March of the Balloonatics with Beecham Conducting : from the Book 'Lunar Episodes'

Jardine was an artist from the Wirral who taught at Liverpool School of Art for over 30 years. He has a distinct and unmistakeable style, highly surreal and mystical in character. He worked in different media, ranging from watercolour and pastel to collage and oil paint. 'Lunar Episodes' is an album of smaller works handmade by Jardine and which he started in 1938, according to the inscription on the title page. Scenes are sometimes crowded, sometimes sparse, with fantastical combinations of animals, people, strange contraptions and, usually, the Moon. The series builds up into a strange, unqiue and dream-like world, reminiscent of fairy tales and children's story books. Some of the figures in this image reappear from 'Voyage to the Moon' a couple of pages earlier.