One Sketch #160) Fred Calleri

There was a young lady called Kate
Who went for a drink with a mate
When offered a gin
She said, "It's a sin
A milk shake? Now that would be great!"

This was a response to the Sketching Every Day challenge to produce a picture influenced by the work of Fred Calleri. Well, this isn't so much inspired by as a very inferior copy. Never mind, it's the second acrylic painting this week, and doing something like this just reminds me how much I love painting in acrylic.

One Sketch #159) Swansea Quaker Meeting House

A slabby, concrete nightmare
just always
Looks so wrong.
I hope the meeting house
Will still
Be there when it's gone.

Swansea is just so handy for urban sketching. Last year, when I made my 100 sketches of Port Talbot (to see the accompanying blog, click on this link 100 Faces of Port Talbot ) I did pretty much exhaust my local town as a source of inspiration. So when I have a few hours for sketching, I'm just as likely to drive into Swansea, park the car, and go off exploring. What struck me about this in particular is the contrast between the Quaker Meeting House - which looks like it could be late Victorian/Edwardian, and the horrible 1970s concrete block next to it.

One Sketch #158) (Wednesday 29th August) Quadrant Coffee House Swansea

I don't like booze
Although this may seem odd
To me, a cuppa coffee
That's drink of the Gods.

Out urban sketching in Swansea, and I noticed that this interesting building - formerly a pub called the Quadrant Gate , is now a coffee house. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't like alcohol but I like pubs - after all, pubs are where quizzes take place. However, I can't hide the fact that I do think that another coffee house is something to be celebrated.

One Sketch #157 Fortune Teller

Who resists the siren call
Of tarot cards
And crystal ball
Look into her eyes, you fool
She tells you nothing
But conceals all.

Now, when I think of the word sketch I tend to think of a drawing, made in pencil, pen or charcoal, for instance. But you can sketch in many other media, acrylic paint included, and so that's why I felt justified in calling this response to a Sketching Every Day prompt a sketch. It's weeks since I last used acrylic paints, and I thoroughly enjoyed executing this one. For me, it was a lightning fast job, taking about 90 inutes

One Sketch #156) Dali Mixture

Forgive me, but I feel
Much love for the surreal.

Oh dear, terrible verse, whose one saving feature is its brevity. Another prompt from Sketching Every Day, where we were offered surrealism. When I think of surrealism I often think of Salvador Dali. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the old narcissist and all his works.

One Sketch #155) The End of the Rainbow

At the end of the rainbow
Light unravels
And drops from the skies
As music

Right, this was another prompt from Sketching Every Day. I had the idea of the rainbow arching out of the mouth of a brass instrument, like a trumpet or tuba. Then suddenly that became a saxophone, and I thought it might be more fun to go with a fictional player. Well, the only fictional saxophone player who came to mind was Zoot, from the Muppets. I'll be honest, I was never really a huge fan of the Muppets but I did think Zoot was rather cool - and many, many blokes my age liked Waldorf and Stadler, the two hecklers, and I liked them as well.

One Sketch #154) 1908 London Electrobus

No noise
No smoke
No fumes
No mess.
What else?
No chance.

Just started reading a very interesting book about the London Electrobus fraud of the early 20th century - did not even know that my home town ever had electric buses, let alone before the First World War.

One Sketch #153) Madrid 'Titchy ' Bus

First time I saw it
I questioned my eyes
- It's still a great bus
Never mind the size

This is based on a photo I took in Madrid. I was bowled over by these little buses. They're like a ormal bus where they've cut out the middle section of it, and welded the two ends back together. In my head I christened them - El Titchibus. Great for crowded city streets, though.

One Sketch #152) Construction worker eating lunch

I may be wrong
But I think I have a hunch
Why none of my friends
Ever joins me for lunch.

This was another prompt from Sketching Every Day - building and construction. It's based on a photo reference , and I think that's probably the Empire State Building that he's building.

One Sketch #151) Wednesday 22nd August Alicante Airport Departure Lounge

A metaphor for life,
If you like
We all wait and wait
Hoping to fly.

I did actually make a sketch of Alicante airport when I flew home from Spain last year, and I'm a lot happier with this one. In particular I got really interested in he lady on the left of the foreground, who was desperately searching through her luggage for something. From my vantage point the guy sitting next to her didn't look like a lot of help.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

One Sketch #150) Tuesday 21st August El Mixto Restaurant

Chinese, Japanese
Or Espanol?
Ah, the agony
Of Choice

Yes, we were faced with the agony of choice in a restaurant with three separate printed menus - Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. It was literally in the shadow of the hospital. The occasion? John was allowed out of hospital. Hooray!

One Sketch #148) Monday 20th August - Ambulance

Carry me to safety
Carry me from strife
Carry me to hospital
Carry me to life.

