Something different for the weekend. This is a series of paintings I created from an old family album.
Me on the beach probably aged 3ish and most likely in Weymouth.
The same day but with my dad.
Finally a picture of the garden where I grew up. Dad built the shed. It survived for several decades but dad replaced it with a fence panel construction a couple of years before he died.
The next batch of victims…
I’ve known Tracey for as long as I can remember, so I think she has been at Thrive longer than me. She likes a nice big cup of hot water. And a cup of tea. She drives a Mercedes.
Alyson loves to organise her day in a calendar, rather than a diary. The space to write appointments on conventional calendars is limited and I suspect that’s the reason she doesn’t have many meetings.
One of the three wise Senior Managers – Cathy recently went to France where she spoke loudly and clearly in English, so the frogs would understand. She translated her presentation in google translate so, Qui sait si ce que Cathy a dit à la frenchie a été correcte. I used to run a competition on hospital radio using the same technique but I went one step further, I translated the french back to english…with limited success.
I like Damien. He has limited IT needs.
This is our CEO Nicci Carruthers. I have always loved this coat. I think it is either the skin of a grizzly bear that she wrestled to the ground in an expensive London Boutique or DFS lost a sofa covering. Whatever, it’s looks very warm.
Jan or Janet as she likes to be know to her close friends, has dyslexia. Janet has never let this disability stop her confusing people, in particular the corporate volunteers who have helped to paint the toilets and plumb the walls on her instructions.
So on 28 October 2011, I will spend my last day at Thrive before moving to Debra. It has been great working for Thrive over the 11 years that I have been there and I have fond memories of a lot of good people that I have worked with, here is a selection of cartoons of some of them…
Fiona – who is very tall and wears the most amazingly beautiful outfits.
Simon – who has only just joined Thrive and is a very athletic person and has a drinks bottle which I believe may be filled with gin. He sits to my left. He has never shared his gin.
Sally – Thrive’s account guru. She faces up the office and all you can see is her peering over the top of her laptop screen.
Kath Power – She is very tiny.
Lynne – who I sit next to on Weds, Thurs and Fridays. Last week she was reconciling a spread sheet by colouring it in.
Sue Tiplady – Who is another very fit old bird who cycles about 17 miles to Thrive, at least once a week.
more to follow…
Here is a great idea if you have an industrial unit and a couple of miles of old scaffolding poles. We have taken Samuel to the Madhouse on numerous occasions and he has enjoyed every visit. I have seen better slides, there is one at the Big Sheep in Devon that has an almost vertical drop to it. Madhouse is quite weird as there are sofa’s for adults to sit while their offspring go wild in the scaffolding. The Big Sheep is weird as it is all about the sheep. Lots of sheep. Sheep Racing, Sheep Shearing, even a Sheep theatre and I have a cartoon of that which I will reveal later this week…
So all I need to make my fortune is an industrial unit and scaffolding poles. I’ll just head over to ebay…
I belong to the Woodley and Earley arts group and we went to Greys Court in Henley for the day, it had been arranged that we had access without the public. Having made loads of sketches during the day I found this broken door on an old building next to the toilets. There was no time to do a sketch so I took a picture and with plenty of time at home I produced this image with Derwent drawing pencils. I was testing a blister pack of 6 colours. I think the limited palette has helped to hold the picture together and made me think more about tone rather than finding the right colour.
Quick tip: – Make sure you keep the pencils sharp otherwise you lose detail. This is what happened when I drew the padlock!
This is a view of the Secret Garden at Thrive which I sketched out on an unusually hot September day while eating my lunch. The three raised beds contain vegetables that were benefitting from the September sun, but like so many other gardens the tomatoes were still green.
I am disappointed with the composition of this sketch as there is a strong diagonal line that has become overpowering. I might revisit this view and make a more pleasing picture by making the bean poles stronger and bringing the trees closer to the roof line of the building to break up the roof.
I have recently resigned from Thrive to move to a Debra, a charity based in Crowthorne. It was a difficult decision to leave these stunning surroundings knowing that my next job will be based in an grey industrial estate, however I’m looking forward to the challenge of the new job and also to find some urban life and colour to sketch.
Last time I posted I asked you what body part breeds around 516,000 bacteria and the answer is your armpit. Nice.
We love Windsor for a day out as it is local and there is always something to do. On the 4 September we merrily made our way to Windsor and in the excitement of it all we went straight on where we should have turned left…well three quarters of an hour later and with a trip through Eton and Slough back round and into the car park, it began to rain. This was unfortunate as there was a London to Windsor bike ride in progress in aid of the British Heart Foundation. The picture is of 2 canonists that I saw coming under a bridge (by the time I got my sketch book out they were very close), I like the contrast of light and darks that runs through this picture.
Now for this weeks question…Which part of your body is home to over 516,000 bacteria? Answer at the end of the week.
This is a sketch I did way back in the 1990’s when I first started a sketch book. We were on holiday in Crackington Haven and we visited Boscastle to see the amazing Blow Hole where when the tide comes in a whoosh of waves and floods through a cave in the rocks. I can remember it being a warm and busy day with the car park being very full.
I did a quick pencil sketch which I later coloured in and put pen over to bring out the details.
On Tuesday I posted a picture of Samuel stood in a box and I asked if anyone knew what television programme was on the telly and what was happening in the show… I can reveal today that Sam was watching Gigglebiz (Check out the theme tune) and D.I.Y Dan was learning how to paint a wall with a roller.
Samuel was so inspired by this, that he produced the picture above and when I asked him what it was he said ‘Dooug’…I’m not sure if that’s an animal dog or a friend he has called Doug. Either way he is a boy genius.
If anyone would like to purchase a boy geniuses first attempt at art please let me know!
