The programme for St. Patrick’s Day 2010 events in Kilkenny was launched this morning.
This year I’ve been fortunate enough to having been asked to design the main image and poster for the event. It has been a real fun project, as I am sure the day itself will be. Make sure you don’t miss it.

The them for this year was based around the fact that this is going to be the first Carbon Neutral St. Patricks Day in Ireland. That’s why, while keeping elements of the National celebration (such as colours or the shamrocks) the main shamrock is rendered in recycled paper texture.

All posters are printed on recycled paper too.

St. Patricks Day Kilkenny, originally uploaded by Alé Mercado.

I was honoured to be asked to take part on it. When you come along you will be able to purchase special very limited series of screenprints (like the one in the picture) or some original drawings at really low prices

Some of the prints will be available to buy from this website after THE MARKET is finished so don’t be too sad if you cannot make it.

We were overwhelmed by the attendance. The place was full and buzzing with energy. Some people had arrived early and had been waiting for the event to start since 4:30 so you could feel there was big expectation.

Everyone who took part posed for the local media. At this stage the Rhyme Rags hadn’t been unveiled yet. No-one knew what they would be like.

People was settling in while the local radio KCLR was interviewing Mary and Adam.

And the event began. Mary and Adam launched the publication. All the poets who were there got to read their poems then.

And finally…

The 2009 team: (L-R) Adam, Mary, Alé, Niamh.

All pictures by Lee Grace.

Remember, this Thursday 12th November at 5pm at the Arts Office Kilkenny County Council in 76 John Street, Kilkenny.

Hope to see you there.

Here you have a few more images. Please feel free to comment on them.

All of them are developed completely in photoshop replicating a two-ink process. The two separations are drawn separately and then I create a simulation of the overprinting final effect and twick any areas that need so.

Some of them have a quite recognizable style but other I am trying to approach them in a totally different way. Do you think it is working?

Don’t forget, the Rhyme Rag #5 launches on 12th November in the Arts Office Kilkenny County Council. It is a great night so do your best not to miss it.

More info in facebook.

This year’s one is going to be really special in terms of format, design and execution. I strongly suggest you show up the day of the launch. There is always great buzz around it, the authors get to read their poems themselves and there is always loads of interesting people to meet.

In terms of technical specs, Rhyme Rag #5 is going to be printed in two inks (as was issue #2) simulating screen printing.

All images are developed in Photoshop directly. There aren’t even pencil sketches although each image has around ten preparatory drawings (just to make sure composition and colours work well.) It is a great undertaking but a really fun one to do too.

The collection of poems have been selected by this year’s editor Adam Wyeth. The Rhyme Rag series are directed by Mary Butler and coordinated by Niamh Finn

Please visit my facebook page for more information and updates on the event.

The Kilkenny Library Plan is almost ready to go to print. It is full of illustrations. All of them generated in Illustrator and finished in photoshop.

I am quite happy with them as I wanted to get a bit of a feel of 60s/70s illustrators like David Weidman, which I think they have.

The design is based on a 4 column grid. It was quite fundamental that information was a visually simple to access as possible. So every section is clearly marked using horizonal modules in the grid and I decided to go for a very simple yet impacting colour palette.

Hope you enjoy them.

The idea was to visually condense all the ideas people attending the conference would come up with in a creativity exercise which was coordinated by Paula Clarke. It consisted in representing as visually as possible their vision for the future.

The exercise started at 2 in the afternoon. 20 minutes later I did a round to see what kind of themes people were coming up with.

So around 2:20 I go to a room where I had set up and work on ideas. Once I had something I could work with, I did a bit of photographic research and started drawing faintly on the board with charcoal. It’s 3:15 now.

After that, it is a mad run to fill areas with colour as fast as I can. At this stage I only have another hour.

Filling up areas with acrylics and trying to give some sense of space and volume prove to be a hard task. I just keep going thinking that I don’t have much time left.

At 4:20 the illustration is finished. All the paints and inks are still dripping and I have to dry them with a tissue while we take the piece ro the hall where it is going to be unveil.

This is the final piece as it was presented to NOVARTIS.

It was a really interesting exercise for me and one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever done.

I am quite happy with the concept but I hope I’ll be able to have more time to finish the piece next time.

Hope you like it. Let me know your thoughts too.