The burden of visiting John, and trying to find out what was happening, and when he would be allowed to come home was telling again today. A long story, but basically through a mistake they failed to carry out a long standing procedure - not dangerous but very frustrating. This was parked outside the front of the hospital.

One Sketch #147) Sunday 19th August - San Isidro after Matuesz Urbanowicz

This is not a jokio
When I tell you folkio
That downtown San Isidro
Just doesn't look like Tokyo

I think that I've mentioned the Facebook group Sketching Every Day before now. Well, their prompt for this particular Sunday was to make a sketch in the style of artist and illustrator Mateusz Urbanowicz. He's an artist and illustrator who works and lives in Tokyo, and I really like his work. However, I was staying in San Isidro when I made this sketch, and however you look at it, San Isidro is never going to look like Tokyo. So I said the Japanese characters which - I think - say San Isidro and my name.

One Sketch #146) Saturday 18th August - Catral

A bleak memorial
Somehow it seems so fitting
For a bleak past.

Three sketches all made on Saturday. The middle sketch is the only one done in San Isidro. The right and left hand sketches were made in Catral, a larger town than San Isidro, where we made a quick visit to the market. The middle sketch though shows a rather neglected memorial which is just behind San Isidro railway station. What does it commemorate? Well, the town wasn't originally built until the 1950s. Prior to that the area was the site of a concentration campo where Franco put , well, anyone he felt like. It's a shame to say that the memorial used to have more chains than this - but has been vandalised and some of the chains have been taken.

One Sketch #145) Friday 17th August - House in San Isidro

It is a sleepy little town
But everyone needs sleep.

I didn't want to go on any more excursions while John was still in hospital, so I sketched this house, in the same road as the old chemist. Before he went into hospital John told me that someone in this street had won El Gordo - the big Spanish National Lottery. I don't know whether it was the people in this one, but it's for me by far the nicest house in the street.

One Sketch #144) Thursday 16th August - Elche

Once again
I drink in beauty
While threatening storm clouds
Gather disapprovingly.

Jen wanted to go the hospital by herself on this morning, so I nipped off to the local railway station and took the train into the nearest city, Elche. Elche is actually a world heritage city - not incidentally for the basilica in the sketch above. This, believe it or not, is actually the back of the church. The front is even more impressive, but you just can't get far enough away while in the shade to sketch it.

One Sketch #143) Wednesday 15th August - Hospital Vinalopo, Elche

Time portions itself slowly
Like an intravenous drip.

A bit of a shock this one. My father in law, John, wasn't very well in the morning, so much so that he asked us to take him into the local hospital. He really wasn't very well at all, he was diagnosed with pneumonia. His blood was so de-oxygenated that it wasn't just blue, it was almost black. This is the exterior of the hospital - Jen, my mother in law, and I would be seeing a lot of it in the next week.

One Sketch #142) Tuesday 14th August - Alicante with Tram

No pollution
No congestion
No traffic jam
Avoid all of that
With an underground tram

Yes, on Tuesday 14th I made a trip into Alicante. And as you can see from the top sketch, I was over the moon to discover that although Madrid doesn't have trams, Alicante does! Now, okay, I only travelled one stop, and above ground you can see the station I left from the one I arrived at but so what? Love trams, in case I haven't ever mentioned that before.

One Sketch #141) (Monday 13th August) Murcia

I'm never unhappy
And never afraid
Sketching in public
And in the shade

It's the sketch on the right, my friends. This was the day that I took a trip to Murcia, Spain's 7th largest city. This was just a street corner I liked, but it had the inestimable advantage that I was able to sit in the shade and make this sketch.

One Sketch #140) Old Renault Four

I can't say that I've felt before
Much feeling for a Renault Four
And yet this Renault seems quite fun
While baking in the Spanish Sun
A feeling that it's hard to foster
Even on this Spanish Costa
But to this aging Renault car, though
I say my Costa Blanca Bravo!

I actually first saw this car yesterday. I made a mental note, and popped back today. Yes, it was there, hence the sketch. I can't say that I've ever given much thought to the Renault Four previously, but I have to have respect for a car that must be between 40 - 50 years old which is still on the road.

Saturday 11th August One Sketch #139) San Isidro

The town bakes in the morning sun
Time slows to a gentle crawl
As we creep towards siesta.

I ventured out on my own by about 11:30 on Saturday morning, knowing that I had a relatively short window of time before it would become too hot to do absolutely anything at all. I made the quick line and wash sketch of the town , and then went and sat in my favourite public space in San Isidro. Again, it's a place that I've sketched before.
The local train station here is very new, and was only built within the last few years. Now, when they demolished the older station which stood there, they re-erected the platform canopy, and the wall of the station building which faced onto the platform, in a street in the town. I’ve never been there for a performance but I understand that they do have music there sometimes. There are a couple of benches though, and it was pleasant to sit in the shade of the canopy and sketch a couple of the houses opposite. It would have been very pleasant if not for the flies. Both elbows and my right calf copped it from them, and are itching like hell this morning.

