A couple of roughs for a poem written by a writer friend. I was thinking of him in a waistcoat and a flying scarf in the top one, and then made him look more like a Stalinist Bee in the second. I’ve been painting too and am not sure which I should be doing: daft little doodles or attempts at abstract landscapes. A heady mix of both. Why not? Continue reading Squadron Leader B Bumble and the Stingers, should I be doing this?
The eccentric: Actually, there was more than one. I worked as a print rep for a large printing company starting when I was a mere 58. It was my first proper job since my erstwhile career in the world of cartoons and illustration; it made a refreshing change from working alone and trying to get on top of the new digital age, without a great deal of success. And it was regular money and paid holidays- what’s not to like? My remit at the company was to sell print, simple. I knew a bit about print but was about to … Continue reading A Map of Peru?
When I was ar art school way back when things were in simple black and white, colour television not long invented, one of the lads in my group thought art history was artistry. One can be forgiven for thinking that not much has changed in art or football. Here’s a recent exchange by pundits before the game between France and Holland So Alan can you just sum up what you think of this French team then Well, Monet and his fellow PSG teammate Manet are a real handful, clever and tricky in this impressive forward lineup, linking in with Van … Continue reading Football artistry, or should that be Art History?
First published on here 9 years ago, I make no apologies for recycling this. Back then it was state of the art football watching kit, all you would need to enjoy the game at home. Also back then, drawn some years before 2017 with magic marker and chalk pastel colouring, something I no longer use. The vapour those old markers gave off not being desperately healthy, but boy were they quick. I will be watching the games, from the comfort of my chair, again this time. Hope all you that enjoy football enjoy the competition as much as I intend … Continue reading All you need for the footy.
Looking at the date on this, the original drawing was done in 2020. It was drawn from a photograph in pen and ink, then run through a couple of computer programmes. The line drawing was re-traced in Illustrator and then the final line work had colour dropped on it in Photoshop. Since doing all this I’ve gone back to basics and am now just drawing and painting, no fancy retrace ( which in some ways sucks the immediacy out of the drawing ) and no more Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, I’ve ditched them too. When I found this the other … Continue reading Cynthia’s Shed
In my Facebook outline it asks where you are from. I put Wigan, but I could have put in three places in Wigan: Lower Ince, Ashton in Makerfield and Standish. My father was a policeman, and on each promotion, of which he had a lot, he was moved to a different location. My parents did not own a house until after his retirement; all of our houses were police properties. They got progressively smarter as he rose up the greasy pole. Ashton in Makerfield was in the middle, a detached house on a relatively new estate, so he’d been promoted … Continue reading Ashton in Makerfield : beware of the dogs.
I was a big lad as friendly northern people who knew me described me, but looking back at early photos not as big as I thought I was. Less than friendly people called me entirely different names, which I laughed off but it hurt. Settling in London after my college years, I persuaded myself that I should lose some weight. The incentive was a woman who bet me I couldn’t. ( Woman? Girl? Which is it, we were in our early 20s and ‘girl’ sounds too young and woman too old, she wasn’t a lady! ) She worked in the … Continue reading The Pork Pie Diet
There are three of us. We meet, we draw and some of us paint. Kit includes a small stool each, mine is the kneeling weeding mat thing I use at home, another uses a sophisticated wing nut heavy folding easel. Pencils, and some pastels are in my kit, as well as a flask of coffee to prolong drawing time. The other two carry water colours. I’ve not done a lot of this open air drawing stuff in the past but have found this rewarding in several ways. Sitting and looking as well as on site drawing is a great way … Continue reading The Dalai Lama Monthly Plein Air Drawing & Painting Group.
We were in the same ‘group’ on the graphic design course at Manchester School of Art, which is what it was called back then before ‘people’ got hold of it, changed it to a polytechnic and then morphed it into part of Manchester Metropolitan University. Peter Green was one of eight of us. Two groups of four in the illustration department. Peter, Ed, Roy and Terry, then me, Julia, Jenny and Diane, and there was another girl who popped in now and again seemingly just to put her feet up, gossip and smoke. As I recall she wore knee high … Continue reading Shooting the breeze by the river.
A walk through the woods yesterday, and my good friend Mike and I came across this dancer in the woods. Stepping through the wild garlic on tiptoe, head held back in a pose transfixed. A magnificent day out. Today is spent in recovery, as my glowing feet would probably be visible from Artemis. It’s probably all that dancing I do as well. Continue reading Dancer in the Woods
A friend and I have started to put aside a day per month to go out drawing, en plein air, as the French would say. We had quite a lot of plein air yesterday, choosing a dry but flat sort of day to go down by the river, and the river around these parts is the Severn. Turns out that the third member of the drawing club I’d met before some years ago, when she came to me to have some printing done. So she’d had the unfortunate experience of my smooth talking print rep persona. She recognised me but … Continue reading Wingnut assembly by the River.
My bird recognition software on my phone went into meltdown on a terrific afternoon on the top of the Cotswolds. It heard 23 species of birds, including a Willow Warbler, but excluding the fine Red Kite, who was keeping his beak shut whilst he swirled over us, checking out if we might be a healthy snack. What a brilliant afternoon in every respect, the constant change of light with the scudding clouds. Lots of material to draw and paint in the days to come. One of the things I like about this sort of thing is the opportunity to share … Continue reading Some day!
Paul Davies Cartoons & stuff 