[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 February 2021].
014 avocado leaf
Day fourteen of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I slept through a large portion of the day after a long and pleasant natter with talented artist and good friend, Anna Maria Drutzel, into the wee hours of the morning.
So I went with something relatively easy today.
It's an avocado leaf. But my mind keeps telling me it's a semi-deflated whoopie cushion painted to resemble a human heart with a slight tear along one seam.
I'm also expecting comments on the bit that looks like a rudimentary sketch of a vagina...
013 padlock
Day thirteen of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Once again, I've made it thinner than reality, though shorter than the proportions show BUT I feel comfortable that y'all would have known what this was without the source image.
To be honest, I couldnae be blathered creating the textures on the front of the padlock. Maybe another day but it was a bit more than I had the energy for tonight.
Mostly this week has been good, including starting a new contract with a new client for work potentially until June/July. It's so refreshing to be able to work as much or as little as I want/need to per week, being trusted to do it remotely and working the hours that work for me.
I know the pandemic has exposed a lot of self-employed folks leaving them with little support and it's truly shite but I really want to be (at least majority) self-employed. I won't go into the particulars here but it's so freeing even if the money might not be great to start with.
It's also been a stressful week because I've not had anywhere near enough sleep and I'm dealing with lots of financial and housing stuff which will probably work out okay but until it's sorted will continue to stress me.
I trust in getting a bunch of this stuff sorted asap and having a better week next week.
All that to say that I wanted something relatively easy to draw today. I thought about photographing the padlock upright from an angle and then convinced myself to make it easier and lie it down. To give me at least one concession today.
012 pocket watch
Day twelve of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
No long commentary tonight as I want to sneak this online before midnight but it looks better once imported than I felt it did on the page when I finished sketching.
I probably need to invest in a ruler and the spacing of the numbers is a little out of whack.
I might add more self-critique tomorrow.
Today's subject brought to you by Andrew, a long-time Flickr friend.
011 palestra
Day eleven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Today started off well despite only having a couple of hour's sleep last night. But from about mid-afternoon, it started kicking my arse.
As a consequence of tackling some financial admin, I lost the daylight completely again before I had a chance to get onto my sketch.
So I decided to work with a pre-existing image which I (foolishly) thought would be insultingly easy. That it would almost be "cheating".
Nope. Stupid ovals and circular-but-not-quite-circular shapes kicking me when I was down.
And someone (points finger at self) forgot the drawing was supposed to be square. Fail.
Oh well. Tomorrow is another day, right?
010 absolut sketch
Day ten of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
The base of the glass is not bad.
Apart from that, it's evident the glass has had a skinful: it's swaying a little to the side, spilling its drink and blurring its words.
I'm not entirely sure you'd know what it was without the lettering and the source photo but not my worst effort, I don't think.
And my longest sketch so far, despite starting some new contract work today and feeling a bit pushed for time.
A contemplative way to defrag. The drawing, not the booze. Though the last of the Tiptree salted caramel vodka liqueur was a delicious subject.
beeson's yard
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 2 February 2021].
A year ago today, Simon and I spent the day in Rickmansworth.
I don't recall exactly, but I don't think coronavirus was even a thing we discussed at that point.
Personally, I was just trying to stay upright!
I was out of my "moon boot" but still struggled with balance and confidence in walking on questionable surfaces. So, after a short attempt along a muddy path, we had to skip the Ebury Way and head in the opposite direction toward Batchworth Lock.
After a wander along the canal, one of the final points we passed was Beeson's Yard, and obviously, the signage caught my eye.
009 fox
Day nine of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Today was half-consumed by sleep and half-consumed by admin, so I took my source image and completed today's sketch after dark.
He's on a little bit of a lean and slightly taller and thinner in proportions than the original but not terrible for a 10-minute sketch made by one exhausted lady.
This little guy travelled with us all the way from Melbourne - on our road trip to Brisbane and then on to London by plane - keeping my medical and insurance documents about my ankle injury and the car accident together, thanks to my friend, Julie.
008 unwind
Day eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I made it to week two! Phewf!
I would take the candle's advice except there's just too much to do at the moment.
