One Sketch 281) Sidoli's, Porthcawl

You scream
I scream
We all scream
For Ice cream.
(Not when it's so flippin' cold though.)

Yes, dearly beloved, on the last day of the calendar year it seemed only fitting for me to make another urban sketch, since that's really where we started, isn't it? The building on the left is Sidoli's café n Porthcawl. Sidoli's have been famous for several generations for making what has a claim to be the finest ice cream in South Wales.

Yes, I'm sure that you can see the influence of Ian Fennelly - I'd have been doing something wrong if you couldn't.

One Sketch 280) Bryant and May Matchbox

A little light
Can be a dangerous thing.
Not as much
As darkness, though.

The prompt for today's Sketching Every Day is matchboxes. Now, the thing is that I did once upon a time collect matchboxes, when I was a boy over 40 years ago. I've been told that the collector gene is more prevalent among males than females. I don't know about that, but I have at different times in my life collected different things. As a kid I was more serious about collecting matchboxes than I was about stamp collecting, although I tried that for a while as well.

As an adult, it's funny the things that can spark you off on collecting. A good 15 years or so ago I had a hankering for a 1960s Roberts transistor radio, and my wife bought me one. Well, this snowballed. It didn't help that I discovered eBay and car boot sales at much the same time. At one time I had well over 50 radios of the same period, but I haven't bought a new radio for years, and a few years back I did start selling the collection off. I still have a lot though.

Smaller current collections I have are memorabilia from London Bridge, and from the TV quiz show Mastermind. Actually they're both linked. You see in 2007 I appeared in the grand final of the show, taking London Bridge as my specialist subject, and I won.

Coming back to Bryant and May though, I did some reading up on them this morning. Messrs Bryant and May were a pair of Victorian quaker gentlemen who set up their business in London importing matches from Sweden and repackaging. After successfully starting this business they set up their own factory in London, employing mostly women to manufacture their matches. Many women working or them developed a horrific condition nicknamed phossy jaw, where the vapour from the white phosphorous they were working with would eat away the bones of the jaw, and in many cases cause madness as well.

Phossy jaw, and other poor working conditions in their factory in Bow, such as 14 hour days, poor pay and ridiculously harsh fines for a range of so called misdemeanours, led to the Bryant and May matchgirls strike in 1888. Basically the social reformer Annie Besant published an expose of the terrible conditions inside the factory in a newspaper she published. Bryant and May tried to force all of their employees to sign a piece of paper stating that the allegations were false. The girls refused to sign it, and when the management sacked a worker in retaliation, the girls went on strike. Eventually the management were forced to accept the girls' terms, following the bad publicity and the dent in their profits caused by the strike. However it's worth noting that the company continued to use white phosphorous until 1901.

The same Bow factory continued to produce matches until 1979, since which listed buildings which were part of the complex have been converted into luxury flats. About this time British Match, which Bryant and May had evolved into through various acquisitions and mergers, was acquired by US company Allegheny, and when they went bankrupt it was acquired by Swedish Match. The Bryant and May trademark is still used by Swedish Match in the UK.

One Sketch 279) (Saturday 29th December) St. Mungo's Cathedral Glasgow

An oasis of calm and peace
In a city
of
energy

I hope that you can see the influence of Ian Fennelly in this one. I'm not sure that I really like the façade in this one. If you look at Ian Fennelly's work you'll see that although he is playing with form, he does still manage to keep elements of his buildings in proportion with each other, whereas the façade in this just isn't. Live and learn - it's all part of the learning curve. Not totally unhappy with the colours though, although it might have been more effective just to have the colours bleeding and washing out towards the bottom of the façade.

One Sketch 278) Urban sketch Swansea Marina and Dylan Thomas Statue

Do not go gentle into that good night
- if the grim reaper wants you,
Then make the bugger fight.

Apologies to Dylan Thomas, there. Making the Ian Fennelly copy yesterday inspired me to get today and have another go at line and wash for myself. I mean, you'd never mistake this for the work of the great man himself, but I can at least point out a couple of things which show the influence at least. If you look at the buildings on the right, I've been playing with the geometric forms a bit, which is something I've noticed in Ian Fennelly's work. I've also been freer with the colour - and this really works on the statue, in as much as I'm actually happy with the way that I've used colour on it. Also I've accepted that I don't need to fill every inch of white space with colour - although I've still got a long way to go on this one, I think.

