Crome Yellow/Crow Mellow?

Crow Mellow by Julian Davies,
Phil Day (Illustrator)

Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley

I bought a book last year in a clearance sale from the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art bookstore tiled 'Crow Mellow' which I read only last month in my effort to sort through my read and unread books in my bookcases in my ongoing de-cluttering exercise ... and so I can make room for more books once I reach my unreachable goal:-)

Introduction to 'Crow Mellow'

I didn't think that I would enjoy reading 'Crow Mellow' as much as I did, and didn't think that I would decide to keep it on my bookshelf after reading it.

The book probably would not have held my attention if it were not for the doodley drawings illustrating each page, which reflected comically what was going on in the story at the time.

A lot of the drawings are comically Freudian in character often reflecting the sexual motives of the players in the story:-P

I had never read 'Chrome Yellow' which 'Crow Mellow' is based off.

But right after I had finished reading 'Crow Mellow' I did an Apple Podcast search on my iPad and found a free audio recording of 'Chrome Yellow' and stared listening, and just finished listening to the last chapter of the book this morning.

I've only ever read one of Aldous Huxley's books in my life that I can remember, and that was 'The Doors of Perception'.

I've never even read Huxley's most famous novel 'Brave New World'.

I was surprised to see that 'Crome Yellow' turns 100 years old this year, though.

I was also surprised to find out that Huxley shares a birthday on July 26th with Carl Jung and Stanley Kubrick, although different birth years of course, and died on November 22nd, 1963 the day JFK was killed and C.S. Lewis died.

Huxley also wrote a children's book about crows I just found out this morning, also:-)

And on the subject of birds, children's things and doodles, I saw this BBC news story about doodling being good for your mental health, and I was also flicking through another book from my bookshelf authored by Robin Hall which I had bought God knows when in another clearance sale from a newsagent I vaguely recall.

From Da Vinci to Churchill:
What our doodles can mean

I was considering giving 'The Cartoonist's Workbook' away thinking that I'd never make a living as a cartoonist, but now after reading 'Crow Mellow' and the BBC news story about doodling I thought I would keep the book and just sharpen up my doodling technique for fun rather than for any profit-making venture in the future ... although who know'$ right;-)

Considering this cartoon book was from 1995 I can't help thinking of the popularity of the Emoji on our 2021 phones and devices that we love to send in our texts to one another:-)

With #WorldEmojiDay on 📅 July 17, take a look at what the next emoji update might bring?

If life is what happens when you're making other plans, then doodles are the result of your mind being somewhere else – a phone call, a meeting, a daydream. Yet in those scrawls – be it shapes, animals, lines, names – can be something powerful, with what they reveal and how they allow us to express our creativity. Hence why a new art project is taking doodles out of the margins and placing them centre-stage.

From Da Vinci to Churchill:
What our doodles can mean

Looks like I have some doodling to do to de-clutter my mind, never-mind my bookshelves;-)

Midnight Wizard # 1

Midnight Wizard: The Gulf Between Living & Dying