Olympian Bert

Bert stocking up on calories for his Olympian feat of running around the Burges Salmon part of Bristol bearing a torch   Photo © Burges Salmon

Illustration Friday - Sight

The Gift of Second Sight

Click on image to ENLARGE

 I don’t know what they are looking at.  I can’t see it!

Illustration Friday - Grounded (VERY LATE)

I didn't get around to finishing this until this week.............................

Illustration Friday - Kernel

Was trying to link Kernel with Colonel but it wasn't working out, so I worked with the walnut-looking brain/pea(nut) brain/Nutty Professor ideas, not too successfully.  

I made my nutty professor a woman to try to escape cliché but she still has wild hair and originally a second pair of glasses on her forehead...anyway...

Then my friend Katy insisted I look up a Music Hall (Vaudeville) song Gilbert the Filbert..."the Kernel of the Knuts!" and illustrate that...(also not particularly successfully - and I've missed out the women in the wooden huts who threw themselves at Gilbert).  Gilbert is "the Pride of Piccadilly, a blasé roué", basically he is a debauched man lost to women and drink...A "knut" is apparently a "Man about Town".  A filbert is a type of hazelnut.

Gilbert the Filbert was written by Basil Hallam (1889-1916) in 1915 for a revue show The Passing Show.  The actor & singer came to a sad end during the First World War when he fell from an Observation Balloon that became untethered, and his parachute got tangled.

The knut with the K!

Illustration Friday - Hitched

How many elephants will fit into a Mini?**

Nellie* packed her trunk and tried to hitch a lift to the Jungle.  Unluckily, the first car already contained 4 elephants; 2 in the front and 2 in the back...

I can't believe how long I've been doing this picture, although I did have to change Nellie's outfit from a feathery, sparkly head-dress and dress, and the Mini from having an elephant hanging out of the window, as it seemed to illustrate the wrong, less salubrious theme.

* Nellie The Elephant is a classic British children's song from the 1950s.  It was written by by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart and recorded by English child actress Mandy Miller, and later by punk group The Toy Dolls.  In the song, Nellie "packed her trunk and said 'Goodbye' to the circus".  Apparently, according to Wikipedia, the rhythm of the song is perfect for helping administer CPR at the correct tempo.  Having listened to the song, I realise that the circus was actually in India.  My scene doesn't look too much like India.

**The reference to the Mini is from another classic - an Elephant joke...

Illustration Friday - Jump

I was going to create new picture, but last week rediscovered this picture that I did for my friends' wedding/wedding anniversary!  It's pretty jumpy, featuring as it does Josephine Jerboa, Freddie Marsh Frog and Lydia Mouse-Lemur!

 

Illustration Friday - Heights