Ian Fennelly

This is a bit of a long and not all that interesting story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. You know about Sketching Every Day, yes? Well, one of the things that I do tend to do is to check out the prompts which are coming up for the next few days. Four times a month of so we have a different featured artist. You can take the prompt however you like. You can copy one of their works, or make your own work in the same style, or make a portrait of the artist, whatever. Coming up on the 29th December we have Ian Fennelly. I didn't know his work before, but he is simply the most brilliant urban sketcher.

Now, you may recall in the past I have explained how unhappy I am with my lack of ability to use watercolour effectively when making an urban sketch. So it came to mind that, since I'm going to be making an Ian Fennelly copy, or at the very least an Ian Fennelly inspired sketch, I could try to copy what he did in an urban sketch which I love, and hope to learn something in the process. Have I learned anything? Well, maybe, although I think it's the sort of thing which is going to take more than just the one lesson before it is going to sink in. Still, I'm very pleased with what I've made today. This is a copy of one of Ian Fennelly's pictures of the Eastgate in the city of Chester. And no, it is NOWHERE near as good as the original. The main thing is it's miles better than anything I would have come up with by myself. Looking dispassionately, I think you can see that I'm still being too timid with colour, and this is something to take forward into the next attempt.

One Sketch 277) Continuous line Love Bug

One thing I'd like to ask my friends -
Can you see where this one line starts
Or where it ends?

Yes, something different today. This is a challenge which recurs relatively often on Sketching Every Day - the continuous line. Basically it does exactly what it says on the tin - you draw whatever it is you are drawing without taking your pen off the paper in one continuous line. So I'm quite pleased with this, even if it is a little bit out of proportion, with the back about right but the front too squashed up.

One Sketch 276) (Weds 26th December) Ledger Art

Big chief sits so silently, wow
While the sun beats unmercifully now
His horse bows his head
While the only thing said
A one syllable question - how?

OK, up to a couple of days ago I knew nothing about ledger art. Then it was given as the Boxing Day prompt on Sketching Every Day. To quote Wikipedia -"Ledger art is a term for Plains Indian narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth. Ledger art flourished primarily from the 1860s to the 1920s. A revival of ledger art began in the 1960s and 1970s. The term comes from the accounting ledger books that were a common source of paper for Plains Indians during the late 19th century." I rather enjoyed the challenge of making this one. First I found a page from a vintage manuscript, copied it, and printed out a page. Onto this I used a 0.5mm ink sketching pen to copy elements from two very modern ledger art designs which I found. The painting in was done using watercolour pencils. 

One Sketch 275) Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Man (3/4 of a year completed!)

Angels on Christmas Day
That's plain to see
Expecting originality?
Not from me.

Yes, yesterday by the way I hadn't quite worked out that I was just over 3/4 of the way through the year, which is why I've made the point today. If you've joined me at any time during the previous 9 months, can I wiash you a very merry Christmas, and thank you for your company.

One Sketch 274) Fireplace and Stockings

It's the day before Christmas
- ah, dear, what a pity
I hate having guests
Coz it makes me feel dismal

You know what I really meant, dearly beloved. I'm a pretty good guest, but a rubbish host. Which is awkward, because our Christmas guests - staying with us for more than a flipping fortnight, are great hosts but lousy guests. Merry Christmas.

One Sketch 273) Alice and the Red Queen

Alice has recently been

Playing at chess in this scene

She can't be ignored

But moves up the board

Promoting herself to a queen

Yeah, I'll be honest, I didn't really fancy the prompt on Sketching Every Day today. Every few days we get a featured artist, and I'm afraid that without wanting to be rude, today's featured artist doesn't do anything for me, and I've no interest in trying to copy her artwork. So when in doubt I return to one of my old faves, the great Sir John Tenniel. This is copied from one of the original illustrations for Alice Through the Looking Glass

One Sketch 272) Elf myselfie

Santa's little helper
Ain't so flippin'
Little

You'd like an explanation, perchance? Today's prompt on Sketching Every Day was to sketch yourself as an Elf or Fairy. Tempted to go fairy, but decided on elf in the end.

One Sketch 271) Winter Solstice

Ring out solstice bells
Ring all night
And tonight
Is the longest night of all.
- Bet your arms get tired.

The prompt today was, understandably , winter solstice. My immediate thought was the Jethro Tull song, Ring out, solstice bells, and so I did my best to copy the artwork on one release of the song.

