Pearl in Paul

When Paul bakery first opened in the Kings Road I used to buy olive fougasse for Pearl and Sacha to eat on the way home from school. It always smelt very warm, french and comfortable. I now know Paul as the french motorway services favourite, which is very useful for long journeys on French motorways but mars the experience.  Just prior to sitting in here I saw a fox cross Southwark Bridge road at a pedestrian crossing in broad daylight.

Londis

I used to live on the nineteenth floor of a tower block which had a special rubbish room with a chute. Full bags of rubbish were squeezed into a grey metal door which when closed sent the bag down 19 floors to fill huge grey metal containers on the ground. The containers were on wheels and every day the caretaker would move those filled with rubbish outside to be picked up by the bin men. Someone had written on the side of one of the full containers with magic marker in a neat script "Londis Warehouse".  This is my local store which is rather nice but whenever I see a Londis I think of those bins.

In the wrong place at the wrong time

Some weeks, due to my rather erratic and hectic work schedule, I am worn to within a fraction of my available memory storage. In the past this has manifested as a Tuesday Thursday confusion, whereby I often turn up for a Thursday appointment at the right time but on a Tuesday. In this particular week the confusion had shifted to a Saturday Sunday frame. I am thus at Duke of York's Square waiting for the friend who I thought I was meeting at a chocolate fair at Olympia, when I called in a frantic panic to say the tube was closed and I was going to be very late  there was a brief pause before she replied "but we aren't meeting until tomorrow".

La Plagne-Peterborough..... a link

Sitting in an apres ski cafe high up a mountain in La Plagne, France with a hot coffee I became aware of a group of people sitting behind me. I had my back to them but I could tell from their accents that they came from Peterborough. I am not sure if it is a particularly identifiable accent to the untrained ear but as an ex inhabitant I am attuned to the fenland flat vowels. When I left I stole a look across, all wore tracksuits with "Castor and Ailsworth Rugby" written on the back.

Costa Coffee Liverpool St

In Liverpool Street Station once again with students. I wait in Costa coffee as it's bleak and cold and raining. Two American women sit chatting while another woman works intensely on her laptop. The wait goes on and no students appear for the scheduled crit session. I check the brief I have carefully written for them, 6pm by Costa coffee under the moving staircase by platform 1. Yes I am in the right place.......... There is another Costa coffee by platform 12.

Liverpool Street Station

These railway workers were having a lunch break sitting on the steps outside Liverpool Street Station. They were involved in lively banter but the guy on the right kept looking across. I knew I had to work fast before their break was over. I sat outside Pret and a woman asked if she could share my table, I agreed but forgot that outside seats are for smokers. She swathed me in a huge cloud of smoke which she seemed to blow intentionally my way, then when a table on my left became available she moved and lit up another fag.  When she had done with all her smoking she went across and told the guys I was drawing them........they all came across one by one to look over the drawing and were utterly charming.

In Chiswick Park

 The time of day is late afternoon and children in school uniforms began to pass by en route to the playground situated just behind this group of people. They however were deeply involved in a discussion from which they were undistracted, even by the pigeons which were making ever braver forays to retrieve crumbs of  large and expensive chocolate muffins. To my right were a pair of young mothers discussing a re-working of the tax system whereby you only pay for the specific services that you agree with, every so often one of them had to leave this political debate to rescue one of their three children from scootering into various shrubs. All of these children had rather poor steering skills.

Clapham Common

I was rather hoping that pug club would be taking place in the Bandstand cafe on Clapham Common. A club for pug owners and their dogs, many of whom arrive sporting small garments possibly intended for children rather than dogs. On one memorable occasion a pug called Marion arrived wearing a velvet hairband.  Sadly this wasn't a pug club meet-up day so the common was quiet.

Serpentine girls in the sun

Two girls sit chatting by the Serpentine in bright sunshine on a hotter than expected day. After a while one of them puts up an umbrella. It was not raining. In Britain we will happily sit under an umbrella provided by a pub or a restaurant but we are not in the habit of carrying our own parasols.

A sunny day in September

A sunny day in September feels like a bonus after a warm summer. The Serpentine is a pleasant hub for locals and visitors to enjoy being outdoors. Whether the activity is vigorous such as cross country running in school uniform or involves seating and coffee, prayers by the bridle path or religious activity on pedalos this large but contained stretch of water attracts all.

Art homework

Pearl does her art homework.

