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Thaliad is once again on my desk, as I get to grips with the final clutch of page decorations for it. There are some really interesting ones in progress right now, including landscapes, buildings and a particularly evocative vignette showing Noah’s Ark, the story of which kept coming to mind when I read Marly’s poem. But with the exception of the image above, none of these will be posted on the Artlog until after publication. We have to keep some surprises up our sleeves for when the book comes out!
Clive Hicks-Jenkins' Artlog: 
What a beautiful piece, this is going to be a wonderful book all round, can’t wait to get my hands on it
Oh I love this one 😀 😀
This wreathed horse is just wonderful, Clive. As you know, I was wild about Marly’s poem when it first came across my virtual desk, but your illustrations are taking it into a whole other level of wonder, beauty, and — if I may say so — mystery, because they amplify the enigmatic quality of the writing and the story itself. I can’t wait to see the others, and now we’ll have our work cut out for us in determining the exact sizes and placements. Bravo and thank you!
what a lovely horse! distinctive from your other horses, yet completely yours. the book will be a wonder!
Tenterhooks! Tenterhooks are good…
That is utterly charming. Cunning. Chloe will be mad for it! And everybody else. What a beauteous thing “Thaliad” is shaping up to be. Marvels by you. Design by Beth Adams. And I can’t wait to hold “The Foliate Head.”
(Forgot to send you this link when I wrote, so shall post here: http://thepalaceat2.blogspot.com/2012/07/magnificent-review.html My favorite bits from last night’s About.com review. They don’t get much better than this…)
What a year of books. “Vie with me, ye women, if you can!” Okay, that was Anne Bradstreet (first published poet and first woman writer in the North American colonies to be published) about her husband, but you know what I mean–I do feel extraordinarily lucky this year, in regard to my three new books. Nobody could vie with me in gratitude, I think, especially in gratitude to you and Beth and Andrew!
I hope these books will be beauteous, Marly. We wanted them to be beautiful and we’ve worked for them to be just that, and so fingers crossed all the efforts will pay dividends.
Very nice – and extremely fitting to post this today when we won a silver in the equestrian at the Olympics! I look forward to seeing the finished book.
I hadn’t thought about that connection, but yes, it seems entirely appropriate!