1979’s The Tin Drum is one of those films I’ve been itching to see for a long time, but haven’t got round to yet for some reason. The main character in that film’s played by a guy called David Bennent. Not a household name for most, but you’ve seen Ridley Scott’s Legend, you’ll recognise him when he played Honeythorn Gump, Tom Cruise/Jack’s elfin pal.
Not sure why the idea to name this piece after D.B. occurred to me, but it did!
The name for this piece comes from a billboard I noticed as I was heading home from a shopping trip not too long ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since.
Life in lockdown (needless to say) brings with it plenty of time for us all to learn and get creative in whatever way works best..
The Old Devils Are At It Again. One of my favorite songs by William Elliot Whitmore. I usually draw and paint to his music along with Willie Nelson, Lucero and Ryan Bingham. It also seems appropriate for the times...
"Lang may yer lum reek (a Hogmanay greeting, implying "May you never be without fuel for your fire!", but more literally translates to "Long may your chimney smoke!")" All this I corrupted and used to inspire me here.
I woke up at 5am(ish) last Sunday and not settling back to rest, I switched my radio on and hoped for the best. Next thing I know I’m half awake listening to one of Yo La Tengo’s more drone oriented songs. The track itself was 8 minutes long but felt longer… of course, this gave me ideas. What do you expect?
“The politics of the world frustrate me. I control my frustration when I write, but it explodes when I perform.”
A quote from a Benjamin Zephaniah documentary I caught not long ago on BBC iPlayer’s been resonating with me as of late. Granted, I tend to keep politics light here (if anything) but I stand by what I’ve just said regardless.
Sandman going to bed after a long nights work of putting others to sleep. As an adult I love sleeping the whole night uninterrupted, thus sandman is my hero. White pencil and gel pen on black paper.
The word “backwards” in reverse would sound, I’m fairly certain, like something along the lines of ‘straw cab’ I’m presuming?
Anyway, that was what randomly prompted me today to get cracking on with some art, heheheh.
Of all the dreams I’ve had in my life, the one I had back in July of 2007 as a 14 year old seems to have stuck somewhere in my memory the longest. It involved some airy-fairy death and rebirth of the world and it all got very 2001-sy real quick.
Here’s a retelling of that story...ish.
Long story short I needed a title, and prior to that my phone opted to have some sort of techno-stroke earlier in the day, and I took inspiration from this. So, yeah...
My little fun series of everyday food during quarantine just to make it more cosmic ;) This one sketch a day approach helps with my long break in drawings! :) Sketchbook, coffee and ink.
My first venture into artist grade colouring pencils - and I'm smitten! I never thought I could achieve such boldness and blendability with them! I'm still getting used to them and will think about choosing smoother paper with less tooth next time. The texture and weight was more for the water-based gouache along with alcohol inks (which are very unforgiving to even primed heavy paper!). Apologies for the unevenness of lighting between the 2 sides of paper; will correct that when I'm making proper image files.
For any of you missing the outdoors: Picture yourself sitting on the edge of the lake, dipping your toes in the cool water. Feel the wind whisk around you as the sun goes down. You can hear the birds chirping as they settle in for the night. And if you listen close enough, you can hear the old pines whispering tales and stories of the forest long ago. :)
