Billy Connolly - Making life more colourful

Featured art : 'Walkies' by Billy Connolly. Limited edition silkscreen, £2,950. 

Funnyman to fine art

Castle Fine Art launched Billy’s first collection, Born on a Rainy Day, in 2012, after he took up drawing on a rainy day in Montreal, and he found that his art appealed to his sense of connection with his audience. "All comedians seem to want to write novels these days," he said at the time. I tried and was finished by page three. I think my work is about being with people. I don't even like landscapes that don't have people in them. I like being around people. I even like strangers."

Billy's initial works were in black and white, but as he's progressed, he's brought dynamic colours into his pieces. “The people at Castle Fine Art asked me if I wanted to try colour on some of the pieces, and I did, and they just came to life. It was a breathtaking move; I was flabbergasted, and now they’re so popular that I find myself signing hundreds of prints.”

The new silkscreen print editions

Billy has produced six new silkscreen prints for this latest edition of Born on a Rainy Day, and ‘Blue Angel’ is one of Billy’s favourite pieces. “He represents the working man and there’s an innocence about them that I really love. I didn’t originally think he was an angel, but I just drew some wings on him, so now he’s a little working class angel. Everybody loves him.” He’s also fond of the 'Wading Bird' (also available as sculpture) – “A Glasgow chicken,” he laughs. “And the bird isn’t fat, but round. Big roundy people, I really love them. I like pot bellies, on people; pot bellies and perky bums”.

‘Walkies’ features one man and his extremely large dog on a vivid yellow background, and ‘Pink Tie & Hanky’ has three sharp-dressed guys in suits – echoing Billy’s love of dressing up – on a fabulous pink background.

New sculptures

Two works from the collection have also been turned into exciting new sculptures. ‘Hang Glider’ is reinvented with a pop of lilac, as well as in the form of a tabletop stainless-steel sculpture which Billy describes as “almost Buddha-like – and it’s floaty, so that’s why I called it ‘Hang Glider’. It's a thoughtful, meditative pose.” 

‘On Monday, God Made the World’ moves Billy’s art into another dimension. As well as being available in a new silkscreen print, it will also be available as a limited-edition of 19 1.7 metre-high sculptures, cast in stainless steel and mounted on a China Black granite base.

The subject of the artwork and the sculpture of is a Clydeside welder creating the planet. “It means a lot to me because he's a welder, and I'm a welder,” says Billy, referring to his pre-fame career. “I keep thinking what welders will think when they see it. Welders on the Clyde will love it because it’s an angel, as they already think they're pretty much godlike!”.

Big celebrations for Billy

Not only is Billy Connolly celebrating ten years with Castle Fine Art, producing a range of sell-out pieces, he is celebrating his 80th birthday on 24 November. After a tour of our galleries earlier this year, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate the career of the much-loved comedian, artist and actor than with this exciting selection of new pieces from The Big Yin.