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“Don’t load any coal on the sleigh tonight lads,” announced Father Christmas, donning his coat and sack. Scooping up the long scroll, he added “I’ve checked the list twice and lo and behold, all the children were good!”
An elf piped up,“Wonderful news, Sir! But we never load any coal.”
“Sh-u-us-h now,” replied the jolly old fellow with a smile. “Time’s awasting. Let’s hitch up the team and be off. We’ve got our work cut out for us this Christmas Eve!”
"Checking It Twice" is the third in artist Dean Morrissey’s series of lavish images inspired by the real Father Christmas . . . a worldly traveler with a merry twinkle in his eye.
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Dean Morrissey has been drawing and creating characters since his childhood in
Boston. Inspired by Disney matte paintings and comic book heroes early on, he
grew to appreciate the works of the masters, such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pyle
and N.C. Wyeth.
Morrissey worked a variety of job until deciding to paint full time in the
late
1970’s. He worked as a freelance book cover illustrator for over 15 different
publishers in New York and won numerous awards. Morrissey is self taught, and
considers the demands of cover illustration to have been his “art school”.
In 1991, Morrissey began to paint some images from a story that he was
creating. His books include Ship of Dreams Harry N Abrams (1994), The Great
Kettles: A Tale of Time Harry N Abrams (1997), The Song of Celestine Little,
Brown and Co. (1998), The Christmas Ship HarperCollins (2000), A Christmas
Carol Greenwich Workshop Press (2000), The Moon Robber HarperCollins (2001),
The Winter King HarperCollins (2002), and The Monster Trap HarperCollins
(2004).
His awards include The Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for The Great
Kettles, The Chesley Award for The Light Ship (2002), and he is a current
nominee for this year’s Chesley Award for Anna of the Celts (2003).
Morrissey lives with his wife Shan and his son on the South Shore of
Massachusetts.
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