How to use this Page

Folds flat to mail.
As the viewer opens the card - the planes and clouds all pop-up.

I had some big illustration projects lately, and below is a little snip of one of the finished illustrations. Can you guess where the scene takes place? I think I made it too easy. : )

4 Stars Chasing Watermelons Kevin White Rex White 32 Pages     Ages: 3 to 6 ……………… Press Release: When Duck opens a crate of watermelons for a watermelon feast, they begin to roll. Duck chases after them. One by one, Duck invites Goat, Pig, Chicken, and Cow to join the chase by promising, “If you help, [...]

This Day in World History

November 22, 1935

China Clipper makes first trans-Pacific flight

Holding more than 110,000 pieces of mail, the mammoth plane that weighed more than 52,000 pounds and had a 130-foot wingspan lifted from the waters of San Francisco Bay. The plane, the China Clipper, was beginning the first flight across the Pacific Ocean on November 22, 1935—just eight years after Charles Lindbergh had flown alone across the Atlantic.

Built by the Glenn Martin Company, the China Clipper was a giant seaplane, a design well-suited to its use. The plane had to be massive to carry powerful enough engines and enough fuel to cover the vast expanse of the Pacific. The size and weight meant the plane would need a large runway, uncommon in the 1930s when aviation was just beginning. A seaplane, though, could easily land on water.

Flying across the Pacific was the brainchild of Juan Trippe, president of Pan American Airways, the leading U.S. airline at the time. Trippe knew that even the largest, most powerful plane would not be able to cross the entire Pacific in one flight. He planned to make stops at Honolulu, Midway, Guam, and Wake islands before reaching the plane’s original destination at Manila, in the Philippines. He was there—along with Postmaster General James A. Farley—to send the plane off on its initial flight. Trippe meant the name clipper to evoke the romance of the fastest merchant ships of the days of sail, the clipper ships that for decades had carried on the China trade.

Pan Am added two other planes to its trans-Pacific fleet, the Hawaii Clipper and the Philippine Clipper. Trans-Pacific passenger service was inaugurated in 1936, and that same year the first trip to China took place. Later, the Martin seaplanes were replaced by even more powerful Boeing aircraft.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
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Postcard 16 depicts the war between the Greeks and the Chinese.
Watercolour, pencil and acrylic 10cm x 15cm. Click to enlarge.

As a keen birdwatcher I also record the dreams of individual birds. Here I have painted a typical wading bird's dream.
Ink and watercolour 23cm x 9cm. Click to enlarge.

The second illustration from In The Brain Yard.
Click to enlarge.

Some illustrations for a story that will never be written:-
The Kayaking Unicyclist, The Coffee and/or Soup Submarines, The Mouth Nest, The Chief Backscratcher, The Dead Sheep Flying Machine and of course the Complex Moustache.
Pen and wash with digital colour. Click to enlarge.

Card 3 in my Spotters' guide to Alien Spaceships.
Click to enlarge.

The two ends of a long narrow etching, the central section having been removed.
Etching with aquatint 21cm x 6cm. Click to enlarge.

I have obtained a confidential document from the Ministry of Planetary Security: the object of this publication is to provide a simple reference to facilitate the recognition of the different types of Alien craft. Here are 2 samples from a boxed set of 143 cards depicting the silhouettes of Alien Spacecraft originally prepared by the UK Air Ministry, London and issued to Roof Watchers in our major cities.
Each card 10cm x 10cm. Click to enlarge.

The Sikorski B-913 Skybanana. 200 ordered by the Ministry of War.
Pencil with digital colour.

It's been a struggle perfecting my new system of musical notation but I think you'll agree it's been worth it.
Pen and ink with watercolour. 18cm x 26cm. Click to enlarge.

One's life can be changed in an instant.

A meeting of the brigade chaplains following the failed thrust on the southern front.
Pen and ink with watercolour. 17.5cm x 12.5cm. Click to enlarge.

A reworking of "Victory is Assured."
Gouache and ink 80cm wide. Click to enlarge.

St.Thérèse of Lisieux is patron saint of Belgian aviators.
Linocut with gold paint. 17cm x 22cm. Click to enlarge.

Components for a painted clay necklace, based on this.
Clay, pen and ink on casein paint. Approx. 4cm x 17cm. Click to enlarge.