This was a gift from my friend Sophie which I've still not set alight.
I started off okay-ish with the base curve but then misjudged the length of the sides of the glass, making my candle a little off-kilter.
I was then aligning the points at the side of the candle wax with the top edges of the glass, not the base. So my line ended up being not so horizontal. Although I thought I moved back enough from it to surely have noticed my error, obviously I didn't.
Consequently, the top edge/curves of the glass are off too, but they're sort of correct to the candle wax line. Oops.
I also thought I'd aligned the 'w' in 'unwind' more accurately but, clearly, I was a little too far to the left and creating the 'Un' backwards possibly made them look a little odd.
If this were a photo, I could fix all of that in Photoshop. But I'm trying to silence the perfectionist in me and learn from my mistakes. (Though I actually rotated both the photos when editing as they weren't taken straight!)
I wonder if my issue with horizontals is due to the angle I have my journal pages on when drawing. I don't have a table to spread myself out on. So I'm drawing on the edge of my desk after moving half the plants out of the way. And trying not to accidentally click my mouse with the journal cover.
But then, on unlined paper, my handwriting often veers up as I write, so maybe it's just me...
untitled #43
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 31 January 2021].
late bloomers is a new curated series of my sepulchre images that you'll notice start to creep into my Sepulchral Sunday posts from now on.
This curated series focusses on artificial flowers adorning final resting places.
I feel they can be equal parts beautiful and pathetic (in the arousing pity, especially through vulnerability or sadness definition of the word).
007 shell
Day seven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I'm not sure anyone would identify this as a shell if not for the source image. It feels more like a chrysalis or maybe a dismembered body in a duffel bag.
I'm curious what you'd think it was if you didn't have the shell image to refer to? Weird, wonderful and worrisome answers welcome.
Today I was working on the details without being too detailed, so it feels a little half-arsed, to be honest. It's definitely more of an "impression" than photorealism.
The curves and proportions are not perfect. But I definitely feel it flows more for me when the object is organic in shape, and I try not to overthink things.
006 avocado plant
Day six of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Dad and I nattered on Skype in the wee hours of this morning for about 3.5 hours.
At around 5:45, I had my first "proper" meal of the day for Thursday and Friday.
Is Wensleydale with cranberries and water crackers a "proper" meal? I say "yes". Damn the rest of you...
And soon after, I settled into watching episode two of season one of Vikings as a way of "winding down" from the day.
I've previously watched season two of Vikings but don't remember if I watched some or all of the subsequent series. Either way, being a completist, I have to return to the first season before watching more.
Having not turned in until about 7:40, it was late afternoon by the time I had another go at sketching.
I'd argue today's sketch is definitely not 100% "correct" and not even vaguely photo realistic. But it is a more acceptable "artist's impression" of the original photograph I worked from.
Though you couldn't tell from the drawing, I "cheated" on the outer edge of the pot. I roughly traced the base of my nerve plant's "catcher" pot. The reason that's not evident is my very rough freehand re-tracing of the circle.
But everything else was freehand, for better or worse.
The primary part of the drawing was done with my ZSL pencil. The soil in the pot and the shading were done with my desperately-in-need-of-sharpening 6B pencil.
The proportions are definitely not perfect. The shading needs work (I still need to buy a sharpener and a wide range of pencils).
And, clearly, I can't draw a horizontal line horizontally.
Colour would have helped with the differentiation between soil and leaves and seed and pot.
While it wasn't quite as "simple and organic" as I was planning to draw today - and it was a 25-minute, not a 10-minute sketch - it was at least somewhat satisfying to render.
love letters to london: love at first sight
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 29 January 2021].
“London is a bad habit one hates to lose.”
An anonymous saying, as quoted by William Sansom in Blue Skies, Brown Studies (1961)
I first visited London as 1991 became 1992. My family took a "'round the world" trip through Europe, the UK and the US, with time spent in London and towns in Wales during the UK leg.
As a child and teenager growing up in Australia in the late 70s to the early 90s, my humour and cultural tastes were heavily shaped by British television, especially British comedy. From the various series created by The Two Ronnies to The Young Ones. From The Goodies to Yes Minister and Rumpole of the Bailey. Monty Python, Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous, Robin's Nest and Are You Being Served? I could go on, but I won't. I'm sure you get the picture.