Friday 10th August One Sketch #138) The Casa Me Duck

Wherever one wanders
Wherever one roams
Be it ever so humble
There's no place like
Somebody else's home.

This is my in-laws' house in San Isidro, which is a small town in the Alicante area. So called because John is from Leicestershire originally, where I believe 'me duck' is a term of endearment. I sketched the casa last year as well, although that was a watercolour and ink sketch and prominently featured my mother-in-law's Smart Car somewhat to the detriment of the house.

Thursday 9th August One Sketch #137) Atocha Station, Madrid

From one chair to another
Speeding towards family
across a brown, parched land.

Yes, the end of my time in Madrid, although not the end of my time in Spain. On Thursday I took the train across country from Madrid to stay with my in-laws in Alicante. With a long time to kill I went for a walk along the Paseo del Prado and then came back to the station. I know that this sounds silly, but my train was at 12:15, and I didn’t want to go back into the station until the previous Alicante train – the 10:45 – had gone. To be honest, the Atocha station in Madrid seems to be going through a bit of an identity crisis, as I’m sure it thinks that it’s an airport. Before you could go into the Departure (Lounge) Area, you had to go through an airport style luggage check. Then when you got into the Departure area you couldn’t go onto the platform until your train was called, in the same way that you get called to the Departure gate in an airport. For all of that, though, the system seemed to work. I sat in one of the more comfy chairs which faced the glass doors onto the platforms and sketched one of the choo-choos which was waiting there.
When they allowed us onto the platform at about 5 to 12 I had time to quickly sketch the outlines of some of the people waiting, and when we got on the train – 5 minutes late so no bonus points to Renfe there – I completed the shading. The blokey sitting next to me seemed very interested in what I was doing. Finally he started talking to me, and even after my standard apologetic – ‘soy Ingles, no hablo Espanol mucho’ he kept talking. I kept picking up the odd word here and there, and after he pointed to my sketch, then the colourful logo on his T shirt I gathered that he was saying that my sketch would be a lot better with colour. Everyone’s a critic. I tried to show him the watercolour sketches in the book, but he wasn’t interested in a retrospective of my Madrid period, and said nothing. So, in an act of revenge, I noisily ate my crisps and drank my drink at him. That’ll teach him. I’d like to think that when he got off at Cuenca he had seen the error of his ways.
Fair play to the driver of the train. We left Madrid late, but we arrived at Alicante early.

Wednesday 8th August - One Sketch #136) Palacio Cristal

I'm risking the raising of groans
By saying, in serious tones
That men and that mouses
Who live in glass houses
Should really just never throw stones

Sorry about that. Last full day in Madrid, and one of the day's highlights was a visit to the huge Buen Retiro Parque in Madrid. It's so big it has several buildings inside it, and my favourite was this, the Palacio Cristal - that's Crystal Palace. Like it's London namesake it was erected for an International Exposition. Unlike the London original this one , although built so that it could be dismantled and moved elsewhere, it never was. Here's the rest of the day's sketches :-

On this, the last full day, I did manage to find what I think is Madrid's signature bridge. This is the Puenta de Toledo, and it's actually much nicer than I've made it look in this picture.Shame there's not much river passing beneath it at this time of year.

Tuesday 7th August One Sketch #)135 - Madrid Cathedral De Almudena

I find that I like to take stock
Of Cathedrals so highly Baroque.
Their domes and their towers
Transfix me for hours
I'd never be tempted to mock.

This is right next door to the massive Palacio Real, and it is literally so huge that I couldn't get far away enough from the façade and the aspect on the main road to have been able to make a sketch without straining my neck. Then, on the Tuesday, I approached it from another direction and found a bench with this perfect vantage point.

Here's other sketches I made on the same day:-

Monday 6th August One Sketch #) 134 - Madrid Guitar player

I play for myself,
Most of the time,
But should you put your coins
In my hat,
I won't refuse.

This chap was playing his guitar sitting cross legged on the pavement right by the royal palace. I put a few coins into his hat, and asked if he minded me making this sketch. He didn't say that it was okay - but he didn't say that it wasn't either, and for me a nod's as good as a wink. Here are the other sketches I made on Monday:-

Sunday 5th August - One Sketch #133) Bristol Airport

Yes, dear my friends, I am still in the land of the living, and I have still been sketching every day. I'm going to post the photographs of my sketches now, but I the photo quality isn't great, so I will probably scan them all when I get back in 10 days.

These first three were sketches that I made in Bristol Airport while waiting for the flight to Madrid last Sunday.

