outside the temple

June 30, 2008Leave a comment

An ink attack on the page by the Copic pen, fresh from drawing every single line in fleet street, on night two of ‘sleep-training’ (it went very well too). I wanted to draw more bare trees again, but this time with buildings behind them, so I went back to a photo from London back when I lived there, and was studying nearby this place: Temple Church, off Fleet Street, former HQ of the Knight’s Templar, now a busy destination for tourists bugging the priest about the (inappropriately titled) Da Vinci Code, and medieval students looking for William Marshall (guess which of these two groups I fell into).

street of ink

June 29, 20082 Comments

Sleep-training the baby is not fun, especially if the baby stubbornly refuses to sleep. During that process, going in and checking on him every ten minutes (as per the book), I got the Copic pen out last night and drew lots of little lines, that eventually ended up looking a lot like Fleet Street in London (my favourite street); there’s the church of St. Dunstan in the West, there’s the Royal Courts of Justice, there are offices of newspapers past and present (well, not many present any more), there are the clocks I was watching closely.

shuttup old man!

June 29, 2008Leave a comment

Well, euro 2008 turned out rather well, and I’m just now sitting waiting for the Final to kick off, I have my Pepsi Max, I have my Pringles (the crisps, not the cardigans), and I’m impressed that after all his unpredictable prognostics, Mystic Pete got one thing right: Germany in the final. And who said Mystic Pete couldn’t really see the future? (with apologies to France and Portugal, etc)

But there’s now a contender: Mystic Mister T. When asked for a prediction for the final, he scowled at the camera and gave a simple response: “Spaiiin“.

Can’t argue with Clubber.

dust in the air suspended

June 27, 2008June 27, 2008Leave a comment

The death of hope and despair,
This is the death of air.
(TS Eliot)

You may have heard about all the fires blazing in California right now. They’ve been burning for the past week, started by dry lightning strikes last weekend, not helped by the dryest year since who knows when. The result is that the Valley has been covered in a thick blanket of smoke for days now, and it’s pretty dangerous too. I’ve never seen anything like it – smog, really. The sunlight, as it filters through, has a distinctly orange tinge to it, the shadows are a dim twilight blue. It’s pretty horrible, and I hope it clears up soon, but the air likes to sit still in this hot Valley.

I braved it for a bit over a couple of lunchtimes, to draw the bike barn from a vantage point at bainer hall, uc davis. It’s a scene I’ve drawn a couple of times before – once last July, and then again with leafless trees on a clear January day. They are below. Today I marked the horrible smoky sky.

at world’s end

June 27, 2008June 27, 20083 Comments

After – how long is it, a month and a half maybe? – it looks as though I am finished with the ‘how to save the world’ sketchbook project is finished. Well, there are a few finishing touches to be done to the inside cover, perhaps, but all of the pieces are now complete. Here we are then, at parts 23 to 27.
Part 23 is ‘feed the baby’, which is a pretty good idea if baby wants to keep growing like he does. And he does. Most of these drawings were done at night either while waiting for baby to wake up for his bottle (in this case he was sleeping pretty well), or just after he’s had his bottle and gone back to sleep.

Part 24 is ‘write postcards’ – as you may have seen from a previous colourful drawing, i do like postcards, and have a great deal, in fact it is possible that by saving these little pieces of the world over the years i am in fact saving the world, you saw that one coming didn’t you. (ok no you didn’t but i bet you like to think you had).

Part 25 is fairly relevant to the current period as it is follow the football, or the footy, or as many of you on this side of the pond say, the saacurrr. This is a fair attempt at drawing a couple of footy magazine and a pile of football shirts while watching the semi-finals the Euro 2008.

Part 26 is easier said than done for an up-late-stayer comme moi. My foot appears to have edged into the picture. The crib obviously belongs to the baby. He was alseep in there while I drew, so I had to be quiet with those micron pigma pens. There is a cd player, playing pre-recorded noises of the bathroom fan, which helps the baby sleep; he’ll probably grow up all into avant-garde experimental sampling music now, oh dear.

And then finally, at the top, Part 27 which is of course ‘save the world’.

And so the overall theme was to draw things around the home (which is where the world begins for everybody) because by drawing them you are saving them in some format. And the writing is completely and utterly made up as I went along with pretty much no aforethought whatsoever. Pretty much like the world in general I think. And there you have it. I’ll have to send this off to Atlanta at some point soon.

life across the pond

June 25, 20082 Comments

I love that part of Hampstead Heath by the big ponds, especially those big multi-windowed brown brick houses clustered along the edge. That’ll be them above. Not sure I’d like the famous night-time entertainment though; all those politicians out looking for votes, as it were.

Did this drawing over a couple of evenings (interrupted by baby-feeding). Below is the work-in-progress.

it’s a long, long way

June 23, 2008Leave a comment

Actually it’s just down Fleet Street. First Irish pub in London (c. 1700), first pub outside Ireland to serve Guinness. Possibly the inspiration behind the song, at least I used to tell people that on the tour-bus. Well, it is a long way from Piccadilly and Leicester Square, if you really need a Guinness. Personally I don’t really like the stuff. Too much iron; turns your poo black, and leaves you open for an attack by mutant villain Magneto.

the grete tour, that was so thikke and stroong

June 22, 2008Leave a comment

This is the magnificent Maughan Library on chancery Lane, part of King’s College London. Here I studied every day while doing my MA in medieval English, and I loved this building. It used to be the public records office.

now watch this drive

June 20, 20085 Comments

Ah, you gotta love irony, man.

So, saving the world is only a few pages away now – the sketchbook is almost finished and ready to be sent to Atlanta. The last entries following the third intermission will be a return to black pen. Parts 21 and 22 are below (in micron pigma and copic respectively). The Pres’dent above is done in faber-castell pens. King George had to turn up at some point.

don’t call me a mindless philosopher

June 18, 20083 Comments

More world saving tips. The top one is pretty obvious. Watch Star Wars. Fast forward through most of phantom menace though. Note: the chick flicks on the shelf are not mine. The bottom one has more ‘knees up mother brown’ to it perhaps, but still only means ‘have a banana’. As Master Yoda might say, Under the table you must go.