One Sketch 270) (Thursday 20th December) Franz Marc

Horse stamp explosive Earth
Which shatters
then re-forms

On Sketching every day, several times a month the prompt is a featured artist. Yesterday was German artist Franz Marc, killed in the 1916 Battle of Verdun. I will be honest, this early 20th century expressionist style isn't usually my cup of tea, but I look at this, and it looks far more modern than it is - you can certainly see the influence Marc and others had on the development of graphic art throughout the 20th century. This is a copy of a woodcut.

One Sketch 269) (Wednesday 19th December)I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Rockwell

I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
I wouldn't really mind
But Daddy has been in the nick
- Serving five years' time

That's not very seasonal is it? Sorry. Yesterday's prompt on Sketching Every Day was to depict a holiday song, and I recalled seeing the Rockwell picture which this one tries to copy. Bearing in mind my experience of a couple of days ago I made this one into a card just in case the need should arise during the next day or two.

One Sketch 268) (Tuesday 18th December) Last Minute Christmas card

Ah, the innocent pleasures
Of yesteryear
Snowman building
Snowball fights
And double pneumonia

How ironic. You may remember me making a ton of Christmas cards back in November. I took them into work to give to friends and colleagues yesterday. I had the mortifying experience of being one short. The prompt on Sketching Every Day was Snowman or Snow woman, so there at least was the inspiration for a desperate frantic lunch hour spent sketching to make this one. Not too shabby.

One Sketch 267) Trolls Kissing Under Mistletoe

Don't matter how ugly you are
Mistletoe is a great
Leveller.

The prompt for today on Sketching Every Day - Holiday traditions.

One Sketch 266 (99 DAYS ONLY TO GO!) Copy of Anita Jeram Picture

It's a dog's life
And sometimes
That ain't so bad a thing.

The prompt for today was the work of Anita Jeram, so I made this copy of a picture which I think is rather wonderful in its own quiet way.

One Sketch 265) (Saturday 15th December) Alastair Sim as Scrooge

Ah, the unreformed miser!

Worry not, old misanthrope

The ghosts are on their way.

The prompt yesterday was Holiday Movies. For me Christmas ain't really Christmas if I don't get to see at least one version of A Christmas Carol. The best version of the novel - and one surprisingly fair to the spirit of the story (which is NOT a novel!) is the Muppets' Christmas Carol. But the best portrayal of Scrooge in my opinion is Alastair Sim's.

One Sketch 264 (Friday 14th December) Monkey Magic

Born from an egg on a mountain top

- Pull the other one, mate

It's got bells on.

This one was prompted by the 14th December prompt on Sketching Every Day - Monkey. I wrote - I wonder how many British members are old enough to remember a TV series from the early 1980s called 'Monkey'. It was a Japanese TV series redubbed into English. It concerned the adventures of the Monkey God - seen here - sentenced by Heaven to accompany the monk Tripitaka on his journey to retrieve Buddhist scriptures from India. It was absolutely brilliant - a real cult at the time.

One Sketch 263) (Thursday 13th December) Hogwarts

I guess I would quite like to tarry
Like Hermione, Ron and Harry

Like I said, when I was scratching my head for a subject for a sketch on Thursday, the resemblance of the gingerbread walled town to Hogwarts had planted a seed which grew to fruition in this.

One Sketch 262) (weds 12th) Gingerbread Town

Gingerbread's fine
It's taste - superial
But isn't the greatest
Building material

Prompt from Sketching Every Day - gingerbread house. Being the show off that I am, I had to try to go a bit better than  mere house. When I'd finished this it suddenly struck me that this resembled Hogwarts a little. Which sowed a seed for the next day .. .

One Sketch 261) Featured artist Alexander Millar's Pals

Yes, I too am that sort of chap
Who favours the wearing of caps

Suggested by today's Sketching Every Day Prompt. I wasn't previously aware of the work of Alexander Millar, but I really love his style and his sense of humour.

One Sketch 260) Unitoaster

Ah,no,
I wouldn't want to be 5 again
But my imagination
would.

This was a response to a prompt in Sketching Every Day - the prompt was Everyday Object. I asked my wife, eldest daughter and eldest grandson "tell me the first thing to come into your head when I say the words - everyday object."
My wife replied "Toaster."
My daughter replied, "Toaster."
My grandson replied, "Unicorn."