Railway bridge between Battersea and Wandsworth bridge

I am keen to draw helicopters taking off and landing at Battersea Heliport. Noticing that there is now an open view from the road behind Homebase I set off with Debbie Loftus for a sketching session. Cycled down on a windy and slightly drizzly morning we noted a good view of a stationary chopper on the tarmac.  However the noise protecting auditory screens only permit visibility when the viewer is in motion. As soon as you stand still the view disappears. This is most inconvenient for the passing artist. We had to move down river and make do with bridge repairs.

Listening to Agatha Christie

Even when the temperature hits 90 degrees and the swimming pool calls Pearl and Pascale can always make time for a chapter of Poirot. Huddled on the sofa sharing headphones followed by a quick discussion regarding possible suspects, accompanied by a mug of hot chocolate. In combination for me- this is the Costa del Sol. 

Weather Permitted

This year Great Britain has had a particularly good summer - the weather has permitted. Outdoor drawing is an activity suitable to this kind of climate, these were made in Rock and Padstow. The act of drawing in public places often attracts comments from passers by, many of whom also seem to paint themselves.  I felt that my presence fitted into the holidaymakers appreciation of the scenery especially those who photographed me on my bench as I painted, having first strategically placed their relatives behind me.

Weather over London

Flight to Sweden delayed for one hour due to "weather over London"

Strange Conversation

This man was sitting very still sunbathing, he was not reading just gazing. There was a woman on a sunbed one away from him, she appeared to be deeply involved in her magazine. I was drawn into a conversation happening out of the picture between an Irish woman and a French family. I imagine this man was also tuning in. It is rather strange that we were all participating in the conversation in some way.

Pool Game

• 
  

Pearl and Pascale playing one of their strange pool games. They are never able to fully define the rules and are therefore fully embroiled in identifying flaws in either their own or each others performance. Though they are unaware, the action of definition actually forms the basis for the game.

Bees and Cabbages

I once spent an idyllic summer holiday in El Gastor staying in a beautiful villa with a pool.  From the pool you could sit and look out over the Sierra de Grazalema towards the brightest emerald green lake and across the valley to a tiny hilltop village with a medieval castle called Zahara de la Sierra. Unfortunately too much of this precious idyll was taken up by working on a pitch for an animated title sequence which of course I didn't win. The upside being I got some quite nice drawings of bees and cabbages.

An Australian four wheel drive vehicle

An Australian four wheel drive vehicle painted as a wedding present for Andrew's niece- she drives something like this in Australia.

Cafe le Rostand Paris

One of the ladies sits in a too low chair while the other has her hand permanently resting a little too high up on the window frame to be genuinely casual. To sum up they both look equally uncomfortable.

The coffee and the view at Gastro's

Coffee at Gastro on Venn Street in Clapham is really good and you can look across at the cinema to plan viewing. On Sunday a man was loading his shopping onto his bike when the carrier bag broke and all his shopping spilled onto the pavement.  He was behind this couple and slightly to the left. I was rather distracted by concentrating on all of these activities and the person who I was with seemed rather irritated that I was not able to give him my full attention.

Tutorial sessions

I have been doing tutorial sessions. Sometimes students don't show up and I am staring out of the window- this is what I see instead.

Asda car park

Once I was in Asda car park in Clapham Junction when a woman got one of her slip on wedge sandals caught in the accelerator pedal of her porsche. She drove through two rows of parked vehicles.

In the Caff

Every Saturday morning I sit in Melanzana Cafe on Battersea Square having a coffee with friends while I wait for my daughter to finish her ballet class. I have been doing this since she was three, though I used to sit in cafe Mazar. On further analysis I think this is probably my hobby.

On the bus, on the phone

It feels like it has been raining for months in London, it is always steamy on the upstairs of the bus. The atmospherics are poor, you can't see out of the windows and are forced to involuntarily participate in the mundane phone conversations of fellow passengers.

Simon Says- Ghent

Simon Says is a delightful bed and breakfast in Ghent run by a couple of friendly British guys. The rooms are above a coffee shop which is very popular due to its excellent breakfasts and very welcoming atmosphere. There was a large number of staff milling around in preparation for the 10am opening time but as guests of the B and B we were able spend some time relaxing over the Sunday papers.  The colour of the interior decor is a serene peacock blue decorated with simple bundles of large red berries for Christmas, highly appropriate for the perfect winter Sunday morning.
http://simon-says.be/