Borough Market Illustrations - 2

I've been working on these for a while, now. I posted the first incarnation - 'Borough Veg 1' a while ago, but have kept the others hidden until completion. I think my favourites are 'Fish' and 'Veg 2' partly because of that creamy, almost edible green in the background. I like the fact that all five form a little set, and also because they really do remind of the market. I can smell the fresh vegetables, the grilling sausages, the sweet cakes, the strong cheeses. Ok, I'm hungry now. I need a train to SE1 soon!

Drawing for Life - 6

I've been back above the Sparrowhawk pub again, in Crystal Palace, doing another evening of life drawing at Betty Frankenstien's Drawing Room. This week, I used watercolour paper (300gsm, so pretty thick) and some water soluble pencils. I've not used the pencils with water before, so my first forays have been a bit tentative. However, even without adding water with a paint brush, the pencils are gloriously soft and black. I think next time, I might take some larger sheets of good paper and try and be less inhibited. Anyway, here are some more, done on the same evening.

Life Drawing 9th Sept 2013

Life Drawing 9th Sept 2013

Life Drawing 9th Sept 2013

Joint Exhibition at Crystal Palace Station

Photographer James Balston and I installed our mini exhibition of prints, this week, at Brown and Green Café, Crystal Palace Station. All the work is related to the Crystal Palace area. My stuff has been inspired by the dinosaur and sphinx sculptures in Crystal Palace Park and the disused subway as mentioned many a time on this blog. James' photos are of the subway itself, and really capture the lovely (if unloved) Victorian brickwork down there. Lucky ballot winners for the Open House Weekend (21st September) will be able to visit the structure later next month. James and I were really lucky to be granted access when we did.

All the works are for sale. My prints can be bought here: bannisterimages.bigcartel.com, and James can be contacted via his websites here: jamesbalston.squarespace.com or thetrianglese19.blogspot.co.uk.

Brown and Green Café

That's not me buying a coffee but if you look, you can see James in the distance behind the cakes.

Linocut Printmaking in London, SE1

I'd always fancied trying my hand at linocut printmaking, so having dabbled with screenprinting earlier in the year, I thought I'd give it a go. The bold marks you can get seem to fit well with my current style of work (all those tasty black outlines!). I enrolled on a 3-day course across a weekend (so pretty intense having the time all in one go). The course took place at The Art Academy, off Borough High Street, London SE1, and the small group of us was tutored by Nick Morley (inspiring and with a nice dry sense of humour).

Southwark 1 (linocut)

The Search for the Missing Dragon (linocut)

The City of London's Lost Dragon

I'd been wanting to do a piece involving the dragon statues that encircle the boundaries of the old City of London for a while. When I discovered that they were not all the same design or size, an idea of a leader (plus troops) began to form. So on a bright spring day, earlier in the year, I set off to find all thirteen of the dragons to photograph (or at least observe) them in their 'natural habitat'. After a lot of leg work and standing by the side of busy roads, I headed home only to discover that although Wikepedia had listed 13, I'd only established the existence of 12. Oh no! Had I missed one? Another web search revealed that I hadn't: the firebreather has been taken into safe storage whilst the Crossrail project carves it's way under London according to The Daily Constitutional. So, the final piece in getting my ideas together was found - my picture would be a gang of dragons hunting down their missing colleague.

You can read more in this feature about the work on popular London website Londonist.

Print now available to buy in my shop: the-search-for-the-missing-dragon

If you're a fan of ancient reptilian London creatures, the Victorian dinosaur sculptures in Crystal Palace Park are worth a visit. I've even had some cushions made featuring my Crystal Palace Monsters design (also available via my online store).

Crystal Palace Monsters dinosaur cushion