Pondering Upon Pomegranates

Pondering Upon Pomegranates, the cover of a self-published book (in a limited edition of 110 copies), written and illustrated by JVL in 1999

'The Fisherman and his Net'

'The Fisherman and his Net', an illustration by JVL in Aesop's Fables, Jonathan Cape, 1989.

This is a Greek fable by Babrius, which suggests that insignificance can sometimes contribute towards safety. Here is a translation of the fable by Thomas James in an edition of 1848.

The Fisherman and his Net 

A FISHERMAN was drawing up a net which he had cast into the sea, full of all sorts of fish. The Little Fish escaped through the meshes of the net, and got back into the deep, but the Great Fish were all caught and hauled into the ship.

Text: Thomas James (175, 1848). Selected Parallels: Babrius 4. Perry 282. Chambry 25. TMI L331.

'Gemini'

'Gemini', a monotype illustration by JVL; a Zodiac sign for 'Starcope' for the magazine Honey, 1965

'Still life with pot, plants and mandolin'

'Still life with pot, plants and mandolin', a gouache painting by JVL 

carried out when I was a 17 or 18-year old art student at Salford, 1957.

Window View at Twynberllan, Peterchurch

'Window View at Twynberllan, Peterchurch', a notebook drawing by JVL, 17-19 June 2013.

'The Dong with a Luminous Nose'

'The Dong with a Luminous Nose', an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, Jonathan Cape, 1984 and reissued in 2012.

Here are the first two verses:

When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain,   Through the long, long wintry nights;-- When the angry breakers roar As they beat on the rocky shore;--   When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore:-- Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark,   A lonely spark with silvery rays   Piercing the coal-black night,--   A Meteor strange and bright:-- Hither and thither the vision strays,   A single lurid light.

'The University Fairy with a White Shadow'

'The University Fairy with a White Shadow', 

a doodle drawn by JVL at a University School Management meeting on 1 December 1992

old sketchbook pages

Drawings by JVL from an old student sketchbook when aged 19 in 1959

'An Old Man of Dumblane'

'An Old Man of Dumblane' an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, 

Jonathan Cape, 1984, reissued in 2012, page 155.

'The Old Man of Thermopylae'

'The Old Man of Thermopylae', an illustration by JVL in The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, Jonathan Cape, 1984 (and reissued in 2012, page 121.

'Absurd Event'

'Absurd Event', a notebook drawing by JVL, 13 March 2012

Part of the left-hand page drawing was carried out during a forum at Falmouth University College.

The title of the forum was 'Absurd Event', chosen by Steve Braund (the convener of the Forum), when I had told him a few months earlier that the words 'Absurd Event' were an anagram of his name.

The drawing on the left-hand page is a building where my granddaughter Freya lived during her first year on the BA (Hons) Illustration course at Falmouth.