you're missing

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There's a little village, not too far away, that I love to visit. It's a brilliant place to go and draw. Every house is different. Some are hundreds of years old, actually, most are. Some are so tiny you can't imagine how people actually stand up in them. I collected all the items for this drawing from the churchyard in this village. It also has one of the best tea rooms in the whole of the Peak district. Yes, I believe I visited them all.

There is also a little charity shop there which I've never seen open, until last week. It's just a tiny room in a very old stone building. FULL to the brim of stuff. Like some other shops in this area it has the oddest of opening times - every second Tuesday after a full moon from about 9:45 to 11:15am. So I was really excited to finally find it open.

Inside there was enough room for two customers and the lovely old lady that runs it. She told me how she'd raised £95,000 for the charity since she'd started it. How the row of shops had belonged to her family for generations. How her grandparents and great grandparents used to be a butchers and bakers in the village. How that had all changed since supermarkets had taken over the world. How all the old shops were now all being turned into luxury apartments. After about an hour I had to be on my way. I couldn't leave without buying something but there was nothing really calling out to me. I was looking for something to draw but even though I was surrounded by so much stuff I was feeling uninspired. Of course, that was nothing a rummage through an old rusty tin of buttons couldn't fix...

old spice

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Yes, this probably does look familiar. One of my favourite drawings that I did in my Moleskine, way back whenever, was this spice rack drawing. I've wanted to rework it onto paper and frame it for some time and so Tim's birthday (see last post) gave me a good excuse to do just that. Something to spice up his life - his forty year old life! I like it, although it just lacks some of the spontaneity of the original and, of course, that gorgeous cream colour Moleskine paper.

View my sepia set on Flickr HERE.

his nibs

It's my friend Tim's birthday today - his 40th birthday! So I thought I'd get a little post in even though he's celebrating in Paris. Tim is not just my friend, he's my best friend. I have known him all my life, literally. We grew up in the same street. He lived in number 10 and I lived in number 20. I was hoping to post a drawing that I've been working on, for his birthday present, but didn't get it finished in time. So these are some real oldies from a time when we shared a house in Wordsworth Street (great name for a street). Even back then I was drawing everything in sight.
Here's an old pic of us too. Happy Birthday my friend.

the shadow bag

Why would you let your bag get to the point where it's bursting at the seams? Full of old sweet wrappers, chewy, bits of paper, receipts, letters, vouchers, used train tickets etc? Why would you do that? Why do I do that? Why do I carry all this rubbish around with me? On so many levels.

get miles away

This rear view mirror has been the 'bain marie of my life' over the past few months. It got knocked off the windscreen by somebody trying to shove an Ikea bed in the car (naming no names, Andy) and now refuses to go back on. I've tried to stick it on with all sorts of stuff but it's just not having it. So far I've tried the sticky pads, windscreen mirror glue, masking tape, super glue, parcel tape and now it's got a kind of industrial strength double sided sticky tape. And, it's still on the floor every time I get into the car. If I use a combination of these things I can usually make it stay on for a short journey, but that's it. It can be quite a scary experience when it drops off mid drive. Today it stayed in place, it even posed for this drawing.

By the way, that's Sparrowpit in the distance. Isn't that a great name for a village?

want two

Purse #8. This one is drawn from memory. It's the one that got away. The one I didn't buy. I have a list of purchases that I wish I'd made. Missed opportunities that'll probably annoy me for the rest of my days; that mirror with a beautiful carved frame from a charity shop in Didsbury, a gorgeous green tweed jacket I saw in Manchester, an automaton from an antique shop in Canada, and those Converse (that were the exact same colour as my sepia drawing) from a shop in Norwich. AND they were half price in the sale. Damn. Funny, the things that make it through to the long term memory, don't you think?

More purses and stuff HERE.

want

A couple of sketches from around the house. I've not been feeling too well this week and have hardly stepped outside the door. Luckily I have no problem entertaining myself at home. Everywhere I look I see a new drawing. So I went back to the Everyday Matters list. Above is challenge 58 draw a hat. I really hate this drawing. It just doesn't look right, to me, and lacks any...erm...soul?

I prefer this one. Also, I want to give a little shout out to Atticus Boo, in Buxton, which is one of my favourite shops. I'm guessing it's named after characters from the classic book - and a great film to boot. It's rare that a film lives up to a favourite book, I think, but Too Kill A Mockingbird manages it.

Anyway, Atticus Boo is a tiny gift shop. You can probably get about 5 people in there, at the most, at one time. It is filled choc-a-bloc full of gorgeousness including cards by my fave children's illustrator Lauren Child, fabulous purses and handbags by Orla Kiely (that I drool over and long for the day I can afford) and it even stocks Moleskines. Not only that but it smells wonderful AND it's opposite a handmade chocolate shop. If all that's not enough, you can bet your bottom dollar, that without fail, they'll be playing Rufus Wainwright.

i play dead

Just a little quickie today, more of a doodle actually. There seems to be a theme going on around here - cat toys. And they all belong to this girl HERE.

ooh la la!

Here's one for the girls. Or is it one for the boys? Hmmmm.

strike a pose

Yep, he's back. Last time you got his bum, this time his profile. He's slowly revealing himself to you. I wasn't intending to draw him again but he kept striking poses that were just irresistible to an "artist" (eeek!). Actually, it could be interesting to do a 360 degree set of drawings of an object. This again was an exercise in drawing shadows, however, I don't think it's as successful as the last attempt. I tried to draw exactly what I saw, but somehow I'm not sure that it works. I get my fair share of very lovely comments, and compliments, from you guys which I really appreciate. I'd also welcome any critiques - if you do have any advice or opinions. Thanks.

they're all wasted

I have an addictive personality. That's a fact. If I get into something I just cannot leave it alone. I'm like a dog with a bone. I'm fickle with my addictions though; I substitute one for another on a regular basis. Some of my recent addictions have been Kath & Kim, Flickr, Ben & Jerry's, The Who, Reece's peanut cups, colour pencil and Dettol (it's an obsessive compulsive thing).

taking care of business

I took delivery of my new Moo cards today and I'm liking them a lot! They are very tiny but very cute. There's a few more examples on my Flickr page HERE.

Also I'd just like to thank everyone for taking part in my little competition a couple of weeks back. There were more than a hundred guesses over the various places (here, Flickr and the EDM forum). The winner was Emma Reid who guessed that all the items in this picture were found in a churchyard. She chose the two purse pictures below as her prize.

these are better days

I've been drawing quite a lot this week. Had a week off work which helps. I was going to keep this until tomorrow to post. But I can't wait until tomorrow. I'm proud of this one and I want to post it now. Hope you like it too. It's my wallet.

same but different

Purse #6 above. A little friend for purse #4 below. As Bob Ross says 'everybody needs a friend'.

See my purse collection, so far, HERE.