My Books

An optimistic set attempting to cover all my note and sketch books, starting with my second sketch book cover which I was banging out ideas whilst at Chiswick polytechnic, in the very late 60's.

 

 

2001, From Egypt at Christmas.

Two introduction inscriptions are better than one.



First thumbnail

Margaret Street, including the writing of a thesis. "Unbelonging"
Then up to The Start of "Inside St Martins"

2002 Harry's Bar

Work for @ show at Margaret Street.
also ideas for "Inside St Martins"
Doodles from Corfu.
Initial ideas for the x-ray factory.

Quite a Catalystic productive year.

2003, The X-Ray Factory.

Page a Day Diary.
Including Notes on the throne room.

2004, Diary.

Electric cover.
Still pretty well ensconced in the X-Ray factory, with the end of that project gradually hoving into sight.
Plans for the "Live / Work" project.

Heartlands Hospital designs, for a childrens art garden, in which kids could wait whilst in for consultations and appointments.

2007, arathi
27-11-07

Starting with a lovely two week excursion to Kerala,
With a lot being done in Kovlam, Including takes on portraits from the Raj

Start of the "Culturaly Correct" website.

Perry Barr mural notes.

Open studio Gt Tindle St (including "Spirits need Homes".

Colour notes from Mithian, Cornwall, staying at John Thorleys.

initial layout for a community mural in Erdington (that never took off!)

2008, The Ladywood Studio.

"The argonauts"
With preface by Demir Belli in Istanbul .

Reflections on the mural painting process as it went along.

2011, Red Italian Diary.
Start of early Blogs
Postcards from the cube
Ladywood studio work, incorporating the royal wedding

The Poster

The card

Notes for a painting of the Royal Wedding

2012, Winter.

Pub Signs
advent Calendar,
Dog kennel

2015 notebook

Yehudi

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2001, From Egypt at Christmas.

2000, The Yellow Book of Lists.

Digital posts lists.

2000, Digital Course.

Margaret Street.

1999 Lago di Garda.

 a collage book from a holiday just prior to starting a M.a. course, at Margaret Street Birmingham. 

1998, "Johnny Eidetic"

1979 winter Canton.

Knights.

 

1978 Connecticut.

Before and after India - a compendium of years.

 

1978 Adamsdown, Cardiff.

"Totaly Personal" - (I'm going down) 



 



Songs with Colin Browne



Design for a stone circle



From Jeff Beck's "Rough & Ready"



 

 



The End of a blue Caravan



1978 Pope Road

 

 

 

 



I'm not old, I'm as young as the sky



Drivin' to Pembrokeshire with Tony Wright & Richard Cooper



 

 

 

 

1977 L.S.A.



Earlier thoughts on Spriggy Tokes

 

 Three Portraits from Sue Macleod


John Hosking

Bob Meecham

Tony Wright



1977, January, Bromley



Application form for London Surrey Arts.
A group put together with Bob Meecham, Tony Wright and John Hosking. We had a few shows together in round about this format in the seventies.



London Surrey arts
Beginnings of Spriggy Tokes

Aberdeen

Ravenscourt Park and Kelsey park, on separate sides of London.



1976 Ethelbert Road, Bromley.



Possibly the first book with the spine painted white, I had a few of them and had to do that in order to find them.

"Inside and Out"



Possibly the first drawing of the Douglas fir up on the moor at Shipping Hill, now sadly blown over.



Sue Macleod up in Ethelbert Park



1975, Shipping Hill.

Plastic folder.

1975, Beckenham.





Sue Macleod



Ravenscourt Park, Shepherds Bush

 

 



Beckenham



 

 

1972, Epsom.

The first Golly Book.

 a huge bedsit is ashtead, Surrey, with a small white globe light shade which looked "just like the moon"
I sat down to write with Tony Wright mainly because I had just bought the beautifully large lined note book. But also because we felt we ought to - sum up our emotions, explain why, explore the seasons etc.

and then, I never stopped.

 1968-69 Chiswick Polytechnic.Using an art book I was given in Latymer.

I didn't achieve much academically at Chiswick (understatement) apart from playing drums doing art A level and running the student's mag from a Gestetner printing press.

   



Late & Early in the Year

a bunch of drawings, I'm struggling to get my head around.

