A Film of You

I knew there may still be a shot of you
on the roll of film that somehow remained;
I'd burnt all photos, one used film got through
with examples of our love badly framed.

I put the film inside the envelope
along with hope, regret, my details, cheque
and curiosity on how I'll cope
with seeing proof of what I can not forget.

I got a film for free in return
for moving on enough to want to see
what I'd lost and what there was to learn
from pictures of you taken by me.

There once were more, so carefully arranged;
I'd burn again if I could.  Nothing's changed.

Several years ago it was popular for people to put camera films in an envelope and send them off for development. For each film you sent you got another film in return. It was a good system and in some ways better, as one would always get them printed. The main advantage of digital is the sheer number of pictures that can be taken. But like so many others I find I get them printed less and less.

Falsetton rings down.
A mobile phone, perhaps?
Or a pigeon's high coo. 

Last Friday I got up very early and caught a bus to the nearest town, Norwich (Ok, so Norwich is a city, but that’s another story). Then I caught a train to Peterborough. Love train journeys, even though it’s not as interesting as when I was a child, and trains had compartments, and actual doors with brass handles, and you had to lean out of the window to open the door when you had reached your station. But still there is the sense of travel and watching the countryside passing by, and flutters of excitement and anticipation of getting a ticket, checking the departure and arrivals boards, finding the right platform, awaiting the train, and then waiting for it to depart. My original train was cancelled, so instead of going direct to Peterborough I had to get a slightly earlier train, which luckily was still there, and which would take me to Ely where I’d change for Peterborough. That was the topic of conversation on the carriage I boarded… yes, people actually spoke to each other!

I was on my way to meet the lovely Abi (@AbiBurlingham) – a teacher and writer, who I met on Twitter not all that long ago, really, but hey, what’s time? I think it was about two weeks after tweeting with Abi that I felt I’d known her for months, or even years. And from the moment we met I felt completely at ease, and I think Abi did too. Hi Abi!

We were, of course, blessed with the weather. I say of course, as no doubt you’ve noticed UK folks on Twitter etc. constantly tweeting how sunny it is. We do love the Sun when we see it! Neither of us was particularly familiar with Peterborough, and we were pleasantly surprised by how open the layout of the city centre is, and how beautiful a lot of the architecture is too. We headed straight for the cathedral, which we knew was nearby, and which currently had an exhibition of paintings. The cathedral was, as they so often are, breath-taking both inside and out. Much of the architecture of the city centre, including the cathedral, is made from a honey coloured stone of some kind, and it has a beautifully warm glow to it, especially on a sunny day like it was. The exhibition was OK, and we both like big colourful abstracts, but I don’t think either of us was particularly wowed by them. But it was still very nice to see, all the same.

We decided to grab sandwiches for lunch and eat them sitting in one of the large areas of grass at the front of the cathedral. It was so nice to be able to sit outside and watch people come and go, including a large class of kids from a primary school. Abi had a trick up her sleeve, which I was sort of aware of, but had thought would be to get us both to do some sketching, so I went armed with paper and coloured pencils etc. But that wasn’t she had in mind at all. It was to do a piece of writing! This really took me by surprise, which is silly really, what with Abi being a writer, and the fact that I knew she was going to get us to do something creative. Of course my mind went completely blank. But eventually some words started to come and we compared what we had written afterwards. We were both surprised that we had actually included several similar things. Abi’s going to include both pieces in her blog this Friday: Abi's blog.

The idea was to write something on the theme of the cathedral and being there in that moment. This is what I wrote:

”We are lucky on days like these. Summer makes an early visit. Smiles go from budding to full bloom. We connect through the ether, travel, and connect again. Now here – we sit – no home to either of us but we are at home. Sharing this space – this sun-soaked patch of ground at the base of a tower of honey coloured stone to honour the busiest bee of all – with those whose home it is. A shoal of toddlers chitter and chatter while they form an un-orderly cue and depart. Friends so please to be here, sit on coats, giggle, gossip, and make arrangements to do less... soon!”

This was the only time we hardly talked. I’m guessing this was Abi’s way of shutting me up for 10 minutes ;-)

Abi also surprised me with a present - can't imagine how she knew I am a big kid who loves books for toddlers, especially illustrated ones:

We had a bit more of a wonder around, watched people walking through the jets of water in the city square and saw and heard the old time jazz band play in the stone built staging area attached to it. We both snapped a few pics and decided there wasn’t really time to wonder too far off, so just had coffee at an outside café and chatted till it was time to head to the station again. The day had flown by!

I saw Abi off at the station and caught my train to Norwich about 20 minutes later. Once back I walked across town and caught a bus home, which luckily stops just two minutes from the house. Was surprised how tired I was by the time I got in just before 9pm.

