I am an illustrator based in Leighton Buzzard but have been to St Albans many times over the years and recently brought my 3 boys to visit the Abbey again. It's such a wonderful place, a true treasure. I have very much enjoyed researching more about the Clock Tower, and illustrating this piece.
"Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, dickory, dock."
When considering St Albans' Clock Tower's "Commit No Nuisance" door my first thought was of the children's nursery rhyme "Hickory Dickory Dock" hence a band of cheeky, acrobatic mice dashing about, but with the inclusion of a slightly tormented cat sitting in the doorway!
With 3 young children a nursery rhyme is rarely far from my mind but given that the Clock Tower was originally built as a gesture of defiance, allowing the townspeople to keep their own time, against the Abbot of St Albans, I rather see my illustration as representing that same message of independence over power, of mice over cat.
As a wildlife illustrator, most of my work is rooted in nature so it felt right that animals should feature in my illustration.
I usually work in watercolour, pencil and ink and have very much enjoyed researching the works of F.G. Kitton, particularly his pen and ink drawings of St Albans' Abbey Gateway and the Clock Tower. While researching I found that Kitton also wrote a great deal about Charles Dickens and his illustrators, including George Cruikshank - one of my favourites - who so brilliantly captured character and narrative through his artwork and is a source of inspiration to me. Through his own writing Kitton highlighted the value of illustrations on the viewer's / reader's experience and the impact of visual messaging so I hope that he would have approved of my representation of "Commit No Nuisance", and I hope that you enjoy it also.
Medium: The work is an original pencil, ink and watercolour illustration on heavyweight paper.
Original image size is approx 45cm x 35cm (unframed).
Artist: Carmen Carreira
