EDM glass challenge

I drew this glass on a windowsill. This was an empty clear glass, but I became very interested in the distortion of the background shapes in the bowl and stem of the glass - which makes it look as though it has a swirly pattern running through it. I don't in fact mind that the swirly lines make it look less like a clear glass, I just thought I'd point it out.

EDM Kitchen Challenge

I raided the kitchen cupboard in Louise's Southwold holiday home to look for some packaging that we have at home and found a jar of Marmite. The packaging is so lovely that it was the most irresistible item to draw. I didn't have any colour media with me, so I drew it in black ink and then added the colour in Photoshop when I got home.

EDM glasses challenge

I really enjoyed doing this drawing. My glasses were on a windowsill and I liked the semi transparent shadows and seeing how the shadow behind the glasses were distorted by my very strong prescription lenses. I don't know how anyone else of my age is coping with this starting to go long-sighted whilst also being very short-sighted. I'm finding it a complete pain in the neck. I've been advised that as I use a monitor a great deal, varifocals aren't suitable because you get funny rings on the sides of your vision. However when I'm drawing it's really difficult. In this instance I was wearing my distance glasses whilst drawing the reading glasses, which was fine for looking at the subject - but very difficult for seeing the pencil and sketchbook.

EDM cup challenge

A wonderful couple of days in Southwold to celebrate Jenny's birthday. Robin very kindly stayed at home to look after Xavier and pick up Hugo from his sailing week. This was the first time I've spent a night without Xavier and I'm ashamed to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed having a couple of days without being at his beck and call. I caught up with a number of every day matters challenges. This was a blissful cup of double espresso I savoured on my own in a cafe on Saturday morning.

Our daughters

One of the things that has kept me from doing new pictures for Illustration Friday was working on this picture. It was my wonderful friend Jenny's 50th birthday and this was a present for the two of us, to celebrate her birthday, our friendship, our lovely daughters and their friendship. This picture was a combination of photography, traditional painting and digital painting, and I've printed out a signed limited edition of two.

Illustration Friday - TRANQUILITY

Once again other commitments have meant that I've had to put up an old drawing for this week's challenge. I drew this picture of my Grandad when I was about twelve. I used to stay with my grandparents for half terms and the Easter holidays when I was at boarding school. It was the same ritual every day. After lunch - the main meal of the day - my grandparents would build up and stoke the fire until the sitting room of their small terraced house was a fug of heat. They would carefully tune the television to the afternoon's horse-racing - which could take up to ten minutes of knob twiddling, ariel-moving, and a variety of admonishing thumps and kicks. Then they would both sit down on their huge armchairs, and start to read their papers. Within five minutes the room would be filled with the purr of one, and then the other, snoring away.

I was so-o-o-o bored, but the tedium of those holidays, if nothing else, enabled me to practice my drawing.

EDM Fruit challenge

This drawing was done whilst I was feeling cross with the world. I thought that absorbing myself in a drawing might help me unwind. But I think they still look like angry pears.

EDM foot challenge

I got sick of waiting for Robin to make his interesting sinewy foot available to me so I quickly drew my own foot propped up on the dashboard as we drove home after Hugo's final primary school play.
Hugo went down a storm as Cindergirl's mother in an updated version of 'Cinderella'.

White wine

It was a white wine kind of meal this hot evening (chicken with tarragon and lemon) and I have too much paid work on to create anything new at the moment, so a chance to see my old rejected white wine label.

Illustration Friday - BAD KARMA

This is a cheat because it's an old illustration I did for a magazine article on risk, but the topic didn't inspire me and I have too much work on at the moment to focus on fun illustration. I'll be back on form next week I hope.
During the research process I came across a great little animated film on the subject of Karma, see it here.

EDM 10 - My hand

This drawing has convinced me that my hands are not a fit subject matter to draw. Long-fingered, sinewy or bony hands are so much more interesting than my short, pudgy fingers. Anyway at least the hand was readily available whilst I was waiting for Xavier to have his introductory session at playgroup.

Xavier's leafy collage

Xavier produced this today at the village church play group. I think it had more to do with Andrea's creativity than Xavier's, but its fun to praise him for his pictures, so he begins to get the idea. I think he did help with the gluing and picking the daisies.

Illustration Friday - METROPOLITAN

When I first moved to London as an impoverished student, one of the cheap fun ways to see the city was to board the nearest red double-decker bus (getting a bird's eye view from the front seat on the upper deck) staying on it until the end of the route and then catching a bus back. Despite everything that's happened in the last week the London bus will always delight me.

London Underground

Just an ordinary family on the Underground, going to a careers fair. Two days earlier murderous individuals were prepared to blow up and destroy ordinary people like these and devastate the lives of them and their loved ones. I just hold onto the fact that most people are good and would not go out of their way to hurt others.

Illustration Friday - SPORT

I'm a butterfingers and I was always one of the last people to be picked for the team, so sport hasn't often been something I've enjoyed. However this depicts a moment of pure pleasure. Rounding the Needles in the 1987 Round the Island race. We had been cold and beating our way up to the Needles. There were hundreds of boats battling for space. As we rounded the Needles the spinnaker flew up, the warmth of the sun flooded our bodies as our boat changed direction. Up ahead were the multihulls, one of them being sailed by Robin who I'd met for the first time the evening before. Three months later we were married!

Brighton - the journey home

This fellow passenger was one of a group of children who'd also had a tiring, fun day out.

Brighton - EDM Challenge 'Draw something old'

This is an arch near the Brighton pavilion (a glorious English folly for those who aren't familiar with it). Definitely old as the date at the top shows. I used a Pentel brush pen for the black (after reading about them in Karen Winters' blog). Then added colour later in 'Painter'. I had to guess some of the top as it was hidden by scaffolding which I really couldn't be bothered to try and draw.

Brighton - lunch

We ate outside, listening to a jazz band at Al Forno's. I used to eat here when I was in my twenties. From Al Forno's you could see Wheeler's restaurant (now called English's, but still the same up-market oyster and seafood restaurant). I imagined then, that when I was in my forties I would be eating in the more expensive retaurant. However, four children means that my eating out budget hasn't changed. Nevertheless Al Forno's £5 lunch special (of whitebait followed by pizza for the boys and linguine alle vongole for me) was delicious and it was much more fun to be sitting outside and listening to the music.

Brighton - when it's too cold to swim

The joy of picking up pebbles off the beach

and throwing them into the sea

Brighton, still on the train - my shoes

Brighton trip - drawing of a reading commuter