It was a great day and I hope the first of many tweet-ups.

 

 

Warning! This blog is mildly ranty and contains sweeping gerealisations. May also contain nuts!

Most of us heard as small children the tale of The Emperor's New Clothes. And what did this story teach us most of all: That nudity is funny and should be ridiculed. And don't let anybody tell you that the message was ever anything different.

It would seem that, ever since humans began making representations of the world around them, the naked human form has been one of the most popular subjects explored.

Earth Mother figurines have been found dating back over 6000 years, and in every part of the globe, wherever humans have existed, there are records of our early fascination with our own bodies, and what they can represent besides just ourselves.

The Houyhnhnms (horse-like creatures) in Johnathan Swift’s epic story commonly known as Gulliver’s Travels mis-trust humans in part for their inability to be naked without becoming degenerate, or more to the point the assumption that humans make about themselves that they will indeed become degenerate.

The fact that you will be arrested and imprisoned for being naked in public places is a very telling fact about human society, and culture.

As in so many aspects of life rules are not made by the most intelligent people. We, as a species, have always been controlled by those seeking control, and those that seek control tend to be astonishingly small-minded. They make assumptions about everybody else alive based on their own prejudices and lack of experience.

Sadly we have allowed ourselves to become sexualised beings. Gender stereotypes. Trying to explain to anyone who unquestioningly accepts this state of existence that nudity has literally nothing whatsoever to do with sex is virtually impossible. Believe me, I've tried.

And so it will ever be that those who choose a more creative path, in whatever field, will at some point, if not wholly, represent us at our most natural and our most truthful: Un-clothed, un-adorned, fragile and organic.

This is a sketch I did of a painting by Gwen John. I love the defiant look in the model’s face.

This is a sketch of a sketch by Walter Mullready. Utilising only a black pencil and a red pencil he manages to get shades of brown and blue, and to even get the paper itself to shine as if illuminated from within.

Here is a selection of drawings from life classes I've attended.

These are self portraits.

And these are sketches and sculptures where I have distort the human form.

You are beautiful. You are the most perfect version of you that will ever exist in the whole infinite expanse of space and time.

All images on this page are copyright protected. © Dean Harkness 2012. Please ask for permission to use.

I was quite busy over Christmas and New Year's Eve. It seems there are some advantages to living alone after all.

The cover for Mat Coward's collection of short stories was one of two designs to be completed. It is a wonderful collection and the second time I have worked for Mat. And an honour it is! This is not the cover I had in mind, but after several weeks working on the original idea it just wasn't coming together. Then I had a moment of inspiration and came up with the following which, as it turned out, we both preferred to the original. Phew!

This is the second. It is a cover illustration for Indian Hill 2 by Mark Tufo, and again the second time we have worked together. It's always a great feeling when an author comes back to me for another design, and is a great vote of confidence in my work. Means more to me than I can say.

The following is still a work in progress but I'm quite pleased with how it is going, and all being well will be the first of three book cover designs I will be doing for Stewart Arkass. It needs some tweaking, and I am hoping to add some furniture to the room over the next couple of days.

This next one has a way to go yet, but I am loving the striking quality the image has - it will make a great thumbnail, something that has become more and more important in my work due to how books are promoted and viewed these days. I've removed the author's name as they don't want their followers to know about it just yet. Luckily I don't think any of them read my blog, but then again, who does? ;-)

I have another commission on the go but not at a stage yet worth sharing. It's a challenging one that will require a lot of work using at least two paintings, one layered over the top of the other.

So it's busy, busy, busy for the next few weeks at least. And somewhere in there I need to find the time to drum up more work so there isn't a long period of nothing happening, which is always a worry.

I love working with writers and their efforts in promoting their work is slowly rubbing off on me. It is amazing just how supportive so many of the authors I've come to know can be, and I enjoy just as much supporting and promoting them. It is a wonderfully creative process to be a part of, so here's wishing us all well for 2012 - I think it is a year full of potential for a great many people. Let's make it a memorable time!

Ah, so WIP stands for 'work in progress'! I knew that!

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on a character illustration and background illustration for an upcoming trilogy of books. Each cover will be a variation on a theme and involve the two main characters.

Yet again I've used the children of friends as models - something I love to do, and it is often my first thought, when I get a new commission, to figure out which of my friends and family are the right age, gender and shape for the work in hand. This current series of illustrations will involve two sisters, which is a nice touch, I think.

My oldest friend's daughter is perfect for this character and fits the author's description almost exactly, so it was an easy decision about who to use. I've known Anna since she was born, and her older sisters too. She is young, pretty and very slim, and as the trilogy of books are Sci-Fi it is no surprise that the author wanted her boobs enlarged somewhat. It is an odd thing to have to 'sex-up' the teenage daughter of an old friend, especially when you've know them since birth. But hey, we do what we must, and I've heard that she is quite pleased with the results herself, so that's a relief!

