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.

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.

mystic pete strikes again

June 15, 2008Leave a comment

I have at last gotten to see some of this thing you call football, in this thing you earth people call euro 2008. And wow, is Mystic Pete on good form! Predicting Germany and France to reach the final – before they both decided losing was their preferred tactic – stating categroically that Portugal would get knocked out in round 1 while the Swiss would go through – yes, probably not the best thing to bet on – the Czechs would qualify (got knocked out by the Turks today), the Dutch would be rolled over (completely the opposite), and the Austrians would be out before you can say Viennese whirl (nearly, but not there yet). Still, Mystic Pete is legendary for such predictions, but at least this year he is not alone – any look though a footy magazine pre-tournament will say the same (except for Portugal bit – but to be fair Mystic Pete did think they’d be rattled with all the talk of Ronaldo and the fact thier manager will be a big target for rich managerless clubs, like chelsea, or so MP tells me now, after the fact).