Schools are soon to be back and my memory of September is mainly of bright sunny days. Here’s a rough drawing done ages ago of a schoolboy in the rain. With links to other rain pictures. Stay dry! Drawing rain… The view from the victoria sponge Who chucks the rain down? Continue reading Rain again…
These chaps above have all gone to new homes as well as the finished version of the one below. In many ways I prefer the one below to the final. I’m sure they’ve all gone to good homes. The bike drawing has been sold for charity, so I am particularly pleased about that. It was bought by a chap who’s friend is greatly into motorbikes. The charity that will benefit is Headway. This one’s for charity Hoping for a fine day today so that I can find new homes for some of the others, but it’s been a good week anyway. … Continue reading Some of my friends have gone…
I’m forever being told that I should like barbeques, and I don’t. I certainly don’t much care for ‘having a go’ at doing one myself. This from bitter experience of lighting said fire and then waiting for hours before it got to the right temperature to grill a sausage. Said fire was still glowing at 2.00 in the morning with enough heat to cook a large beast. To say it was a fire risk is only a small understatement. And it’s the sun that brings them out. Any nearly warm sunny day brings out the charcoal and the flames, or … Continue reading Barbeques and garden machinery, the Germans have it right.
I’m working on a load of drawings for my exhibition in August, this is one. many of them based on the work of Punch cartoonist “Pont”. Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character I’ve also put together a new website for the project which is very slowly coming together, where people will be able to buy prints of the work from the show as well as other selected pieces. It’s taking a while, so as the saying goes ” Bear with me” In the meantime I’ll be blogging about pigeons, sheds and allotments as normal in addition to random stuff. … Continue reading Bear with…
It’s enough to turn anybody crazy. The things they eat over there get more and more extreme. I follow this site where the delightful Betty reviews food that she seems to buy from someone called Trader Joe. Whatever next? I have this vision of Joe in a large shed somewhere ( I’m keen on sheds as a place to be creative ) thinking “What can I put out there that will tickle their taste buds and send me laughing all the way to the bank?”. Here are some recent gems from Joe: Turkey Bacon. Great idea, lets get all the … Continue reading The problems in America? It’s got to be the food.
Well there’s one to start with: “Tell me about it!” There I was commenting on the inclement weather just the other day to huge shopkeeper: I said by way of greeting: “What a cold day it is today”…”Tell me about it?” he answers. ” I just did ” I replied. “Going forward”. There’s another phrase put in when they mean in the future. ” We’ll be making big changes going forward” is the call, when they mean “in future”. Going forward sounds like you might have a choice. Unless I’m sadly mistaken none of us can go backwards in time, … Continue reading Some useless phrases: tell me about it?
A quick aside from my musings on Greece and our trip to Spetses. I’m working towards an Exhibition in August here in Cheltenham of drawings that go under the title of “The British Character”. This project was inspired by the finding of a small book that I found in a charity shop by the same name which had an intro by the late Alan Coren – now there was a funny man.The drawings in this book are by Pont, who’s real name was Graham Laidler. Mr Laidler was one of the country’s leading cartoonists in the late 1930’s and had … Continue reading Pont: Graham Laidler, and the British Character
This is another of the pages from my collaboration with Gordon Thorburn and our book Some Missing Persons, now very nearly out of print. Gordon’s site If you are a new visitor to my site there are others scattered around here like this one Man who mends cars… A vacancy has arisen in the post of Honorary Village Figurehead, Titlingham St Margaret. Would suit retired major, colonel or wing commander with wife extant. Applicants must be prepared to chair Parish Council, school governors, et cetera. Naval officers tended to retire on the coast, so the villagers of Titlingham, deep in the heart of … Continue reading The Best Dressed Man in the Village
It’s not my New Year’s Resolution, but it came from someone close to me and was delivered as if the words were more like ” I shall seek to achieve the Nobel Prize for Peacemaking”. For myself I’d chosen a resolution of similar insignificance: ” I shall switch my computer off for 2 days per week and do drawing on paper” I’ve so far not managed mine a the knitwear fanatic has not put her resolution to the test just yet. There’s a reason for my switch off resolution and it’s simply do do more practical drawing on paper and not … Continue reading “I shall only buy quality knitwear”
This is nothing to do with French bridge building, but my recent plans to revisit the work of Graham Laidler : Pont Here’s an example of what he did about the British and below is my own version, but mine is just a rough for the time being. I’m trying to go through as many of his versions as possible and in this instance the drawings have a similar construction, as the subject leaves little to be updated really. Other subjects may well have changed. My exhibition is in August next year so I have plenty of time. Sometimes this is … Continue reading More on my Pont project
This is from last year when I was commissioned to do a Christmas card for a very loyal client of mine, who’s company mends large trucks and is keen on motor racing in his limited spare time. It reflects the big story at the time which with today’s sort of news seems a little insignificant, that is the fixing of emissions that VW got involved in by tampering with software. He’s asked me to do another card for this year, which is kind of him and he must like them, but for me it seems an odd way to market … Continue reading “Aulde Bribery”, it’s the time of year…
I’m re-blogging this from some time ago as we are in the season of celebrity books and here in Nam ( Cheltenham ) we’ve just had the what people call the ‘lit fest’. It’s a great boost to the town bringing in loads of worthy media folk and writers looking for an extra sale of a recent tome. Here’s something that I am wont to do now and again. I’m sure that many people like me, take against certain celebrities. One of my own dislikes is that chap who swears a lot whilst cooking. I do a bit of that … Continue reading It’s a sort of revolution.
Paul Davies Cartoons & stuff 