Fair enough. Here they are.

One Sketch 259) American truck

American truck
Size isn't everything
But it's pretty impressive
Still.
A symphony
In steel and chrome

A photo prompt on Sketching Every Day this one.

One Sketch 258) Pet Jabberwock

Here's something you shouldn't forget
A jabberwock's not a good pet
It's ravenous jaws
And needle sharp claws
Will leave you a ton of regret

A prompt in Sketching Every Day was pet portrait - real or imaginary. I couldn't resist taking another of John Tenniel's wonderful illustrations from the Alice books - see my previous post for more on this.

One Sketch 257) (Friday 7th December) Alice in Wonderland Rabbit

A rabbit with trumpet and scroll
Found servitude taking its toll
"I don't mind the work,"
He said with a smirk,
"But I don't like the hours, on the whole"

So tired on Friday that I just scrolled through some Victorian cartoon images and illustrations I really liked, and when I came to some originals from "Alice in Wonderland" I knew I'd found something that-
a) I'd like to sketch -
b) I could sketch
c) wasn't going to take forever.

"Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" have exerted a fascination over my imagination for a very, very long time. My grandfather, who died before I was born, bought a set of novels and works of fiction from the Daily Express. My mother had possession of the few novels that remained in the set when I was growing up. I can't remember all of the ones that were there, but they included "David Copperfield", "Pride and Prejudice" "Wuthering Heights" and "The Mill on the Floss" three books which I would love by the time I was studying A Level English Literature, as well as "Jane Eyre", a book I absolutely would not love when studying it for A Level.  However, the only one I was interested in from a very early age was "Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through The Looking Glass". This edition had its own illustrations, not the Tenniel originals, sadly. I didn't discover these until I was quite a bit older.

It's a strange book, isn't it? I was more taken with Looking Glass when I was little - I responded to the fact that it's based on a chess game, and Alice has an ultimate goal- becoming queen. I found Wonderland to be rather sinister - and to be honest I still think that it has something of this quality about it. Sir John Tenniel - just plain John at the time - to me brought out this quality in his illustrations for the book.

One Sketch 256) The Parthenon

The older, and more ruined
She gets
The more beautiful
She becomes.
For most of us
It works
the other way.

Another Sketching Every Day prompt. I love the Parthenon. Visited it for the first time in 1982 - love at first time.

One Sketch 255 (Wednesday 5th December) Students

Bored

Bored

Bored

Why does it take so long

Just to say

Welcome?

It works like this. Yesterday I attended a National Conference - mainly for those pupils about to apply for University Places. It involved a round trip of 5 hours. In all honesty I was flirting with disaster yesterday since there was precious little time for sketching all day. In the end I had to just dash off this very quick sketch of a couple of the students sitting in front of me in the Welcome session - which lasted about 20 minutes, which was about 19 minutes too long. 

One Sketch 254 (Tuesday 4th December) Cookie Monster

You can keep your Honey Monsters
Your teddies and your wookies
Here's the guy who works for me
The one who eats the COOOOKKKIIIEEESSS!

This was inspired by a Sketching Every Day prompt - cookies. I've said this before, I was never the world's biggest muppet/Sesame Street fan, but as a cookie fa myself I always had a soft spot for cookie monster - I even like his rather strngulated use of grammar.

One Sketch 253) (Monday 3rd December) The Liberty Bell

Ding dong

Ding dong

Ding dong

CRACK!

Like me, the Liberty Bell was made in London. So it's cracked. Get over it - you'll be looking none to fresh yourself when you're as old as this is.

One Sketch 252) The Little Tramp

While Chaplin remained at the helm
So often he would overwhelm
With slapstick, with cheek
Such laughter he'd wreak
He ended a knight of the realm

Not a lot more to say - always been a fan. His silent shorts were often showed on British TV when I was a kid. Very complex and interesting personality too - at one time banned from re-entering the USA. Ungrateful sods.

One Sketch 251) The Great Stoneface

The thing I would say about Buster
- apologising for my bluster
With each new decade
The films that he made
Just seem to take on greater lustre.

At a bit of a loss today, so decided to paint this quick monochrome portrait of a comedian I have a lot of time for, the great Buster Keaton.

One Sketch 250) Macau Skyline

The region that's known as Macau
Is all part of China by now.

Just following a prompt in Sketching Everyday.