But my music and some of my television tastes were more focussed on America. At the time, I was a subscriber to Bop and The Big Bopper: magazines focussed on teen stars of US television and film, many of whom were named Corey. (Though I'm sure that had nothing to do with my first serious boyfriend being called Corey...) I was 13, going on 14. You have to forgive me the foibles of youth.
I'd been a fan of Bon Jovi, Poison and other American hair bands along with the 'teen dreams' of New Kids on the Block for a long time. Around the time of our trip, with the influence from my older brother, Rob, I'd started to get into the Violent Femmes, but more importantly, UK bands like The Cure and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
I had inspiring experiences in the US and in Europe while on our family trip. New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles stand out in the US. And pretty much everything in Europe we saw was inspiring. But I was surprised that I found myself turning away from a (by then) more US-centric focus to a UK-centric one by the time I returned to Australia.
Over the following years, my music tastes continued to span the UK/US borders. But I found myself more and more drawn toward the UK with the advent of Britpop.
By the time I finished my Diploma of Illustrative Photography in 1997, I knew I wanted to live in the UK for a time and have the opportunity to travel within Europe. What can I say? I guess I'm a product of my parents with their itchy feet for travel and their own overseas lives in their younger days.
By 1998 I had realised the benefits of my family history. I had started saving to move to the UK in 1999. My Grandpa on my Dad's side was born in Stoke Newington in London, so I could live in the UK on an Ancestry visa with fewer restrictions than many of my friends.
About that time, I ended up becoming entwined in a relationship. Thankfully, my then-partner was a fellow Anglophile (though I'm not sure I'd describe myself that way now). And he was also eligible for an Ancestry visa through his grandmother born in Wolverhampton. Consequently, we bought one-way tickets to London in May 1999 and arrived on 1 December the same year.
We were not at all unique in our intentions in those days. Australians in their early 20s were flocking to the UK in droves in the late 90s. While the 'working holiday visa' was reasonably restrictive, it served its purpose for adventurous Aussies (and Kiwis and South Africans) that longed to experience the other hemisphere up close.
For (what we originally believed to be) financial reasons, we initially settled outside London, in Bracknell. We then 'graduated' to Reading, where we met many friends I still hold dear now. Eventually, with the impetus of one of my then partner's friends and myself, we moved to London.
When we were eventually looking to move to London, those I worked with suggested we move to suburbs full to bursting with other Australians. Areas like Earl's Court. I couldn't think of anything worse. Though I continued to live with fellow Aussies (through my relationship and friendships), I didn't come to another country to spend all my time with my fellow countrymen! What was the point of coming all this way, if not to meet and mingle with locals?!
Despite my concerns, we did end up in an area that was apparently heavily populated by Aussies. We lived near Clapham North Station, on a road that ran between Clapham High Street and Brixton Hill. I didn't realise at that time, but the area was apparently full of Aussies. Maybe it was camouflaged by the pizza place across the road that we sunk our (small) fortune into being run by a lovely gay French couple. Or maybe it was hidden by the friendly Urdu-speaking family running the off-license we lived above. I don't know. But it never ever felt like an Aussie enclave.
While I loved so much of my time in London during that period, I worked long hours in an office in Canal Reach, near Camden Town. Initially clearing a backlog of invoices, and then eventually, with my manager's permission, scanning my own photos and uploading them to my fledgeling website outside of hours. At that point, we didn't have a computer or the internet at home.
When I was at home in the evenings and on the weekends, my time was mostly spent in relaxation. At home, in pubs or clubs, attending raves or travelling. Enjoying the company of my friends and housemates and the interiors of local boozers. And trying (unsuccessfully) to pretend the Champions League and EUFA Cup wasn't a thing.
I took surprisingly few photos of London during my time living here in 2001-2002. Most photos were taken in Bunhill Fields Cemetery, or in and from our flat in Clapham North. The majority were taken during travels with my parents during their 2001 visit. And during trips to Europe with David and our friends.
