Sushila Burgess Art
2019: portrait

My new project for 2019 is a collection of nursery rhymes updated to take out the nastiness (and make them more girl-friendly) while still recognisably bearing a family relationship to the original. So, for example, in my version of Sing a Song of Sixpence, we have a pocketful of peas instead of rye, meaning that the blackbirds get to sing not in a pie but in the trees. I haven't yet decided whether the quick drawings in Sharpies and crayons shown below will be the final version, or whether I'll do a second draft in gouache. But in either case, my plan is eventually to self-publish these illustrations in a children's picture book. Contents so far:

• A Pocketful of Peas (11–21 May)
• Over the Hills and Far Away (29 May)
• Polly, Get the Candles Lit (16 September)
• Sukey, Blow them Out Again (13 October)
• Ride a Toy Horse (17 November)
• Little Molly Willows (17 November)

Little Molly Willows

Little Molly Willows
Sat among the pillows
Picking her pretty little nose.
Her mummy came and caught her
And begged her little daughter
Not to stick the bogeys on her clothes.

Ride a Toy Horse 1

Ride a toy horse
To Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady
Ride on a white horse

Ride a Toy Horse 2

Rings on her fingers
And bells on her toes,
She shall have music
Wherever she goes.

Polly Get the Candles Lit

Polly, get the candles lit,
Polly, get the candles lit,
Polly, get the candles lit
For the birthday tea!

Sukey, Blow them Out Again

Sukey, blow them out again!
Sukey, blow them out again!
Sukey, blow them out again!
We'll all have cake!

Over the Hills & Far Away

Oh Jenny was a piper's daughter,
She learnt the tunes her daddy taught her,
But the song she really loved to play
Was “Over the Hills and Far Away”

A Pocketful of Peas 1

Sing a song of sixpence
A pocketful of peas,
Four and twenty blackbirds
Sitting in the trees

A Pocketful of Peas 2

Peeping through the windows
At the king and queen
Telling all the other birds
Everything they've seen.

A Pocketful of Peas 3

“The king's on his computer
Counting up his money,
The queen is on the sofa
Eating bread and honey.”

A Pocketful of Peas 4

The maid is in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
When along comes a blackbird
And gives her a rose.

I Love John

A Valentine's card for my husband