Oh my. This one just cracks me up. Sometimes i paint something that only holds my interest for a little while, but i could look at this pig til the cows come home! I have to share the credit with Beau as he was the one that noticed the sign to Hambrook on our way to Bristol a few weeks ago. This is the fourth painting in the UK Towns series I'm doing.

The idea behind the series was similar to the #ossart series we started last year. Whereas that consisted of paintings that were inspired by open-source projects and php community lingo that i happened across as a by-product of living with Beau, this series is based on the names of towns or villages that we run across in the UK.

Some people have been a little confused by the series, wondering what the painting has to do with the actual town. Except for Banbury Cross, which is clearly in reference to the nursery rhyme, the answer is: nothing but the name.

When we started #ossart it was because I would hear these names of projects and software (usually on that podcast) that were for or did who-knows-what... but I could easily envision a ninjagrl interpretation of the name. Which we found funny. If i knew what the software did or what is was used for... it didn't really lend itself to this sort of ninjafication.

So the towns we choose are also places I know nothing about, but conjur up some image in my mind. Which I then depict.

As in the case of Moreton-in-Marsh. We drove by it all the time and all i kept picturing was some sort of marshland creature. Named Moreton. Standing in a marsh. And so I drew it. And it just so happens that our friend Moreton, who turned out to be a heron, carried his name on a chalkboard around his neck. (A subtle nod to Louis, the main character of my favorite childhood book The Trumpet of the Swan.)

And so we now have Hambrook.

Heh. He still cracks me up.