days that used to be

Back to the bookbench. So, after spending all that time doing all the work on the front (a lot more work than I'd anticipated as it just seemed to grow and grow and grow) I had to do it all again on the back.

Now, because I'm terrible at updating (or not updating?) projects, I just leaving them hanging midway like some cliff-hanger and annoyingly you never get to see the final episode, I thought I'd post the end result of my bookbench. Well, this isn't quite the end result, this the penultimate stage. So there's still scope for me to leave him hanging off that cliff.

These two photos, above and below, are a couple of moments that I like. Apologies for the quality of the photos. I took them all on my iPhone and have still not got to grips with the camera.

The drawing on the back of my bookbench was the tidier version of the one at the top of this post. Our girl has interrupted her reading to tidy up - by shoving everything under or behind the sofa.

And so, my bench also came with instructions (below). All the objects that you could see on the front of the bench can been found on the back, tucked under cushions, etc. You've got to search for them. Yes, I really did draw it ALL again. I like to bring that interactive element to drawings. It was what rocked my world, about books and illustrations, when I was a kid.

My bench is now actually out on display, with the 49 others, in London. There is a trail and map so you can go and see them all. Mine is on the Greenwich part of the trail in this churchyard. I've been told that the church backs onto a couple of schools, and they have already planned school visits to the bench. I hope the kids have fun finding all of the objects and stuff and nonsense.

I'll post the final stage soon; which was adding a little colour, and then the most nerve-racking bit of all adding the varnish. Until that point I had no idea how the marker pens would react to hard core varnish/resin. Would all that work bleed once the varnish hit it? Would the whole drawing be ruined? 

DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!!!

 

PS, if anyone is in London, and visits the bookbench, please take a photo of yourself there. I'd love to see it. Send it to me.

i'm going to FIX up the yard

A couple of weeks back I could not stop drawing. Seriously, it was out of control. I always new that that would be followed by a bit of a funk, and the past week I've found it difficult to even pick up a pen. Today, though, I made this quick sketch.

I think sketching is what Saturday afternoons are made for. I'd like to make it a tradition; a quick Saturday afternoon sketch. But, now that I've said that, it'll probably never happen again. You know how saying something out loud is usually the kiss of death?

Despite the quote in the drawing, this isn't actually my yard (although, to be honest, mine is not much better). This pile of rubble is in my next door neighbours yard. He's just had a new bathroom fitted so there's a bath, sink and toilet, amongst other things, in the pile. I kept looking at it, thinking about drawing it but I didn't know where to possibly start. As always the answer is to stop thinking about it and to just jump in.

the place i love is overgrown now

So folks, I believe, what I am doing here is known as selling off the family silver. The time has come for some of my drawings to fly the nest. There are no pretences here. I'm skint. Mine is the age old story of the poor scraping artist in his garret. But what is the point in having all that lovely silver cutlery if you cannot afford to put the food on your plate?

Yes folks, I'm putting some of my original drawings up for sale, in my Etsy shop, at very very reasonable prices. This is your opportunity to grab yourself a bargain. In fact, I've been doing my maths and I've worked out the prices on a $0.0000000000000000000002 per cross hatched line basis. I cannot possibly make them any cheaper. But what is the point in me sitting here in this cold damp dark attic when I have a box of lovely drawings?

Dramatic? Me? Never!
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be adding new drawings, including the ones in this post, on a (possibly) daily basis. See my shop HERE.

Oh, and don't worry about me. It's not that bad. I've just got a few bills to pay.

i remember it was that Wednesday

This is actually a new drawing, although it might look a little familiar. The original washing machine drawing that I made was a personal favourite and I wanted to rework a couple of my favourite pieces for my current exhibition (see last post). I'm never sure about doing that kind of thing. There is something in the spontaneity that's lost when you go about doing something again. This is a larger drawing too. I always felt this subject deserved bigger paper and wanted to give it more impact. The colours, although different from the original, look quite good, I think. But what the hell do I know?

sleeping through the day

WARNING; zinemaking can seriously damage your sanity.
'How to Draw Like a Nut' is still available HERE.

all through the night

Here's one from the up and coming new ballpoint pen zine. It's not completely finished in this version, a little more has been added since. A little something extra for those who purchase the zine. C'mon, I have to entice you somehow. I'll be putting it for pre order in the next couple of days.

This is my living room and the armchair is my workspace.

feelin' alright

A few posts ago I introduced you to the Swish hairbrush. Well, it turns out I've actually drawn it before. It's on this table. Can you spot it? The answer is on my book blog HERE.

Also, talking about the book blog, it has been voted as a Froudian website of the month. That makes me happy because Brain Froud is one of my illustration heroes. Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee is most probably my favourite illustrated book of all time. For those of you who've never seen it, you really really should. It is a thing of absolute beauty.

what's new pussycat?

