Charles Addams, via Drawn.

Merry Christmas

And a happy New Year! xxx

And time for another pattern!

 

Foxy fiddler

Sketchy

Raining chats

Musician in the Rain, Maurice Baquet, Paris 1957, by Robert Doisneau

Plus ça change, plus c'est le même chat?

It's helpful for me doing these pastiches/copies - I find composition really difficult, and it's useful to copy what an artist has done that has worked beautifully, and hopefully take that knowledge into my own pictures more. Plus, obviously it's fun!

So much texting. 

Inspired by William Steig's C D B, such a funny book.

A squirrel singing and bats dancing this Monday.

Multitasking, get those dishes clean cat!

Boop boop boop

boop boop

Am I nearly finished with this book... maybe, nearly!

STILL trying to think of cards... I don't know what this inertia is, I just can't seem to quite actually DO IT. Although just looked up some card making suppliers, which feels like an achievement. Now I know where to buy plastic bags to put them in, when they exist...

Leonora Carrington

It's suddenly gone colder and wintery, dark early and the office feels more industrious... perhaps I feel extra shut into it somehow.

I'm going to see an exhibition this weekend of some Leonora Carrington drawings. She died this year in May aged 94.  I saw the Serpentine retrospective in 1991 and had never felt quite that passionate before about paintings. I bought the poster, which has now lived with me in 7 different homes, getting steadily tattier but much loved:

Portrait of the Late Mrs Partridge 1947

I remember my mum thought Surrealism was a bit of a teenage phase, and it's true I grew out of liking the others, but not Leonora. Although it is also true that I no longer paint homages to her which include self-portraits. I remember a giant oil painting I began in my bedroom which featured me as a Leonora-esque wraith wafting around my grandparent's lawn (can't remember what the symbolism was supposed to be)... it was utterly meaningless and I was SO keen on it. I remember feeling certain that when people saw it, it would blow their minds. "This was painted by Tor?" "But she's only a a teenager! She's a genius! etc" I never finished it, and the wet oil paint got covered in grime and dust. Which also reminds me of a painting I did when I was obsessed with fairies and folklore - it was of wood nymphs wrapped around trees. My mum told me years later that it was literally the most phallic thing she'd ever seen, and I cringed for a while thinking how proudly I'd displayed it in the art room. Ho ho!

I really recommend Leonora Carrington's funny, strange books, The Hearing Trumpet and The Seventh Horse and Other Tales, if they are still in print.

No no no

So this one is meant to be Snowman as Michelle Pfieffer in The Fabulous Baker Boys. But if you have to ask... well maybe you didn't, but is this unfestive or what! I like bits of this, the colours and the cat, but as an idea it's not happening. I think my brain hears "Christmas card" and goes into total shutdown for some reason. I made my grandmother's Christmas cards for years and years from the age of 5ish, so perhaps I used up all the festive ideas ever allotted to one person... Oh man!

That time again...

The time when I try and think of a Christmas card! I came into work yesterday and spent the whole afternoon on a Christmas Comic, having been inspired by going to the Comica Comiket on Saturday. By the end of the afternoon I was convinced it was total genius... but by the evening, and even more today, I can see it's TOTALLY random, and not funny. Bum! So I'm back to thinking along regular card lines. Not this chap, but maybe something in a carolling theme

Hoover

I haven't much to post at the moment as I'm still working towards this deadline. I've been trying to think of a Christmas card but not getting too far yet...

Eyeballing the hoover. My hoover could do with exiting the cupboard and being used...

Happy Halloween!

Well, nearly! I'm off to Bat Out of Helloween tonight - nonstop power ballads all night. And you know that can't be wrong. In honour of which: rabbit and flamingo, and Foreigner...

Party Food

I've been drawing party food, treats that couldn't include anything remotely sausage roll-like. I started to remember the amazing spreads you used to see at every children's party. 

Chocolate Fingers, Hula Hoops, Wagon Wheels, jelly... and you were allowed to eat as much as you wanted! I was a tediously picky eater as a child, well until I was about 23, so all the loveliness was wasted on me, apart from the crisps and chocolate. Now I'd GORGE, it all looks good! Although I'm still a little uneasy about jelly. (As Beyonce almost said.)

Pics from my phone

I went to Dr Sketchy last night at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. There were two models and a compere, and it was pretty informal in terms of a life class, more like a burlesque night, which took the pressure off worrying about how your drawings came out. And the super music, the mirrors and the red curtains all gave a pervasive feel of Twin Peaks to the evening. Bonus!

I finally re-found the cable which connects my phone to the computer, so here are some random pics... A bat baby which shared a bungalow with my friend and me last summer. A truly revolting dummy I found on the floor. My desk as it looked yesterday.

Colouring pieces

Colouring in this picture from earlier - what are they watching?! 

 I'm off to life drawing this evening, I will put up some drawings if they come out interesting!

More babies

Babies! Stop that crying right now!

Hallo babies!

 

What's that you're doing there babies? Aren't you just being the cutest?

To err is human, to arr is...

Stede Bonnet, the gentleman pirate.

Taking liberties with Lego

For my nephew, an ardent Lego fan.

Can I be Frank with you

Audience

I'll be in an audience this week, but my face will not be worried, it'll be non-stop happy, as it's the Sing-a-long Rocky Horror Show. Although some bits can still cringe me into covering my eyes, crocodile-style. I'm shivering with an-ti-ci... pation!

Croc in progress

I'm all about deadlines at the moment, here's a detail. And now I'm hungry, and it's time for dinner, the best meal of the day. Good times ahead in half an hour and counting!

GIF Animation!

Okay, I'm late to this party, but now I'm here I'm staying until the end and eating ALL the crisps! My first gif animation, and this Cannon & Ball cat shows just how excited I am!

Biplane!

Neeeeeeeerrraaaaaaaw!

Drawing this reminded me of the Tintin book, The Shooting Star, where he goes with the Professor to find an asteroid which has fallen into the sea, and they're on the seaplane and Tintin looks out to see Snowy holding onto one of the wings. When I was little it was my favourite comfort book when I was ill.

Careful Tintin, it's about to go pop!

Up in the sky, a man in a plane

 

Urgh, I'm finding this week challenging and it's only Tuesday... Nothing wants to work - my scanner and printer are being SO hateful. 

Last night my friend was talking about Baron von Richthofen and his flying circus, and that they'd make nice illustrations... I think so too, it might be fun to draw some planes. And I like their wide flying pants. I tried some fighter pilots a while back, time for a return.

More Southbank drawings