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 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 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 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 #164) Ewenny Pottery

I do love cats
I have to say
-even if they're made
of clay.

E is for . . .Ewenny Pottery. Ewenny is a village just outside the sizeable town of Bridgend in South Wales. It is home to Ewenny Pottery, the oldest working pottery in Wales, dating back to 1610. For the last 200 years it has been run by the Jenkins family, who still run it today. Ewenny Pottery are known for some highly distinctive pieces, such as their trademark cats, and the many handled jug in the sketch.

One Sketch #107) Traditional Cuckoo Clock

Isn't it ironic
That a bird which builds no nest
Should find such ornate housing
Is the kind he likes the best?

Apropos of nothing my wife, out of the blue, mentioned yesterday her grandmother's cuckoo clock. As it happened I remembered this item quite well. It was very like the one in the picture - a traditional birds and leaves design, with a little blue and yellow bird which had stopped coming in and out and cuckooing before I came on the scene. They're funny things, aren't they, cuckoo clocks? I mean, they are just a tiny bit ridiculous. . . and yet, I really rather like them. As for my wife's Nan's clock, well, sadly she passed away well over 20 years ago and I have absolutely no idea where it ended up.

One Sketch #106) Dolce Gusto Coffee Machine

I'll drink another cup
Its rich and bitter virtues
Will caress my senses
Into wakefulness,
And lo, with a sublime taste
The day begins anew.

This is my beloved Dolce Gusto coffee machine. Alright, beloved is maybe a little strong. I know that there are other brands out there - I've had a Tassimo in the past - which produce coffee which tastes as good. But I do like the Dolce Gusto. This was second hand when we had it, but I tell you what, it don't half make a good cup of coffee. I've never been a tea drinker, me, always a coffee drinker, ever since my Nan got me drinking it when I was small. Back then it was instant, and I'll be honest, I was only really drinking it for the two teaspoons of sugar she used to put into it. Then, when I was about 15, I decided that all of that sugar couldn't be good, and so I gave it up, and forced myself to drink coffee without it. For 3 months I hated every cup, but by the end of that time I realised one day that I was now drinking it and enjoying the taste of the coffee, and that's when I really became a coffee lover. Since then I've graduated from Maxwell House to Nescafe to Gold Blend. Then from Gold Blend to a filter coffee machine. That was better, and I was known to use a cafetiere at times. But nothing. . . nothing I used to use ever produced a cup anything like as good as my Dolce Gusto.

One Sketch #103) Isle of Lewis Chessmen (Friday 6th July)

Forgive me if I find I must digress
But who'd have thought of Vikings
Playing chess?

The first time that I can actually remember seeing any of the Viking chess pieces discovered in the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides, was in the mid 1980s. I was at London University studying English, and Old Norse and Old English were two of my constituent courses. Those of us studying these courses took an afternoon to visit an exhibition in the South Bank devoted to art and culture immediately following the Norman Invasion. In the gift shop I bought a replica Knight and a replica rook, and had I had enough spare grant from my student grant ( if you're under 40, then ask your parents what they were) then I'd have bought the whole set. I thought they were amazing. I've seen the originals several times since in their home in the British Museum, and if you ever get the chance to do so, I highly recommend it.

Fast forward  good ten years and I actually did buy a full set - although the pieces were approximately half the size of the originals. That went the way of all flesh some time in the last 18 years or so since we moved house. Nonetheless I retain a huge amount of affection for these remarkably dramatic and animated figures, and it's nice to think of hairy Scandinavian beserkers settling down for a nice game of chess after a hard day's pillage.

One Sketch #88) Sutton Hoo Helmet Replica

I sing of a dark age
A wind age, an axe age
I speak of the splendour
Of kingdoms and kings
The wrath and the rage
Of the warriors' wyrd
And the cunning and craft
Of the art of the smith.

No idea what inspired me to sketch this today, but it's an artefact I'm really fond of. The original isn't quite as photogenic as this one, in the British Museum near the original, which was made by the armourers of the Tower of London, I think, but it's a faithful representation of what the original would have looked like originally.

One Sketch #68) #30x30 Direct Watercolour 1 - Spaghetti Bolognese ingredients

Put these things together
Then reveal
My version of a classic
"British" meal.

Yes, today is the first day of the 30 day 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge I posted about a week or two ago. You can see that I sometimes use watercolour on my ink sketches, but I've never sketched directly just with paint like this. I quite like it.

One Sketch #60) Old Hospital Bed

My tonsils gave me constant gyp
The Doctor said, "Let's get a grip,
It's time that you were sent, old Scout
To hospital to whip them out
I wasn't brave, just sad and glum
And made a fuss, and cried for mum.

One of my classes had to produce a piece of autobiographical writing for an assessment, with the them being a time that you learned a valuable lesson. I wrote one as an example, telling of how , when I was 8 or 9, I had to go into a grim old Edwardian hospital in Ealing to have my tonsils out. Horrible as the place was, the anticipation of having my tonsils out was far worse than it actually happening.

One Sketch #59) Victorian Pillar box (Weds 23rd)

A wonderful thing is a pillarbox
It takes a long time just to fill a box
Whatever its size
I think you'd be wise
To admit that a mail box is still a box.

