Beau Chapeau

This girl ( because although she was beyond a certain age the word woman feels like an affront to pin to her ) got on the tube as I was standing by the door.  The first thing I saw was her hat and it made me smile, and seeing me smile she flowered from her personal daydream and offered me a smile of such perfected glory the day was made.

She was a painted doll, with crimson lips and arched brow and jet, jet black hair emphatically lacquered around her. 

And her hat.

Her hat was a painted doll's face with lidded eyes and Clare Bow lips, edged in diamante, with a flourish of ribbon, also sparkling with gems. All in powder blue and turquoise. 

Maybe hat is the wrong word, maybe it was more of a fascinator, that is what they call them isn't it ?

And I was fascinated.

Coat

Nothing to really say about this one.

Black is the colour...

...Of my true love's hair.

Her face is something wondrous fair,

the prettiest eyes, and the dearest sighs,

I love the tube on which she rides.

Actually I don't know her at all, but the song came to mind as I was sketching her.

Swap over

I was sketching this girl on the tube...

...enjoying how her hair had been pinned up and liking how the sketch was going. And then we came to a station and while I was starting the shading she got up and left and this guy sat in her place.

And while I am also pleased with the scruffy lad's sketch, part of me is saddened that the girl sketch never got to go any further.

Which suddenly makes me wonder how many of all the thousands of Londoners there are I have never seen, never sketched.  I wonder if it's higher or lower than I think.

I have never, to my knowledge, sketched the same stranger on two separate occasions.

Too wonderful...

... to not try to catch.

Haven't managed to get even half of the simple beauty of them. 

Pearly Whites

Look who I got me. A pearly king no less. Brilliant.

He was the Pearly King of Newham, as written on the back of his jacket.

Might have to do some shading on him, bring out the buttons.

One's day out.

Sometimes small pockets of a previous world manage to exist alongside our own.

This old lady was dressed to the nines on the tube, heading for a social occasion in town.

With her black gloves, and her fur trim, and her Louis Vuitton hand bag. She was a stable bubble from a different age. Unpoppable.

And check out her ear rings. Bling madam, bling.

Two Beautiful girls

Both on the tube.

Hold on

Sometimes the tube can be a perilous ride.

The subject was...

Earls Court. Wednesday.

That is one hefty book to take out with you on your commute.

I think (hope) it was essential reading for her latest thesis publication.

So... pt 2

Well that didn't go as planned. I am not brave enough to be as loose. The end result is...

...weak and muddy.

I had a warmer colour for the outline, but it disappeared, so went for a stronger dark purple, but, whilst it kinda works for him, it is way too heavy for her.  She looks almost armoured !

Although who is to say this is the end result !

So...

Having looked at Mr. Dufy ( last post ) am putting some thoughts into practice.

Here is original sketch, two people on the tube.

And have worked over the top in loose, but hopefully thought through colour.

Now am going to redraw again, in paint. Back soon.

They also serve...

A few of the sketches that didn't make it. Sort of like the X factor also-rans. The ones who only appear on the clip show after it's all done and dusted ( with a glitter cannon ! ).

Am going to start a new challenge on the 21st December. I like the idea of starting on midwinter's day, but not at all sure what it will be yet.  

Still open to suggestions.

He says...

...optimistically.

233 - geezer

Have posted this one on another site. So second time out for him.

He looks like he fell from a different time. Like someone shook an old photo and he got dislodged. Have you ever noticed how some people's faces get lost in time, how every now and then you'll see someone who should really have been Victorian, or medieval ?

And how, in every old group photo of, say, a 1920's wedding, or soldiers going off to war, or clerks posing on the office day out, there is always one person whose face is so modern they could just as easily be in the checkout at IKEA ? Always one.

Maybe they are time travelers ? Maybe it's the time warp / photographic equivalent to urban surfing ? Where you have to jump back in time and get your face in a group photo without being detected. What would it be called ? Past tagging ? Time tourist ?