But I developed a love for the city that didn't die when I decided I was ready to go "home". I remember looking at flight prices in November 2001 for a trip home for my birthday in April 2002 and suddenly, out of curiosity, looking at one-way flight prices. That night I went home and asked David if he was ready to go "home". He said he was and we booked our flights without telling our employers.
What I didn't know then was that about three months after my return to Australia, I would realise I had just needed a break. That a month away with family and friends in Australia, and maybe reconsidering my relationship, and finding a new job on my return, was what I really needed.
Within those three months, I knew Melbourne wasn't home. I should have stayed in London. But it took me about nine years to get back here.
I've been back in London for over ten years now, and I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. I've visited Australia twice in the past three years and both times been reminded that I love the people - my friends, my family - and aspects of the country. But it's not my home anymore.
London is my home.
From foreign correspondent, a piece I wrote while living in Melbourne in 2006:
some days my heart is in london though, or somewhere not here.
i dream of returning to londinium. two year and some months spent in the kingdom; less than half of that lived in the grand city, but daily commute from reading to camden for months before i moved. its grey, wintry, polluted streets are like a lover you know is no good for you, but you want to be held by nevertheless. it's a city to love/hate and not be able to differentiate the taste of either. moreso, i have unfinished business with her; a wish to return on my own terms with a confidence i had not before.
promise made to self that my return would be on the understanding of permanence, not fleeting. and for now, that is a commitment i am unable and unready to make. for now i love being in my rainy city, and the freedoms that affords me, that the lady would deny: such as a dwelling larger than a box of cardboard, with no need of company.
i visited blake; or rather the stone that marks an empty grave. i found him at the tate and felt myself overwhelmed by such a fantastic volume of work. dante's inferno in illustration, amongst other works.
kinfolk bred me with feet hungry for the touch of new lands. eyes wide at the unknown, thirsting for new targets for my memory-catcher.
for now i enjoy being in the present, potentially visiting the isle of the dead in summer and satisfying my taste for one destination...
P.S. I apologise for the quality of the photos in this post. I don't currently have a scanner, and I don't have a proper set-up for rephotographing prints. Previously scanned versions I have are too small to share here. Over the past 6-12 months, I've been reminded that purchasing a scanner should be one of my Patreon goals. So I can share more of my older work with you and also for creating digital collages.
P.P.S. Some images in this post have been published before on previous iterations of my website. But many of them haven't been seen except in photo albums and piles of photographs by close friends many years ago.
P.P.S. Some images in this post have been published before on previous iterations of my website. But many of them haven't been seen except in photo albums and piles of photographs by close friends many years ago.
005 bracelet
I'm not going to lie: today was hard.
The sketch was frustrating and difficult though I feel it's an improvement on yesterday's attempt despite a lot of erasure to get there.
I'm not really talking about that, though.
I got some good news about some low-paid contract work late in the day that felt like a small wave of relief. But getting out of bed felt even more difficult than usual today with all the ifs, buts, maybes and what-ifs circling around my head.
To add to my concerns about income, I've also been grappling with some housing stuff. It's now looming large on the horizon.
In reality, I know it's manageable. I know (or at least hope I know) that I have a reasonable landlord and we'll work this stuff out. He's been sound so far, and I'll have lived here for five years in May. I recognise I'm in a far better position than many in London, the UK and worldwide right now. This isn't a pity party. I'm just being honest.
Simon and I have talked about finding a place together for a while and had my redundancy and the pandemic not happened, we most likely already would have.
But it just feels, at the moment, like very little is in my control around a possible move. And home moves are stressful enough, even when you're enthusiastic and positive about it. Which I usually am. By the time I'm looking at new homes I'm so ready. This time I feel less so because stuff.
But I dragged myself out of bed to get my sketch for the day done before the window light disappeared. A call from Simon delayed me, though welcome.
Not too long after importing photos that I took of today's sketch, I got a more positive call. Since then, I've been dealing with "admin" which delayed me sharing this until the final hours of the day.
Though my drawing practice today felt frustrating, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't almost just stop. Looking back at the result now, hours later, it's definitely better than yesterday's attempt despite having to do a lot of erasing to get there.
