Category: Art

Game of Scones

scones cartoon

Guardian critic Victor Lewis-Smith once slated the “Yorkshire Fat Rascal” as ‘an obese scone’, ‘a Yorkshire indelicacy’ and characterised the “Yorkshire rarebit with chopped fresh chives in Yorkshire Cobble bread” as ‘a self-aggrandising toastie’.* Ouch.

It’ll be all right on the night.

My favourite ‘Yorkshire indelicacy’ at Bettys’ is the Yorkshire Curd Tart. No one does a Yorkshire Curd Tart like Bettys. And it’s not just me who thinks that. Last time we were at RHS Harlow Carr we took our Latino Lattes out to a bench in the gardens and a robin hopped about around my our feet and beneath the bench, hoping we’d drop the odd crumb. Some hope.

But I did select one small, soft raisin and held it out at ground level. After some hesitation the robin darted forward and took it from my hand. It then went and perched in a bush behind us and burst into song.

*Guardian, 29 January 2005.

Clouds in my Coffee

cauliflower

“Who sings this one?”

“I can hardly hear it,” the waitress replies.

“You’re So Vain.”

“Oh … Carly Simon.”

“That’s it! Brilliant.”

“Shows my age.”

“I’m not surprised she knew,” chips in the other waitress, “She’s always singing. Every day is karaoke here.”

The date and apricot flapjack was good too. It had a hint of bonfire night about it, made with dark brown sugar and, I’m guessing, black treacle.

It’s the one with the line ‘I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee’, which is appropriate because I’m on to my second latté at the Thorncliffe Tasting Room, Emley, while Barbara does a round of the adjoining farm shop for a bag of shopping, including this cauliflower.

This was our first visit to the Tasting Room, although we’d often called at the farm shop but we’ll soon go back there. It’s only six miles from home but it’s another 150 metres in altitude. The panorama included Drax Power Station (currently burning wood pellets sourced from old growth forests in Canada according a recent BBC investigation).

Link

Thorncliffe Tasting Room

First Day, Royal College of Art, 1972

greenhouse rough
Rough for my Greenhouse Mural, an elaborate identification chart for tropical birds that my tutor John Norris Wood kept in the college greenhouse. Yes, that is the Royal Albert Hall in the background, the Greenhouse straddled two floors at the top of the College’s Kensington Gore building.

Saturday 30 September 1972

We set off at 8.30 or so and whisked down the M.1. to Linnie & Dave’s

house in Southall
My sister Linda and David’s first home in Southall

Where we had lunch before going and putting my things in my room at Evelyn Gardens.

Student accommodation
My room on the first floor at 14 Evelyn Gardens, London SW7

Then Shopping – Mother bought a bright Red Trouser Suit.

Continue reading First Day, Royal College of Art, 1972

Fresco G Pen

G pen drawing, Fresco

Trying the new Manga brushes, including the vector G pen in Adobe Fresco.

Published
Categorized as Drawing

Pen and Ink

Sketches from Newmillerdam, Harrogate and Queen Street, Horbury, in my pocket-sized A6 landscape Seawhite Travel Journal. Lamy and TWSBI EcoT pens, De Atramentis ink (a mix of brown and black as both were running out).

Hands

Hands drawn on the iPad with Adobe Fresco and Clip Studio Paint plus one in regular pen and ink and watercolour.