but i get so blown away

So another one been and gone, folks. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, if, of course, you celebrate it. It was a very traditional British Christmas here.

It started just after the sun crossed over the yard arm, when we opened the tradional bottle of Christmas Champers.

We then had a little Christmas sherry, to warm the cockles, before setting out for the traditional Christmas walk. I managed a little Christmas draw with my new Chritsmas pens.

Then, when we got back home we had a traditional mulled wine so that we didn't catch colds, of course.

And, then it was time for another little Christmas draw. The draw for the drawing above. All the names, of everybody who bought my little Molezine, were put into a bowl. Then in a flash of creativity (a Christmas brandy or two) we decided to get the dog to draw the name out.

And, you know what? He did it. With a bit of encouragement (rubbing his Christmas bone on the names) he pushed one name out of the bowl. Honestly.

Unfortunatley, he then proceeded to eat it! Mwah mwah mwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

But we did manage to wrestle the half eaten name off him. And the winner is, drum roll please, Kristen Ehmen.

Because I know you want to know; the day continued in a very traditional way. We ate lots, drunk lots more and then fell asleep on the setee in front of the Christmas telly. Perfect.

Back in the New Year with lots of new stuff, folks. Can't wait to get drawing again. Have a fab 2010.

i know that's who you are

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to be posting this as my Christmas drawing. No, siree. I was trying out some more of those upside down portraits. This motley crew were copied from the newspaper and my dvd collection.

As you can see, at the beginning of this exercise I kept getting confused and getting the book the wrong way up. I absolutely LOVE this exercise, though. Not only are you drawing but you have a real good laugh, too. What can be better than that?

They are all, unbelievably, celebrities. I'd LOVE to hear if you think you might be able to name some. There are the obvious ones; Swelling (as I used to think she was called) Ewing, Boris Johnson (was that obvious, I don't know?). And, then there are some...well...if you could name them, not only would I eat my hat I'd give you my...er...car?

Happy Happy Christmas, one and all.

(Disclaimer: I will NOT really give you my car)

i want you, i want you so bad

Still not a great deal of drawing going on around here. So here's a little doodle I did, a while back, with one of THESE PENS. It wasn't my pen, I'd borrowed it to doodle with. However, finding this drawing has reminded me of how truly amazing those pens are. In fact, I do believe they are the greatest inventions of all time. Why don't I have one?

I'm off to source four colour ballpoint multi pens....

it's written in the stars

This is an oldie, yes. But it's not on my blog, no. Until now.

I did post it, for about five minutes, about a year back, when I'd drawn it. But I couldn't bear looking at it. I don't why I disliked it so much back then. Well, apart from the composition - which I still feel is a bit contrived. I remember posting it and then deleting it later the same day.

Today, while I was looking through the Moleskine drawings that I'd saved to a pen drive, I came across it again. And, with a year or so between us I feel that maybe I was being a bit harsh back then. It's not too bad. It's not great. Not my best. But it ain't awful or owt.

So, especially as I have nothing else to post, I thought I'd give it another outing. Better owt than nowt. As they say up North.

come gather 'round people

Finally, a drawing.

You know, every year I intend to make Christmas cards. And every year I leave it until it's too late. What makes this scenario more frustrating is that I am actually a Moo designer, so it really is an opportunity going to waste.

But whilst it's on my mind, I was thinking that perhaps, maybe, I could get some Christmassy drawings together now. So by next year I'd be really really prepared. There'd be no excuses. Next year I'll be the kid who doesn't leave their homework until half an hour before it should be handed in.

I was never that kid. I was the one doing my homework on the school bus. On the way to school. Times they are a changing. I like to think.

I'm calling this one Everyday Matters challenge #95. Draw a holiday card. More challenges HERE.

(Just a note to explain why Brussels sprouts should make a Christmas card. Because, from the response, it's obviously not a tradition that travels. In the UK sprouts are not just a tradition they are the law. You HAVE to have sprouts with your Christmas dinner - whether you like it or not - or you'll be tracked down and actively thrown out of the country. It's true.)

why i went missing

a) Thank you to everyone who has ordered my little Molezine. Aaw.

b) I do hope you like them. Yikes.

c) I've been so busy with packing and posting them that I haven't had time to do anything else, including draw. Phew.

d) All packing was done with an excruciatingly painful, and probably life threatening, paper cut on the thumb. Ouch.

e) Every single order, zines and prints, that has been placed up to this point in time (15:44 GMT on Friday afternoon) has now been posted. Yipeeee.

f) If you want one before Christmas, and live anywhere but the UK, order right now. Shazam.

g) It seems I've lost the ability to take a half decent photograph. Damn.

h) It's back to drawing. Yay!

