The Peace Alphabet

Good Morning SuperForest!

And what a fine morning it is. I just want to begin by saying "Thank you" for reading this blog, commenting on our posts, and especially for encouraging Team SuperForest.

Okay, the Peace Alphabet...

This project began several months ago when I wrote a post about the lack of cool iconography to communicate Peace. Peace has the Peace Symbol, the dove, and..... that's about it. Right about that time I saw this:

I Met the Walrus.


In this amazing short film, John Lennon speaks about how everything you do should be done for Peace. Smile for Peace, kiss for Peace, go to school for Peace, don't go to school for Peace, piss for Peace...

That last one really stuck with me. Piss for Peace. I love that idea.
Wanting only to make some folks and myself laugh, I quickly drew up what would become the first letter:

P is for Peace.


"P" lead to "A", which lead to "B", and so on...
I drew them out of order, doing whatever letter I felt inspired to do at the time.

For me, this project has very little to do with the creation of the 26 images, and everything to do with the spread of the idea that Peace is a brand, and as a brand, needs attention, nurturing and support in order to succeed.

The Peace Alphabet idea is a very good one (IMHO) as it gives anyone willing to undertake their own version twenty six chances to get one thing right. Even if I fail 25 times, perhaps that 26th image might just be one that sticks. 26 chances means you can fail a great deal while conversely increasing your chances of succeeding.

The Peace Alphabet idea also put SF and myself in a new position, as now that the series is completed, we have for the first time created a product. A product that we would be proud to offer to the world, in whatever form the world wanted it in.

If you would like a poster with every letter on it, I'd love for you to have it.
If you'd like a book, ditto. A print, ditto. Whatever form you desire, we'd like to offer you.

So, we SuperForesters have been discussing how exactly we can make the move from producing ideas to producing "things" in as clean and responsible a way as is possible.

For the future, we plan on creating a site for the PA exclusively, a nice little cyber-home for it online, to develop as it will. What really excites me is the idea of other artists and makers doing their own versions of it. Hopefully, like a tomato plant, the Peace Alphabet will grow and produce fruit and spread, and in the end we will have a deluge of clever new images to represent Peace. Images that everyone can experience and use via the magic connecting power of the inter-cyber-web.

I'd would love some feedback, any feedback, positive or negative on the execution of the idea, the idea itself, and what we could best be doing to spread the "Brand Peace" meme.

Without further ado, the Peace Alphabet:





















































There you have them. 26 new images for Peace, for your consideration.

I would like to dedicate this to Andrew Zuckerman, whose support of me, SuperForest and the Peace Alphabet have been unflagging.

To Christine Norrie, who taught me to draw in the first place, and who gave me the confidence to start making my own images.

To Team SuperForest, who keep a brother sane and inspired.

And to John Winston Ono Lennon, for the idea of advertising Peace in this way.



Maximum love and respect to All,