Classical Studies Support

This week I’ve been taking my mind off the state of the world, the difficulties of pandemic parenting and the never-decreasing pile of marking by tinkering around with Art – my version of it, at least. I’m not the only one, of course – there are other people doing something similar, and explaining it far more eloquently than I do!

I decided, on impulse really, to set up a separate website this week for my art portfolio. It doesn’t belong on here, but I wanted to collect all my recent work together somewhere so that I don’t lose it (I tend to do that, because I forget one project as soon as I start the next!).

So here’s the link to my new little website. It’s a free website, so it’s not fancy and it’s definitely not perfect; and it’s a static website, so no associated blog (for now, anyway!). But I’ll be updating it weekly, so do bookmark it and drop in every now and again to see what I’ve been up to!

https://thecobraillustration.wordpress.com/

I have lots of stuff already in the Portfolio section – including some of my old trompe l’oeil murals from the days when I used to do such things. There’s also a link to my Redbubble shop, which I’ve updated this week with some new poetry merchandise. My aim isn’t really to sell things through the website (although that’s always a nice bonus!); it’s more to showcase my work in case anyone out there has exciting projects happening and is looking for a bored illustrator to join in…!

I also had the pleasure of contributing a guest post today to the wonderful Greek Myth Comix. If you haven’t checked out this website yet, you really should – it’s a treasure trove of myth-related humour and brilliance! So it was a real treat to be featured on the site – along with an exclusive new myth-themed bookplate design which I’ve been working on, and which is available for you to download and print if you would like to!

Finally… I’ve started work on a Secret Project which is perhaps (just a bit!) stretching the definition of Art. The reason it’s Secret is that I haven’t quite figured out what it’s going to be yet (there may be video experimentation going on over the weekend!), so I don’t want to say anything about it in case it goes horribly wrong. But hopefully it will all come together in the next 2 weeks, and I’ll have something fun to show you by mid-February…!

This week from around the Classical Internet

News

Roman sarcophagus found in a wall – Metro

Pompeii’s restored museum – Phys.org

Comment and opinion

Hector’s body and the Burden – Sententiae Antiquae

Carvings and brothel signs – Bad Ancient

Genesis and Ovid – Religion Prof

Pliny and the world – Bellaria

Virtually visiting Thebes – It’s All Greek To Me

Ancient Art – Digital Maps of the Ancient World

Eat like a Roman – Atlas Obscura

Black Africans in ancient art – Getty

Poetry in the modern world – Abigail Buglass

Reshaping Classics as inclusive – Sportula Europe

Podcasts, video and other media

Roman military tombstones – The Ancients

Eleusinian Mysteries – The Forum

Alexander the Great – The Endless Knot

The Persian Empire, with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones – History Extra

Fascism – The Rest Is History

Why we should give Aeneas a chance – Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby!

Claudius in Historiography – Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Roman wedges – Ancient Warfare Answers

Sappho Fragment 2 – Sweetbitter