THANK YOU ALL. I'm touched by the amazing response and I'm cream crackered. I was up til 3:30 last night/morning packaging them all up. Time for nice sit down and a cuppa, I think. AND I'm going to eat an entire packet of Jaffa Cakes. Do you have a problem with that?

Cheers, my dears.

thinking back down the roads to then

So, here it is. My first zine. My Molezine. Oh yeah, you can't believe how much joy it brought me when I came up with that. 'Molezine'. It was, as Oprah would say, a light bulb moment.

You can find out anything you might want to know about it on Etsy. So I'll keep this brief. It is basically one of my Moleskines condensed into a little zine. Covers and all. I'll just reveal a few of the nine drawings that feature, the rest will be a surprise for those of you who order one or two or five (!). If you follow this blog, though, all of the drawings will be familiar.

To anyone who has already ordered they'll be shipped over the weekend. I'm so excited to be sending them out around the world. I like to imagine you sitting on buses looking through them. I don't know why buses specifically, it just seems appropriate.

Just a reminder, too, if you order before Christmas Eve will be put into a draw to win THIS DRAWING. Thanks folks.

Buy my Molezine HERE.

Last thing (I can't do brief), any Brits who'd like to buy the Molezine direct from me, email me and I'll tell you how to do that; andreajoseph24 [at] btinternet [dot] com.

dressed in stolen clothes

I actually can't believe I'm posting this. It's something I doodled on the cover of the address book insert of my Moleskine Diary. A doodle in the true sense of the word. I was working the ink through some old fountain pens. And this happened.

Chances are if you are reading this now, it won't be here the next time you visit. That's if you ever come back, of course.

open up your door

This didn't really go to plan. I had something quite different in my head. And, the perspective is all over the shop. However, considering this is actually a drawing of a pixie's bunch of keys I think that bad perspective is the least of my worries, don't you?

Yes, I live alone.

things we thought of yesterday

Until I actually have my zine printed, assembled and in my grubby little paws I've decided to take some pre orders (just found out you can do that on Etsy), so here's a few things about it. A few things you might want to know.

. This is not only the cover to one of my Moleskines but also the cover to my zine.
. It features a Moo sticker by Blanca Gomez, in the top right hand corner, and some lovely stamps.
. The zine is a small, but cute, A6 (105 x 148 mm).
. It has 9 drawings. All are from my Moleskines.
. Some of which have been my most Faved on Flickr.
. There's a couple of doodley ones.
. This is one of them;

. It comes in a recycled envelope and will be sent to you in a Jiffy bag or box.
. It is a really great stocking filler. Or a Secret Santa gift (slick, ain't I?).
. The word s**t does appear in one of the drawings (as in "no s**t, Sherlock"), just in case you are offended by that. It is very tiny, though.
. You might need a magnifying glass to read some of the writing.
. You can take advantage of a special offer if you pre order.
. This is another of the drawings;

. I don't want to show all of the drawings because I think it'll spoil the surprise.
. I can't think of anything else.
. Except that everybody who orders before Christmas Eve will be entered into a draw to WIN the original drawing from the last post. A little Christmas present for you guys. Order more than one zine and your name will be thrown into the hat that many times.

Last thing to say, I suppose, is that I really hope that this the first of a series. Now get your asses over to ETSY!

it's funny how these old feelings hang around

So, I've been a little distracted recently. Partly because I've been working on something that I've been wanting to do for ages. I wasn't going to say anything about it quite yet, I don't want to tempt fate, but I'm really rubbish at keeping secrets.

OK, if you insist I'll tell you. Next week I hope to have a little (teeny tiny little) zine for sale. It includes a few of my favourite drawings from my Moleskines. They seemed to be some of your Faves, too.

This drawing is, in a way, a promotional piece for the zine. All of the things in this illo are clues to the drawings that will appear in the zine (does that make ANY sense?). Maybe you can spot some of them amongst THIS LOT.

Or, just come back in a few days time to see some photos of my very first zine. If, of course, I haven't jinxed it, by letting the cat out of the bag, before it's actually been printed. Yikes. WHY did you make me tell you?

waiting for the moment

A few days ago I was toying with the idea of drawing everyday for a month. But I'm okay now.

