But I was used to the artist's 1950's style, as seen above. I was quite surprised when I discovered the illustrations below that Brackett did in 1970 for the Harcourt Brace textbook, "Widening Circles".
Of course, every artist grows and experiments over time... and the style Ward Brackett employed for this series sort of reflects a mood that really does feel "1970's" doesn't it?
I'm very curious about what medium the artist used for these pieces. Is it simply wet on wet watercolour? Or did he use some sort of resist technique? Some areas almost look like the result we used to get with fingerpaints on that highly coated paper the teacher gave us in grade school.
Another possibility is magic markers, believe it or not. The early magic markers, popular as artists' material around the time these illustrations were done, came in little glass bottles with screw-off tops. I've heard that it was common at the time to open them up, take out the benzine-soaked felt pad and sweep it around on your bond paper or illustration board surface. You could also buy refill cannisters of marker colour and just pour that lovely, flammable, cancer-causing stuff right down on your work. The good ol' days!
Whatever the case, Brackett achieved a pleasing effect in this series. They have a wonderful dream-like quality, hazy yet vivid, like the memory of a young boy's childhood adventure with his grampa.
My Ward Brackett Flickr set.
Post a Comment