Newsletter April 2021

Fred Gambino interview

Fred Gambino's been interviewed by Digital Arts Magazine and the result is a really interesting read (go to page 10). Never a show-off, but hugely imaginative and technically skilled, Fred is very accomplished as a digital artist as he has proved when working on movies in LA, Dallas, Vancouver and the UK - as well as being a great traditional painter and a writer too.

You can flick through the pages of Fred's book on this link Dark Shepherd

And you can buy it here, Dark Shepherd.

Nifties are clearly generating an income for some but perhaps owning an original painting is a bit more exciting than owning a digital file, and more secure too. So we haven't been tempted into that yet . . . although John Harris's latest painting is now for sale on our website. There it is, the only one in the world, The Habitats of Corrylus, with these handsome and rather mysterious buildings looking a bit like a family group. Here's a detail:

And here's the full painting.

In fact, always strong on concepts, John's now collected together many small sketches which show the very early stages of some of his paintings - and he's put them all together on two large sheets of 45 inches wide each. We plan to offer them as prints soon. More on that, next time.

It's fascinating to see these thumbnails just at the point when the ideas first emerged. This is just a detail from one of the sheets.

You may not have seen much of Jeffrey Alan Love online for a while but he's been busy and he's also produced a second cover for Mnemos, for the book by Raphael Bardas.

We are delighted to find that both Neil Packer and Grahame Baker Smith have been chosen to represent the UK at the Bibiana Biennial exhibition of children's book illustrations in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The jury have chosen two books from the same series by Grahame Baker Smith, one about the rain and one about the wind. (Other elements in this series are in the pipeline.)

For Neil Packer they've chosen One of a Kind, his book on taxonomy which has received the most amazing reviews. Here are a few examples.

'It's a mesmerizing collection of collections for readers ages 6-10.' Wall Street Journal

'Anything you didn't like about it? No. Pitch perfect.' Boston Latin School

'Oh wow, Neil! Oh WOW! It's wonderful. Gillian Cross

'A magnificent book that is as captivating and witty as it is beautifully illustrated. I loved it.' Peter Frankopan

Here's an example of how Neil visually explains DNA, and there's more on the book here.