Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

London - a flying visit

A few days Christmas shopping in London. Sounds rather nice but in reality it was complete madness! The exhaustion I felt after returning has been replaced by the virus I caught from my brothers. They said it was 'flu, but since it's not that bad I think they must have meant 'man flu'!













Actually, the purpose of the visit was for Paul to go to the Race of Champions at Wembley. It was touch and go whether I would have to go in my brother's place (it sounded like fun, I would have gone) but after they got back I'm glad he recovered in time - it was great but so cold that after five hours in the stadium, they were frozen to the bone and couldn't feel their legs or feet!

Paul let me use this photo and come to think of it, it seems to sum up my experience too, racing all over the place! Unfortunately I could feel my legs, and my blistered feet at the end of it, only too well!




















It wasn't without it's compensations of course, with some lovely window displays and colourful Christmas decorations like these in John Lewis.













One of my stops was to Hotel Chocolat in Knightsbridge to get some treats to bring back. (Paul thought it was amusing when I told him I was tired of Lindt. 'Are you tired of life too?' he asked.)

















It's not hard to find, right opposite Harrods. (Traffic at a standstill on Brompton Rd as usual - I'm amazed anyone tries to drive into central London anymore.)




















My personal Mecca, Marks & Sparks, at Marble Arch. I don't know what I'd do without it, I've always found something here when I've needed it! I took this photo from the bus as we sat in the traffic and marvelled at all the people walking by and how different were all their shapes and sizes and features - and how wonderful they would all be to draw!













Outside the shop was a man selling the Big Issue magazine. I gave him some money to take a photo of his dog. He looked very jolly, but the dog looked very worried, poor thing. Hardly surprising with the demonstration opposite him against supermarket monopoly (they should come to Geneva where there are only two main supermarkets!) the crowds streaming past and the noise - brass bands, carol singers, steel bands and even those devotees chanting Hari Krishna.
















Opposite Harvey Nichols on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane St, is the Manderin Oriental Hotel. I took a photo on the way to Hotel Chocolat as I really like the building, particularly that magnificent arch only recently revealed since the building next to it was demolished. It's a shame they don't make buildings like this anymore - and a shame about those big, ugly fire escapes. I'm sure this arch will disappear again once the work is completed.




















Out in the cold way too late when I'd rather be at home tucked up on the sofa with a cup of tea, a visit to Liberty as part of a wild goose chase looking for a particular pen, with a particular nib with a particular colour ink for a particular teenager! (I blame that school in Kuwait - the kids would be told off for using the 'wrong' pens!) Or was it the time we were looking for that particular bag, in that particular colour? I'm too tired to remember!















And of course, no trip to London would be complete without a trip to Green & Stone for this particular blogger! I was thrilled to receive an e-mail, quite unexpectedly, from the owner Rodney Baldwin, thanking me for writing about his shop when I visited in July. When apathy and even hostility are the more usual treatments for customers these days it was especially touching.




















Not that I need an excuse to write about this delightful shop of course, one can never have too many sketchbooks, but this time I was hunting down some Schmincke colours and travel brushes too. There were all sorts of little treasures inside the glass display case but sadly, I didn't have too much time to spare for browsing.




















Dragging myself away, a quick shot of the window display.




















I didn't sleep at all well while I was there so not only was I pressed for time but I just didn't have the energy for drawing anything. Finally, collapsing into a seat on the Gatwick Express, I drew this rather large man in the next row.















We were on the wrong side of the plane both ways to catch the best views but they were still spectacular! London wasn't as cold as I had expected but the cold hit us coming out of the airport at Geneva - the temperatures have plummeted! But with the cards sent, the shopping done and the turkey bought, the kettle is on and I'm now putting my feet up!

More electricity boxes

Trompe l'oeil seems to be the theme here.