I started off, as I often do, with a photo-shoot session. Then a rough draft in pencil which I send off to the client for approval, and adjust in further drafts until they are happy with how it's looking.

At this stage I paint over the drawing with gesso

Then comes the painting

There is still much to do before I can digitally use this character illustration to go on the screen in the illustration below, which itself has yet to be painted.

Of course one could probably save a lot of time by doing all this digitally but then I wouldn't have a brush in my hand, would I?

This is the space I have to work in over Winter as the studio has no light nor heat. It's a bit limiting but hey, we work with what we've got, and this is more than I've managed with in the past.

So there you have it - that's my current Work In Progress. Or at least one of them, as I have two other cover designs half done, plus a couple of greeting cards, and other projects of my own work on the go too.

Life is just too damned short!

Indifferent light, seen by a mindless eye.
A hundredth of a second's worth returned
from you and burned itself unconsciously
into a milky film, emulsified
to keep forgotten memories.  It fades
untouchable yet clearly portrays all
that I lost.  You bleed into the background
as you never did in life.

 

   © Dean Harkness 2011

This Is a Love Poem.
This poem is a love.
A love is this poem.
This is a poem, love.

A love this poem is.
A poem is this love.
A poem this love is.
Is this a poem, love?

Love, a poem, this is
this poem.  Is love, a
love this poem? Is a
poem a, 'Is love this?'

Love, is this poem a
love?  Is a poem this
poem?  Is this love a
poem? Love a is this.

 

by D Harkness © 2011

 

Hello bloggy-heads!

Thanks to DC for her generosity and efforts in managing and hosting these spotlight opportunities - another great aspect to blogging that I am only just becoming aware of. And thanks too to Kelly Gamble for her support and encouragement. And to all the wonderfully positive and creative people I have met on Twitter – they are an inspiration in themselves!

So where to begin? Well that's easy: Books! Books! Books! And of course, books!

And why books? Well that's easy too: Words! Language! Meaning! Invention, description, explanation, emotion and understanding.

We are words. Language is what defines us as a species, a race and as individuals. Words can separate us, but more importantly, they can connect us. I am a groupie for words. I don't have a favourite genre of writing - Rudyard Kipling and Jeff Noon blow my mind in equal measure, as can a biography or book on maths or history. If I do have a favourite genre then it's the genre of books that comes under the heading of 'well written'.

A book, or even a sentence, can turn your world upside-down and inside out. It can confirm all you ever suspected or make you doubt all you thought you knew.

One day I may write a book, which isn't something I thought I'd ever be able to say, but seeing as I've had a very unconventional life and have a lot to draw on, from living in a house with 10 lesbians for 3 years to being a roadie with the Rolling Stones to tearing around with an outlaw motorcycle gang for the best part of a decade, I feel that the starting of that book is getting closer all the time. But until then I'll stick to what I know and love, and that's book covers and illustrations, which keep me in good proximity to the writing process and have led me to writing more now than ever. I have always dabbled with writing, poetry mostly, and diaries too, but these days, what with social networks, I seem to be always writing!

One ambition I have is to illustrate an entire book, rather than just doing one or two illustrations to accompany a story. One of my earliest inspirations for that genre of art was the illustrations by Mervyn Peake, who did the original drawings for Alice In Wonderland, and for Treasure Island, which are more often than not, not what people remember or know of those stories. His visions are striking, compelling and superbly executed. He also wrote The Gormenghast Trilogy, an amazing novel full of rich description and wonderfully clear characterisations of the most idiosyncratic personalities.

This is the first cover I ever made

The cost of materials was £75 and it took between 200 and 300 hours to complete. I was paid the princely sum of £75 for the work and so made nothing doing it. But it was an amazing learning experience and a foot in the door so-to-speak. I had never done any woodwork but the first thing I had to do was construct the display case. After that I modelled and sculpted many of the items within it. Then came the photography, and finally the layout. That was about 7 years ago, and since then I try to make at least a little profit on the work I do ;-)

I have always worked for small presses and indie authors and I love the personal touch that tends to come with each project and the friendships that often develop out of them. I get the impression that with the bigger publishing companies, the author often has no say at all about what goes on the cover, and I have heard of many examples where they are not exactly pleased with what the publishers decided upon. I think that authors should indeed have some say about what their book ends up looking like and I love the fact that for the most part it is the authors themselves that I work with. Really, what could be better!

Here are my latest two illustrations

So keep those thoughts whirring and pens scribbling and keyboards clacking.

I'll be ready and waiting!