Tiny Fishes Red and Gold

I'm trying something slightly different, when rooting through another stack of interesting looking old books in a 2nd hand shop in Southport, I saw these childrens books. Which are definately from the 50's if not before and in amazing condition. They have lovely little signatures in the front 'from Pa' etc. You can definately tell that they were treasured possessions because of their pristine condition.

The illustrations in them are fantastic. I had been concentrating so hard on the way men had been represented in these old books, but these are obviously much more geared towards girls and the pictures are stunning. Even though they are soso cute and no doubt my tutor will criticise me for painting something which is so twee and cutesy, I've gone and done it anyway because it was too hard to resist!

Even though the pictures are ridiculously cute, and the pictures are just so pleasant to look at, I do actually find them interesting in other ways. I like how the children are so innocently represented in the drawings, and how completly different this is so different to today. I like how the little girls are so stereotypically dressed up to be 'little girls' aswell with their little smock dresses and bows in their hair. I also like how the way I've drawn the illustrations contrasts with my dead animal drawings so well. I do think that a mix of all this imagery on different scales and in different styles etc, will look pretty cool for the degree show if I can just pull it all together.

The last 5 images are my paintings, they're on A1 as usual and made with drawing inks.