Monday, November 17, 2008

I'm not lazy

This weeks sketches are from a pub (I was there for a meeting, honest) and from sitting in front of the tv. It really isn't a good indication of what I do with my life - well not the pub bit anyway.

This is the Hen and Chickens in Bedmister - it's changed a lot since I first arrived in Bristol and is now tastefully decorated and serves tasty pizzas - whereas before it was decorated with sticky carpets and served up regular opportunities for a fight...


These thumbnail sketches were done whilst watching Little Dorrit, Poirot and Never Mind the Buzzcocks...

Monday, November 03, 2008

Monday, October 27, 2008

Norway

I'm just back from spending two weeks teaching at a College in Volda, Norway. It was my first time in this country - somewhere I'd always wanted to visit - and it was a wonderful experience. The landscape is truly stunning, with majestic peaks, steep cliffs that plunge thousands of feet into fjords and distant snow capped mountains. I also found the wooden buildings very interesting. It rained a bit (most days - that's what the splodges on the drawings are) but it didn't spoil it - the autumn colours were spectacular and I met some really great people. I'll post a link to the photos later
  • my photos
  • Meanwhile here's a few sketches done with a broad nibbed art pen - I really enjoyed using it - the ink comes out very fast so you have to work equally quickly - and when it's about to rain that's a bonus.

    Here's the view from my bedroom - with the steep side of the Rotsethornet on the left - I didn't get to climb up it this time - but I will return...


    Volda has an open air museum - a fascinating collection of buildings showing traditional building techniques. The turf roofs were very interesting with a wealth of plants growing above a layer of birch bark...

    I think this may have been a small water mill. There's a millstone in front of it and it had a horizontal many-bladed fan underneath it...




    I went for a walk up the hill behind the town. There were some very picturesque mossy forest areas with streams and waterfalls. On the way back down I sketched the view over the town - again with the Rotsethornet behind...

    The neighbours house had terrific Viking style dragons on the ridge of the roof...

    We visited the Briksdal Glacier at the weekend - it's difficult to get an idea of the scale - even in the photos. If you take a picture of the whole thing with someone alongside it they just become a tiny dot. Whilst we were exploring the edge we heard a terrifying crack and far above we could see a few bits fall off - it took a long time for the to reach the bottom. Sadly the glacier is retreating at quite an alarming rate...


    This is a typical Norwegian barn. They always have at least one ramp for the farmer to drive his tractor up and drop off er, um, some farm type stuff - straw or cows or something...

    The day before I left was very special - some intrepid students agreed to come out for a walk in the rain and we found a reconstruction of a traditional Sami dwelling called a Goahti. The Sami are Reindeer herders from the far North. Ailu was a Sami himself and he quickly got everything in place and a fire lit. There was a table without legs and some decorated reindeer skins to sit on. What a fantastic place for a picnic. This is the view of the front door...


    Finally the trip back. I had three planes t catch so I made it into a bit of a sketchcrawl. Here's Aalesund airport at 11AM and Bergen at 12...


    This is an old glider, also at Bergen, at 12.30PM...



    On the plane, somewhere over the North Sea at 2PM...



    And Aberdeen at 3.30PM (my first time in Scotland)...




    Other Nordic observations...

    - Fish are very important in Norway.
    - There doesn't seem to be any crime in Volda - people don't put fences and gates round their houses or businesses and bikes are left unlocked on the street. Or perhaps stealing a bike is pointless. You'd either have to risk getting caught as you cycle slowly up a very steep hill - or end up at the fjord at the bottom of the hill.
    - You can't buy alcohol in a supermarket after 6 on a Saturday (bear this in mind if you're invited to a party on a Saturday night and don't want to arrive looking like a beerless cheapskate)
    - Most of the TV is taken up by news and current affairs - and most of the news and current affairs is about fish.
    - Norwegians are very fit and love the outdoors. Whilst descending a 700m mountain in cold, almost horizontal rain we were overtaken by several joggers, dogwalkers and even a couple with a pram.
    - Beer is expensive - almost £5 a pint. The barman will ask you several times if you really wanted 4 glasses before pouring them.
    - They recently launched a cruise ship called the 'Hurtegurten'
    - Norwegian for fish is 'fisk'

    It all seems a long way off now I'm back and working again. I hope I go back again soon.

