There used to be an estate agent who told the truth. He made a name for himself by describing properties exactly how they were. I sadly forget his name, but he satirised his own profession by describing properties that were obviously in something of a state. For the one above he may well have said ” In need of modernisation” but he would have also said ” and four walls plus a roof will help complete this possibly stunning property with views over where the Germans scuttled their fleet at the end of the First World War: Scapa Flow. This … Continue reading In need of modernisation.

…when I was lucky enough to get out into the hills for a walk and some just stunning blue skies.I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Continue reading On some days you can’t beat the weather, like today…

Here we have the original pen and ink drawing with no digital faffing about, just a scan or in this case two scans and the two joined together as you can probably see in parts. Striving to add colour without losing the feel of this original I have divided it into areas and then added colour, rather like a painting by numbers, then to get away from that I have washed over other colours in photoshop to make it feel less antiseptic. But now I’m sceptical about antiseptic. I’m not anti sceptical, in fact I’m all for it. Stop!!! Here’s … Continue reading Digital progress, or is it?

Every time I go out on a simple country walk I’m looking at the angles and searching for valid images that juxtapose with shapes and I’ve even been known to use the words: texture and validity. Sounds like a serious case of artbollox to me. You need to cut down on places that might over stimulate your artistic tendencies. Have you been near someone who might have passed this on to you. I’ve not been within 2 metres of anyone since April, apart from other people in my bubble. Is anyone in your bubble of the tendency to talk incessantly … Continue reading I think I’ve caught “artbollox” Doctor…

Here’s the line drawing.all hand drawn. The sky did look a little like that except I knew I was going to make it blue in the final… and here’s the digital colour version. This is in South West France, lovely place. More of these to come in the next few days. Au revoir! Continue reading French Beach in Summer

Something that will hopefully cheer you at the start of a wet week here in the UK. This is taken from a walk some time ago by the River Severn here in Gloucestershire. I took a photograph and then created a line drawing. My plan, such as it is, is to convert the line drawing into a colour image digitally without losing the atmospheric feel of the original. There are times when I manage to kill if off completely, which to me is a side effect of digital imagery. Much of it loses its ‘feel’. Hopefully not the case here, … Continue reading Severn Meadow

With the new lockdown imminent then one of the outlets for my “Books for Children Project” will be closed. The books have been available at the Longfield shops in Cheltenham and Stroud and as these are considered non-essential shops I’m assuming that they will be closed from this coming Thursday. So I’m making extra efforts to sell the books from my website. You can buy them from here using PayPal and I will send your ten pound donation to Longfield, or you can get in touch and arrange to pay them direct. Longfield do a brilliant job looking after people … Continue reading Drawing a cat in a hat at speed…

This is one of many landscapes I’ve been doing over the past few months. This is on the very west coast of Vancouver Island not far from Tofino. This is a large drawing and in it’s first stage at present, just Indian ink on paper. From here it can either get better or worse. If it gets worse I generally just rip it up. Over faffing can foul it up, and I am prone to over faffing, both in life and in what might be laughingly called art. We visited this area some years ago now but the memory of … Continue reading Vancouver Island

On a day when the clocks go back here in the UK here’s what we have to look forward to when they go forward again. These bluebells are in Derbyshire in the Derwent Valley. On a grey day we forget how bright things can be and without sounding ‘preachy’ how bright they can again. Nope! That sounded ‘preachy’, but there it is. Continue reading Bluebells

What sort of question is that to put to a sixteen year old? It was at the time of my school French aural examination and the examiner put this question to me just to test how I would pronounce the French word for umbrella. ( Look it up! ) I was non-plussed, searching my limited head dictionary for the right word, or more to the point, what the hell he was talking about. He understood my plight and looked at me eagerly willing me to both understand the question and to speak the official answer. A sixteen year old, even … Continue reading What would you use in the rain?