John Broadley’s Jubilee Special

A beautiful illustration by British illustrator John Broadley depicting a very stylized version of the crest of the United Kingdom which features the solar Lion in opposition to the lunar Unicorn.

I found this in amongst a lot of other work on John’s Flickr stream. I don’t have any other infromation on it but given the title referencing the Jubilee and the date it was uploaded I think it would be a safe bet that this drawing was created to mark the Queen’s fiftieth jubilee last year.

I’m a big fan of John’s work. You can find out more about his illustration practice at www.johnbroadley.blogspot.co.uk

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Illustrating the Edinburgh Marathon

My good friends Amelia Johnstone and Peter Hathaway have recently teamed up for a collaborative project going by the name of Run to Draw. After much training they will be embarking upon their first full marathon in Edinburgh on the 26 May 2013. Not only will they be running the full 26.3 mile circuit but they will be illustrating the whole event non-stop whilst they run.

They have combined forces to create “Pheidippides” – their running-drawing machine. This magnificent laser cut contraption is worn by Peter and allows Amelia to draw whilst running. Pheidippides houses a long scroll of paper as well as numerous pens and pencils.

Watch them in action in this short video:

As well as helping the pair to investigate how imagination is invigorated through exercise and adventure the Edinburgh marathon is also providing them with an opportunity to raise monet for Alzheimers Scotland so please do support them in trying to raise £1,000 helping to “Make sure no-one goes through dementia on their own”

The image above is an illustration created by Amelia during the Cardiff 10k run earlier this year inspired by a quote about Unicorns I provided. By sponsoring Amelia and Peter you will have an opportunity to contribute a quote of inspiration like this for Amelia to respond to during the Edinburgh marathon – the resulting images will be available to view online after the event.

Amelia aims to produce one drawing per mile of the Edinburgh marathon – what 0.3 miles of a drawing might look like is anybody’s guess!

You can follow them (digitally not literally…) on Twitter @RunToDraw and sponsor them here: www.justgiving.com/runtodraw

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Birth of a Unicorn by Paul Nosa

This embroidery entitled ‘Birth of a Unicorn’ is by American artist and fellow #boyswhosew Paul Nosa.

Paul has developed his own portable bicycle/solar powered sewing machine. The Solar Rover is a portable sewing machine table made entirely from aluminium. To sew anywhere anytime the Rover is powered by a solar panel and/or a bicycle electric generator.

He has been touring around with this contraption for some time attending various events and exhibitions. On each occasion he invites members of the public to provide him with a phrase or scenario in five words of less to embroider using his homemade machine. So far he estimates to have embroidered over 200 such patches and they form quite a beautiful collection. You can view many of them on Paul’s website here.

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Finding the Unicorn: Tapestries Mythical and Modern

17 April to the 1 June 201

An exhibition entitled ‘Finding the Unicorn: Tapestries Mythical and Modern‘ opens at the Fleming Collection this month in London.

Based around the medieval Hunt for the Unicorn tapestry series this exhibition will feature the work of West Dean Tapestry Studio and Historic Scotland’s recently completed refurbishment of James V’s Royal Palace at Stirling Castle. It has taken 12 years to weave the tapestries at the West Dean Tapestry Studio, part of the Edward James Foundation based near Chichester in west Sussex. The originals are at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The image pictured above, from this series, is entitled ‘The Unicorn is Found’.

The exhibition is presented by Historic Scotland and West Dean Tapestry Studio at The Fleming Collection and will fun from the 17 April to the 1 June 2013.

Needless to say this is an exhibition that I will be visiting at least once this spring/summer.

The Fleming Collection is located near Green Park tube station in london at 13 Berkeley Street, W1J 8DU. For further information visit the Fleming Collection website.

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This old illustration is one of those that has been collated to produce Taschen’s new book The Fairy Tales of the Brother’s Grimm.

