My diary entry for the coronation last Saturday was as showy as the event itself.
And it didn’t cost anyone a penny.
A little about Joe…
This new book is about two boys, one named Joe. It’s a friendship story and a story about similarities and differences. And it’s all drawn in ink and some pencil.
Joe and the other character. Illustrations © David Mackintosh. 2023.
The rest is natural history…
There’s a short film about how I made the illustrations for the picture books published by the Natural History Museum, London. The Titanosaur exhibition is on at the NHM even as I write.
NEW Two-colour Sharpened Pencil screen print coming soon…
I happened to make a limited run of two-colour screen prints of Sharpened Pencils, suitable to frame.
Printed in uncompromising coal black, and dazzling school-pencil yellow, this lavish A1 print is impressed upon a sumptuous cream-ish 120gsm Munken paper, stamped and signed in graphite (what else?).
Limited to an edition of 50, this screen print will be available via the Little Shop in June.
Parts Unknown…
Unknown Parts of a book…
The parts of a book don’t need to be known for reading, but it may help make you interesting. World Book Day, 2023.
The bell of the ball…
Tom the cat from next door has been given a collar with his name and phone number because he has been going missing. A day later there were calls from people who have been feeding him for years, pleased to have a name to call him.
Tom got used to the collar very quickly, but I haven’t. He appears to be wearing some fancy jewellery, all dressed up for an occasion.
Jewellery: Tiffany & Co. Faux fur coat: model’s own.
Never a dull moment…
I was given a nice new pencil sharpener. It’s brass, has 3 settings and a little pouch to carry it. It’s a very simple mechanism and it works like a charm. It’s a welcome addition to my sharpening portfolio. Thank you!
See a video about sharpening and cutting things.
Cultural Enterprises Awards 2023: Dippy shortlisted…
There must be some mistake: The Natural History Museum’s book Dippy: The Nation’s favourite dinosaur is shortlisted in the Cultural Enterprises Awards in the Best Children’s Publication category. Surely, Dippy should be on the tall list.
Waterhouse: the mouse featured in Dippy. Even if he was as high as an elephant’s eye, he wouldn’t see eye to eye with Dippy.
Black and white, and a little red…
Rubricating has been around for ages. It must have been tedious for scribes working only in black ink after a while, and what better way to highlight something than to change its colour. But did it have to be red? Was there not a less laborious colour to mix? This is how red ink was made at the time:
To prepare white-flake, get some sheets of lead beaten out thin, place them dry in a hollow piece of wood and pour in some warm vinegar or urine to cover them. Then, after a month, take off the cover and remove whatever white there is, and again replace it as at first. When you have a sufficient amount and you wish to make red lead from it, grind this flake-white on a stone without water, then put it in two or three new pots and place it over a burning fire. You have a slender curved iron rod, fitted at one end in a wooden handle and broad at the top, and with this you can stir and mix this flake-white from time to time. You do this for a long time until the red lead becomes visible. (from Theophilus' De diversis artibus).
But it would have been worth the effort considering the hours spent on the black parts of the book or manuscript.
I used a powerful computer and a pencil to mix mine. Took about 15 seconds.