New tram route

In the last few days there have been some major improvements to the trams and buses which is good news for us - more frequent buses on our route and now three instead of two trams to choose from. Two of the trams have increased the length of their routes and the number 16 now goes not just into town but continues further north towards the airport and has a stop right outside Balexert, one of the main shopping centres. I haven't been back to Balexert since we were shown around it by the relocation agent before we moved here. I remember it had an excellent range of cheeses there and at the time I assumed that was typical of Geneva. Sadly, that isn't the case! I find the supermarkets here very boring, not a patch on the British. You would think with France only metres away from our house, we would have a great range of French produce too but we don't. I assume there must be market restrictions or some such thing because even Kuwait had more choice than we have here.














Anyway, I decided to hop on the tram today and see if it was as I remembered. Well, the first thing I noticed is that they have taken all the older trams off the route. I was looking forward to a longer ride and being able to sketch but the new trams are more open and have seats facing each other. So no sketches today, very disappointing!

I bought a new camera last week, a small compact Canon that I can carry around more easily than the digital SLR - which I hope means I shall be posting photos to the blog more frequently! As I got off the tram and looked at this nasty great lump of concrete I thought it would be interesting to take a photo of it. Nobody takes photos of shopping centres these days because they are all so hideous! Just like this one, they are surrounded by car parking spaces, no attempt is made to make them aesthetically pleasing probably since they are guaranteed crowds of greedy consumers. To be fair there is some attempt on the other side of the building where the buses stop, but this is what awaits you when you get off the tram. I'm just glad there were people around to follow or I would never have guessed where the entrance was.




















The interior. Maybe I just didn't have the Christmas spirit today because I found it very dull and boring. I did one circuit around and found a sketchbook with brown paper - it was just the shade I've been looking for but not such good texture - then gave up and went for the tram, hoping maybe there were some older trams after all and I could sketch on the way back. No, only the sleek new ones. I'm probably the only person disappointed by that! Still, it was great to be able to make the journey in half the time it would normally take. This is the route that we take to the airport and the roadworks along here have been causing delays at least since we moved here. In fact, I was under the impression that this shopping centre was much further away but now the roads are clear it's actually only about five or ten minutes from town!




















I wasn't in the mood for shopping but I was in the mood for taking photos and today I was going to finally get that box I've had my eye on! This is my new favourite I think.




















Another one I like in town by the river.




















As I was taking those two, I happened to spot some more. This is very serene on a very busy crossroads!
















A dutch theme surrounded by ugly building works.

















And there are a few more, but I'll save those for tomorrow!

What size are my drawings?

I get asked that quite often and also about what equipment I use, so here's another photo of my drawings (front covers here and a similar post here). I've included a six inch ruler for scale. (The cats, portraits and life drawings are drawn in a larger Daler Rowney A3 cartridge pad.) So, the tiny book is the smallest one I put my tram sketches in. The two large sketchbooks and small one bottom left are by Winsor & Newton containing 120gsm (or thereabouts) cartridge paper. It has just the right amount of tooth for the sort of details I like and I've also been using this paper for so long I know how it handles - how much erasing it can take and how much graphite it can absorb. I use a smoother paper too, the one I call my blotting paper pad, as it really speeds up the process but it gives a fuzzier, softer result.

I've been using Mars Staedtler erasers since the year dot and still haven't found anything better. I borrowed a grey putty eraser made by Faber Castell at my last life class which was OK but it absorbs the graphite too much and can stain the paper if it's not clean. I cut mine up to get sharp edges, something I couldn't do with a softer eraser.

Pencils; I only use these two, Faber Castell and Berol Venus. I'd only use the Berols if I could find them. There's little to choose between them except Faber Castell has more gritty bits and that drives me mad, breaks my concentration! I tried others like Derwent but found the greys too cold and steely.

I like very long narrow sharp points to my pencils and I can only do that with a blade. This is small enough to carry in a handbag and not look like a lethal weapon!

I don't use fixative but I do use tracing paper under my hand to stop smudging. I have a hog hair brush too for brushing away bits of dust and eraser but most often a sleeve will do! My supply list hasn't really changed at all over the years. I believe that if you get caught up in the materials - the studying and buying - it takes you (me!) away from their purpose and becomes a whole other ball game. For a pencil drawing you only need pencil and paper and neither has to be the best to make a good drawing. I think it's that simplicity and lack of pretension that always brings me back. It's kind of like a perfect marriage in that when you find something you love, why bother looking around for better?