The febrile atmosphere mounts
As we sit and wait
To get on the plane
Where we will sit
And wait.

DOn't Worry-

 - if I don't manage to post for a few days at the least. In about half an hour I'm off on my travels to Madrid. But I promise you (if anyone actually does ever read this post, or indeed this blog) that I will be sketching at least once every day while I'm away, and so if I can't get onto the blog, I will post a welter of posts when I return.

Adios amoebas!

One Sketch #132) Clown

Why is it
That we take such a pride
In the idea that clowns
Are all sighing, and crying
And dying
Inside?

Yes, yet another Sketching Every Day prompt. I actually did two for this prompt - the second one, coloured, is a direct copy of a Norman Rockwell cover illustration for the Saturday evening Post, in HB pencil watercolour and watercolour pencil. The top one is from a photograph which was part of an old advert for Schlitz Beer, which I believe is a popular intoxicating beverage from the United States of America.

What is it about clowns? When I was a kid I actually really rather liked clowns. The couple of times I went to the circus, or the many times I watched Billy Smart's Circus on television, my favourite acts were always the clowns. Yet now, I find them rather sinister. What is that all about?

Partly, I suppose, due to the television adaptation of Stephen King's "It" - Tim Curry was rather brilliant as Pennywise. Partly lingering memories of the Joker in the Batman comics when I was a kid (mind you, this was offset by Cesar Romero's dreadful Ronald McDonaldish interpretation of the character in the Adam West TV series). Partly, I guess because in the media and popular culture we've been fed the notion of the sad clown crying on the inside in popular culture for a long time. It surely goes back beyond Cecil B. DeMille's film "The Greatest Show on Earth". I guess also it's maybe because of all the make up and the clothing. Anyone hiding their true face behind that makeup could be up to anything.

One Sketch #131) Hot Chestnut Seller

Cry your wares
To the streets, my boy
Those who would have you
Still your cry
Would shed no tears
If you were to die
Nor spare a coin
But pass you by.

Yes, it's another prompt from Sketching Every Day. This is a bit tenuous, mind you, since the prompt was Nut Day - yes, today actually is designated Get Some Nuts Day. By whom? No idea.

Anyway, I used an old photograph showing a street vendor selling roast chestnuts. Once upon a time I believe that roast chestnut venders and their braziers were a fairly common sight in our streets in the UK. There were still a few around when I was a little boy in the 60s, as I'm sure I remember one outside a park in Acton once. Mostly though, by that time you were only really likely to see one by the top tourist sites in the centre of town. I don't really know why, but chestnuts seem to have gone out of fashion. I can't say that I recall ever eating one myself - to my mind they looked too much like conkers. 

One Sketch #130) Self Portraits after Shelly Wilkerson

Although, as a selfie sketch
I think it's fine
I really should admit
I don't like wine.

Yes, Dearly beloved - it's another prompt from the Sketching Every Day Facebook group. Today's prompt was to do something inspired by feature artist Shelly Wilkerson. Now, ok, I admit, I was not aware of Shelly Wilkerson's work prior to this. In some ways her work reminds me just a little of the work of the late Beryl Cook. Not in terms of style or execution - they are very different artists in that way - but in terms of subject matter, and of the effect they have on the viewer. A cursory check of Google images shows that a lot of her pictures have people who are, shall we say, not in the first flush of youth, and involve cats and drinking wine.

What I did to make this painting was I used a Shelly Wilkerson original as a guide - like this it had three men on a yellow orange background - two of them drinking wine, and two cats. I tried to be as faithful to the original with the cats and the clothes as my limited skills allow. However I did take three selfies of myself in roughly the same positions as the three figures, and used these to replace the original heads with my own. I did a basic sketch in graphite pencil, painted in the background, cats, clothes, wine glasses and base skin tone in water colour, then added the details and the variations in tone with watercolour pencils. I quite like it, although I don't think Shelly Wilkerson has anything much to worry about if I'm brutally honest.

One Sketch #129) The Elizabeth Tower - Big Ben

Nostalgia
Homesickness
One man's meat
Another's poison.
Maybe it's because
I'm a Londoner.

Another prompt from the Sketching Every Day Facebook group. This one was to make a sketch using an iconic symbol from any country. Well, mine's as good a place to start as any, I would say. I live in Wales - and in fact I've spent more of my life living in Wales than in England - but the fact is that I am English, and still think of myself as a Londoner. So an iconic symbol of London it was.

I've produced a sketch of Tower Bridge in the past, so I didn't really want to do that again just now.

 Which still left Big Ben, the Tower, and St. Paul's. What I liked about this was that as well as the iconic clock tower, it also shows a red double decker London bus, and the framework shows us looking out from inside a red phone box. Incidentally, I didn't actually plan it this way, but the red framework is suggestive of the Cross of St. George, as on the English flag.