One Sketch 336 - Featured Artist Erik Abel

This one I'm quite prepared to share
My copy
Of a multicoloured bear.

Know nothing about Erik Abel, but he was today's featured artist om Sketching Every Day, and so I found the original f this which I copied, after a fashion.

Tomorrow in the early hours I' off to Stockholm for a few days, so don't be surprised if the next few sketches turn out to have a distinctly Scandinavian flavour.

One Sketch 335 (Saturday 23rd) JAcobs Antiques Cardiff

There's loads of antiques there
On every self
I can't say much
I'm pretty old myself.

First sketchcrawl of the year that I've been able to attend in Jacob's Antiques market in Cardiff - yeah, I know, Cardiff again.

One Sketch 334) Route 66 Gas Station

Get your kicks
On Route 66.
Shame about global warming.

Yes, the prompt for today was Route 66. What else could I do other than an American Gas station?

One Sketch 333) Hippo

Whenever I've been with a hippo
He's never afraid to let rippo
Each gigantic fart
Is only the start
-Be wary of giving him lippo.

That's terrible. Why a hippo today? No idea, other than some days you just know are going to turn out to be hippo days - no point resisting it.

One Sketch 332) (Weds 20th February) Fleet Street

City of Smoke
Frozen in monochrome
Between two wars.

Now you know that I love street scenes, don't you. You might also know that I love Old London - although anyone who says I grew up in Old London is unkind and technically inaccurate. Born in the 1960's, don't you know. I was looking at some old photos looking down Fleet Street towards St. Paul's, and was very struck by the one which I based this sketch on.

One Sketch 331) (Tuesday 19th Feb) Favourite Smells

Citrus, coffee
Roses, bread
What's your favourite smell instead?

OKay, not the nicest sketch I've ever made. The prompt for this one was favourite smells, and rather than do just one I sketched 4 of them.

One Sketch 330) Clement Attlee

Unsung heroes
Don't always come
in Uniform

The prompt on Sketching Every Day today was Dead President ( or Prime Minister). Well, I did consider going down the obvious path with Lincoln or Kennedy, but then I'm a Brit, and their praises have been sung often enough (and in JFK's case, his vices as well). So let's give a cheer for the memory of Clement Attlee. Maybe he suffered by comparison with the colourful and witty Winston Churchill, to whom he was Deputy Prime Minister during world war II. However many people, of whom I am one, would argue that Clement Attlee was a far more effective politician than Churchill - who was absolutely the right man in the right place in 1940, I make no bones about that. Still, it's difficult to make a case that Churchill, had he won the election in 1945, would have done so much for the ordinary person in the UK as Attlee's government did. We would certainly not have had our National Health Service, and it's quite likely that we'd have embarrassed ourselves as a nation trying to hang onto our overseas Empire. Attlee's groundbreaking Labour Government, elected by landslide in 1945, had its share of failures, but considering the almost impossible difficulties they faced, what with the country having been bankrupted by World War II, it's incredible that they achieved as much as they did.

One Sketch 329) Featured artist Alphonse Mucha

Lines on a blank page
Are all I can offer
 Sometimes
That's enough.

Today's prompt in Sketching Every Day was featured artist Alphonse Mucha. He's pretty well known, but a brief potted biog is that he was a Czech artist who lived and worked in Paris during the Art Nouveau period leading up to the First World War. He was particularly known for his lavish posters and illustrations. I did toy with trying to reproduce one, but then I found the original of this pencil sketch, and decided tis would be doable within a reasonable period of time, and also would give me a chance to keep my hand in with an ordinary graphite pencil.

One Sketch 328) Gone With The Wind Movie Poster

Rhett Butler, a lusty old ram,
Did not waste a second's time, ma'am.
He grabbed Scarlett's waist
And kissed her with haste
Cos frankly, he don't give a damn.

Prompt on Sketching Every Day today was movie poster. As I commented when I posted this there, when it comes to movie posters, in fact, when it comes to a lot of things, I'm really old school. I've always liked this poster, so it was a bit of a no brainer to use it.

One Sketch 327) (Friday 15th Feb) Monsieur Orson Peluche

The teddy examines the train
"A mystery here, yet again!"
No driver, no guard
Oh isn't it hard
Such mysteries drive me insane"

I really didn't have time to make anything approaching a proper sketch yesterday. So I started doodling with a red biro on a piece of file paper during lunchtime and ten minutes later this is what I'd come up with. This is Orson Peluche (ours en peluche) the world famous Belgian teddy near detective, in a scene from his most famous case, "Orson Peluche et la Locomotive Abandonee. He has just discovered the abandoned locomotive and suspects foul play!

One Sketch 326) Hearts and Flowers

"Your majesty" he cried
"These blooms aren't dead."
" I do not care one jot
Off with their heads"

Alright, you can't always come up with anything decent to order. Prompt today - hearts and flowers. I'll be honest, I rarely need much encouragement to go back to the Guvnor, John Tenniel. This actually combines details from two separate Alice in Wonderland illustrations.

One Sketch 325) (Weds 13th February) Garth Williams

He just sits there
and grouses
This granddaddy
of mouses.

