Sculptor Dumped by Agent

When in the cafe in an art gallery one expects to be surrounded by people discussing art. I am focussed on drawing the lady in the floral shirt seated opposite me but am deep-tuned into a conversation taking place to my right. She is a sculptor he is her agent, he explains to her that he is not getting "top prices" for her work any more, only in the region of £3000. She is trying to be positive about this when he drops the bombshell. He is passing the business on because of course he doesn't need the money..........she has been dumped by him and is silent. I assume she does need the money.

London is a big city but sometimes you bump into people you know

Travelling on the Overground off peak presents an open vista for sketching as the carriages are not divided and passengers are seated opposite each other. From a sketchers perspective it is as if potential subjects are placed before you. The man in the hat noticed I was drawing him so I quickly switched to the feet of the people sitting next to him to his left. He was sitting opposite a woman who he occasionally spoke to, I assumed her to be his wife. When he got off a young woman replaced him, she was wearing a very short skirt in order to present her thigh tattoos. I was already engaged in the drawing of the woman in the striped top on her iphone seated further along the carriage.  As I turned back to the spot opposite me to begin the next drawing I saw YiTing was now sitting there, she was a student of mine.

Space between

There is a space between these two drawings. Obscured by trees behind where the couple sit eating breakfast and drinking beer is the covered market. Each segment of the circular building has a hand painted sign with the name of the grain that was brought for sale beneath. It is now a local produce market but mainly attracts tourists to gaze at the unusual architecture. To the right of the couple sits a woman with a serious mullet hairstyle who I have mentioned in a previous post. I had to stop drawing her when she registered the unwelcome attention. There is also a temporal space between the drawings as the market was drawn the day before the couple. On leaving the cafe I noticed evidence of the day before......ground up pastels trodden into the cobblestones.

Janneau

Having taken a chair out into the village I sit in the hot sun. The wall is part of the Chateau fortification and is leaning out topped off by the heavy stone cross. I sit by the bungalow of Janneau, who can be heard grunting very loudly behind me as he attends to some manual labour. His sister arrives in a car with her husband and grandson. She has bought cakes for him wrapped in blue and white paper and comes across to see what I am painting. Janneau's sister likes the blue tinge of the paint and tells me about the blue pigment made in the nearby town of Lectoure. Angela tells me that Janneau is an extreme right wing supporter and the sister had once ticked her off for presenting him with a bottle of Ricard after he helped her with some heavy lifting. He has problems with alcohol.

Pearl plays table tennis

From a tiny drawing in a sketchbook filed away. The lightness of the drawing brings back memories of dazzling August sunlight in Lachapelle. The pose is so reminiscent of Pearl's inimitable approach to table tennis. Minimal movement, sunglasses on, hand on hip.

Catching the Last few Rays

In Lachapelle Pearl catches the last of the sunshine before we return to London and its' weather. The pink flowers attract a species of moth which looks remarkably like a humming bird. The pool hoover makes intermittent sounds as it tries to remove wasp corpses from the surface of the water, Pearl has scooped out the worst and left them in a small pile at the waters edge.

A Struggle with Materials

In Lachapelle drawing a sunshade crafted out of coffee sacks by Angela. She has quite a way with tassels fashioned from sacking and the sunlight is very sharp on the rough fabric. I am however struggling with the choice of materials to communicate the texture, this battle is overshadowing the ability to recall anything else that is going on around me. I am conscious that the EE pencil lacks detail on the rough brown paper and so the drapery is looking very similar in tone to the background. Once again the solution lies with the white gel pen......Thanks Mitsubishi Pencil Co

Belligerent T Shirt in Auvillar

Staying in the beautiful and idyllic setting of Lachapelle, in rural Tarn et Garonne, on a trip into the nearby market town of Valens d'Agen with a short detour to the local LIDL, the aim is to find a delightful spot for le petit déjeuner. Valens is mainly shut and so we head for the lovely little hamlet of Auvillars. A place where on the previous visit, after settling at a table on the terrace of the main restaurant we were told they had "rien' for breakfast. On this occasion we head for the peaceful garden cafe where we are alone except for the "woman with mullet haircut" and her son, both of whom are eating burgers and chips for their breakfast. It is already very hot and while we wait for our sandwiches I begin to draw our fellow diners. The son of the woman with mullet alerts her to the fact she is being stared at. Since I left the Fens I have never been stared at in such a hard and intense fashion, she was totally "screwing me out". I knew not to pursue this drawing any further and moved on to the recently seated couple. She was wearing a very elaborate top with a most unusual sleeve design, he wore what was described by my friend Angela as a "belligerent tshirt"

