Piecrust
Piecrust! Not apple pie crusts or steak and kidney pie crusts either but Joshua Piecrust!
“Piecrust?” I hear you say, “has she finally lost her marbles in this never-ending series of lockdowns?” Well, it’s true I may be a bit marbled by it all, like most of us but I am actually referring to a client. His pseudonym is Joshua Piecrust. Pseudonym, what a great word… sounds like it should feature in an Agatha Christie novel. Anyway, I digress… the book is a self published little nugget of fun that I illustrated earlier this year. As the author’s name would suggest, it is a book containing a collection of nonsense rhymes. They remind me of Spike Milligan’s poems. I still remember being on the London Underground on a blisteringly hot day (studiously avoiding armpits, as I’m very short) and reading Spike Milligan’s English Teeth as I took my journey to Tottenham Court Road. And for those that have never read it, here it is:
English Teeth, English Teeth!
Shining in the sun
A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun
Clamping down on bits of fish
And sausages half done.
English Teeth! HEROES’ Teeth!
Hear them click! and clack!
Let’s sing a song of praise to them –
Three Cheers for the Brown, Grey and Black.
Back to pie crusts! Yum!
I was commissioned to create a series of spot illustrations to be used at the beginning of each poem and although (with the author’s permission) some are already in my on-line folios, I thought it appropriate share some today. They are al hand-drawn and digitally painted. In fact some are exclusively digital. As they are relatively small in scale in the book, I tried to avoid adding too much fiddly detail. I decided not to go for an overall look and just allowed myself to be inspired by the poem and the letter, so it is a bit of a wacky collection of illustrations that befits the author!
Do contact me with your wacky project here.