Here's a couple I resurrected from the Graveyard of Abandoned and Unfinished Drawings. It's funny how you see things differently with some time and distance between you. I resented both of these when I was working on them. I resented the time and energy I'd put into them, and I resented them not turning out as I'd wanted. Did somebody say I'm getting old? Ooooof.

You might like to click on the drawings to read all the nonsense that was going through my head when I was creating them. The top drawing is my response to the Everyday Matters Challenge No.49: draw your fridge. You can see more of my Everyday Matters responses HERE.

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.

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)

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!!

sittin' around waiting for my life to begin

Lunch for one. Sad, innit?

I've become a little bit obsessed with this little book over the last few days. When I get into an idea, like this, I just cannot let go. It keeps me awake at night. The theme of the book, originally, was 'around the house'. It still is, but now I've developed the idea further. I've given it an added twist. And, quite frankly, if you can guess what that twist might be I'd be truly astonished. The two versions of this drawing are a clue, but I ain't going to reveal it. It's for me to know and you to find out.

I'm just loving the word 'astonish' these days. Isn't it a great word?

with my small axe

Here's yet another little themed book I have on the go. It's a book I turn to when I don't want to do one of those big mad drawings, but just a small (ish) sketch. It's a little book of travels around my house. Around my life.

It's been cold here in the UK. Non stop rain. Absolutely chucking it down. I was looking at these logs that live in a box in the wall of my living room. It's been so chilly I was even considering burning them. I didn't, a) because it's July and therefore supposed to be summer and b) because I thought I'd draw them instead and c) because they look too good to burn. They are a box of good looking logs. Yes, I'm shallow.

don't be light

I've been piling on the pounds recently, so I dug out all my old wholefood cookbooks in an attempt to get healthy. I have an extensive collection of cookery books from the 1960's and 70's. I found them all in charity shops and bought them all for the illustration. I just love those drawings. I believe that this illo was heavily influenced by that whole vibe.

This one started life as a 'simple line drawing', as many of my drawings do. Five days later I'm still undecided about it, but after all that time it's being posted. Undecided or not.

i was just sitting here thinking

How long exactly can you put off washing the dishes? For me, it's precisely this amount of time. Click on this drawing. It looks a bit better that way. Not a lot, but a bit.

Oh, and a little shout out to one of my very favourite, and one of the most fabulous, blogs on the whole of the entire interweb. I first came across Penguin and Fish through Suzanne. Back then they had featured her work. I've been secretly wishing they would feature mine, in a desperate needy sort of way, ever since. And, my wish came true. Thanks Alyssa!
Warning: you WILL lose the rest of the day if you click HERE.

slooshy sloshy, slooshy sloshy, get that dirty shirty clean

I'd love to say that this was all my own idea, but I can't do that. I saw the very excellent Susan Rudat's washing machine drawing and thought 'why oh why wasn't that my idea'. Then I stole it.
And, here's a pile of dirty clothes thrown in free of charge. I'm too good to you.

play dead

A real quickie here, folks. I've been working on lots stuff that I can't post quite yet. So I thought I'd do a quick little drawing. Just something to post. So here it is; a cat toy, before and after it had a make-over by my cat. Poor sod.

I did these in pink ballpoint which, I'm sure you'll agree, is a truly classy medium.

desperado

These are a couple of drawings I did a some time back, but decided not to post. Frankly, I wouldn't be posting them now if I had anything else to share. Do you find that sometimes a day, or a week, can have a theme running through it? Today the theme, for me, was books. Books, books, books. Which is another reason for digging out these two old drawings. I started the day clearing out my bookshelves and I'll end it by sharing these two books with you.

cold moments

I don't want to keep harping on about drawing funks, but I've had yet another frustrating week. I have realised what the trouble is. A friend of mine always says that I am 'a bubbling cauldron of creativity', and I have to admit that is a good description of how I feel. Usually the ideas are coming through so thick and fast that I don't always have time to catch them. The ones I do grab are added to a list that's as long as my arm. The last few weeks that hasn't been happening. Even my list looks uninspiring and I wonder whatever made me think they were good ideas in the first place. I am looking at things and willing them to become subjects. Forcing them, in fact.

The good news is, though, last night I lay awake until the early hours (or is that late hours?) as ideas and potential drawings refused to let me sleep. Now I just need to find my butterfly net.

tangerine dream

I still haven't completed a drawing in the last week, I've lost my...erm...*cough*...drawing bug. But, when I was making my last post, and uploading the photos, I remembered this little drawing (above) that I did quite sometime ago. I didn't post it back then because it just looked so small and, er, pathetic (this being less harsh on myself is going very well).

It is one of the colour boxes you can see in the photos from the last post. The orange one. Obviously. I'm also posting the red and green ones -which you may have seen before - so that little orange one doesn't feel so lonely (and pathetic).

These container were all from the Body Shop and once were filled with their gorgeous body butters. From top to bottom; tangerine, pomegranate and avocado. The smell still lingers too, which is a nice surprise when you open the box. I wish this blog was Scratch and Sniff because these drawings smell gorgeous.