The little tailor demanded of the King the promised reward; the King, however, repented of his promise, and again bethought himself how he could get rid of the hero. “Before thou receivest my daughter, and the half of my kingdom,” said he to him, “thou must perform one more heroic deed. In the forest roams a unicorn which does great harm, and thou must catch it first.”

“I fear one unicorn still less than two giants. Seven at one blow, is my kind of affair.” He took a rope and an axe with him, went forth into the forest, and again bade those who were sent with him to wait outside. He had to seek long. The unicorn soon came towards him, and rushed directly on the tailor, as if it would spit him on his horn without more ceremony.

“Softly, softly; it can’t be done as quickly as that,” said he, and stood still and waited until the animal was quite close, and then sprang nimbly behind the tree. The unicorn ran against the tree with all its strength, and struck its horn so fast in the trunk that it had not strength enough to draw it out again, and thus it was caught.

“Now, I have got the bird,” said the tailor, and came out from behind the tree and put the rope round its neck, and then with his axe he hewed the horn out of the tree, and when all was ready he led the beast away and took it to the King.

The Unicorn in the Grimm’s tale about The Brave Little Tailor is much more akin to original records of the unicorn recorded by Ctesias (c.500BC) than the magical new age creature that is often presented to us today. Ctesias wrote that the unicorn is ‘the most fell and furious beast of all’.

In keeping with this old description the illustrator has depicted the unicorn as a horse like creature. However he has given the beast equine hooves rather than the elephant feet which Ctesias described in his ancient manuscript.

You can read ‘The Brave (Valiant) Little Tailor‘ in full here.

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Unicorn Leads the Harlem Shake

Knitting Show stall holders captured in their natural habitat being led in a Harlem Shake by a mysterious unicorn.

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Plush Unicorn Bouquet

ThinkGeek have been selling bouquet’s of plush unicorns as a magical alternative to red roses for this valentines.Who can argue with the vendor’s logic:

Think about it. Unicorns are magical. Love is magical. Unicorns are beautiful. Love is beautiful. Unicorns never fart. Love tries to fart in the other room. A unicorn chaser can make you forget bad things. Love makes you forget bad things.

The bouquet is comprised of 11 plush unicorns that are all complete with posable legs. What’s more they come wrapped in purple paper with purple hearts.

via ThinkGeek

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Heirloom: Dissect a Unicorn Pop-Up Book

This magical unicorn pop-up book was made by Alison Woodward aka Alison Wonderland. The book allows you to dissect a unicorn popping through the different layers of the little creature’s internal organs. The end result shows a beautiful and enchanting meadow which is revealed once the unicorn is completely dissected.

Whilst some might find the idea of dissecting a unicorn a little grim this pop-up book wholly embraces the symbolism of the unicorn. The beast has long been associated with death and rebirth both of which are mirrored through the dissecting of the creature and the discovery of the lush green landscape on the other side.

Pop on over to Alison’s blog to see the full sequence of dissection and revelation.

via www.alisonannwoodward.blogspot.ca

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Crocheted Unicorn Plush Toy

This cute crocheted unicorn plush toy was made by the lovely ladies of Barry Stitch & Bitch group in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Luckily Santa noticed the magical activities of these crafty ladies and picked up this unicorn for my Christmas stocking.

Having tried, and failed, at crocheting once upon a time I’m suitably impressed with this magical soft toy. I particularly like the colourful rainbow mane and tail. I just need to christen this critter with a suitably magical name now.

You can find out more about the Barry Stitch & Bitch Group and their crochet masters via their blog: www.barrystitch.wordpress.com

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Papercut Unicorn

As expected I received a number of unicorn related gifts and cards during this festive season. This rather exquisite Christmas card was hand cut from white paper by fairy tale illustrator Layla Holzer.

It is a most magical papercut unicorn which can be lit up by a small white light from within the card as you can see above.

You can view more of Layla’s work, paper cut and painted, at www.laylaholzer.co.uk

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