By Richard Woollcombe
ISBN: 978-1-905017-92-8
It’s not too often that I get a chance to do a mate a favour, stick to my journalistic principles and still have a jolly good time all at once, so I’m doubly delighted that this charming, entertaining diversion landed on my doormat the other day.
The West Country Year is a slim, landscape-format softcover art-book that depicts each month of the year with a gently dry, laconically bemusing missive and an exceedingly polished, enthralling narrative illustration that perfectly proves the old adage “every picture tells a story.â€
Rendered in luscious oil-paints, these twelve plates echo recall the colloquial naivety and vibrancy of Beryl Cook, but filtered through the knowing, “seen-it-all†observational comedy worldliness of the legendary Carl Giles.
Richard Woollcombe was born in 1919, and was raised on the ancestral Market Garden in the glorious Tamar Valley of Devon. He has worked and witnessed life from said rural paradise his entire life, save for the minor interludes of war service in the RAF and a stint as an aircraft designer. He has always painted and combines a vivid palette with a trenchant eye for the visual bon mot. He’s also the father of one of my oldest mates in the British comics biz.
This is a lovely slice of an England we all hanker for, showing real people and places in their rosiest light, by a man who knows them all personally. This is the sort of book that evokes good times and fond memories, (like a tartan-tinned Shortbread selection) even of places and times you’ve never visited but always wished to. And the work is genuinely funny in the traditional English manner.
The originals are now on permanent display at the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth but you can always self-medicate with this tonic of graphic good cheer by ordering your own copy from eBay, or direct from thewestcountryyear@yahoo.com
Alternatively call 01579 556567 and ask for Alan. The price is £5.99 per copy, and postage is free in the UK. If you’re a homesick ex-pat or quizzically non-British just call for overseas rates.
© 2008 Richard Woollcombe. All Rights Reserved.