A hand painted visual pun combining the boiled sweet known as a humbug with Ebenezer Scrooge’s famous catchphrase 'bah humbug'.
I realised after posting it online for people to buy as printed Christmas cards or t-shirts that not everyone was going to get the gag. It depends on whether or not you know of two things: boiled sweets called humbugs and at least passing knowledge of Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol. So if you get the joke, pat yourself on the back and feel smug.
If you didn't get it, thats's okay. You are not alone! Upon finishing the quick painting it was shown to a room full of friends who all looked at me in confusion. Oh well.
The Bah Humbug card art is not at all intended as anti Christmas sentiment, rather it is a wry acknowledgement of how stressful the lead up to Christmas can be, especially for those of us not organised enough to shop for presents in October. I always end up buying gifts at the last moment. Bah!
Following are the initial concept sketch and the acrylic on craft paper painting. You can see the painted image was digitally edited before posting it on-line as final art. This was because the craft paper, while nicely textural wasn't very Christmassy. So I gave the background a lustrous green hue. Seems to suit it.
This design is available on Erdbubble as beautifully printed
Bah Humbug Christmas cards or a Bah Humbug Christmas t-shirt
