been watching the brilliant movies of mime, actor, director jacques tati (1907-1982) latterly. i am really excited about the illusionist, an animated film based on an unproduced script of his, directed by sylvain chomet (the old lady & the pigeons, belleville rendez-vous) to be released in the states dec 25^th. 

i am equally excited about the coen brothers’s treatment of the charles portis (born 1933) classic western novel, true grit, to be released on the same date. although aware of the john wayne version, i watched the trailer for it recently & that only fortified my decision to avoid it.

started artwork for a new book & have been listening to the eccentric & fantastic michael hurley all day. he creates the art for the covers of his albums as you can see below, i also added some pieces i found on his website.

 

i've been a big fan of the two gallants ever since i saw their super charged performance at koko in london. the two are pursuing solo projects for the moment that sound great to me- adam haworth stephens has a free track here from his new album out in sept & tyson vogel's devotionals is available now. 

i bought an old copy of the little red engine gets a name a few weeks ago. the art of lewitt-him is just incredible, the story not so! i saw the "off the ration" poster below on display in the imperial war museum london, not sure if it's still there. beautiful pages from the sketchbook of george him at the bottom. 

the french, at the turn of the century, had practically reinvented the illustrated book. along with the work of ándre helle, edy legrand, boutet de monvel, felix vallotton, & pierre bonnard, de brunhoff shared a freedom of charm, a freshness of vision that captivates & takes the breath away. like an extravagant piece of poetry, the interplay between few words & many pictures, commonly called the picture book, is a difficult, exquisite, & most easily collapsible form that few have mastered. the successful results are so ingenious & profound that they should rightfully take their place with comparably sophisticated "grown-up" works of art.

beautiful painting from the russina-ukranian artist alexandra exter (1882-1949)

really like their new album history from below, especially the song white table. 

also know as leadbelly (1888 – 1949). i was listening to his music a lot but since reading wolfe & lornell’s biography about the songster & learning more about the meaning of his lyrics i can’t stop! 

here’s an amusing little excerpt from the book, keep in mind that early on he played a six string guitar:

over the years huddie told several versions of how he started playing the twelve-string. here is one:

well, i used to just have an ordinary guitar. one night i was playin’ in a place- one of them sukey-jump places- and people was drinkin’ and some was dancin’ and it was warm. i was playin’ there and one of the strings broke. i jest went on playin’, though. then a pretty gal come along & boy! she was a high-brown. wow! she came over to where i was sittin’ & playin’, & she come & leaned down close. jest then another string broke, but i didn’t let on. i jest went on playin’. it was hot, & she jest leaned down over my shoulder & pushed against me- you know. & another string broke, but i couldn’t stop now. not no how! so i jest kept on playin’, ‘cause she was nice- fine as wine in summer time. & then you know what? another string broke, & i jest had one string left. i played that one string ‘cause i liked that thing. but i  made up my mind right then that i’d go out & get me a 12-string guitar. 

leadbelly & musicoligist john lomax play themselves in this short clip. 

leadbelly - bourgeois blues

"the titanic" by leadbelly

roger e. mosley played leadbelly in the eponymous 1976 film directed by gordon banks. finding a copy can be tough, but i really enjoyed it.

i simply cannot get enough of their work- christophe blain, joann sfar, lewis trondheim. monsieur blain in particular makes the best comics i have ever read, such a treat.

... “the bible of traditional french home cooking” by ginette mathiot, first published in france in 1932 is available for the first time in english. blexbolex’s illustrations were the main attraction for me but the photography within is sumptuous too. 

you wouldn't know it, well not until the next book is released in october, but i've been drawing tigers, elephants & hippos for a long, long time now. this has given me more than ample time to ponder on my favourite tiger/elephant/hippo from a children's book. the winners are...

been reading the near silent comics of jason. the pace of the stories, reminiscent of silent movies, and the author’s deadpan humour are compelling. i like the feel of the books too- the almost cardboard quality of the paper seems to complement his minimalist drawing style & clean black line work. graceland film company and animidias animation studios have adapted his story shhh! for animation. here’s a link to two short clips.

in an effort to find a new book to read that wasn’t on my list, i trawled through the shelves of the nearby second hand book store. i was looking for a tastefully vintage cover to inspire my choice. it was pure serendipity that i should find two such novels, and two that suited one another so comfortably- both written by italians around the same time, both covers by famous illustrators and, most satisfyingly, both marvelous reads.

the very humorous, the late mattia pascal, was written by luigi pirandello (1867-1936) in 1904. the cover art below is by tomi ungerer. confessions of zeno by itali svevo (1861-1928), about the fictional memoirs of zeno cosini was self-published in 1923. this beautiful cover design is by milton glaser, of push pin studios fame. 