It's far from perfect, but it's better. I am learning.
And funnily enough, I thought this subject would be easier to render. Because it was more graphic. Wow was I wrong...
So, for now, I'll take a break from this subject, but I suspect I'll attempt to render it again before the project is over. And maybe tomorrow I'll seek out something more organic or more simple to draw.
And maybe tomorrow everything will feel easier...
We'll see.
004 bracelet
Never fear, dear reader, I didn't miss a day!
I had completed and photographed my sketch for 3 February 2021 by 13:44 yesterday, but quickly jumped onto a long overdue FaceTime virtual pint with my friend, Scott Hortop, moments later.
We nattered for a pleasant while, then I had a chance to catch Simon quickly on the phone before we both went to sort out food.
In my case, a shower and quick chill-out were also in order before I tackled applying for another job.
Fast forward to more than 12 hours later and I've finally had a chance to edit the photograph I took of today's object and the snap I took of my attempt at sketching it.
In case you haven't noticed, today's attempt was an epic fail.
It all started off well enough: I worked from the hexagon(ish) front and (almost) centre of the bracelet. I worked a little to the left and the right to recreate the front part of the bracelet. But it all went downhill from there.
Even with a bunch of erasing and 'resetting' of the back section, I still failed to get the proportions right. You can see my slightly worse attempts behind the off-the-mark final drawing.
I'm also conscious the drawing doesn't even vaguely appear three-dimensional.
I'm not sure spending more time on it in that sitting would have helped. I also didn't want to hold up my catch-up with Scott any longer.
What I'm sure of is that I will give this another go later today (after I've slept!) And I'll think about how I work with the proportions before I get started. I think I need to make some initial marks to help me 'join the dots' better.
I've also thought about the reality that maybe I can manage these things better using graph paper to draw on or behind a lighter weight paper. I suspect I'll have a better sense of things that way.
I'm also aware that many artists I know personally and whose work I admire worked heavily with overhead projectors when creating their paintings. (Am I showing my age?!) So I know none of these things is considered "cheating".
For now, though, I'm going to try to persevere as I have been as. Aside from anything else, the pages in my visual diary are too heavy to even see graph paper through.
Despite my use of the term "epic fail", I see days like today (and every day so far) less as failures but more as opportunities. Opportunities to identify what I still need to learn and the areas I need to focus on improving.
Also worth noting: Yesterday I worked from the photo I took of the bracelet, not "from life". Unfortunately, because my execution was so bad, I'm not sure that helps!
Thank you to Kenno McDonnell for the bracelet that inspired yesterday's (and what will be today's) sketch. Unfortunately, it snapped when my wrist landed heavily on an armrest on the Tube on the first time I wore it out and about. But I have some superglue to finally try to mend it, so I will do that once I've managed to render it better in a sketch! I think the break adds to the drawing.
003 duck
Day three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I managed to squeeze today's sketch practice in, between prepping for an interview for some contract work and the interview itself.
I knew the light would be gone by the time the interview ended, and it was a good distraction before my first job interview in over four years.
Once again, I struggled to capture a photo of the subject that reflected the angle I was drawing it from.
I'm starting to think I should draw from the photograph, rather than from life, for this project. Simply because you and I, dear viewer, can't "grade" my progress accurately. You can't see what I'm seeing.
Despite that, it's evident my proportions are out. Mr Duck's tail is far too long in my drawing.
While the photo shows the hanging device for the ornament behind the little fella's head, the angle I drew from wasn't the same. The thread fell inside the curve of the back of his head.
Taken on its own, I don't think today's sketch is terrible. The silver topper is clumsily rendered, but without the source image to compare to everything else would be kinda okay.
But compared to reality (the accompanying photo or what I saw), it's definitely not true to life.
I would grade this a "C+. A fair effort. Must try harder."
Thank you to the brilliant artist, Merle Pace, for a not-so-secret Santa gift from many moons ago, that's still yet to find its place on a Christmas tree but has inspired (amateur) art.
Thank you also to those who have encouraged me and offered guidance. Your feedback and suggestions have been and will continue to be appreciated. I have so much to learn!
near nowa nowa
002 pinhole camera
Day two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
Today's photo isn't exactly the angle I was looking at in real life, I'm not sure why! I took a few and didn't feel they looked exactly like what I was looking at!
