Sunshade

In the same spot on the same day, first off there was a child's party. The sunshade and pool area were decorated with balloons and bunting. Later on in the day under the same sunshade Lorraine discusses tonight's menu with her friend Emma.

Two weeks painting for me equals two weeks swimming for Sacha and Pearl. The extreme Andalusian sun dries the paint so quickly which is an advantage when painting water.  Oh and there is Lorraine discussing tonight's supper with a lady from Wiltshire, this time in the pool.

Pool side

This is a visual record of two weeks in July observing the pool side behaviour of the residents of Pueblo Miraflores near to Marbella in Andalucia. Over the time I made the sketches I also had brief conversations or exchanges with many of the subjects. They were mainly aware of being observed and curious to see the paintings. I met a man who had been a water-colourist himself but had to go back to his old job as a result of the economic situation in Ireland, another lady was doing an oil painting course and wanted to share with me how difficult she found colour mixing. One lady, who appears in several of the drawings, seemed to know everyone by the pool on first name terms. I discovered a great deal of information about her and her family from overhearing these conversations including what she would be having for dinner each evening.

Sleeper on the Northern Line

This is midday on the Northern Line, the best time to draw a sleeper as there are less passengers around to draw attention to the sketcher and in turn wake the sleeper, or is this just my paranoia?. When drawing in public places there often seems to be a sense of urgency, either in capturing a pose or in not being caught in the act. 

Vegetarian Breakfast

Peeling back the foil of this British Airways vegetarian breakfast revealed the contents cowering in the right hand corner, including a Salvador Dali tomato. Shown here the scrambled egg peers over a rice sausage, in the foreground a hash brown contemplates the space.
 It actually tasted quite nice. The man sitting next to me was trying not to look as I drew my breakfast before eating it.

He knew he was being watched but he just didn't seem to mind. His eyes kept darting towards me then looking away. He didn't touch his drink until I shut my sketchbook, finished my coffee and paid the bill.

I went to Ikea, tried to be early to miss the traffic. I got there an hour before it opened. Not to worry  as the Bistro opens for business an hour before the store itself. For only 99p they can knit you a full breakfast. The scrambled egg was very woollen, I sat on my own and had a fry up.