The last time I showed my books to anyone she said 'someone likes to waste paper'! She had a twinkle in her eye but I don't think that space is a waste, more a mark of respect. I love the white spaces surrounding the drawings and the pure white blank page before I start. I've never been intimidated by that, on the contrary it seems to invite you to use it and if it's contained in beautiful covers such as these, I feel I should do my best to show it off.

Plucking nightmare

A few things I'm very grateful for but also wish I didn't need! After family and health, the Imigran tablets for my migraines are probably next on the list. I know it's boring to bang on about them but when you suffer with migraines, they do affect everything you do. I still remember the very first time I took one of these, in Dubai. We had just moved there and got private health care. It was like rising from the grave and seeing a day you never thought you'd see - an amazing experience. I'm grateful for every day I get to claim back whenever I take these. However, I still hold a grudge against my previous doctor for not telling me about them and letting me suffer when I had two small children to look after!

The foundation is not such a big deal but I'm grateful for anything that makes me look half decent! Again, it's one of those items that keeps getting updated and changed and I have yet to find one to replace the Lancome one I preferred, years ago. It seemed to suit in summer and winter whereas now I'm like a chemist, trying to mix different concoctions to suit as the seasons change and tan fades.

Thankfully, I have no problem with tweezers now Tweezerman tweezers have been invented! Best thing since sliced bread and they have been widely copied too. I used to hang on to one pair for dear life, like my old styling brush, as good tweezers were impossible to find. In the seventies I had those pencil thin eyebrows that were in fashion. They came back in during the nineties in a slightly thicker, more groomed version and my eyebrows have never recovered since. So as I can't go natural, that's it, I'm destined to pluck!

Earth man

Mark watching Earth: The Power of the Planet on TV last night. I doubt he learned anything new, what he doesn't know about geology isn't worth knowing! The series is beautifully shot but somehow each week I've managed to fall asleep before the end - it's a bit late for me! We enjoy spotting places that we've been - two of the most spectacular being Iceland, where we saw the split between the European and American plates and western Australia where we saw stromatolites in beautiful, warm, shallow waters, thought to be the oldest known life on earth.

Mark was watching a programme on astronomy before that and as usual I got very irritated. I firmly believe that much of what astronomers claim as fact will eventually be proved wrong. One such fact that set me off was the presenter telling us, as if we are supposed to gasp at their superior knowledge, that one astronomer's new calculations doubled the size of the universe as we knew it at a stroke. Seeing artifically coloured images of far distant galaxies just makes me see red. Pretty as they are, surely they are too important to doctor? Don't we have a right to see what's out there in the same way that the scientists do? And how come we can't get highly detailed images of our own solar system when these people claim they can see the very edge of the universe? (Is that edge simply where their equipment no longer picks up light?) I don't mind at all that they get their theories wrong, only that they are presented as facts until proven otherwise.

Drawing the family was one of my goals for 2007, believe it or not. I was heartened by Nina's admission that she had failed one of her goals this year too - seeing some of the goals set by others can make me feel quite inadequate! But, she said, the year is not over yet, and inspired by that, I did this sketch. (It also helped me calm down after that programme!) However, this may be the only one, the two teenagers are refusing to co-operate this year even when offered the hourly rate!

Life drawing

After a very long break - a combination of my migraines and irregular schedules - I made it back to the life class yesterday. I felt very rusty too and it took over half an hour to settle in and start to concentrate. I expected the class would drag a bit as I'd been away so long but it flew by as usual so I didn't get to spend much time on the upper body and the arms are just outlines. I quite like the legs here but I needed to do a lot more shading on the hips and ribcage to make them work.

I always sit with the A3 pad (Daler Rowney) and a light board on my lap, legs crossed and one knee raised which is not ideal to say the least. As usual I got very stiff and decided this time that enough was enough and after the class went off to the art shop and bought myself a lightweight metal easel. I don't know why I waited so long! It's so much easier to see your work and step back from it to get a better, more objective perspective. The next class is in January so I've got a bit of a wait before I can road test it!