Winchester Cathedral

Winchester has a thing called the 10 Days Festival.

Badger Press, in Bishop's Waltham, set a brief for artists to make prints to go on display in Winchester, including the number 10, all ten inches square and in editions of ten.

Count the Tens - my print for Badger Press.

I had fun putting together a hotch-potch of Winchester Cathedral - the tiles, the Norman and gothic arches, the carved heads, the ancient graffiti and so on.  I had a demo sketch, but on Tuesday I made a research trip for a few more ideas.  This lead on to lunch (for my birthday) at Loch Fyne

Today I drew the final image, in two layers, and screenprinted it - with technical backup from the wonderful Omid and Clari.

Demo for the Winchester 10 Days print.

The deadline is this Sunday and the festival is from 25th October to 3rd November.

New Forest - Work In Progress

My favourite bit of non-town to head to is the part of the New Forest between Lyndhurst and Beaulieu.  The fastest I've ever managed the cycle ride to Lyndhurst was 39 minutes - although that may have been the time when I set out around 4am on a Saturday and went over the Millbrook and Redbridge flyovers.  Sometimes I come back on the Hythe ferry.

Drawing near Lyndhurst.

I love simply riding steadily on the roads.  Beaulieu Road undulates consistently (though generally downhill) as it runs south from Lyndhurst.  I love the open skies of the heathland, the fine sand between rows of heather and the medieval feel of the low pine groves.  It's Medieval and yet somehow Californian.

For me, it's a surprise to be in such a quiet place, even with groups of cyclists and classic car drivers, and pylons and the Fawley oil refinery usually visible.  I love the occasional trig points and burial mounds, opposite ends of the timeline of human activity.

Demo for a piece based on the New Forest.

I'm trying to put a piece together about it all.  My work is usually about busy details, not vast space, so it's a challenge to evoke the enigmatic silence, the wide sky and the warm colours of gorse and heather.

Too Many Tall Buildings

My Boris Johnson
Weathervane plan
for the Shard.

I've given some attention to tall buildings in the past few weeks and months, from serene campaniles to Sixties campuses.

Today Simon Jenkins, chairman of the National Trust, wrote in the Guardian about the colossal towers soon to spring up in developments all over London; what they will be for; who says yes or no; and why anyone wants them.  As you might guess, he is largely in the "against" position.

Here is the piece:  Who let this Gulf on Thames scar London?  Mayor Boris.

In the last decade, mayor Ken Livingstone was all about tall buildings and the futuristic lens-flare of prosperity that would bounce off their gleaming façades and all over London.  Now Jenkins is pointing the finger at Boris Johnson for opposing in principle and allowing in practice.

Otto's illustration for the Guardian. 

Jenkins writes:  "Towers imply civic leadership weak in the face of commercial pressure. They are not "vital" to the urban economy, least of all in a low-density city such as London. The last rash of speculative towers such as Centre Point in the 1970s mostly lay empty until rented for government offices. Today's are not built for people to use but as sleeping bank accounts for funk money. The Shard may well stay largely empty, like One Hyde Park and the palaces of Palm Island, Dubai. The rich may own them, but not inhabit them."

London in 2259, in Star Trek Into Darkness.

To me, the Shard, Heron Tower, the Walkie Talkie, the Cheesegrater and all the coming statements of bigness were referenced - almost satirised - in the new Star Trek, as the early phase of a monolithic sprouting all over the city (which, I admit, is hardly new).  What do you think?  Are your eyes set twinkling, or do you see a future of grand embarrassment over empty projects, or grim dystopia?

Optical Lattice Clock

The news this morning told me about a new type of clock, better than an atomic clock!  The whole thing seemed exciting and optimistic in an old-fashioned way.  I imagined children gossiping about the new technological wonder; explanations in layman's terms; textbooks of the future; and so on.

So here are those things.

Fanfare for a new clock!

Read about it at the BBC.
I like living in the future!

London Film & Comic Con 2013!

I've finally got my new booklet together!  It's about the Shard, as you might have guessed from previous posts.

Today I'm taking a bunch of them, and some of the older ones, up to LFCC at Earl's Court 2.  Somewhere among the cosplayers and comic sellers, Fun Times Group will have six stalls, between over twenty of us.

My boxes of booklets for LFCC.

It's on throughout Saturday and Sunday, and we're setting up this afternoon, in time for the preview evening.

I'm not sure what to expect - either of the LFCC world, or of my tolerance for it.  Our stalls might be like nothing else there.  We have large prints, brooches and jewellery, posters and booklets.  Come and find us!

The Shard books are finished - the Shard isn't.

Southampton Mosaic

Here is Southampton's newest bit of public art (until the rhinos appear all over town in a couple of weeks' time).  I found it today, on a detour through the old town, right around the corner from the Hamtun Street mural by Henry and Joyce Collins.

The artist, Joanna Dewfall, does a lot of participatory projects, and this mural comes out of workshops at Tudor House (see this article on the Tudor House website).  From the plaque:

This mural was designed and produced by artist Joanna Dewfall, inspired by ideas from local people.  The design celebrates the city's iconic buildings, maritime industry and cultural diversity.
The central panel made by Joanna (dewfallmosaic.co.uk) is a snapshot of Southampton in the 21st century.  The border symbolises key features from the city's past and present, and was produced by local people.

I'm enjoying picking out details and references.  It's a great addition to any walk around the town.

More Tall Buildings

A quick update, because...  look what I found in the Empire Youth Annual 1948 (which I found on a wall nearby)!  It's rather similar to the linocut border that I've been making, showing a rough chronology of London's taller buildings.

The Empire Youth Annual 1948!

My linocut border from this week.