Not sure what possessed me to go for this very early Victorian pillar box, but I like it. I think that it's well known that the first UK pillar boxes were the brainchild of a certain Mr. Anthony Trollope, far better known probably for the huge number of novels he wrote, including the excellent Barchester and Palliser novels. The novels, sadly, are no longer widely read. The pillarboxes, though, show every sign of being an important part of British life for the foreseeable future, email notwithstanding.

One Sketch #34) Chapter Arts Centre, Canton, Cardiff.

We of the Urban Sketchers South Wales group haven't had a group sketchcrawl yet this month. So I posted a couple of days ago to ask if anyone else in the group fancied meeting up today for a sketching session. Clara, the group organiser and I decided upon the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, which I'd never actually been to before.

Here's the two pages from my sketchbook:-

The top page shows a father and son I sketched, the counter, and my coffee cup and a box of sauce bottled on my table. Below there are three head and shoulders figures I sketched, along with part of the exterior of the centre. I was working in my sketchbook, which doesn't take watercolour very well, and I have to be honest, I just wasn't in a watercolour mood today.

So many Saturdays
Mine is sketching,
His is a cappuccino and Facebook.
Hers, cod, peas, chips
And staccato gossip.

#dannygregory One Sketch 30) 7Up bottle

Last week I signed up for Sketchbook Revival. I've just watched the session with Danny Gregory, where he showed us a few of his sketchbooks, and explained his motivation to begin drawing a few years ago. Inspirational. Towards the end Danny drew his teacup, and invited us to try sketching our own. This is my problem. I don't like tea. I love coffee - but - over the last 10 days or so I've really been struggling with my sleep. For the last two days I've tried to stick to the rule 'no caffeine after 12 noon'. It seems to be working to some extent. Hence my substitution of diet 7 Up for my usual coffee or Pepsi Max. 

Oh Pepsi Max

I think it's time

To forsake you

For lemon lime. 

One Sketch #21) Baby Alfie's bear mat

Right, this is a little bit of a change of pace after all the excitement of the Kaunas sketchpedition. I have 3 grandchildren, and the youngest one, 7 week old Alfie, is spending the night with my wife and me for the first time. I sketched this when we set it up just before he arrived. It's a large, soft, furry mat in the shape of a fat, flat teddy bear, with dangly bunnies and things suspended overhead. He loves it. I'll be honest, I can see the appeal, and wouldn't mind if I was small enough to fit in it myself.

Young man
You'll not stay this way
I know
You'll grow
And learn
And all too soon
Become what you will be.
We'll see
How you will change
But all the same
Stay perfect, as you be.
For perfect's what you are
To me.

One Sketch #15 My rucksack

It was a busy day for me yesterday. I' flying to Lithuania a little later today, and there were a lot of bits and pieces I was having to take care of. My rucksack is what I tend to take if I'm going for less than 5 days, so I've been sorting it out, taking out all but my sketching essentials to make way for less important stuff like clothes.

The trainer is added because it's the most comfortable pair I have, and one of the features of my city break sketching trips is walking. Don't get me wrong, I love public transport, but there's nothing quite like wandering around and just following your nose. This is my first trip of 2018, and I have to say it's a bit more off the beaten track than my visits to Prague, Alicante, Berlin and Budapest were in 2017.

An empty rucksack
A promise of new horizons
New places
Strange words
Hard beds in cheap hotels
A reminder of who I once was
And might have been

Blimey, that sounds a bit melancholy, doesn't it. I dash these lines down off the top of my head, so doubtless it's all deeply psychological. Despite that, I really enjoy these trips, and I'm looking forward to posting some interesting sketches - although the posting might have to wait until Saturday unless the hotel's wifi works well.

One sketch #7 Telephone Table and Easter Egg

Yes, no line and wash sketch today. It's Easter Sunday, and a family day. Pushed for time I sketched my telephone table. Here it is: -

The Easter egg on it was a present to the one of my daughters who still lives at home with us. Kit Kat - mmm. Sadly, all I can do is look when it comes to chocolate now. This verse should explain that: -

An Easter egg
Filled up with sweeties -
Shame about my
Diabetes.

Well, there we are, dearly beloved. One week done - 51 weeks to go.

One Sketch #4: The World's Worst Phone

So today I had my last day in work until after the Easter Holidays. Yay! Nobody was hoe when I got back, so I settled down , made a cappuccino, and picked up a book. Then the phone rang. Now, that's a problem.

You see, our phone is awful. Oh, don't get me wrong, it looks great : -

It's a modern phone styled after an old American payphone from, I guess the 40s/50s. And when we first had it, it was fine. Over the years, though, it has become terrible. It is impossible to get through a call without having to apologise to the caller for having to continually ask them to repeat themselves because what they have said has been completely obscured by a crackle, a squeal, or any one of a bewildering variety of noises.

What made it worse today was that when I could finally make out what the caller was saying, he turned out to be a cold caller. A few years ago I took to telling them that I was the cat whenever a cold caller chanced his/her arm.
For example: -
Caller: Hello. I vant do speeek do Missis . . . .
Me: Missis . . . . not here. Did Mrs. . . . 's cat. My neem is Hero. I like feesh. Do you have feesh? I like meelk. Do you have meelk? : -
- and then every time they spoke I would mention another thing I liked and ask them for it. If you got as far as chicken, they were never going to hang up. Funnily enough, after the first time I did it we didn't have another nuisance call for weeks.

Well, anyway, here's today's verse
Compared to its crackles
Squeaks and squealing
Silence is rather
More appealing.