Yew

Hi all,
Hope you had a cracking Christmas. Mine was quiet and peaceful and, as usual, it shot by like a rat up a drain pipe. Every year s the same, I imagine that I'm going to have loads of free time for doing a bit of woodworking and some drawing but it never happens. Somehow the time just seems to get frittered away.

Before Christmas I managed few bits of wood turning that I did for presents, including 9 pens and the items below.

This was a small wood lidded box that I turned as an extra for my granddaughter.

This was a spinning top and base made for my grandson.
 For my wife I made a few things including thees pieces of fruit.

And a pen turned from a piece of yew.

They are all very nice and I really enjoyed turning them but I didn't have any time left over for drawing and painting. Ha well shouldn't moan, it's great to be creative no matter what the medium and I'm looking forward to 2017.

More Pens

Hi All
Just a quick one to let you know that I have added a couple of new pens to the pen's page. Hope you like them.

Free Book

Hi all,
Just a quick one so that you don't miss out. One of my books, "The Reluctant Pom will be free to download from amazon for the next three days. That is the 22nd until the 24th of November. To get a free copy just click on the books tab at the top of the page then click on the book cover.

In 1967 my father decided that life would be better for his wife and my five siblings if we moved to the other side of the world. I didn't want to go because I was moody 16 years old and desperately wanted to stay in England. However, I had little choice in matter and finished up being a reluctant pom in Melbourne. If you want to find out how I got on, please download the free book and have a good laugh.

On the art side, I'm still working on the illustration that I should be posting soon and I have just braved the cold in the workshop and turned a new style of pen from a wood called wild mango.

I will add this image to the other pens that can bee seen by clicking on the pen's tab.

A Doodle

Hi all,
I'm slowly getting back into doing a bit of art after spending the summer in the workshop playing with my lathe. I've been doing a bit of doodling to try and loosen up my style. Trying to do realistic drawings is all very well and I've done a few of those, but now it is the time to cut loose.

But why, you may ask? The thing is, my wife has written a book that needs illustrating. It is called The Whoots and is all about some tiny creatures, funnily enough called Whoots, that live in a large garden.

Anyway, the book was written for a bit of fun to see if she could make up a plot and deliver a good story. I'm pleased to say that she managed a very clever plot very well and came up with a great little story. Sometimes things work out better if they are done just for the sheer fun of it. The book was never about making any money, so when it came to the illustrations there was no way she was going to pay anybody proper to do the job. So now you know how I finished up with the task.

Having never illustrated a book before I didn't quite know where to start, so I read through the book and imagined which bits could do with an illustration to help the reader along. I now have a list of pictures that I need to draw. That was the easy bit, however, I have a feeling it will get harder once I get into trying to draw the actual Whoots.

To give you a taster here is the first sketch I have done. It is supposed to depict the place where the Whoots live, which is in an hestimonium bush at the bottom of the garden.

If you look closely you will see glimpses of wooden houses dotted through the bush because this is where the Whoots live, in tiny houses perched on branches within the bush. There is lift to the top where the chief Whoot and his family live in Plant Pot Hall.

This is just my first sketch done in pencil and then pen and ink on ordinary drawing paper. The next stage will be to transfer the image to some Bristol board so that I can do some watercolour painting on it.

In my next post I hope to show you my first finished illustration.

Hare

Hi all,
And the good news is, I've started drawing again and here is my first effort. Actually, I began this drawing of a hare about seven months ago, but spring came in earnest and the garden needed sorting etc. Then I went and bought a lathe and what spare time I had in the summer went on woodturning.
We've all got our excuses for not working on our art, but I thing the colder weather and the darker evenings will help, especially now that television programs have become so dire.

I haven't given up on the wood turning, but being in the house drawing is much preferred now that the colder weather is here. I've done a bit of woodturning in the workshop with the electric fire on, but it doesn't seem the same when you know how much the electricity is costing. We are on a pay as you go meter, inherited from the previous home owners. I's great in the summer but when winter arrives I seem to be in the newsagents every other day topping up.

Anyway, here is the drawing of the hare, it is nothing exciting but it will do for a starter.

You can see in the picture that everything is realistic except for the hare, which is patterned. This is something I've decided to do more of, I'm going to forget trying to make my drawings realistic and just let my imagination flow. This will take some doing because abstract art has never been a favourite of mine. So if you want to see how I get on with a wacky drawing please watch this space.

By the way, with regards to my books, I keep getting asked the same questions, what's happened to Fred Tench and will there be another book in the Fishing Detectives Series? To be honest, I have no plans for another book at the moment although the outlines of a plot to enter my head from time to time. I guess I will have to see how it goes during the next 6 months, if I can't resist the urge I might do one more.

More Pens

Hi all,
I have been busy turning a few more pens and have added them to the "Pens" page if you would like to see them. The last one is made from a wood called mopane and it is a beauty. Here it is for a taster, but please take a look at my other pens.

So, the clocks have just gone back and the dark evenings are with us again. Not only has it got darker, but my workshop is now almost as cold as a polar bear's fridge,and because I' getting a bit nesh in my old age, I won't be out there so much.

I have already started to work on a drawing and will let you see it in my next post. Another strange think also happened a few days ago. I thought that now I'm getting older that perhaps I should take up electronic drawing on a tablet. It had it's attractions, I wouldn't have to buy any more artists materials and I could do it whilst  reclining in my armchair.

Anyway, I like my kindle and thought that if I upgraded to a 10inch model it would be just the thing for a bit of electronic art. This notion was soon knocked on the head when I realised that some of the most artistic apps and the artistic stylus were strangers to the kindle.

So I would have to forgo my Kindle upgrade and buy an ipad and an apple pencil if I wanted to make professional electronic art. I have watched a few youtube videos and it is amazing what can be done on an ipad. I was happy, it seemed like a great idea to spend a few extra bob and get an ipad and an apple pencil.

However, my dreams didn't last long after I did a bit more research. From what I can gather, the apple pencil will only work with the ipad pro and that version of the ipad costs some serious money. I'm an old skinflint and don't do serious money and after realising how much paint and paper I could get for the price of going electronic I have knocked the idea on the head.

Failed

Hi all,
Okay I've got to admit it, I failed miserably in my quest to be a good enough artist to get somebody to pay for one of my paintings. You may also be wondering where I've been and what I've been up to.

The truth of the matter is this. I was getting along well with my artwork and the challenge was going really well, but then something happened. Have you always had something you wanted to do before you kick the bucket, perhaps it's a bungy jump,a wing walk or to ride route 66 on a Harley. Well I always wanted to buy a lathe and have a go at wood turning, not exciting I know but we can't all be daredevils can we?

Anyway, I kept putting the buying of the lathe on the back burner. Part of me didn't want to spend the money, so I thought I'd leave it a bit longer. However, earlier this year I had a bit of a jolt because celebrities seemed to be dying all over place. Some of the deaths came out of the blue and it got me to thinking that it's getting later for me. This led me to fork out for the lathe and having a go at wood turning while I still can.

I am happy to report that it has been a great success, I've made a few lidded boxes like this one

and recently I've had a go at turning pens. If you would like to see the pens I've turned there is a tab at the top of this page that you can click on to the them in all their glory. here is a picture of one that was turned from a piece of paduk.

Regarding my art, I will be back to it soon, not least because my workshop is too cold to work in in the winter. Chisels and icicles are not good bed mates so I will come back inside and get my paint out for another 6 months. So please keep an eye on this space.