Prompt for Wednesday was a featured artist - Garth Williams. He's best known as being the artist illustrator who produced illustrations for Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web and the Little House on the Prairie books. No, I didn't know him before this, but looking at his work you can see he belongs in that fabulous line of American illustrators which stretched all the way back to the great Thomas Nast. I fell in love with the original of this sketch, and knew that it was something I wanted to copy.

One Sketch 324) Fisherman Statue

The thought alone
Sets tingling my lips
A freshly battered fish
On a bed of chips

This was today's Sketching Every Day prompt - every month one of the days the prompt offers us a choice of 4 or 5 photographs to use as the basis for a sketch - this statue of a fisherman was what took my fancy this month.

One Sketch 323) Tintin

A brave and loyal journalist
Adventurous, not showy
Did he ever have a human love?
Or only eyes for Snowy?

I say, that's a bit much. Steady the buffs. Given the prompt of Belgium, I decided on one of the two most famous fictional Belgians (Hercule Poirot being the other). Look, don't expect me to say anything (else) negative about Belgium or Belgians. I visited Ieper in 2016, which is where I became an urban sketcher, and as well as paying my respects to my great grandfather's grave at the war cemetery in Voormezeele, I was absolutely bowled over by how pretty Ieper is.

As for Tintin, well, I was given a GAF stereo viewmaster when I was a little boy(ask your grandparents), and a number of reels for it. My favourites were The Jungle Book, and Tintin Explorers on the Moon., and of the two the Tintin reel was my favourite.

One Sketch 322) Umbrellas

Est-ce qu'il y a
Quelque chose aussi jolie
Q'une femme francaise
Avec parapluie?

Prompt on Sketching Every Day today - simple as that.

One Sketch 321) The Dulais Rock

There's little else
That's quite as sad, I'd say
As a pub that's left to mould
And rot away.

This is the Dulais Rock. It stands on what used to be the main road from Neath to Resolven and all points beyond. I don't know if it was the 'new' road opening (it's well over 20 years old now) but the Dulais Rock, in which I will admit I did once have a pint in my drinking days, closed for good over 10 years ago now. I don't know how much, if any, of the building is original, but I do know that the pub dates back to the 17th century.

Here's a curious thing. I'm teetotal. I never drank a great deal anyway, not having any kind of tolerance for alcohol and not wanting to put in enough practice to develop any. But quite a few years ago I found I was drinking so little anyway, because when you get right down to it I just don't like the taste of it, that I might just as well go the whole hog. But this is the curious thing. Considering I was never much of a drinker, and don't drink at all now, I do still really rather like pubs.

This probably has something to do with the fact that I've been a serious pub quizzer for over 30 years - although to be fair I think of myself as semi retired now. And it's a sobering thought to see just how many pubs that I've played at least one quiz in have shut their doors for good over this time.

One Sketch 320) David Griessel

The moon is high
The moon is bright
There's wonder in me gizzard
The world is black
And white
And grey
And the cat in the hat's
A wizard

Every month we have the option of taking on the work of a number of featured artists for Sketching Every Day. Today was David Griessel, and artist I hadn't encountered before, but one whose work instantly struck a chord with me. This is my inferior copy of a wonderful picture of his.

One Sketch 319) (Thursday 7th Feb) Jim Morrison

Come on baby light my fire
(Me central heating's packed in)

The prompt on Sketching Every Day for this one was doors, so what else was I going to do?

One Sketch 318) (Weds 6th Feb) Bucket List Destination

Venice Venice Venice
Place not to forgetto
It's still on my bucket list
So is the cornetto.

Yes, prompt on weds was Bucket list destination, and this (the Rialto Bridge as much as Venice itself) was the first thing I could come up with. 90 mins start to finish in Art Group.

One Sketch 317) Chinese New Year

Do not worry
Never fear
But celebrate
The Lunar year.

Yes, it's Chinese New Year - and we usher in the Year of the Pig. Oink oink.

One Sketch 316) (Monday 4th Feb) Iron Bridge

Let the waters flow
In this bridge we trust
Been there since 1781
Hope it's safe from rust.

I visited Iron Bridge in 1781. It's a hell of a lot more impressive than it looks in this picture, and a great place to visit. Being the first actual iron bridge, a lot of the techniques used to fit pieces of the bridge together were actually techniques used in wooden bridge making - mainly because there were not metal bridge making techniques yet.

One Sketch 315 (Sunday 3rd February) Feed the birds

Feed the birds
Tuppence a bag
Tuppence
Tuppence
Tuppence a bag
(Then they'll crap on your funny hat.)

Feed the birds - that was the prompt from Sketching Every Day.

One Sketch 314) Ground Hog Day

I hope that you won't think it's too obscene
When I confess my worship of the bean (you see what I did there?! Geddit!)

Yes, another Sketching Every Day prompt, and one for a great movie, although I do say so.

One Sketch 313) (Friday 1st Feb) Ideal Job - Coffee Sump

I hope that you won't think it's too obscene

If I confess my worship of the bean.

Prompt on Sketching Everyday - ideal fantasy job. This gets most of it, although not quite all. Ideally I want to be paid to sit in coffee shops and talk rubbish to people. So if by any chance you know of someone who is willing to pay to hire someone to sit in coffee shops and talk rubbish to people . . .