The other day when finishing the above drawing of the approach to Woking along the Basingstoke canal, from the south, there was a small amount of satisfaction. The way in which the ink was applied  to me was pleasing, as in many ways it was a little difficult to produce. So rather pleased with myself it was shown to the Lovely Liz.

Her reaction was not what I wanted. She said it looks like Winnie the Pooh and Tiger going for a walk; I was deflated.

The moral of this tale is, don't get to pompous about yourself.

Duncan

For various reasons over the last few months getting into London has been a little tricky, so my sketching on the streets of our capitol has frustratingly had to lie on the back burner for a while. Well on Thursday as the weather looked fine so Liz reluctantly let me of the leash. I didn't do to much and travelled round on the busses whilst limiting my drawing to two pieces. Number 1 was of the Queen's Gate into the House of Lord's and number 2 was in Trafalgar Square, a short bus ride away. Met lots of interesting people; a couple from Canada who were amused at our rather over reaction to snow, two from Atlanta, over for a christening and lastly an Israeli family; they were just loving the city. 

Remember that the exhibition at the Augustus John in Fordingbridge is there for another week.

Art is all encompassing and seems to take a hold of most parts of my life. As such most of the thoughts and objects which pass me by, tend to be drawn or painted; one good example of this is the everyday clutter which surrounds us in our homes. Recording of all this clutter is oft referred to as one of the disciplines of still life painting. I love a glass of whisky and I also love Victoria plums; hence the above ink drawing.

A Patient whom I saw in St. Peters hospital last week requested it.

Remember that if you are down in Fordingbridge in the New Forest before April the 1st. there is a small exhibition of mine at the Augustus John Pub.

Liz and myself had a little adventure yesterday. As you all know, I was booked to hang an exhibition in the Augustus John pub in Fordingbridge in the New Forest, The weather was not very encouraging, however there was a small gap in the two snow belts and we managed to get there, hang the exhibition and return within the gap. Despite the pictures being hung rather quickly, we felt that it all looks rather good. We spent the evening watching a dvd, staying warm and had a lovely warm early night! The pictures are there until the 1st of April.

Maybe a seasonally whitish image is appropriate for today, so the above picture is of the Basingstoke Canal as it passes behind Goldsworth Park, Woking, about half a mile from home. As a contrast my next blog with have a cheery sunny feel to it. 

Oh well the exhibition for Fordingbridge is all ready to take down there and hang, so for a few days I can relax a little and just simply enjoy my art, for arts sake. That is taking the form of ink work along the Wey navigation, around Woking and Guildford as it meanders through the most beautiful countryside. But one of those images for another day.

One of the media which I have been exploring recently is wire sculpture and painting, like the above. Its all good fun and goes like this, obtain a roll of .58mm copper wire (Maplins) and construct, weave, sculpt, or whatever you want to call it, your object. Then paint it in a very loose ipasto  style with acrylics. After which the work is stitched with the afore mentioned  wire to a base board. Very fiddly, can be a tad messy, but good fun. Comments have been very positive, lets see how they go down in the New Forest Next week?

A quick water-colour sketch of Port Quinn done on a recent trip to Cornwall. If it is warm enough to allow for reasonably quick drying time, water-colour is a super sketching tool. My palette is about the size of a box of Swan Vesta match's, two collapsible brushes and only a 100ml plastic bottle for water. Very small and compact; all the above will easily fit into the jacket pocket or bag. Small palettes of the above mentioned variety, are readily available at most craft or art stores.

But the good news is that the Augustus John, an art pub in Fordingbridge on the western side of the New Forest, has invited me to exhibit there from the 1st of March this year for a month. Brian who runs the place, pulls a good pint, the food is very good indeed and it is nice place to spend a short while  relaxing within its walls. Incidentally it is so called as it was the local pub for Augustus John, an artist whom you will no doubt know as an artist of great national renown.

I keep saying how important art is as a communication tool, well the other day whilst at a hospital where I work and chatting to a lady, we talked about both our artistic endeavours. She produced photos on her phone of rather super wooden turned creations, amongst other things. In the chat we talked about Lincoln Cathedral where I had the privilege to work as an artist some years ago, I said that one of the Lincoln drawings from that period would appear on this site this week.

The drawing was one I produced when leading a group in learning how to handle painting in very public places. It was  glorious sunny August, Saturday, early afternoon at the west end of the building and we had hundreds of tourists surrounding us and watching we the twenty or so artists image making. It was a lovely friendly, chatty sort of day; lots of confidence levels were raised to new levels.

To paint whilst being surrounded by people who you have not met before, is such a privilege and honour; barriers go down and people just become friendly, dropping many of their prejudices and hardness's of life. Try it.

Maybe I have gone on enough, To the lady I met; I hope you like the drawing and the rest of you, see you soon