incisive adjectives?
Why do we editorialize faster than we can think, the world is not a newsprint black and white. The world is not a news channel or a set of statistics.
Perhaps that’s why I flee all these important things and go where the light is never more than a portion of the dark and shadow is there to accompany and preserve the light.
Illustration is my light on this dark road that leads wherever, it is the flickering lantern I carry, with my paltry stock of candles, enough to last until the final step.
Meeting others on this road is rare and precious, as it’s a road with few signposts, but many unexpected turnings.
And a few other people walking similar paths.
Speaking of which…
THE FELLOWSHIP FESTIVAL
And a good time was had by all – or it certainly seemed that way.
Ran into this amusing and debonnair gentleman who always seemed to be sketching something…
We had these crazy signature sessions with massive lineups that stretched off into the far distance, but admittedly we are a lot slower than the actors (actors are under no moral obligation to do sketches) and of course our signatures were free, which probably explains a lot.
But, we happily signed anything that was placed in front of us, each other’s books, posters, DVDs, fans – you name it. Alan is so obliging, he actually turned up EARLY to the signature sessions. At the end, he had to be forcibly dragged away, admittedly not kicking and screaming, but with much reluctance. (Alan in a crowd is like a cloak in brambles, he is held up, snagged, distracted, ensnared and delayed at every instant… I have the skiff-in-a-squall approach to crowds – hug the shore, seek eddies and quiet spots, stay out of the turbulence, row strongly and try not to capsize.)
But we did meet some elves. More on that next time.
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There are more pictures here, LOADS more here, and a full report here.
Photo © Janine Barrett
OTHERWISE
All this festival going and coming (home) is all very well, but work beckons.
The layout is progressing apace on a new “Art of…” book, and the documentary is in the last stages of completion.
But most insistently, that chair in the studio has invited me to come sit down and spend some time there for a change…
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ON A LIGHTER NOTE
Currently corresponding with a band that has made a rather liberal use of one of my pictures on their latest album. Here is their final word:
“All artwork for the booklet one way or another is label’s duty so LABEL is
responsible for using the artwork. We are musicians so we write music….”
Oh, well I guess that makes it all right then.
But, fair enough. We’ll see what LABEL has to say…