... these songs might help. very popular in the studio usually around 7/8pm.

i hadn’t heard about it previously, so i was delighted to see julia donaldson and alex scheffler’s the gruffalo on the telly on christmas day. the 30 min animation was created by the very talented people at studio soi in germany. if you missed it i think it will air again on bbc3 tomorrow and be available on bbc iplayer soon thereafter.

if, like me, you are an admirer of the art of ludwig bemelmans (1898 – 1962), you should pay a visit to the bar named after him at the luxurious carlyle hotel in new york. in 1947 the austrian born artist painted beautiful murals on the walls of the bar in exchange for a year and a half of free accommodation. restored in 2002 by designer thierry despont, the murals show bemelmans’ delightful characters (including madeline and co) enjoying themselves in central park. below are some photos i took, the room is very dimly lit so i was forced to use the flash. 

i have been playing old american country blues in the studio and at home incessantly as of late, in particular the music of mississippi john hurt (1893- 1966) and elizabeth cotten (1895 – 1987). when impending deadlines are on the horizon i find this melodious finger-picked guitar very soothing. this website has mississippi john hurt 1928 sessions to download for free. here is another tremeduous website to get you started in “music of the 78rpm era”, the pick of the bunch being ‘the panic is on’ by hezekiah jenkins.

although not much of a science fiction reader, i did find myself engrossed in a copy of h.g. wells’ (1866 – 1946) the war of the worlds that i borrowed from the library earlier this month. absolutely fascinating to think that it was written some 111 years ago in 1898! for anyone yet to have the pleasure of reading this exhilarating invasion novel i should recommend the hardback version illustrated by the prolific edward gorey (1925 – 2000).

to continue with the theme of illustrations adapted to animation, here are two links to the opening & closing title sequences for the 1980s pbs show mystery! based on the work of edward gorey.

earlier today i saw these short animations of tomi ungerer's the three robbers and the hat. how had they escaped my eyes for so long? my words are superfluous- just watch!

as i try to finish this book i'm listening to the london band, noah and the whale— named for the movie the squid and the whale and its director, noah baumbach — who released their 2nd album the first days of spring last month. the concomitant quality of maudlin lyrics and the often driving, uplifting music make for a beautiful record. some of the more instrumental songs sound as if they have fused their own style with the scores mark mothersbaugh composed for wes anderson's films. there are some free live tracks here from their debut album, peaceful, the world lays me down, 2008. 

i like to compare paul hogarth (1917 - 2001) to nick drake in a way… you discover them both for the first time in art college and become immediately greedy for more and more and more, you run it into the ground. hogarth was a descendant of the famous 18th century english painter william hogarth. he contributed drawings to brendan behan’s island: an irish sketchbook and brendan behan’s new york. these are beautiful books to own. the latter is full of anecdotes and historical facts about the great city, such as this one that particularly stuck in my mind:

behan’s (1923 – 1964) most famous play is surely the hostage, but i most enjoyed reading the big house. 

hungry for more of hogarth’s sublime illustrations i bought his creative ink drawing, a step by step guide to working in ink and again a beautiful book to have in your collection. this master of drawing from real life can give away all his secrets and still no one can touch him.

hogarth then lead me to the english author, graham greene (1904 – 1991). i had been meaning to read mr greene for sometime and had the serendipity around this time of finding a copy of brighton rock (1938) in a 2nd hand book store with a cover illustration by paul hogarth. hogarth illustrated a number of greene’s novels as you can see below.

this murder thriller made for excellent reading and was adapted to a film in 1947 starring richard attenborough. finding a copy of the film here in new york was proving to be a laborious undertaking until i learned that it was released under the title young scarface in america; salt-water taffy would be the american equivalent of brighton rock. 

on labor day my little goddaughter, her baby sister, their parents & i followed the trail salvatore rubbino set out for us in his excellent book, a walk in new york. it has been by far her favourite book for sometime now so this pilgrimage was a must. she knows the words by rote; listening to this tiny person list off statistics about the big apple is very amusing. i saw some of mr rubbino’s illustrations in the v&a museum in 2005 and it was very interesting to see the series transformed into a children’s book. if saul steinberg made children’s books it might look like this. 

i’ll get the inevitable dylan comparison out of the way, difficult to avoid if you play acoustic guitar and have a gift for storytelling. after hearing the track there’s a reason for the first time i immediately ordered a.a. bondy’s american hearts album. when i listened to it in full, i bought one for my old man too. i’m a happy feller drawing away in my sketchbooks, listening to bondy’s simplistic bluesy-folk songs. you can download some live recordings free of charge here. his latest offering, when the devil’s loose, was released earlier this month. like his first solo record, there is more biblical imagery with themes of damnation and salvation, but a softer approach musically. here he is singing a cover of bruce springsteen's i'm on fire.

