Tag: sketch

Unexpected Silver

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On this bleak grey day I walked down to the reservoir. The storm has ripped most of the remaining leaves from the branches and the sky was leaden. It looked like snow. Then suddenly the sun came out and illuminated the water.

At this time of the year the sudden light on the water is dazzling and brilliant. The shining water was visible through the trees by the shore, a seldom seen glimpse of silver from this particular path I made some quick sketches and notes but it was too cold to stay long.

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There was a single white feather caught in the dark branches and many inky black coot on the shoreline.

Sketchbook pages A4 Back home I made some black and white sketches:

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Sketches 6 x 4 inches
It’s dark at 4.30….

Pig in Jacket and the Consequences of Fire

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Over at Printdaily this week my printing adventures have involved etching. Yesterday I spent the day going through the process, at a bit of a gallop, from start to finish. The whole process is faffy and time consuming and I had dithered about an image but, eventually with Chris’ Salute The Pig Project in mind I made a scribble based on my sadly lost, but not forgotten, Pig in Jacket.

Etching plate and Print of Pig.. you can read about the lengthy process over at Printdaily here. “

Pig in Jacket” was one of the small treasures that I kept when we made the big move over ten years ago. He was a small, I think about 4 inches high, white porcelain figure. I cannot remember when or where I got him. He had been with me for many years. Today I went back to the photo I found and made some sketches.

Lost Treasure 1. Pig in Jacket

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 The Consequences of Fire

Just over three years ago, on the day I set up my “Buzz”show in London. I received an email telling me that everything I had in the world, apart from the suitcase of things I had taken to the USA, had been lost in a “ catastrophic” fire in Spain.

I had taken a small storage unit, not much bigger than a walk in wardrobe, in a new steel, self storage facility, just to keep the special things in my life safe. It seems so ironic now.
I lost all my paintings and drawings, all my sketchbooks, beautiful old watercolour papers, my stash of now unobtainable professional scraperboard, my fine tools and brushes, gilding equipment, precious pigments, paints, the very special selected books I had kept, all my personal treasures, small pieces of jewellery, hangings and silks from India that my grandmother had brought back in the 1920’s.

My teddy, my old toy dog, my tiny old lead farm animals, my desk, my easel, my book press and countless other small but irreplaceable things which I had tried to keep safe. But the state of the art storage unit protected with alarms, sprinklers, cameras etc  had gone up in flames. It was Spain, at its worst.

Probably arson, possibly an electrical fault. Who knows, and not worth wading through the corruption and concealment to find out. What is gone is gone. I have not mentioned the fire before because I loathe “pity me” blogs and the very best thing to do in these circumstances is to shake yourself down, be thankful for small mercies and get on with life.

Anyway amongst the losses was this pig. Oddly enough I had taken a few snaps of my favourite small things just before I left as I had planned some drawings and the photographs were on my laptop. It’s been in my mind lately to have another look at them, now things are not quite so raw, and Pig in Jacket fits in so well with what I am up to now.

A Previous Incarnation of Pig

It’s not the first time I have used Pig in my work.  Some 23 years ago he appeared in my Devil’s Alphabet, which I am about to reprint. Pig here is rejecting the drunken advances of the Devil.

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The Devil with Pig… A tiny scraperboard drawing. .. and I think there will be a lino cut too.. He was a nice Pig!

A Motley Crew

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A few more half hour sketches with the #portraitnovemeber  twitter theme in mind. I cut up some old pieces of board to approx 8 x 6 inches and gave them a quick coat of gesso. They are by my desk for when I have a moment to create another member of the gang.

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It’s very interesting to see who emerges. I am fitting them in between pigs, prints and the other bits and pieces of life. This coming week I may try just one or two more finished ones.

A Gorgeous Ginger Pig: A Duroc Boar

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Some initial sketches of the extremely handsome Duroc Boar that we met on Saturday at Burwash Manor near Cambridge. (See also Chris’ post They Do Rock.)

