Dublin

Heuston Station is the point of arrival or departure for rail routes west or south of Ireland's capital. I did a couple of quick sketches around the concourse and beside the platforms. Unfortunately ink was running low in my brushpen by the second sketch in the station and the only replacement I could find was calligraphic ink (I usually use watered-down liquid acrylic ). The result is a watery dense blackness with little or no subtlety. I'll have to clean out the brush and get back to the original mix.

2010 Greetings Stamps

An Post have released their 2010 greetings booklet featuring 2 stamps I designed and illustrated. For you philatelists out there, first day covers are now available from An Post’s website. I was first asked to submit some ideas exploring different directions for greetings stamps. The stamps are regarded as not being occasion-specific, but as Valentines day is the second biggest post date after Christmas, it’s bound to appear.

On the initial submission, I decided to take two approaches. The first was a sketch like direction, much like the Kilkenny 400 stamps I had produced for An Post last summer and the second was a little more whimsical (and an opportunity to get my kids featured on stamps if I worked it right!)

For the first day cover an image was also needed for the envelope to tie in with the theme. It was one of those rare occasions where the first idea I had seemed to exactly what everyone was looking for. The post floating to your door with a starry sky background and the rocket floating by. Finally I had to do some stickers and a card to be included in the pack.

A bit of tweaking, a few re-drafts and the job was done. Son and eldest daughter on the stamps, younger daughter on the accompanying card. Mission accomplished!

Smithfield Market, Dublin
Very early on a cold misty morning, I tried to capture some of the activity around this flower and vegetable market. The freezing weather soon had me retreating to the warm fug of the local greasy spoon to defrost my fingers.