I think it was because I'm not drawing much at the moment. I was trying to force myself to draw. But that never works. Anyway, I don't really worry about that too much anymore.

I used to really panic about it. Maybe that's because I didn't draw for years. I used to think if I stopped drawing, even for a few days, then I might never start again. But now I know that's not true.

Because what usually happens is that a future drawing will start niggling away at me. Keeping me awake at night. Pecking at my head. Sitting in the backseat of my mind saying saying "are we nearly there yet", repeatedly.

Until I give in and get the pens and paper out. So, you see, I don't have much choice in the matter.

And we are nearly there. I am nearly ready to dive right into a huge bucket of obsessive drawingness.

looking for the new world

I don't know what's going on with me, but I almost like the work I've been making recently. This, I think, is my all time favourite drawing. By me. Moi. AJ. That's it really. Hope you like it too.

once i thought i saw you

Yeah, this might look familiar. I did something similar, very similar, in a sketchbook some time ago. Yesterday I just wanted to draw. Just draw, from observation. I didn't want to think about what I was drawing. I just wanted to look at what I was drawing. Just look.

I'm also calling this Everyday Matters challenge 164. Which is draw a camera. Obviously.

Buy this drawing HERE.

so may i introduce to you

Ok, I'm pretty excited about this. It is, I have to say, my most favouritest piece of work I've ever come up with. And, there's hardly a drawing in sight! But, if I tell you I am a mad Peter Blake fan it might just explain why I love it SO much.

The response I got to the call for stamps has already stunned me, and they keep on coming in. Originally, I only needed them to fill up this - the inner cover of my travel Moleskine. But I'm loving them so much that I've already started another big mad drawing collage incorporating them. To those who have sent me stamps, if you can't see yours in this one, keep tuned in. Because this could be just the start of a new stamp based obsession.

Thanks for helping me out guys. I knew I could rely on you.

and i can't hold on, through my fingers she's gone

Recently, I read on one of the drawing blogs (sorry, I can't remember whose, but if it's you let me know and I'll link you here) that you never really get to know a subject until you've drawn it 100 times. I can relate to that. I know that confidence you get from drawing a subject over and over.

So, last week, while I was housebound, I decided to tackle a different subject, instead of my usual still life. I drew my cat 130 times in a couple of days. As you do. Just rough quick sketches.

I also conducted a highly sophisticated survey on how my cat spends it's time (it would be too technical for you lot to grasp so I won't go into it here). The results were;

sleeps 90%
washes/grooms 9%
eats 0.5%
goes outside 0.5%

(I was going to draw a pie chart of the results, but then I realised how ridiculous this would be.)

Anyway, back to the drawing project.
I'm really happy with the results. At the beginning the sketches were tentative and a little nervous, this is right out of my comfort zone, but I think you can see the confidence growing throughout. I can definitely say I'm now quite confident at drawing sleeping and washing cats.

I couldn't post all of the sketches. As, it would have been the most gigantic post known to man. So I've just posted some of my favourites. But you can see the full set HERE on Flickr. If, of course, you are interested.

Another note on this recession. I'm finding that I'm so much less wasteful (is that a word?). I used to spend so much money on pens, art supplies, pens and more pens. I have pencil cases full of unused pens. For this project I dug out pens that I'd never even used before. And, an old practice pad that would never have seen the light of day if I wasn't so poor.

Here's that link again to the FLICKR SET.

find yourself waiting just to fly fly fly

Click on drawings to view and read. Actually it's probably better that you don't.
A couple more spreads from my travel themed Moleskine. More nonsense that I find flows quite freely out of my pen. I never read this stuff back. I can't sleep if I'm close to finishing a drawing, and as I put the words in last, it usually means I'm writing them late at night. Very late. Which is why it rarely makes sense. You can see the set, so far, HERE.

i'll be whistling down the street

Click on drawing to view.

There's one thing to be said for swine flu and not being able to leave the house; there's bugger all else to do but draw. Five days it's been now. Five days of having to stay in, and no end in sight yet. And, I'm running out of Nutella.

