Two Day Tour

I'm back from two days of driving to see family and friends.  I've thrown an image together (and not coloured it for now) to sum it all up.

In the past few months I've got about in the car a great deal - often on a grander scale and further afield than East Anglia.  This trip, though, was a sharp and strange fling, leaving at 6.30 am on Friday and getting home around 8 pm on Saturday.

I've been everywhere!

I could tell you more stories but none of them are thrilling.  It was a trip of small experiences and you can guess at a few from the drawing!

Working 5 to 9

Back in print.

Look who's back in the printroom!

Solent keeps the facilities open late for the busy illustration and graphics students preparing for their degree shows.  I've been given a supervisory rôle.  On weekday evenings I hold the keys and wear the apron.

When I've told people about the new job, half of them aren't sure what I mean:  it's not about toner; it's not the art collection of a Regency mansion (almost equally desirable).

It means making a mess with the intaglio inks, mopping up the leaking water from the hose cabinet; operating heavy presses...  and, if you've ever seen the sink in an art room, you can imagine the splattering and grime, which I particularly enjoy scrubbing.

When I'm not doing that, or helping students, I can get some of my own prints done.

The university website has an interactive tour of the art school - see here - including a blurry shot of me, a year or two ago, waving some big sheets of paper about.

East Anglia

The forest of times and station codes.

That's where I'm heading for a few days.

It's a complicated, finely-planned trip, with some time in London on the way.  There will be many trains and I'll see some place I've never visited - ie. any of Suffolk - mostly on flying visits:  Lowestoft, Saxmundham, Beccles and Aldeburgh, where the festival is in full swing.

Let's hope I get some good drawing done.

Sunday Photos

1:  Dainty shelving of books.
2:  Arranging a quilt on a friend's floor.
3:  Salvaging sections of old photo albums that my mother was throwing out.

 

Not pictured:  bhajis for breakfast; pork crackling; evening melancholy.

Class Distinctions

"Class Distinctions" is an exhibition in the Wightlink ferry terminal in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, from 11th January to 5th April 2013, in partnership with Southampton Solent University.

That's my piece, among others from the Illustration (Becka Potter's lovely and informative "Curious Creatures"), Fine Art, Fashion Photography and Make-up And Hair Design BA courses.

You can (and should) read more at the event page from Solent University...  and there's even a tumblr for the Faculty of Creative Industries and Society.

Graduating

My degree course finished in June 2012, so this one is a little late.

My degree exhibition:
SOUTHAMPTON.  All of it.  Well, as much as I could fit onto three metre-wide discs of paper.
I wanted to talk about the city's architecture, development and mythology.  From the idea of a map, the project became three separate pieces:  Places, People and History.

The process involved a lot of drawing, research and photography around town, mixing standard tourist facts with little details that I remember hearing about Southampton over thirty years here.

The borders are lino-printed by hand and the rest is a jumble of ink drawings and text.  I wanted to keep it light and immediate - which is tricky when every mark is final.

To round off the display, I etched two sheets of brass with similar images, for brass-rubbing.


The show was held at Solent's new studios, which were then opened officially by Sir Peter Blake.  I met him, but had no idea what to say.  I won a prize for drawing, selected by Paul Osborne, our life drawing tutor - an astounding honour for me.

Solent Illustration had a stall at D&AD's New Blood fair at Spitalfields Market.  For me, it made up in part for our London exhibition falling through.  I was awarded one of the thirty "Best New Blood" rosettes.

Since then, my three pieces were framed; put on show in the Solent Showcase over the Summer; then bought by the university; and now are at Quay Arts, Newport, Isle Of Wight.

Meanwhile, a similar piece -  a plate design for the university - is on display at the Wightlink terminal in Yarmouth, Isle Of Wight, along with other work by graduates from Solent's creative courses.


Here are some close-ups:

Edinburgh to Southampton

I've just spent a week travelling down through Great Britain, seeing places that I felt I should have seen by now, making rough sketches wherever I could.

Edinburgh:  The Albacini Collection, Scottish National Gallery
Birmingham:  Smallbrook
London:  Prommers in the gallery, Royal Albert Hall

It was quite an itinerary, by plane, train, bus, taxi, underground, coach and a lot of walking.  Here goes:

Saturday:  Southampton to Edinburgh
Sunday:  Glasgow and Edinburgh
Monday:  North Queensferry and Edinburgh
Tuesday:  Edinburgh to Berwick Upon Tweed, Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and New Marske (near Redcar)
Wednesday:  Darlington to Northallerton, Ripon, Harrogate, York, Wakefield and Birmingham
Thursday:  Birmingham, Coventry, Rugby, Milton Keynes and London
Friday:  London and Southampton

Some of these were very short visits.  In the case of Morpeth, a delayed train left me with only enough time to try a hat on in Green (Agriculture) Co. Country Store.  In some places I had time to visit cathedrals with the help of the 1960s Pitkin guides.  I heard the accents change and enjoyed stayed with a couple of friends.  But really, I did a lot of walking.

Here is nearly everything from the sketchbook:

North Queensferry:  The Forth rail and road bridges (3)
Edinburgh:  Scottish National Gallery (2)
Berwick-Upon-Tweed:  The Royal Border Bridge
Newcastle:  station portico
Durham:  University library and Cathedral (2)
Northallerton:  The Fleece
Ripon:  market square and town hall (2)
York:  Minster (2)
Wakefield:  Hepworth Wakefield gallery and The Black Cloud; Unity Hall / Unity House / Buzz Nightclub (3)
Birmingham:  Smallbrook (2)
Coventry:  Cathedral and Bull Yard (2)
Rugby:  St. Andrew's Church
London:  Prommers in the gallery, Royal Albert Hall (3)

I didn't get the colours out much.  Here is the train across the Forth and another view of the Proms.

Hampshire

Southampton feels a little separate from the county, and I spent the Spring digging deep for every historical detail about my hometown.  In the weeks since then, I've been out of town a bit more and I'm getting into a Hampshire mood.

Mottisfont

I'm a National Trust volunteer!  Specifically, for the gallery rooms at Mottisfont.  I like the variety and the number of people involved.  At first I felt like I was in a gentle fly-on-the-wall series about daily life at a National Trust house, with problems cropping up, sudden meetings, rainy rose gardens and rounds of tea.

I've worked on hanging and taking down shows; sorting files; building dens on the children's trail; staking ropes out along the river; painting posts...

On a quiet day last week a couple of us just went on a ramble around the extensive estate (which is reached by walking across fields and down lanes). Now, though, the head curator is back from a holiday, so I was asked to research the art galleries of the country and have ideas.  Even if they weren't much use, I now have a personal list of exhibitions to see.

Romsey

The Three Tuns pub wanted a new flyer for their Summer campaign.  This gave me an excuse to visit, after a gap of many years, and find details to bring into the artwork.

As requested, it's all about English things, Summer, local pubs and celebration.  I had fun drawing some of Romsey's buildings (the abbey, the corn exchange, King John's house, Broadlands and the English Court) and including flora (nettles, dock, cow parsley, lupins...) and fauna (cygnets, slugs) and the most ridiculous cake I could come up with - which I then brought into reality.

Some extra influence came from "Colourful Romsey" - a lovely compilation of film from the 1940s and 50s.  With ideas to spare, I could happily go on drawing Romsey.

I got to visit The Three Tuns and their parent pub, the very ancient Chesil Rectory in Winchester.

To top it off, I was, for the first time, on a train that stopped at Dean, where a big sign reads

WELCOME TO HAMPSHIRE

WHERE PARTNERSHIP WORKS

I think it's about trains, but let's give it a try.