earlier this year i read aleksandr solzhenitsyn’s (1918 – 2008) one day in the life of ivan denisovich and cancer ward back to back. these books are fascinating, amazing. i can only imagine what it was like when this first hand account of stalinst repression was released to the world in 1962.

as a commander in the red army, solzhenitsyn was sent to a soviet forced labor concentration camp for "libelous speech" about stalin in 1945. one day is about prisoner ivan denisovich shukhov, sentenced to a camp in the soviet gulag system.

in 1954 solzhenitsyn was transferred to a hospital to be treated for cancer. his experiences here formed the basis of his novel cancer ward. 

ornithology today. i’m sure most new yorkers are already aware of this, but i stumbled upon it while reading about the ubiquitous house sparrow when i first arrived. in 1851 eccentric new yorker and shakespeare fanatic eugene schiffelin introduced the house sparrow to america in order to have all the birds mentioned in the bard’s work nesting in central park.

this kind of bio-introduction was not uncommon in the 1880s apparently, most die out but some thrive and multiply rapidly. other examples are the european starling and the pigeon. from the 60 european starlings nesting near the natural history museum in central park that schiffelin imported in 1890 there are now 200 million, making it one of the most widespread birds of all north america. the sad result is that native birds like purple martens and eastern bluebirds are on the brink of extinction.

i am most fond of the brightly coloured male american robin i see conspicuously foraging in central park. american robin is the most widespread thrush in north america, named after the european robin, although the two species are not closely related. 

as of late i have been absorbing the striking paintings in brian wildsmith's abc for children. born in the mining village* of penistone, yorkshire this was his first book, for which he won the prestigious kate greenaway medal in 1962. below are some insightful quotes from mr wildsmith and here is a little q&a from his website. 

edward burra (1905 - 1976) was a hugely underrated english painter who was born not far from where i lived in london, in the district of south kensington. he was a close friend of the more famous paul nash. burra travelled extensively in france and italy but it is his paintings of the harlem renaissance of the 1930s that i cherish. burra would frequent bars and nightclubs and brothels to find his subjects. the detail in the fashionable clothes, jewelry and typefaces used in signs are remarkable; especially as burra never sketched at these seedy locations. interestingly, he had a photographic memory and would work up the image when he returned to the studio. another artist that i discovered had the same ability is winsor mcmay, most famous for little nemo in slumberland. 

... and now to end on a musical note (sorry!). i listened to johnny flynn's debut album, a larum, many times while working on my last book. there is a home recording called lost and found here> http://www.myspace.com/johnnyflynn, he plans to put up a new one every month. another young talent that moves in the same circles is laura marling. alas i cannot swim (available here> http://www.myspace.com/lauramarling) is a great way to start a morning of drawing.

i have a strong affection for the music of the san francisco-based folk band vetiver. it is very likely that i will contradict myself later, but they are my favourite band to play while drawing at my desk. try them out for yourself by clicking on the audio player here> http://www.vetiverse.com/info/ the cover album, thing of the past, includes the swimming song (written by loudon wainwright III). it’s the best song about swimming i’ve ever come across, although i can’t think of anything to compete with it! reminds me of lepping in swimming pools with my brother when i was a kid. http://hypem.com/track/570028/Vetiver+-+The+Swimming+Song 

were i still a denizen of london i would have been the first in line to see them play recently with the baltimore duo, beach house. master of none is a stand out track from the 2006 album beach house > http://www.carparkrecords.com/beachhouse.mp3 they’re playing for free this weekend with grizzly bear in brooklyn> http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/h2oshows/

i seem to have a penchant for true crime stories/murder ballads at the moment. it’s probably a byproduct of the western films i was watching recently. the genesis of all this was bruce springsteen’s nebraska, from the same titiled album. the song is about a real murderer that went on a killing spree with his girlfriend in the 1950s. the events inspired the fictional film badlands by terrence malick. all the songs mentioned here are from the murder’s perspective and involve guns, jails and judges- all essential ingredients for a great outlaw ballad. the band deer tick recorded a very different cover of the boss’ song and it’s available for free here> http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/deer-tick-doctor-lonesomeless-come-to-call-concert/20030711-3737501.html 

kristian matsson is a swedish folk singer that goes by the moniker of the tallest man on earth. his skillful guitar playing and cryptic lyrics delivered in that powerful voice make excellent listening while drawing away. i enjoy his album, shallow grave (2008), so much that it seems to finish five mins after i hit play. here's a great video of him doing his stuff in an old music store in greenwich village.

another music tip before i put my pencils down for the weekend- the cave singers. they are fantastic live, can't wait to see them again soon. their new album is out next week i think. 2 new tracks from it here> http://www.myspace.com/thecavesingers

hello there,