Billy Connolly - Making life more colourful

The artist celebrates a decade with Castle Fine Art – and his upcoming 80th birthday  – with eye-popping new limited-edition silkscreen artworks and sculptures as the latest instalment of his acclaimed Born on a Rainy Day collection. The new silkscreens are made in bold, dynamic colours, making them just as colourful as the personality who created them.

There is a new stainless steel tabletop sculpture of ‘Hang Gilder', his drawing featuring a winged figure in a meditative pose , and in a first for Billy, his ode to the Clydeside welder, ‘And on Monday, God Made the World’ is available in a monumental 1.7 metre-high sculpture.

Discover all of Billy Connolly’s works here, plus read more about how he came to create them below.

Walkies

Billy Connolly

Wading Bird

Billy Connolly

Pink Tie & Hanky

Billy Connolly

Hang Glider

Billy Connolly

Blue Angel

Billy Connolly

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.

Featured Artist

From the blog

Billy Connolly | Born On A Rainy Day | 2022

26/04/2022

Two new sculptures are available to pre-order now. A must-have for any Billy fan, the eighth release from his Born On A Rainy Day series is his boldest and most colourful collection to date, also featuring six hand-signed limited edition graphics.

Billy Connolly | Scotty Poser | 2022

11/07/2022

In this extraordinary release, Billy Connolly's acclaimed artwork ‘Scotty Poser’ returns, but this time with 24 varying colour palettes, each breathing new life and meaning into the hand-signed artworks by Billy.

New Arrivals | September

08/09/2022

Discover our newest collections of art this month including exciting new releases from Richard Rowan, Nic Joly and Jon Jones.

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