Tweet Tweet!

Here is a crazy idea I have for a cartoon bird. Not sure what I am going to do with it but it should be fun!

I shall be drawing at a wedding tonight, at a golf club in west London. Looking forward to it and it's only about a one hour drive away.

New link!

Check out my new link on the right there, a very good friend of mine in the USA and a very cool artist! Angie Jordan, who is a really nice person, is now blogging away, so be sure to check her blog out!

Just a few days before we fly off to Portugal, can you tell I am excited and looking forward to the trip!

Plums

Here is a wedding invitation caricature illustration, the clients have booked me to draw at their reception evening next year and I said I would be happy to do this little illustration for their wedding invites. Had a great time on the radio yesterday, as a special guest, managed to draw a few people and the presenters, who enjoyed what I did! Will have a sample of th einterview for you to hear once I get back from the vacation. Now making a start on getting ready to fly off this Sunday! Yahoo!

Lights, camera..ACTION!

Yesterday, drawing a Bar Mitzvah, I had a lady come up to me and ask to be drawn, she really wanted a caricature and its always nice to have an enthusiastic victim! Actually, my drawing mood, (yes I believe artists can work in a drawing mood), was complimentry and my caricatures were more portrait and cute I guess, but thats how I was drawing and people seemed to really like it.

So I draw this lady, she loves it and then tells me her husband must be drawn, "he's over there", she said and tells me he is an actor. Turns out he was in the early series of the ITV drama 'The Bill', his name is Ashley Gunstock. Well, I drew his caricature, he has a long face and he said he really liked it. Later on that evening he came over to tell me his wife and he are going to frame the caricatures and hang them in their home. Great! He also tells me he acted alongside the American actor Bill Murry! We chatted some more and Ashley told me he is currently on a project to put a play on. He also teaches drama in London.

It was a pleasent surprise and I enjoying meeting people like this.

Rubber golf clubs

So far I am surviving the weekend, although feeling tired from yesterdays 500 mile round trip. The traffic was OK, it was just the miles covered. Plan is to get something to eat, prepare my stuff and then drive into North London for the Barmitzvah this afternoon. I hope it goes well and I am looking forward to geting home and putting my feet up! But it does'nt stop there, tomorrow Wendy and I have to finish my tax accounts for last year and submit them to my accountant, not hrad, just boring stuff that an artist finds dull! Then I have a commission sketch to draw and send off.

Tuesday I shall be a guest on our local BBC radion station. This should be fun as I enjoy radio and love every opportunity to be on air! The presenter will be asking questions about my life and art and I shall be drawing whilst in the studio too! The great thing now about radio is that either the station will have a webcam for people to see what is actually happening on air or they will post pictures onto the stations website for everyone to see. So with a bit of luck, my caricatures that I will be drawing there, should make it out onto the world wide web!

Let me encourage you to click through my FRIENDS list on the side and take 20 minutes to visit the sites that are linked there! You will have lots of fun seeing what my mates get up too!

Wednesday and Thursday are free days this week! I am planning on spending them checking out our flight details for Sunday and then start the packing for the holiday. We hope that by Sunday August 20th, the back log of delays and cancellations of flights will have been sorted and that the only problem we will face at the airport is a longer check in time due to the more stringent security checks. We are so looking forward to this holiday, its much needed for the rest and relaxation, it would be a real shame if the current terror threats screw it up!

Remember to surf through my friends links on the side and hope to see you real soon!

One week to go

It's just one week to go this weekend till we fly out to Portugal for our holiday. Lets hope the airport disruptions will have sorted themselves out by then! Here's a little fun cartoon I did last night, showing an alien surfing, I wonder how my brain works sometimes!

Have a busy weekend, a local wedding this evening, a wedding near Liverpool on Saturday and a Barmitzvah in North London on Sunday!

Then its sorting out the last few ends and get our luggage down from the loft to start packing for the holiday, yahoo!

I ahve added a new FRIEND to the links list on th eright there, Tim Gardner, check out Tim's blog, he is a great artist who works in Disney drawing caricatures and I hope to be with him drawing when I get out there in about 6 weeks time! Rock on Tim!

What a day!