Trying to work out  how they read, how they connect.

all are potential compositions on a fairly large scale.

"The Jaipur Express"

Based on a musical composition from my son Aydin. also containing a lot from my own experience in Rajasthan.

a rickety steam train coming out of the pink city, quite slowly and cutting across the dried out fields.

This is ready to be painted quite large, but before moving on, needs a covering of similar, but different colour variation.

"Supernatural in Trees"

Design for the website covering that specific topic.

Ephemeral beings that may or may not be there.

It could be tarted up and solidified on the laptop and to straight onto the website.

Or maybe not.

"Onomatopoeia"

The background for another music post on a web page.

as a draughtsman, the problem was to fuse the three elements, not specifically into one, but at least to make them read smoothly across the board.

I think I have the colour chart worked out, but the big job is sort out a tonal balance.



drawing converted to giff image, then superimposed on a collage background.

"Pipe Dance" (at Standing Rock)

Mainly derived via google of dancing Sioux Indians, with the odd slogan and as many spears and tomahawks as I could comfortably fit in.

a solitary Joe

The colour chart on the side, is an alphabet of hues that I thought I should be able to apply to the painting.

Near enough as high-lights.

"Dog"

Taken from a watercolour doodle, but now taking the form of a 2.D. papier- mache relief.

It seems to follow on from the scorpion I made from tree branches at the side of the drive at Shipping Hill.

"October Strings"

Put together from half a dozen doodles, plus added sketched information images of various string components in this composition.

With added colour from one autumnal photograph, containing a tree within trees.

"Light the Blue Touch paper"

Following various Facebook discussions With Alan Morris in particularly adlibbed format.

These two doodle sketches specifically attempted to illustrate the verbiage, which I cant at present find.

"King Phil & Queen Will"

 a lost poster/painting for two old friends which actually got parceled up, then lost.

Taken and inspired by/from some medieval ironwork.

Originally "hacked" in an etching type way, now digitally "smudged"  

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In eternity, it is always ten to two. The perfect time for all watch adverts.

reseting my return

From around Christmas at the Hill

Stand for the new stove, I had to inch it up stone by stone

the first deity from on top of a Chinese pagoda

deity two (of course in an unfinished state)

rebuilding the end of the bath

Smart Post

Well, back at the Hill, in fact back in the Boars Head. Which seems to have settled as an eatery , has local people and tonight local management.
Nice to have a wi-fi connection - the idea of coming here one early evening a week is relatively appealing.
And, I seem to be back on the blog connection.

Goblins Hot Ding Time

Certainly fitting into the " possible worst worst job in my life" category.

 

On leaving art college in 1974, I felt that I ought to get a taste of real life, after spending the summer as a postman, then a fair period hitching around the south of France with Barbara Young. I decided to take on the real world.

 

Bob Meecham and I worked in a vacuum cleaner factory, working in the aluminium foundry. Smelting. I was alright for the first three hours each day. I could think about things - take my mind off the immenent dangers, unfortunately abject empty boredom took over.

 

There was a tannoy system that went off bong bong bong in a crescending scale of notes. Bob and I decided to take it in 15 minute shifts to note down each and every message, it kept us in touch with another world. Our foreman who should have been called Tommy, came over to me one day and quietly said "I don't know what you are up to but for Christs sake don't get caught".

 

I bumped into Richard Butler in the canteen a couple of days after he had been there. Another finished at art college enforced labourer. " When I came in for the interview, they asked me what I wanted to do. < something menial > I replied. (might as well make it easy for myself) Little did I know what I was setting myself up for".

 

 

Phil Gray worked there as well, in a much more advanced capacity - actually sticking the machines together. Him and his mates used to call the "hoovers" - well, you have to annoy the management, don't you?

Songs for Aydin

Songs for Aydin.

These paintings were produced as kind of illustration to music that my son was making, often as a cover for each piece.

Strings Section

All the strings

Electric

Four acoustic guitars

four wild acoustic guitars

string quartet

another string quartet

An Italian section

Town centre

Bahia

Castle

Pillars

All the above images were mainly painted in ink onto photographic paper.
As soon as a mark was made, that's where it stayed, touches of slight improvement weren't part of the deal!

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