    Friday, August 22, 2008

    Ceret, France

    Had a week in the South of France - if you're wondering why there's no sun in England this summer it's because it's over there. Here's a few quick pen sketches I did. This is Uncle Ollies luxury camper van - once a mobile library - our home for the week...

    Croissant and pain-aux-chocolat retrieval system...
    Port-Vendres...
    ...and the river at Ceret...

    Monday, July 14, 2008

    Goodwood Festival of Speed

    I spent most of the day taking photos but I did do a couple of quick sketches. It was rather tricky with people walking infront all the time. Excuses escuses...

    If you'd like to see the photos they're here...

    Photo Gallery

    Tuesday, July 08, 2008

    More from the Docks

    Still wishing I could draw faster - the boats took about 20mins and the jeep 30 - Seems slow to me. Quite like the looseness of the first one though - I was trying to draw fast so perhaps that helped a bit.


    I added a bit of colour. For an experiment I flipped the image - it looked horrendously distorted so I pulled it into shape and flipped it back again. Funny how I couldn't see the distortion in the original...


    Here's a bit of colour for the boats too...

    Monday, July 07, 2008

    I Scream in Colour

    I thought I'd see if I could improve the drawing by adding some colour in Photoshop. I couldn't...

    Monday, June 30, 2008

    Bristol Docks

    A quick lunchtime sketch. I'm not sure if this might have been better in pen. Probably should have extended it a bit more too. Ah well...A quick lunchtime sketch. I'm not sure if this might have been better in pen. Proabably should have extended it a bit more too.

    Wednesday, June 25, 2008

    Apple Tree

    Here's another one of the garden. The apple trees at the edge of the vegetable patch. I must work out a quicker way of blocking in the foliage - there's just too many leaves...

    Tuesday, June 24, 2008

    Our Garden

    I've had a few days off work and yesterday the weather was quite nice so I took the opportunity to sit around in the garden doing nothing but a bit of sketching. I was quite pleased with how these came out.

    As I sketched my favourite corner of the garden with its birch tree (very good for hanging the hammock off) a grass-snake slithered past. It was about 2ft long with bright yellow markings behind its head and moved completely silently. I once saw one whilst out for a walk - it seemed quite an exotic visitor to be slithering across my lawn.

    This shady part of the garden is also where my cat Tom is burried - at the back near the Alliums and daisies...

    This is a slowly collapsing shed - not long for this world...

    And finally some Pekin Bantam chickens - the newest addition to our garden. Named Julian and Emily by Finn after his school-friends. They don't keep still for long...

    Monday, June 16, 2008

    Miami

    I was lucky enough to go on a business trip to South Beach Miami. I ended up having quite a bit of time to myself so I explored the town a bit and then retired to the pool when it got too hot.

    This is the Raleigh Hotel...



    ... people sunbathing around the pool...

    ... on Saturdays they have mermaids...


    This is a part of Lincoln Avenue - a pedestrian street with lots of shops and cafes...


    And finally a few sketches done while waiting to board the plane...



    Monday, June 02, 2008

    Normandy

    Had a few days in Normandy with the family. I managed to get a few sketches done - I'm not overly excited by any of them - but I am starting to enjoy using a bit of colour. I'll stick with it and try a few more.

    Here's a fort in the sea at St Malo...The beautiful castle at Fougeres. (I was very concious of Cathy waiting for me so the lines are a bit panicky)...
    A very heavy handed and out of proportion drawing of one of the towers at Fougeres...
    This last one was done with no one waiting - much more relaxed - even though I was standing up. It's a farm building opposite the one we stayed in...

    Wednesday, April 23, 2008

    Ducks


    ...and geese. I've got a little story idea which involves ducks or geese so I drew a few to see what I could do with the shapes - how they could be simplified and so on. I'm ashamed to say these aren't from life though.

    Cowboys


    Pale Rider was on last night - what a great film - and what a terrific character the Preacher is. These aren't necessarily pictures of the cast - just doodles of things I found interesting - moustaches and hats mainly.

    Dammit I will post regular pictures!






    I hereby do solemnly swear to do regular pictures and put them on this site. Honest.

    Inspired by Crookies wondeful blog I've been trying to draw with a brush-pen. It's quite difficult - you have to stop yourself from doing too much. I'm still not happy with the shaky lines - I need to be bolder. Still, it's good to be drawing again.