We had gone to buy some interesting food from their very well stocked delicatessen ‘The Larder’  and to have a walk. This fabulous ginger boar had just been rounded up after escaping… and not for the first time it seems. He is big, lean, strong and has the most beautifully shaped head.
His coat is shades of russet, orange, blue black and ochre. These lovely pigs have pricked ears that flop over at the ends. He reminded me of a huge terrier and with their wiry ginger black and tan coats there is something very dog like about them. He was being placated with buckets of apples.
The girls who had rounded him up said he was a nice chap…”just boisterous”. I must find out what his name is. Their faces are dished and their big heads have a high crown. Their jaw line is deep and their snouts are long.

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Burwash Manor’s Duroc Boar.

“A Ginger Pig”… was the description of the baby Elizabeth I. In human terms this might be regarded as an insult, but to be compared with this super pig could be nothing but a compliment.
Burwash Manor cross their Essex Saddlebacks with the Durocs for a better quality meat. I hope to be going back soon to meet the saddlebacks.

The Big British Lop Pig: First Sketches.

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This is pig number two of Chris’ delightful pig and pork endeavour over at Salute the Pig.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Cold Overton in Rutland to meet up with Jan McCourt at his Northfield Farm and talk to him about his lovely and rare British Lop Pigs.
Chris has also written up some of their history here: “The British Lop Pig-As Old as Our Hills.”

More about Northfield Farm as I  make more drawings of the Lops, who we found blissfully snoozing in deep warm bedding. On hearing voices tiny buried  pink piglets burst out of the straw. I defy anyone not to find them utterly, utterly enchanting. Their capacity of joy seems endless.
I am still at the “getting to know you” stages with the pigs, and still researching and sketching the Mangalitzas and curly coats. Just as I found each bee has it’s own characteristics, so do the pigs. There are breed standards, different temperaments, talk of being good mothers, hardy, easy to feed etc.
Visually British Lop Pigs are big, long, white pigs with silky hair and, again, like the Mangalitzas, with the most fabulous ears. Huge, soft, floppy ears that lie like draped hankies over their faces, as long their noses, obliterating their eyes. And they have lovely smiles! Yes.. I know … its just the way their mouths

turn up … but it is still very endearing!

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More soon ….

A Goldfinch Nest Sketch

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In between learning more about printmaking, hatching plans and projects and ideas for next year I am getting back to some observed drawing. I have to say that autumn is not my favourite season.
The approaching  restrictions and constrictions of dark and cold just don’t suit me and I hate these darkening nights.

But there are a few compensations, such as wonderful seed pods and fruits, beautiful curling dried leaves and the odd dislodged bird’s nest. Down by the reservoir I found this tiny little nest.
There is nothing much to it really, just a shallow, carefully woven, dish with a downy centre.
It’s made from grasses and sheep’s wool with a little moss here and there…and a tiny feather still attached.
I think it is the remains of a goldfinch nest. It seems an impossibly small and insubstantial family home and as goldfinches apparently build their nests towards the ends of branches it seems even more precarious.

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Two small pen and ink sketches 4”x 2.5”

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Goldfinch Nest Sketch: pencil and watercolour 10 x 5”

The goldfinches are delightful. We see them swoop from teasel to teasel in the late summer.

Little Big Feet

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I am nearly back to my own work, it’s just been very busy with 4 very enjoyable drawing and painting Workshops and getting ready for Louth’s Festival of the Bees tomorrow. I will be there with the Buzz paintings and talking about bees and flowers etc.

It’s an excellent week with speakers and exhibitors and I really hope that everyone who can, will go along and support all the hard work put in by Biff Vernon and the organisers.

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Listening to the report on our diminishing wildlife today just reinforces how important it is for us all to do a little bit to plant more bee friendly flowers, keep a little bit of wild garden for hedgehogs and birds and to stop killing things.
David Attenborough  talked about our “extraordinary expertise in destroying and poisoning things” and I watch my neighbour spray and dig in order to obliterate every weed or disorderly plant in order to maintain the depressingly uniform bright green “lawn”. I guess the tarmac will be along soon.

