http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/index/ en blabla@metadelic.com Copyright 2012 2012-01-18T21:00:16+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/drawing_the_line_somewhere2/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/drawing_the_line_somewhere2/#When:21:00:16Z Or All About Making Your Mark One of the best ways to go on about yourself, albeit obliquely, is to proffer advice. Chronicles 2012-01-18T21:00:16+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/strands_and_broken_shells1/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/strands_and_broken_shells1/#When:19:44:53Z Or Thoughts for the Year to Come I think if I had to choose what seashells I prefer, I would respond “The broken ones.” Chronicles 2011-12-16T19:44:53+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/about_the_moving_of_mountains/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/about_the_moving_of_mountains/#When:08:59:25Z Or the Able Tools of Patience and Passion It seems we humans have a certain preoccupation with material things. Chronicles 2011-11-16T08:59:25+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/ships_sails_and_faraway_planets/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/ships_sails_and_faraway_planets/#When:19:00:55Z The Forgotten Voyage of William M. Timlin Several months ago, I received one of those offers that cannot be refused. Calla Editions, the fine art book imprint of Dover Publishing, was preparing a re-edition of William M. Timlin’s book The Ship That Sailed to Mars. Would I like to write an introduction? Well, yes, of course yes. Chronicles 2011-10-15T19:00:55+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/the_defining_of_dreams/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/the_defining_of_dreams/#When:03:59:47Z Women in the Golden Age of Illustration: Florence Harrison “The chief obstacle to a woman’s success is that she can never have a wife. Just reflect what a wife does for an artist.” 1 ~~~ “I see a little girl sitting on the grass, beneath the limes in the hot summer-tide, with eyes fixed on the far away blue hills, and seeing who knows what shapes there; for the boy by her side is reading to her wondrous stories of knight and lady, and fairy thing, that lived in the ancient days…” 2 ~~~ “There is no earthly reason why women should not be illustrators.” 3 ~~~   Chronicles 2011-09-15T03:59:47+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/come_unto_these_yellow_sands_but_mind_the_naked_fairies/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/come_unto_these_yellow_sands_but_mind_the_naked_fairies/#When:23:41:19Z A Few Words First Most of my favourite newsletters are the ones I’ve not written. Not principally because some generous soul has spared me racing against looming deadlines, but because the texts written by talented authors who generously allow me to reproduce them here are always a delight to discover. Charlotte Zeepvat is, in her own words, a “compulsive researcher, endlessly fascinated by finding things out, model maker, painter (never quite finding the skill to match the pictures in my head but still game to try) and would-be but probably-never-will-be illustrator, historian by training, writer, and collector of old photographs.” She writes books, occasionally illustrates them, and knows astonishing things about subjects few have heard of or even considered. Charlotte has a web site, currently with hoarding all about and “Under Construction” signs up all around, and very politely declined my offer to list her books because they “probably won’t be of much interest to anyone who wants fantasy and fairies.” So, you’ll have to look up her work on your own. You can also take her qualification of “would-be but probably-never-will-be illustrator” with a grain of salt. Her artwork is detailed and exquisite. But, in the meantime, read on, and do mind the fairies.   Chronicles 2011-08-16T23:41:19+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/ships_in_the_air/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/ships_in_the_air/#When:19:00:40Z Or a Short History of Flights of Fantasy “…Give me the ships, with sails adapted to the heavenly wind; there will be fearless people, even if they face the immensity. And for those descendants who in short time will venture themselves by these ways we will prepare…” The words are from Johannes Kepler, written to Galileo Galilei in his “Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo” published in 1610. Four centuries ago. Chronicles 2011-07-15T19:00:40+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/the_dream_of_emese/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/the_dream_of_emese/#When:23:33:49Z Or An Intricate Intertwining of Threads Many months ago, while investigating – if investigating is not too diligent-sounding a term for my somewhat directionless wanderings on the track of some mythological creature or other across the marches of cultural history – those wonderful places in time and geography where ancient cultures meet and exchange the greatest gift: the transference of elements of their beliefs from one to another, I stumbled across iconography all but identical from Persia and Hungary. I promptly sent a note to a friend and colleague from Budapest, asking if the tale of the Dream of Emese might ring a bell. Chronicles 2011-06-11T23:33:49+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/a_shoulder_to_lean_on/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/a_shoulder_to_lean_on/#When:19:00:21Z Or Reflections by a Vicarious Southpaw After a half a century of diligent draughtsmanship one would think that much if not all of the process can be taken for granted. (Estimation based on the point where I most distinctly recall encountering my first major difficulties in drawing what I wished – a recalcitrant cow* - sure sign that it would never be possible to be fully satisfied with a drawing, meaning of course that the only choice left was to spend a lifetime or so working on it.) Chronicles 2011-05-15T19:00:21+00:00 http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/two_years_or_two_thousand_miles/ http://www.john-howe.com/news/index.php/site/comments/two_years_or_two_thousand_miles/#When:20:00:41Z ... Whichever Come First Or the Statistics of Art, Parentheses Parity and Pencil Parings Two years ago today, I stepped off a plane in Wellington and said to myself “Well, I’m back.” It had been a while, clearly, and in all honesty, I thought at the time that now, two years along, I’d be repeating myself, but back on the other side of the globe… Chronicles 2011-04-15T20:00:41+00:00