When I signed up to this commission I little realised that I would be given a crew of mice to sail her. What a shambles. They have no idea, are lazy in the extreme and have made a tangled mess of the rigging. How we are ever expected to sail across the world's oceans I will never know. This ship needs a cat!
It is absolutely beautiful. I want that book! :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite nursery songs - as performed by Madeleine and Gabriel in episode 1 of Bagpuss of course!
ReplyDeleteSo many different versions of the words. This is the one I am going with at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI saw a ship a sailing, a sailing on the sea
And it was deeply laden with pretty things for me.
There were raisons in the cabins and apples in the hold,
The sails were made of silk and the mast was made of gold.
The four and twenty sailors
Who stood upon the decks
Were four and twenty white mice
With chains around their necks.
The captain was a duck, a duck,
With a jacket on his back,
And when the faery ship set sail,
The captain said, “ Quack quack!”
This is so lovely! All the subtle details you've added make it a true feast for the eyes. It will be a magnificent book.
ReplyDeleteJackie-incredible illustration-love all the activity-when will the book be coming out and who is the publisher? Great work-makes me smile-thank you.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely ! My children sing that one except they sing "And when the ship began to move" I think your Line "And when the faery ship set sail" is better...That is a Lovely painting...quite beautiful in fact..thank you :)
ReplyDeleteThe book, which is called A Rhyme in Time at the moment, which has a degree of irony about it as I am so very behind with it all, should be published by Frances Lincoln, Janetta Otta- Barry books in autumn 2011. That is if I get it finished in time.
ReplyDeleteRight now I am moving on to weasels going pop, and dog barking, while Daffadown Dilly comes into town in a yellow petticoat and a green gown. I love the mad anarchic nature of nursery rhymes and the way they are all inside my head, when I struggle to remember so much of anything else.
Absolutely lovely. Those mice are adorable. What tinkers!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful illustration Jackie! I love old sailing ships like that...especially ones with mice of course :) hehe
ReplyDeleteGorgeous Jackie! I think it's the best yet... absolutely brilliant. It's going to be the Queen of all nursery rhyme books :-)
ReplyDelete