The Small World of Animation

I am at a lecture on the Politics and Aesthetics of Animation, Simulation and Rendering. My approach to note taking is to draw the speakers- mainly because much of the research is rather complex (ie going over my head). Sitting to my right a chap comments on the drawings and during the break asks me if I am doing research, I mention that I am interested in mark making and whether it can help embed memory when used as note taking. He tells me about a recent conversation he has had about a project in a similar field that might be of interest to me. I tell him I have a blog and he asks the name of it, when I tell him he looks a little taken aback and says "oh it was you I was discussing" the person he was talking to was a mutual acquaintance.  The small world of animation.....

Almost a mallard massacre in Fulham

Bishops Palace has a very nice cafe. The garden attracts a certain type of Fulham resident. People at the table I am sharing are planning for the mothers trip to New Zealand whilst two toddlers chase a couple of fat mallards with sticks. Mothers come racing in to prevent mallard massacre in full view of gathered disapproving locals.

Sleepers on the tube....

It is a Pavlov's dog type reaction. I see them - I draw, unable to resist the urge to bring out my sketchbook when I see someone asleep on the tube.  This set are the result of one round trip to the Ideal Home Show in Earls Court. Awful Awful event but very fruitful in terms of sleepers. The show's only point of interest was discovering the "Spiralizer" a device with the specific purpose of making courgette spaghetti.
The man reading the Times was like a character from a sitcom, the lady with glasses never stirred for a moment. The elderly woman sitting next to me had no reserve and stared intently at every mark laid down. "Very good" she commented when she got off the train at Earls Court. The bald man  was drawn very quickly as he woke and was aware of my stare. The lady in shades was deeply asleep, I glanced away for the briefest moment as the train pulled in to Stockwell, I looked back and she was gone.

Revision table

Exam time again, my kitchen table carries the stains of many generations of revision. The table was originally in Kings College, it was saved from being thrown out and in the years since has seen two dissertations, reading record books, exam preparations and many many years of homework.  As well as many dinners with friends and family ....it is also my cats bed.

The Masons

Having a few spare moments in Covent Garden while en route to The Courtauld Institute to deliver my last teaching session for the spring term. Its quite a sunny day and I am sitting on a rather over designed rubbish bin on a small traffic island. The Masonic Hall has long been a fascination of mine and I am often tempted to pop into their "shop". While drawing a taxi pulls up directly between me and the view and deposits a family of four; mother two children and grandmother. They sit down next to me on the over designed bin and I cannot help but tune in to their conversation. They are on a day out from Nottingham. After a while another taxi draws up and the dad appears, he works in London and is meeting his family for a holiday day out.

Unhealthy Obsession?

The sun is shining and as I head out with sketchbook and watercolours I find myself walking with purpose towards the Snackwagon. The location has slightly altered since my last visit, it is now back on the small road that runs through the common between The Avenue and the Windmill pub. It is a stop off for the local police, fishermen and taxi drivers. They gather at all times day and night to sample Tom and Terry's burgers and hot dogs with a cup of tea in a polystyrene cup. I think I am beginning to develop an unhealthy obsession with the Snackwagon.

Not Calm

I am trying to calm my nerves and distract myself from thinking about a forthcoming interview. Immersed in drawing these two guys which is not easy since the train fills up to a ridiculous level after London Bridge, apparently experiencing New Year levels  of unprecedented passenger confusion due to a new platform layout. Still I soldier on craning my neck around those standing in the aisles, determined to obscure my view. The train clears a little and the guys are still sitting there, I continue to draw. One of them gets up to leave the train at Moorgate......... and I notice I have missed my stop- I am not calm.