Karen Runge II

So am am between processing the degree shows of Scotland and my final Wind in the Willows posts. I thought I had already featured the work of Karen Runge but I haven't so I'm pleased to show some of her illustrations for the 'Wind in the Willows now and hopefully when I feature these artists you will go and check out their personal 'non-project work' for there are lots of treats to discover. Karen has used a wonderful spider web of layered line for many of her illustrations for this project, they are very elegant and quite art nouveau. 

Ruth Fulknit I

 

The illustrations of Ruth Fulknit, for the Wind in the Willows challenge. I love her characters and particularly her line sketches. 

Interpretations of Wind in the Willows

 

Above: water rat in a life belt by Wren.

I have the honour of teaching a group of 6-11 year old children on Thursday evenings and I set them three of the Wind in the willows challenges, only one of them had heard of it, and none knew or had seen its main protagonists, which made me sad, and on mentioning basic wild flowers, trees etc, the knowledge was not there. It takes very little time for knowledge to disappear, Having witnessed it I would say two generations combined with a decimated art, crafts and nature curriculum and the swift removal of many of the older teachers. 

Above and below: Joey

Miki (Milky Water Colour)

 

Wonderful soft illustrations  by Miki, with fabulous characterisation of all the elements especially the trees below.

Nelly Edwards II

 

I love the clarity of the design in these illustrations by Nelly Edwards for the 'Wind in the Willows' challenge, the delicate speckled colours and beauty. 

Kristine Vos-Skopane

Kristine Vos-Skopane has chosen to make a bright little zine for her 'Wind in the Willows' challenge, her first zine and a challenge of scale as this is a small format for Kristine to work in. There is no room for error when you are working in a book or 'zine' format you just have to go with what ever 'happy' or 'unhappy' accidents occur,  a challenge in itself and why I'm aways in awe of artists who have mastered the art of Sketchbook work. 

 

Hazel Terry

 

The 'Wind in the Willows' challenge organised by the irrepressible Monty Lee gave me the boost I needed to make a very long book, I had cut out the elements for, but not constructed it, not knowing quite what I was going to use it for. 

We are on day three today, but that means I am now on the last of the illustrations I have been working on and I will no doubt be late for the next prompts especially as I am working for the next 7 days. 

I have, so far, used cling film to 'print' on the blank pages with acrylic paint, to make a base and then worked the images up with watercolours and further printed spring leaves, using mint and blackcurrant, the smell was incredible.  

The Wind in the Willows is not my favourite book, I don't know why, I never warmed to it, may be the selfishness of toad, quite probably the overt classism. However I have loved getting lost in the details of the nature and landscapes, on such a wide format and removing most of the anthropomorphic elements. 

I have to say an added joy with all of these challenges on instagram has been the fairly new possibility of adding music, which I just love. 

Instagram like many platforms has lost its innocence and joy over the years and meta harvesting images for AI is a hideous development, as has been its algorithm, which prevents organic exploration and discovery as ell as just being able to catch up on people you follow's posts. 

Abbie Preston II

 

Abbie Preston is an illustrator based in Colorado and these are the first of her wind in the Willows interpretations, I do love the order of the flower meadow above and mole and rat rushing to find their friend. 

Chris Dunn

 

Chris Dunn graduated from Bath University in 2008. In 2011 he entered the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and the Bath Art Prize, he won both and that acted as a catalyst and 'permission to draw from his imagination as a career. 

In 2013 he was commissioned by Galerie Daniel Maghen, Paris to paint a series of watercolours based on The Wind in the Willows.

Thus began my love affair with all things Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad. Curiously I chose not to illustrate scenes from Kenneth Grahame’s masterpiece (I was over cautious when it came to copyright), rather I explored the world on the periphery of the riverbank sometimes hinted at by Grahame. It was a rich seam to mine illustrating an imaginary (alas) world of woodland animals interacting at home, in the trees, city, sea coast, school and even in the air. Chris Dunn

Following a successful exhibited in Paris mid 2016  Galerie DM commissioned Chris to illustrate the Wind in the Willows as a complete book and he became a full-time artist specialising in traditional children’s book watercolour illustration.

Robert Ingpen

 

Australian artist Robert Ingpen's illustrated 'Wind in the Willows' published by Templar 2007.

Robert Ingpen was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia. 

In 1958, Ingpen was appointed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation as an artist to interpret and communicate the results of scientific research. 

From 1968 Ingpen worked as a freelance designer, illustrator and author. He was also a member of a United Nations team in Mexico and Peru until 1975, where he was involved in a number of Australian conservation and environmental projects".

Ingpen's interest in conservation issues continued, and he was one of the founding members of the Australian Conservation Foundation. 

In his career he has illustrated over 100 books and in 1986 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature and followed by a Membership of the Order of Australia.