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two thousand and ate
It's a new year, then. Happy New Year. Or should I say, Happy New Calendar. Happy New Diary. Happy New Letterman's Beard. Happy New Large Inbox Waiting for You at Work. Happy New Fun Remembering to Write '08' and not -07' for the Next Few Months. Happy New Weight after Many Mince Pies. Happy New President by the End of the Year. A few new drawings would be nice, but I've been busy enjoying visiting company, riding a cable car for the first time, eating crab for christmas, tasting wine on the day formerly known as boxing day (watched closely by the birds on the powerlines above), cheesecake factory, folsom prison, etc, etc, etc, and then editing the video of it all, to be sent back londonward. Still, I've got plenty new sketchbooks and pencils and paints and sunshine and rainy skies. And new vocabulary, Happy New Vocabulary, to say the least; I'm hanging onto my old world words but new ones are at this moment being learnt, and they're all Happy and New...but more on that later. And a Happy New Blog? Too many times lately have I tried to find my blog only to find it cannot be found. I've come close before, and am coming close again, to upping sticks and reblogating, elsewhere. What do you think? It's 2008, and this is going to be a pretty big year... |
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3.1.08 07:05 |
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the half-sven look
In Britain, it's traditional to leave your Christmas decorations up until January 6th (the last day of Christmas); not so here, where all those colourful lights seem to be gone before the hangover on New Year's Day. There's our little tree, above, in our living room last week, making the most of its prolonged existence. Meanwhile, on the TV, the race for the Presidency has begun, but these lights wont come down until next Christmas is upon us. That's Barack Obama on the telly there, in Iowa, begging for Change (Iowa Lotta Money, maybe). It was interesting watching the Republicans debate among themselves the other night, followed by the Democrats, in a scene reminiscent of the Life of Brian (and I don't mean the "what have the romans ever done for us" bit). Good to see passions inflamed; they weren't allowed to make personal attacks, and they all tried not to, bless them. I'm not looking forward to the endless campaign of bitchery and lies during every commercial break that 2008 will bring. I've been in America during elections, but not a pres'dential race, and I'm not looking forward to it. Still, it'll have a happy ending: no more Pres'dent Shrub. I finally got new glasses. I would have had them before Christmas but the optometrist didn't bother calling me to say they're ready (won't be using them again). I am trying a new type of frame for me - I'm forgoing the Fabio Capello (no, American folks, he's not a fashion designer) frames and trying a more Sven-Goran Eriksson (nor is he, folks) look - well, half. Sven favours the frameless formation, well I'm only half frameless, I'm trying out what I'm calling the 'half-Sven' look. Only one shoe outside the bedroom door. Needless to say I now look different. A new year, a new Pete. I can now see a little more clearly at a distance, something I missed recently when trying to draw all those buildings (hopefully my accuracy will improve, if not get better). |
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8.1.08 06:57 |
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hiding in the library
it was wet and cold today (we've had some really big storms lately) but I really wanted to do some drawing; I haven't done enough lately. So after my soup, I went into the UCD library, and just ended up drawing these shelves. I used to lvoe spending hours and hours in the library, while I was doing my MA, I would be in the King's College library in Chancery Lane all day long, poring over medieval texts, every so often going to Senate House, poking about in the medieval language section, writing my dissertation. The UCD library is really well stocked, loads of great books on just those subjects, and a good place to go on a rainy lunchtime. But not really as good a place to draw as I thought. I'll try again next week. Or maybe I'll do some reading. |
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11.1.08 05:51 |
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brown on brown, purple on white
January is brown, not the golden brown of summer, but the damp brown of rainstorms and grey days. I got used to grey days in the UK, so they are a rarer delicacy for me now, though we have a lot at this time of year. That's ok though. Above on the left is a bike by a tree near the building I work in, I ate lunch after waiting a long while for it to microwave, and was then determined to go and draw something, anything, to illustrate in 25 minutes the month of january, and it's davis, so there's a bike, there's always a bike. Above right is the kitchen sink, drawn last night in purple while listening to blonde on blonde. I've kept these small for some reason. Clicking on them sends you to flickr where you can see them in slightly bigger. |
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12.1.08 09:30 |
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i saw a photograph of you in the herbaceous border
On saturday i got outside with pen and paint and paper and caught more mid-january brightness/gloom, actually this was late afternoon, sat in the little arboretum terrace planty gardeny thing type place next to borders. I've taken a photo recently of that self same telegraph line, possibly those self same birds sat atop them, facing east. |
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17.1.08 06:13 |
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trees, revealed for what they really are: trees
Last July I sat and drew this same view, trees leafy, wetaher warm. sky is still blue, but you can see more of it now, with bare January branches. Hey guess who was at UC Davis last night? Bill Clinton! Anyway back to the drawing. I did it yesterday (deadline day for applications to the programs i work on) to relax me at lunchtime (it worked). I listened to a lot of music while I worked. I then added the paint today at lunchtime (though I retreated to the office to escape the big winds). I overcompensated on the blue in the sky, since it always disappears whenever i scan. The original is below. |
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17.1.08 06:29 |
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sketchcrawl 17: davis
today was the 17th worldwide sketchcrawl, and I stayed in davis; it was a very small group, and met at mishka's cafe to sketch...the sun was shining, ad though it was a cold morning, it got warmer. I went off solo after a bit and sketched downtown all day.
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20.1.08 08:59 |
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in the cup for tott-ing-ham FIVE-ONE!!! Tottenham beat Arsenal 5-1!!! Spurs are on their way to WEMBLEY! .....come on you spuuuuuuurrrrrrssssss...... |
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23.1.08 20:21 |
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l''attaque des oiseaux
a new pen, a 'pen & ink' extra-fine fountain pen, which i wanetd to try out. Using India Black ink (of the same brand), it was interesting, and gave me a lot of control, though the black was not quite as black as in my preferred micron pigma ink. Also, it said that the ink does not bleed with a wash; well, it kind of did, a bit. Oh the edges didn't, they stayed sharp as anything, but the ink itself did muddy the watercolour (which is why i used yellow in this experiment, to see). Yes it's given it a different sort of effect but not quite what i was going for when i mixed the yellow; i waited long enough for the ink to dry though. I liked the pen a lot though, so I'm not ready to cocknify my assessment by saying it don't 'arf pen an' ink. I'll leave that to when I get that ink all over myself one day (as is bound to happen). The picture? Speaks for itself. Cave art. |
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23.1.08 20:42 |
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my newborn son, luke On Thursday, at 11.15am, my wife and I became parents! Baby Luke Edward was born in South Sacramento, right on his due date. To say how immensely proud I am of him, and of his mommy, is beyond words. Here is the first drawing of him, done at 6am at the hospital, Luke less than a day old, all wrapped up like a burrito. What a little superstar he is!
And here are his first toys, which I drew a few days befre he was born; the spurs teddy on the left, a pressie from his cousins leo and alicia in london, the british bulldog on the right, a gift from my mate simon, also in london (who gave me the journal in which these were draw - great paper for watercolour and pencil).
I didn't blog about the imminent arrival of fatherhood (mostly because it was private), but I suspect the content of these pages (whether i stay or move to wordpress) will have a distinct 'proud new father' feel to them from hereon! I've got much to learn, not only parenting skills, but a whole new vocabulary: diapers when i mean nappies, pacifiers when i mean dummies, strollers when i mean pushchairs... But my Art Goal for 2008: learn to draw baby!! |
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28.1.08 03:27 |
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