I’m a natural for mending cars ( not ) but then these days, no one opening the bonnet of a car will recognise anything. This is a drawing from some years ago when I celebrated the work of 1930s cartoonist Pont who celebrated the way the British behaved. Please note the arriving cup of tea from a support worker. Unusually there are no oily kids around here, they’ve probably run off with an oily part that is vital. Continue reading Natural Engineering Expertise

I took this picture in 2003, so this shop has been gone for a long time. It was on Southgate Street in Gloucester ( there was a recent move to rename the street Gareth Southgate Street after our England football manager ) Sadly although they claim that it was what the street wanted, this did not seem to be the case, possibly because not many people in Gloucester were familiar with what they actually sold. Also taken some time ago this image of a youngish lad who was skateboarding through Cheltenham way back in 2007 so he’s probably in his … Continue reading Red shop, cool skater.

Just outside Painswick in Gloucestershire, Paradise is a few scattered houses, a former pub, and a simply glorious valley. Just the place to go on sunny summer evening, with my good friend Robin and a bottle of beer each. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. In a moment of weakness I mentioned a way of describing art in an unintelligible way and it’s known as “art bollocks”. Robin has adopted this with enthusiasm and is now adept at the language. He did use the words “dimensional clutter“ in this short video. Hopefully this was the beer talking. Continue reading Late walkers in Paradise and dimensional clutter.

You know what it is. The deep bit of dashboard in front of the steering wheel awash with old bills, probably unpaid, empty fag packets ( that’s cigarette packs to anyone outside the UK ) , old takeaway wrapping and detritus. In some cases the vehicle is relatively new and the purchase date can be probably ascertained by digging deep and finding the invoice for it deep in the dashboard. Poor chap never has the time to clean it out as he’s off to the next job, not yours, to try and make headway on it before he finishes at … Continue reading Builder’s Dashboard.

I thought I’d posted this some time ago, in June. Of all the walks that Robin and I have been on this one gave us both the biggest pleasant surprise.It feels like almost the end of summer here now with a hint of cool in the air. This was an evening walk, but as I recall, quite warm. I hope you enjoy this like we did the walk back then. This is the post from then: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ This evening my friend Robin and I went for a ramble on the banks of the River Severn near Apperley in Gloucestershire and … Continue reading Hello buttercup…later.

Another of my portrait shots and unusually in this one my good friend Al Blethyn is facing the camera. He wears well does this fellow. We shared offices for nearly ten years and never a cross word. Unusually in this picture he’s not smiling broadly, which is something we do a lot when we meet. He’s a fine designer with a brilliant feel for type. We are at present collaborating on designing t shirts! Possibly the oldest t shirt designers in the country. Take a look at them here, and you’ll see what I’m on about when it comes to … Continue reading How does he do it?

You mighty see a few of these portraits in the next few weeks, so don’t say you were n’t warned. This is Ron and as you can see from the background it was taken when there was very little green around. It was cold but bright, unlike now in May, when it’s cold and very damp. Ron is one of my fellow plotters and has been working his allotment for a number of years. I have only one instruction to my fellow allotment victims, and that is “Look noble” and they do. Ron’s potatoes seem to grow at exactly the … Continue reading Ron from the Plot

Nowhere. Like everyone else I’ve been nowhere but around where we live. I’ve also been pretty quiet on the blogging front too. But like a duck in the water I’ve been paddling away. More projects and one in particular has taken quite a bit of my time. I have a habit of never finishing projects and it may well be tricky to get to the end of this blog without drifting off. That aside I’m determined that my new project will take off and it’s all about t shirts. Odd really, but I never wear them myself, but leapt at … Continue reading Where’ve you been?

My mother and father inherited a small cottage in Wales in the 1970s which was formerly the home of my Aunty Gracie. Gracie lived with her sister Mary, in the house for many years, almost all her life. I remember the place well with it’s black cast iron kitchen range in the quite dark back room, usually lit even on the warmest days. We always went to visit the two sisters when we were on holiday in what was my father’s home town. We were allowed to view the parlour: the front room, but not allowed to go into it. … Continue reading Gracie’s secret.

My good friend Steve has let me borrow a book that he thought might suit me. “Edgelands” by poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts. I’m not much into poetry but this book is prose. Not quite sure how one writes a book with someone else but they seem to have managed it seamlessly. I’ve really enjoyed it and what shows how good it was that it sent me off in other directions to look for things I knew little about. Including the authors. If, like me you like to see broken down old sheds, and find beauty in broken … Continue reading Meat and potato pie from Edgelands