Winter 2020

 What to do if you still like producing a seasonal card even if you’re not Christian? Why, fill it full of different things.

I feel very linked to the moon, so it hangs proudly. The dark winter sky and the snow signifies the end of the year. The blazing lights in the factory remind of the warmth and growth to come. I love Northampton as a place that shelters me well, so honour that love with one of it’s former buildings.

And the two blokes manhandling the tree in the office is the echo of the Yule celebrations of the past.

Summertime Walking

 So almost a year into the virus, it’s strange to think I’ve not been more than a half an hour walk from my front door. The Racecourse in town has been the place I generally walk around the most, and the gradual shift through the seasons has been lovingly noticed.

The corner of Kiln Brick Lane is the point in the walk where I turn for home, and has always been one of my favourite places. In the picture I’ve not drawn the trees and bushes in the real life expanse from the summer as there would be no buildings! And of course I’ve removed from the picture the modern street furniture in my usual quest to make modern Northampton look like older Northampton.

Doing A Favour

 Could you draw me a church a friend said. Give me a picture I said. Did a postcard sketch and sent it off with the comment “ignore the obvious mistakes, I’ll sort them.” She wanted a full sized picture. I sent it off. I asked her to send me a photo of it framed. She paid for it with some nice brownies

Practicing On Post Cards 3

 Another set of postcards. Two of Northampton shoe factories (one demolished, one surviving) and a rare picture from home.

Practicing on Post Cards 2

Three more mostly to do with rail stations. All post cards now sent off, no idea how my friends will respond to such delivered etchings 

Practicing on Post Cards

At a loss to produce interesting lockdown emails, I thought I could send home drawn post cards instead.  Each takes about an hour and gives me loads of drawing practice.

Around The Corner

The curved beginning of the Kettering Road as it leads of Abington Square is one of my favourite views. Allegedly a very ancient row of terraced houses with a (presumably Victorian factory inserted at one point), it would have been matched by similar buildings on the opposite side of the road. They disappeared during redevelopment, and I’ve seen pictures of these buildings in a very sorry state. Fortunately they’ve been refurbished in the past, and while the current occupants aren’t particularly high brow, they keep the buildings alive.

Not really a drawing

Have an idea for a painting. Not sure, so I took a photo and gave it a detailed going over. The drawing came out far nicer than it should. Still in two minds about how the painting might go..it is meant to be a tad experimental.

It’s the tower of Le Havre cathedral. The outside is a grey concrete building (a modern rebuild after severe wartime damage), but inside the light is beautiful. The painting is meant to replicate the inside outside.

Rat Island

Another favourite photo, albeit small and low res. Consequently quite a bit of winging it in terms of windows in the shoe factory.

The corner of Wellington Street and Mount Street. Northampton House in the background is dark and monolithic.* Everything else now gone and for over 40 years has been marked by a rough patch of waste ground, the name of which forms the picture title.

The fence at the front was also an important component of the photograph. Forming a barrier to the past, representing the impossibility of going back to see it in reality.

*the original photograph had a degree of scaffolding that I thought wasn’t domineering enough.

A View From The Church Tower

If I was a proper artist this would be known as my chemo period. A favourite photo that needed a bit of planning, and quite a lot of detailed work. Hence it was done ten minutes a time over the three months of my initial chemotherapy.

Had to let my self relax a bit, as the perspective is all over the place and bears resemblance to nothing realistic. However I was using a photo of quite fuzzy detail, especially on the edges. Bit disappointed when I realised that although this is the district in which I live, my own street is hard to spot.

Whatever you think of Northampton’s post war development, you can’t help but compare the current empty wasteland opposite the fire station with the previous busy community