half the world away

August 21, 2008August 27, 20088 Comments

I finished the world-saving sketchbook project back in June, and mailed it off last month in a purple envelope (from paperchase, if you’re wondering), and tomorrow (Fri Aug 22) it will be exhibited with, well not quite 499 others (not all those sent out were finished), but quite a lot of others. The project is run by the arthouse co-op in Atlanta, Georgia (not that Georgia, the other one), and the event will be kicking off at around 7pm eastern time (or 4pm here on the West Coast; that’s midnight to you in London).

And it will be streamed live online at http://www.arthousecoop.com/live/. So Londoners, tune in when you get in from the pub (ok, watch it from the still-open pub on your iPhone, but make sure it doesn’t get nicked by any hoodies or anything), and keep your eyes peeled, maybe you will catch a brief brief glimpse of my little one. Sketchbook, that is.

I have been looking around the information superhighway lately (remember when it was called that?) to see who else has done this project, and compiled the following admittedly short list of fellow world-savers. Didn’t actually find many, so I was pretty pleased to discover two others based in Davis. Most interesting to see all have interpreted the project uniquely; I think I might be the only one however to advocate using a spider-killing aerosol as a means of saving the world, but each to their own I guess…

Karen Blados (Cleveland, OH)
Blue Bicicletta (Davis, CA)
Pica (Davis, CA)
Planetmithi (Bristol, UK)
This Chicken (Oxford, UK)
Joseph Tomlinson (WA)
JT (Cleveland, OH)
Craig (Cleveland, OH)
Woman of Color (Atlanta, GA)
Kirihargie (Portland, OR)
Metrochic (Scottsdale, AZ)

Needless to say, if you too have done this project and have put the pictures somewhere the world you have saved can see them, then I’d like to add your sketchbook to this list . Hope the show goes well; I hear there may even be a book.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthousecoop/
http://arthousecoop.blogspot.com/2008/07/mail-time.html

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.

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.

cobalt blue copic and olive green copic, 0.1. Nice to draw with on this moleskine cahier paper.

don’t be too proud of this technological terror

June 17, 20081 Comment

Marching ever on with the Sketchbook Project, with Saving the World, with a brown micron pigma and a purple micron pigma. Parts 17 and 18; more to follow.

Incidentally, the polaroid that’s poking out of that box is a signed photo of me and my lifelong hero Ossie Ardiles, way back in 1994. My knees were going all trembly. (I signed a copy for him too)

did gyre and gimble in the wabe

June 15, 2008June 15, 20083 Comments

Parts twelve to sixteen of saving the world (the sketchbook project); the book is now more than half full (or half empty). I needed a second intermission after returning from the UK so some stamps seemed appropriate. Saving stamps as it were. The dialogue is very loosely inspired by something my mate Tel said to me at school (that was about santa claus). Then I decided to draw from hereon in various colours: twelve is in brown micron pigma, there’s my acoustic guitar there look; thirteen is in – allez les bleus – blue, or chould I say cobalt (copic 0.1) and shows the bookcase.

Fourteen is the trusty purple micron again, been using that one for a while now. It’s the bathroom sink. Wash your hands. In this story I wonder if superman ever washed his hands, and if it made a difference to those he saved. Part fifteen is a copic 0.05, in ‘wine’, while the last one is a copic 0.1 in ‘olive’. That’s the recycling bin. I wanted to draw it before taking it out.

If you click on these admittedly smaller than necessary images, they will magically transport you to the world of flickr, where you can see them much much bigger (don’t worry, you won’t have to shrink first). The book continues; the due date is august 1st. Plenty of time.

rub-a-dub-dub

June 12, 2008June 12, 2008Leave a comment

Parts 10 and 11 of the Sketchbook Project, and I’m wondering if the world actually needs saving, I mean once someone sets themselves up as a saviour then we’re in all sorts of problems, aren’t we. Perhaps we then need saving from them? Or their followers, or their enemies?

And never ever trust a politician who runs their election on “only I can save you”. Over and out.

knows not where he’s going to

June 6, 2008June 6, 2008Leave a comment

I continued the ‘how to save the world’ sketchbook project in London, but did far fewer entries than I’d hoped. It was an emotional place. Below are parts 7 – 9, preceded by a short intermission, in which the fictional terry follows the steps (a click will bring you to the flickr page). You will see there is a real cup of tea and a real mars bar. the mars bar is normally dipped in the tea. Sometimes i eat the edges of the mars bar, then the top, then the rest. Sometimes.

Part eight shows the view I saw for many, many years, every single day.

round midnight, round midnight

May 20, 20082 Comments

Saving the world makes you hungry. Even Superman eats noodles (super noodles obviously). Batman must eat bat noodles, Darth Vader must eat dark noodles (he probably sucks them through his breathing mask), and Wonder Woman eats wonder noodles. I went to see that Iron Man film, pretty good, lots of big explosions and confusing scientific gadgetry. One thing I couldn’t get is that in the middle of huge fiery explosions, Iron Man chooses to be walking around in a huge tin can. Does it not get hot in there? I wonder if Iron Man does his own ironing, or gets Pepper Potts to do it.

floating in a most peculiar way

May 18, 2008May 18, 20083 Comments

Parts 4 and 5 of saving the world, with shoes and sketchbooks. The top one shows three beloved sketchbooks, the first a regular whsmith one used between june 06 and october 07, the second a lovely black material bound whsmith sketchbook, i used between december 06 and may 07, and the bottom is the first watercolour moleskine i used in the second half of last year. I won’t describe all of the shoes in the second drawing (two pairs of adidas though; funny, like most Brits I stress the first syllable of adidas, where Americans stress the second, ie, adeedas)

By the way: it was 105 degrees today in Davis. It has never ever been that hot in England, and believe you me, you don’t want it. I’ll be back in the UK soon to cool down a bit.