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The initial three-city tour took place in April and May of 2019, and was an absolute blast. It included readings in a thousand year old church, a contemporary gallery, and a Methodist-church-turned-event-space with the biggest pipe organ I've ever seen. Read on, and we'll soon have you feeling as if you were there wish us all along.
 

A photograph of Church Street in Whitby. Taken from just above the cobblstone street, this image became the background for the illustration of "Addictions" in Tales in Sombre Tones.

It really all began with images such as this. A lonely image of Church Street in Whitby, taken by Karen on one of her random jaunts. She would use photographs such as this to guide her as she worked on her charcoal pieces of art in a process that is nothing less than astonishing. This particular image would go on to become the basis for the illustration for the story "Addictions."

The interior of The Brunswick Centre on show day. Leather chairs and sofas sit in the middle of an old church, sun shining in through the balcony windows above. All around the room, different images from Tales in Sombre Tones are hanging on chains on black, cloth backgrounds.

This is how we arranged the old Methodist church - with comfortable leather chairs surrounded by free-standing original artworks. This picture was taken facing away from the pulpit. It was oddly relaxing.

A pulpit in an old church, set up with speakers and musical equipment for the evening party events. In the foreground, a projector and screen showing a stop-motion movie made for the tour. Behind it, taking up the entire back wall, a massive pipe-organ stands in shadow.

This was what stood in front of those comfy chairs - some stop motion videos Karen made for the occasion, which can be found on our Animations page. Behind the projector screen you can see the music setup for our launch-evening party. Behind that, you can see the massive pipe-organ that takes up the entire forward wall. Sadly, it was non-functional.

An angled view of our setup in The Brunswick Centre. In the middle there are several comfotable-looking leather sofas and chairs, surrounded by free-standing cloth-backed original pieces of art from Tales in Sombre Tones. Daylight shining through the stained glass windows behind the artwork and through the upstairs windows shows a sharp conrast to the black-cloth stands.

An off-center shot of the room setup. You can see, while seated, visitors could literally be wrapped in the artwork of the book while taking-in the beauty of the room itself and enjoying the animations. The visitors we had over the two-days we spent there enjoyed their time immensely.

Author Sean Walter standing to the side of our front presentation table, holding a white and grey barn owl. The owl's name is Dobby the House Owl. Sean, standing in a black top hat, a black zip-up hoodie, black t-shirt, and black trousers, is stroking Dobby's neck. Dobby, unconcerned, is watching the camera.

One of our favorite visitors to the show: Dobby the House Owl. His owner graciously brought him for a visit, and Sean and Karen were absolutely beside themselves with excitement about it.

In the foreground, right, the original charcoal artwork for "Timber" hangs on a chain attached to our free-standing, black-clad show stands. In the background, left, sun shines through a stained glass window with prominent religious symbolism.

The illustration for "Timber" juxtaposed in front of some of the original stained glass. (As an aside, let me just say that this is one of my favorite illustrations in the entire book, although it drove Karen mad. It's tied with "Addictions."~Sean)

Dobby the House Owl stares at the charcoal illustration for "Charmed." Dobby stands on a leather glove, looking away from the viewer. The illustration for "Charmed" bears a striking resemblance in shape to Dobby, himself, which may explain the attraction.

Dobby had quite the crush on The Great and Terrible Catmonkey in the illustration for "Charmed." He sat there making faces at it for ages until his owner decided it was enough.

The ruins of the Whitby Abbey at sunset. The abbey stands etirely in shadow, lit from behind by a blazing orange sky.

The ruins of The Whitby Abbey, is very much a symbol of the town, as it ever has been since it was first built. With the first official show complete, we were excited about what was to come.

 

After we closed the doors, we tore-down the setup, packed up the artwork, and proceeded to the pub (as you do). The next morning, blurry-eyed and annoyed at the sunlight, we packed up and ventured off to York and All-Saints Church.

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