We who care think the message is getting across because we generally talk to each other. “Everyone knows about the bees” my friends tell me but that is just not true and there are acres and acres of the self obsessed, the ignorant and uncaring. However we keep going, trying to inform without preaching and I keep talking bees to anyone who has ears to listen and a few of those who don’t.

Little Big Feet Meanwhile there are coot in the lane and of course on the reservoir. They are delightful and potter about near the stream on their enormous feet. I don’t think they are endangered. It’s on my list for a “good” painting …meanwhile a sketch…

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Coot in the Lane, Grafham watercolour

The White of Blackthorn

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Things are beginning to blossom. White magnolia in the garden, white wild cherry blossom and in the hedges the white splashes of Blackthorn. It has to be one of the most beautiful sights of English spring country lanes. Dark leafless hedges decorated with a froth of white blossom. The leaves will come later. I walked by the reservoir today and along with pussy willows and first green shoots was a patch of blackthorn, one ball of white flowers against dark spiny branches.

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Monday …White blackthorn flowers.. Watercolour 6” x 6”

Further along the track is a big oak tree.. leafless so far but lovely in its skeletal form. There is a large nest box. I have yet to find out what it is for!

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And back in the Empty Garden good wildlife news, the hedgehog has reappeared, along with 4 different butterflies, yellow, white, a peacock and a comma, more  redtailed bees and the lovely black female hairyfooted flower bee.

Early April Willow Sketches

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Last week I had my first sketching walk of the year, not so much a walk as a stagger, but it was good just to get out in some almost warm sun. I went down to the nature reserve where they have been cutting back the willows. There is a curious look to the landscape. Fallen trees, half cut down trees, old pollards with new shoots and new pollards with nothing but stumps. The willows rise up out of swampy ground and there is an odd feeling of desolation, of a war torn landscape reminding me of some of Paul Nash’s bleak paintings. But here, rather than destruction, it is just life on hold, just waiting to get going again. In fact you have to admire willows for their vigour and ability to regenerate after even the most severe pruning. In the sun the stems glow yellow, purple and greeny brown. Some are almost orange. There were a few catkins here and there.

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The stumps of newly pollarded trees and below the exuberant growth of whips from an old trunk.

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The old fallen willows are covered with an abundance of moss. In amongst the moss bracket fungi grow. Beautiful delicate things. I liked the shapes, the points of the fern fronds, the waved edges of the fungi and the random placement of twigs and one leaf.

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These were made a week ago on the 8th. I am sure things will have moved on by now. With more of a promise of Spring I will be out again very soon.

A Bee for Gardening for the Disabled

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It seems to be a year for charity postcards. I was asked by Gardening for the Disabled to submit one for their silent auction in June.  Again I am pleased to do it. I have been rather disabled just recently and the little bit of gardening I have been able to do has been a joy.

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“Our Lovely Leafcutter Bee, Can opener of the Bee World: LOVE YOUR BEES’
4 x 6 inch postcard:  pen and ink sketch.

I am determined that I get the bee conservation message across on these charity postcards. So on the back I write my “Bees need us and we need Bees” slogan which I also have printed on the back of my postcards,

Gardening for the Disabled Trust

The Trust is an entirely voluntary organisation, which gives grants to physically and mentally disabled people all over the UK to help them to continue to garden.  The money raised will go towards grants for individuals at home and also for special gardens in hospitals, community projects and schools.  These grants go towards raised beds, ramps, greenhouses, access, paving and tools which act as a source of motivation and therapy, and though simple, they really change lives.

SILENT AUCTION of ORIGINAL POSTCARDS
Baden-Powell House Conference Centre
65-67 Queen’s Gate, London SW7 5JS on 8th at 6.30-8.30pm and 9th June at 9am-5pm 2013 e :[email protected]Gardening for disabled