No, no, no - I know - Back slapping.

Tube people

This guy was oblivious to me, which was good, lost in his own thoughts on the way home on tuesday. 

But next to me was a group of three Australians, one who obviously lived here, a girl who sort of was his significant other, but not totally, and another guy who was a brother to one of them, over for a visit. They were laughing about how dodgy the place where the brother was staying was, and he jokingly blamed the first guy for this.

"Oh my God, you should see it."

Then, as they had been half watching me as I finished, the brother said, "draw him", pointing to the first guy.

"No don't," the girl immediately interjected, " he'd only break your paper. "

184- Blimey !

Over half way through now. No going back.

This couple were on the tube on wednesday, as I was coming back from a location recce. He knew straight away that I was sketching him, even though I tried to cover by sketching someone else at the same time. Then I thought, what the hell, and just carried on with this one. He told his companion and they both smiled, and he took a photo of me. Fair dibs.

They got off at Camden, the destination of choice for all Tourists.

So... now the challenge of doing this is wearing off, I have to decide what purpose this serves. I could carry on just drawing, posting the one's I like here and then be done, but there has to be more to it now. What do I want these drawings to do ? What do I want to learn ?

Has to be something.

Any suggestions ?

102 - Cello on the tube.

On the tube last year, very late, going home. And sat near a bloke carrying his cello, a huge white case that threatened to topple over every time the train brakes lurched on.

The cello case gets centre stage here, it was brilliant. Undeniably present. A fat, solid ghost.

Like how the bloke is looking sideways at me, he knew I was sketching, but did he know he wasn't the subject ? Like his cowlick of hair as well. But the cello is the star.

Oh no, the word cello has gone weird in my head, no matter how I spell it, it doesn't look right.

Cello. Cello. Cello.

No. Lost it.

48 - Bluebeard

This guy was sitting next to the hairphones Lady (47) on the Circle line from Acton. I drew him first, as you can just see the shading of her hair on the next page ghosting in there.

Nothing made me think they were together.

Enjoy how his hair and beard both swoop away from his profile, like they're punctuating it; commas or speech marks. Like his ear too.

I called him Bluebeard for obvious reasons. I'm sure he doesn't have wives locked in towers.

Not in Acton at any rate.

46 and 47

Two to post together. One I had labeled Headphones, and the other Hairphones, so they seem to sit together quite well.

Not sure if this guy was asleep, or just listening intently. A very quick, rough sketch, mostly about his profile, everything else is secondary. In this case it wasn't him who got off the train, but me. I do often stay on and go past my stop if I have a good drawing going on, but time had me by the proverbials this day. So a scrawly circle will do for the head phones, a quick block of shading for the hair, and on to the proper reason for the day.

This woman was drawn on the same day as the earlier blue sketches, as that was the only coloured pen I had with me. ( And just had to teach my spell check the CORRECT spelling of coloured there. With a U ! ) Her hair just had to be drawn. It gives her head a brilliant shape, the explosion at the back balances the front fringe, like her whole head was a composition. She was on the central line tube, going into town from Acton. I often sit on one of the small seats either side on the connecting doors, where you get a great view of the whole carriage, and great profiles of the people immediately in front of you. The movement of the train never seems to affect how you draw, unless you have a really dodgy driver who is a little too brake crazy, and you get shunted backwards and forwards a lot. Even then your arm buffers most jolts. Everyone can write on the tube, but people always seem amazed that you can draw on the tube just as easily.

Anyway, really enjoyed drawing her hair.

42

Sometimes these scans insist on loading themselves upside down. I have resisted the urge, every time, to let it be, and go all Baselitz on you, and instead go back and resave them so they load properly. Never have that problem with pen and paper.

This couple were on the tube, but not together, they just ended up that way in my book. I think she was talking to her female friend who sat opposite her. Tourists. Very quick sketches these, not really belonging to the one line club, but look like they could.