oops

Quick one today, mind elsewhere...

...and have just spilt grapefruit juice all over the place.

Watching me, watching you, watching...

This girl loved her hair, and played with it the whole time I was watching her. Brushing it back, scrunching it up, then flicking it forward and playing with the ends of it.

And all the time watching herself in the window's reflection as her friend talked and talked.

Was she aware that, opposite her, a young tourist watched all of this mesmerized and amused ?

Who watches the Watch(ing)men ?

( See what I did there ? )

Ladies who cyberlunch

Anna Wintour on the Thames link train from Bedford !!! Well I never.

This Lady and her friend were discussing Facebook, and the whole Social network thing.

"It's great as far as it goes, but I find it all so static, you meet people and it's good and all, but when do you get to interact, and develop things further ?"

She waved her painted nails in emphasis.

"I argue with my work colleagues all the time, and we disagree about all sorts of things, but that moves our relationship on from just work, you know"

"Facebook you don't really get to interact with people. So what is the point ? "

The June edition coming along nicely then ?

( Disclaimer - any resemblance to real powerhouse fashion magazine editors is entirely coincidental, and big sunglasses are not, when I last looked, a trademarkable item )

Cornish Coffee

This bloke's beard gripped his throat like a strangler.

Like a Rottweiler shaking a chicken in it's jaws.

And he had brought his large to-go coffee from The West Cornwall Pasty Company, which strikes me as the last place you would think of for a caffeine fix.

Pidgeony pie.

As much valid Londoners as the pesky humans they spend all their time dodging around.

Although what the hell they found to peck at on this gravel path I am at a loss to say.

Two train sketches.

Yes I know, still sketching on the train.

Laure asked about how I draw. And I wish I have a philosophy to expound, but the simple truth is, I love people. I am fascinated by everyone, every gesture, every unsaid thought, every curl of hair and placed foot. And when I see people ( every day, I don't live in the Arctic circle - although that would be nice ) I have to look at them, and understand them, and, if possible, draw them. I recently became better attuned to the unsaid, ( which is, more often than not, Love ) and just want to record it. And I have always carried sketch books, a small pocket one for notes, and a bigger one for full frontal sketching. And half a dozen pens at various stages of drying out.

Nothing special, The pens I like at the moment were £2.50 for a bag of ten from Tesco's, and the note books are whatever I find that is cheap. Expensive materials scare me, they impose themselves between me and the drawing, and I have enough to fret over without questioning if what I am drawing is worthy of 140lb HP Ingres.

So when I get on a train, or enter a room, ( or sit in the park, or on a bus, or on a beach ) I will always see something I want to record. Even if I have forgotten a book there is usually paper around. And all my friends are so used to it that they don't take any notice. In fact, the mark of a good friend is how relaxed I feel about sketching in their company.

Better shut up and put a sketch in now.

I liked how her hair fell either side of her shoulder.

And I liked the circle on his t-shirt.

Silly little things that catch my eye and make me look at a person more.

Mind you, everything I draw is about me, at the end of the day, my taste, my take, my fetishes. I used to think that you need to look at the world long and hard to understand it. Now I know that all you need to do to understand the world, is look at yourself.

BTW - I am crap at landscapes.

This is great, your comments are making me question the whole process. More please.

We've only got 10 seconds to sketch the world

Sam offered up the 30 second sketch challenge the other day. Had a go.

Made me aware how I look at things. I tried to pick people who would be gone almost as soon as seen, and to just look, and imprint them in my mind, sort of photographic memory. ( and as I write this I instantly think of Barbara Windsor in Carry on Spying -  which says waaaaaay too much about my film tastes ) But found I couldn't, and it was a real struggle to lock everything in my head before I started drawing. Which makes me wonder if there is a difference between seeing and looking ? If I have removed seeing from the process and need to rediscover it.

Anyway, here is one of the results.

And I think it was because it was such a familiar view that I could get it down. He was gone long before I had even got to his shoulders, and really had to think to get the arms and backpack in place. Also almost managed the mythical one line drawing.

Liked this one.

But am cheating, as he sat down, stretched like this, then stood up again and wandered off and I just got his hand down before the mental image faded, and I liked it too much to ruin it by trying to draw any more.

Oh, and happy May 1st everyone.