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.

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.

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.

the south bank show

June 9, 2008June 13, 20081 Comment

The sketching day from the previous post actually began on the South Bank, the very crowded South Bank, full of half-termers, tourists and sidewalk entertainers (did I just say ‘sidewalk’? You know technically that makes me a tourist now, you know). Before the London Eye, nobody could care less about the South Bank, other than a place to come and have a quick snap of parliament, and its clocktower.

I used to come down on Saturdays when I was in my teens and draw this very view; most of the people down there in those days were homeless. I remember thinking, of Hungerford Bridge, why it was so stupid there was a shaky walkway on the east side (looking towards waterloo bridge) but not the west (looking towards parliament). Nowadays with those two spectacular modern bridges either side of the railway, you can get great views from wherever (plus the bridges now make that old one look like the rope bridge from Temple of Doom). I sketched the extravagant Whitehall Court from the west bridge, as rain clouds drew in.

The riverside entertainer below was drawn in a warm dark grey faber-castell pen, using a lighter grey brush pen to shade. I don’t normally shade like that so wanted to give it a go.

The funny feeling I got that day, looking out across the Thames, was that I was not really there, that I was looking though a window upon something very familiar, that it was a bit like a dream and soon I’d have to wake up and go to work. I used to cross Westminster Bridge six or more times a day, on the top of a tour bus, with microphone and rain jacket, my routine well-rehearsed, and now here I was, a tourist in my own back-yard. Well, a tourist with a sketchbook.

the boy and his grandad

June 5, 20081 Comment

Baby Luke just took his first trip back to London (where it rained every day, unlike in California), where he met the rest of his family, who naturally all absolutely adored him.

Here he is with his very proud grandad, who was celebrating his 60th birthday.

This is my illustration friday entry for this week (theme: baby), drawn in Luke’s journal. I might finish it with colours but kind of liked the simple version here.

long to rain over us

May 29, 20083 Comments

I got out and sketched today – I saw the sunshine – and before long it was raining. I don’t get much opportunity to practise my rain-sketching back in scorching Davis. It’s a good job my paper is for watercolours. I enjoyed walking about in the rain, and with my sketching stool I could sit aywhere: this was drawn beneath the shelter of a theatre awning on st martin’s lane, the angel and crown pub, a very typical old pub in central london. I finished the colour off in the warmth of the ship in wardour street. I’ll post the rest of my sketches later; scanning here is more time-consuming!

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.

tea, california, music: go

May 13, 2008May 14, 20084 Comments

So the world-saving-themed sketchbook has started, and the pictures are all from around the home, and the words from all around my head, basically the first thing that comes out. I am hatching like a battery chicken, not always getting what i want, but still life and saving the world is a learning process, for all involved. Am I making it all up as I go? you may as well ask if I’m making up life as I go, or if all of us are. So, part one, make tea. I love my tea. Part two, a bit more drastic, move to california. Hey I did it, the world was nearly saved, obviously a few more steps before it can be completely saved though. Part three, listen to music, that’s easy, you can do it anywhere these days. Just avoid will young.

Sorry the pictures are so small you can’t read the words. I did that on purpose, because I wanted them to fit as three rectangular windows in a line (and because learning the secrets to save the world should not be easy); but with the magic of clicking, you can see the full size, at the flickr site where my pictures are hosted (I paid for it, so I’m using it).

sketchbook project

tummy time

May 7, 2008May 7, 20082 Comments

I’m still practising drawing Baby, and here is young Luke – at 14 weeks old – practising tummy time. He’s pretty good at it – see how well he hold his head up now! – and rolled over for the first time on Saturday. Well done little dude! He’s cooing and babbling a lot now, he has strange conversations with the ceiling fan. He is just so interested in all of the world around him.

I’ve drawn the eyes a bit too big, and the head’s probably too long. I drew this in copic 0.05, with cotman watercolours, in the baby’s journal, drawn from a photo taken at the weekend. I normally draw Luke in pecil but have been trying to do pen, even though you cannot erase your mistakes when the eyes look too close together and stuff, and I quite like the effect in this one.