The perspective is off in my sketch even then. Even I can see that!
I'm using a pencil from London Zoo (Zoological Society of London - ZSL) which doesn't seem particularly good for this purpose, tbh. I can't clearly describe it, but it's a bit 'waxy' in that it doesn't transfer properly to the paper. Is that a thing, illustrator friends?
I have a 6B pencil (I can't recall why!) which I used for some of the shading - especially in the wording - as I became impatient with the too-light ZSL pencil.
I need to learn more about shading techniques as my attempts are more akin to a child with a colouring book simply focussed on filling the space within the lines.
I will have to hunt around more, but it would appear I don't have a pencil sharpener! So I'll have to get one. The 6B pencil is in dire need of sharpening but worked fine for my purposes today. (Yes, I know I can use a knife, but I think I can stretch to the expense of a pencil sharpener to save my fingers - I'm dangerously clumsy!)
001 avocado plant
I wavered about whether to participate in The 100 Day Project this year, especially since it started earlier than last year. The idea for the change of date is to give folks participating something creative to focus on in a winter when many of us are in lockdown.
My main reasons for participating in past years, whether I successfully completed the project or it's still a work in progress, were to:
challenge me to complete a project that had been on my to-do list for a while;
learn a new medium or technique (e.g. digital collage);
improve my skills in a particular medium (e.g. creative writing); and/or
inspire and motivate me to continue creating.
At the moment, I have a lot of projects in progress and new projects I'm planning to do during the year, so I definitely don't need creative inspiration or motivation!
I'm also conscious that projects I've set myself in previous years have been pretty involved, and therefore, time-consuming. I knew that if I were to participate this year, it had to be a project or daily exercise that wouldn't become all-consuming. It couldn't take hours out of my day to complete, and therefore overwhelm and detract from my other projects.
I felt it needed to be something that allowed me to learn a new skill or develop it in a more disciplined, but hopefully, fun and low-pressure way.
I had considered a graphic design project but knew what I had in mind would fall into the categories of 'involved' and 'time-consuming'. So I've decided to still work on those projects and build up those skills but in a way that's not daily or time-limited.
It also needed to be a project that wouldn't cost me anything as money is tight, at the moment.
So, I've set myself a project I'm calling 'a sketchy practice'.
I have a pencil, an eraser, almost 100 blank pages in a visual diary, and plenty of visual inspiration around me; from the mundane to the not-so-mundane.
My drawing skills leave a lot to be desired. It's something I've always felt I was terrible at, especially when compared to my younger brother and many of my friends. It was a big reason for me falling in love with photography initially. I had lots of visual ideas, but I didn't have the skill or natural talent to draw or paint them or otherwise get them out of my head.
So this project will force me to slow down for ten minutes or so each day to develop my drawing skills through practice. And, hopefully, improve my drawing from 'sketchy' to 'sketches'.
As I did last year, I'll posts these here publicly each day. And I'll share them to social media and my Patreon the same day because the project is time-bound, and because they'll likely be of varying quality.
Without being too strict on time, the aim is to spend ten minutes or more on a sketch each day and work within the following broad rules:
Drawings can be of objects around me, inspired by photographs (mine or others'), or from my imagination.
Where drawings are from a physical object or a photograph I'll include a photo of what I'm drawing from.
At this stage, they'll be grey lead pencil drawings on pages of a visual diary. If I still have my Derwent coloured pencils, maybe I'll graduate to colour drawings at some point.
They can be outlines or more detailed. It will depend on the subject, how skilful and confident I'm feeling, etc.
Use of an eraser is allowed, but the idea is not to be too much of a perfectionist.
They'll be shared (I'm predicting) in a square format to Instagram, my Patreon, here and my other social media accounts, ideally, on the day they're completed.
So, without further ado, here's day one's sketch of our young avocado plant along with an approximation of the view I was drawing from.
Constructive critique, tips and advice from those with talent and skills in drawing and illustration are most welcome!
with open arms #105
[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 24 January 2021].