Still, despite the sore throat, the hacking cough and having no energy to even get out of the chair, I look at what I created here, in a couple of days, and feel quite excited by that prospect.

hanging without a cloud

This drawing was never really going anywhere. So, as I have nothing else to show, I'm posting it half finished. I could have worked on it some more, but I know that it would be a pointless task. I think this is probably the best it's ever going to look. Which ain't great. But, there we go. Win some lose some. It does have one moment that I particularly like, though. The finished key on the left. Hmmm. I kinda like that.

i've been searching, searching, trying to find the words to say

You can't get a more perfect breakfast than grilled kippers and poached egg, can you? Actually, don't bother answering that, because even as I was typing those words loads more dishes that could take the 'perfect breakfast' title popped into my head. Bacon butties, of course. Porridge with honey on a cold winters morning. And, warm croissants with cream cheese and jam, Full English, Continental, smoked haddock and poached eggs, Nutella on toast, houmous and pittas, Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, beans and cheese on toast. You get the picture.

Grilled kippers and poached egg, ONE of the most perfect breakfasts, ever.
By the way, nobody has come even remotely close to working out the theme of THIS little book. Any guesses? Alternatively, you could just tell me your favourite breakfast.

it's a joy to know

I love that time when you are just about to fall asleep. That moment in between awake and asleep. It's such an creative space. For example, last night at that very moment, I just knew that I had to, that I really really must, add a wood grain to the background of this ole drawing. Why? Who can say. I could analyse it, but I think it's best not to.

And, what can I say about my last post? Just that I am completely blown away by the response. I'm still speechless (not that you'd notice), and will be sure to keep you posted on the building of the AJ empire. Thank you, all, so very much.

One more thing, you can now follow A Heavy Soul on Twitter. That's me by the way. Andrea Joseph was already taken. The swines!

Cheers, my dears.

i can see all i have done

My friend mentioned that my blog seems to have gone a little flat recently. He's always so supportive (yeah, sarcasm), but actually, although it pains me to agree with him, I feel the same. There are a few reasons for that.

I think lulls are quite natural. It's just a part of life. You can't always keep up that creative intensity. Also, I'm working a number of different things that aren't all about drawing.

Starting this blog a few years ago helped me discover my love of drawing all over again. And, also gave me a whole bunch of encouragement, and confidence, from all of your visits and comments. I never thought I was good at anything before.

This last year things have moved up a gear. Getting selected for Bologna, signing with an agent, meeting publishers, etc. And, now I've started believing that maybe somehow I can make a career out of illustration. That, however, takes a load of time doing all that businessy stuff. Plus, I work a full time job.

So, I have to concentrate my efforts in other places. I am still drawing, though, amongst all this, and will still be posting, so please, keep visiting my loyal friends.

Of course, I need to squeeze in little sketches, like this, for the sake of my sanity.

(I don't know if you guys are interested in this journey of trying to make a living out of illustration. Some of you may be going through the same thing. I'm quite happy to share this with you, but I don't want to bore you all. You tell me)

'round the bend and back again

I'm not much of a travel sketcher really. And, that's putting it mildly. I would love to have told you that I sat on the street and drew these, but I did it from the comfort of my armchair. Sometimes I long to draw the buildings and landscapes that surround me. But, I don't find it easy.

The thing is, when I'm drawing buildings and architecture I aways feel like I'm scratching around trying to find my own style. Up until now, I have never found that. A style that I'm comfortable with. In fact, drawing these little Gaudi buildings - even if it was copying them from a calender - is the closest I've ever come to it. Of course, the other reason for finding drawing architecture so difficult is that I cannot draw in public. Which is a bit of a setback.

I liked drawing these buildings, I like the results, I like what my pen has to say. Now, all I have to do is transfer this style to drawing actual REAL buildings. Oh, and conquer decades of acute self consciousness that manifests itself as a shyness that is criminally vulgar. That's all.

there ain't nothing in this world I can do about it

This one really messed with my eyes, as I drew late into the night, last night. So much so, I couldn't bear the thought of putting them through all that concentrating again tonight - to finish the other half of the drawing. Another time, baby. Another time.

Click on drawing to view.

something for the weekend

There's not much drawing going on around here this weekend. I want to start my new biggy drawing but I just can't find the energy(=euphemism for hungover). It was one of those Friday nights. A little too much vino. And, suddenly these two little drawings, that I made during the week, seem very appropriate.

You know, sometimes I think my humour is too dark. I deleted the original text to this post because I was getting lots of messages from people concerned about my mental health! Thank you, and don't worry. Really, I was joking!!