A Christmas Carol

I recently started an Etsy shop (since closed!) to offer prints of a couple of my BLEAK HOUSE illustrations. I’ve done a soft launch but the fact is my offerings so far are pretty slim. I know a couple of images I’ve done for this project have a broader appeal, but growing a shop like this based on what I’ve done for this one book has some problems. So as I said, a soft launch just to get some feedback, but it is certainly off to a slow start. It would be nice to have something special to offer for Christmas.

I love “A Christmas Carol” as much as anyone, but mostly the movies (Mr. Magoo is my favorite!). I hadn’t read the text for a long time, but recently I read it again as a way to refresh my Dickens knowledge. I pretty quickly felt moved to do some sketching, in a way that movies do not inspire me. Interesting!

I’ve started on three new images from “A Christmas Carol” that I am planning as three-color linoleum prints, a far cry, both esthetically and technically, from my black-and-white BLEAK HOUSE work. The images are Tiny Tim on Bob Cratchit’s shoulder, clearly featuring Tiny Tim’s crutch and leg braces, with the legend “God Bless Us Every One!”; The Ghost of Christmas Present; and Scrooge at his open window, with the legend “The Spirits Have Done It All In One Night!”

These are super-preliminary sketches, in fact the pencil on this one is still wet!

The Ghost of Christmas Present is a challenge because he’s seated on a throne described this way:

Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam. 

Should be interesting.

The secret to getting this last one right is to make Scrooge totally iconic. In fact all of these require the same attention.

The final prints will be 9″x 9″, framable, and of course perfect for the holidays. I’m planning on printing in red and green, but which red and green is the question, and a deep maroon instead of black. Since each print is distinct and unique, I may experiment with mixing colors if I can’t find the right one out of the can.

I’ll be posting progress reports. I’d be happy to hear your comments! dickens@mooneyart.com.