Art With Heart: May Gibbs

[ARTWORK: May Gibbs©  WATER COLOUR: Being Ruby©]

[ARTWORK: May Gibbs©]

[ARTWORK: May Gibbs©]

[ARTWORK: May Gibbs©]

A few posts back I promised to search out some works by the Australian illustrator/author May Gibbs. Keen to bring her colourful works to you.. I searched the internet in vain and finally resorted to dragging my own book out of the garage to photograph them. To my surprise I found that most of the illustrations I've been carrying around in my memory for many a decade, were actually pencil sketches. Not the colourful works I recalled from my childhood memories. In fact my own book [a later edition] only contains a few colour plates. How can this be? I was sure all her magnificent creations were bursting with the hues of the Australian flora. Did I imagine this? Did my childhood imagination bring the colours to life? Now I'm not sure. Perhaps my original book was all in colour.  I may never know.. but I do know that May's work had a way of influencing a child's imagination.. allowing it to flourish and spread it's tendrils just like the wildflowers and flora that inspired her fanciful characters. 

The more I research and revisit her work.. the more I understand just what an inspirational artist she was. She took the landscape she so loved and created characters as real as the flowers themselves. Little living beings.. with hopes and dreams.. fears and foes.. desires and ambitions. She introduced the Australian Flora to generations of children.. and taught them that art was something to be admired and cherished.. [For instance 'The Artist's Studio' above].. 

I suspect that her work influenced me more than I remember and in an attempt to recreate what my memory held dear.. I decided to 'colour in' some of her pencil sketches..  [that is.. colour in using photoshop]. The first attempt didn't quite make the grade.. it's a whole new ball game.. 'painting' with photoshop and attempting to both create a water colour affect, and keep the integrity of the 'depression era' colours.. But I think I'm getting closer with my colour version of 'Cuddlepie Glared At The Huge Face'.. The 2nd image in this post is May's original pencil/charcoal sketch.. the 1st is my own attempt to bring her colours to life.  The last two colour images are May's original works photographed from my old dusty book from the garage.. 

I'm feeling this is going to be an new addiction for me and may work on a few more of her sketches.. That way I can share with you her wonderful imagination and bring my own childhood memories to life. I may have to work on the Banskia Man soon.. The evil antagonist in May's stories and the rascal that started me on this journey.. In case you missed it.. you can find that post [ here].

Thanks everyone for indulging me in this little obsession. It's been a while since I posted to my 'Art With Heart' series. And it's been a while since I've visited all you kind folk [sorry!!!].  You'll be pleased to know I did get back to garage duties and have almost competed throwing out years and years of 'stuff'.. I did of course keep the memories.. In living colour it would seem!!!

Have a lovely new week

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS

All May Gibbs Images [#1-#4] photographed from 

'The Adventures of Cuddlepot & Snugglepie'

Image#1: Has been 'coloured'  by [BeingRuby©]

MAY GIBBS

1877-1969

Biography: Cecilia May Gibbs 1877 - 1969. May migrated  to Perth Australia when she was four years old. Following her marriage in 1919 she moved to Sydney, settling in Neutral Bay and her beloved home Nutcote. During her illustrious career she designed magazine covers,  illustrations, postcards and published children's book.. the most famous being 'The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie' featuring two gumnut babies and their escape from the big bad Banksia men. Sadly she died childless in 1969, leaving her estate to UNICEF, the Spastic Centre of NSW and the NSW Society for Crippled Children [now the Northcott Society]. Often heralded for her benevolence to children.. she was also a conservationist.. and taught us to admire and protect the living world around us.

Australian Bush Colours: The Banskia

The Banskia [man]

Yes I know this is my third post in the same number of days.. Unusual for me.. Perhaps it's withdrawals from my time away from blogging.. or perhaps it's just creative avoidance. I'm good at that.. I've been cleaning through my years of 'stuff' I've accumulated in my garage.. Boxes and boxes of books and 'things' that have relocated with me each move, some long forgotten. 

Yesterday I found my Snugglepot and Cuddlepie book by the Australian author May Gibbs.  What a brilliant and talented author and artist she was.. inspired by the wild flowers and bushlands surrounding her Sydney Harbour home, she created a world full of fantasy and beauty for many an Australian child and grownups alike. I loved and treasured her stories and drawings as a child. The characters she brought to life came from an imagination that most of us could barely emulate. Anyway.. getting off the track a little.  Seeing her book reminded me of her  Banskia Man. My images above  I created back in October last year. Not sure why I haven't posted them before.. but here they are now... A little bit of Australian Bush Colour..  Inspired and created by shots I took of the scrublands bordering my local beach..

I will try and find a good link for you to give you a taste of May Gibbs.. [still looking].. Meanwhile hope you enjoy these images..

Thanks for the comments on the Noosa post.. I know I'm posting quicker than usual and will attempt to get round to visit all.. Just have a sudden urge to create [or avoid cleaning the garage]

IMAGE SOURCE & CREDITS

Photography, Text & Artwork [beingRUBY.blogspot©]

Subject:  [wildflowers, Sydney Australia] Oct 2010