Terror attack thwarted here in the UK and thank goodness! Have to feel sorry for everyone who was hoping to fly today, most flights are cancelled or delayed.

I tried to buy a laptop this morning from Tesco's, as they are cheap and would make the ideal Christmas present for my daughter, but they were sold out! They have my details and said they would put one by for me when the next come in stock. Watch this space?

Achoo! I have a cold! Last week whilst drawing in a shopping centre in the Cambridge City centre, I met and drew lots of tourists, many from China and I think I may have picke dup a cold bug from them? Anyhow, my nose is running and I feel a little tired. Wendy is looking after me!

Managed to get this celebrity caricature done this afternoon. Evan Davis, the BBC presenter of the show called The Dragons Den and also Economics reporter for the BBC News team.

Cassel in France

Wendy my wife and I, had a day trip to France on Friday August 4th. We caught the Eurotunnel train to France, you simply drive on with your car and then drive off at the other end!

This was a day for just the two of us. Our son is away working and our daughter was away on an activity holiday with her best friend, so just Wendy and I and a whole day together!

We arrived in France at 1pm local time and then drove from Calais to Cassel. Cassel is in the Flemish region of this Northern part of France and there is a lot of history associated with this region.

The drive was pleasent even if th eweather was a little unsure of itself. It was warm but overcast and we had the odd light rain shower but that did not put us off.

I enjoy driving in France, its easy and less stressful than here in England and the scenery is a pleasure to look at. We made our approach to the town of Cassel, which is on top of a large hill. This is a little odd as the region and surrounding area is very flat, except for this big hill and the pretty town of Cassel.

The road leading up to Cassel was completely cobblestoned and made for a very bumpy ride, Wendy and could not stop laughing as we drove along the cobbles!

Arrived in the town square and managed to find a parking space very easily. Out we jumped of the car and started to explore the town square, the first priority was to find somewhere to have lunch. After a walk around the town square we settled on La Taverne Flamande.

Now Wendy and I hardly speak any French, but we try, well I try to speak and Wendy is good at listening and understanding, so we have a system that gets us through. Lunch was a delight and the table wine tasted superb! I also tried a bottle of local beer, very nice!

After lunch we made our way up top the top of the hill or Mount as it is rightly called. The views from here were spectacular, you could really see for miles and miles!

We left Cassel to make our way back to Calais and to Cite Europ, the shopping mall, to buy some supplies.

It was a wonderful day and we both enjoyed ourselves. Below are some of the pictures of the day trip!

Cassel Photos

Cassel Photos

Wedding

Here are a few pictures from a wedding I was drawing at last Thursday, it went well and everyone had a great time!

Updates?

Busy time at the moment with a few things to finish off before we go on holiday on August 20th, hope to post info on a day trip to France that Wendy and I had. Pleased to say that my daughter is now back from a weeks activity holiday she and her friend went on, they had a great time with water sports, cycling and a trip to Alton Towers Theme park!

My son David is enjoying owning his own car and loves the freedom it brings! It's amazing how life changes as it still only seems like yesterday that my Dad bought me my first car! David's Grandad is very proud and tells him not to listen to me for driving advice, probably wise words!

Thought I would post some pictures of just a few of the many thank you cards and letters I receive from my customers. Getting these is just wonderful! I think I should have my webmaster Paul get them up on my website.

Take care and look out for more posts later this week.

Not now?

This week my wife and I are trying to spend some time together, our kids are away, one is working and the other on an adventure holiday with her best friend. So it's just the two of us.

As you can see, we had a day out on Monday and it was really nice with good weather.

Yesterday I was planning on starting my next commission, penciling and then inking before lunch so we could both go to the movies. I had a shock when I switched my computer on and connected to the internet, I could not log into my email! Then I discovered that my website was hacked into and the front page was corrupted! It was scary stuff I can tell you. The pictures for the commission that I wanted to work from were on an email attachment and since I could not get into my email, I could not view the pictures. So my morning of drawing was zilch! Instead I used another account I have for my broadband email and sent a message to my webmaster, informing him of the problem. I was not feeling very happy.

Wendy and I had some lunch and decided to go to the movies to try to forget the problem.

Wendy has an Orange network mobile phone and on a Wednesday, gets two movie tickets for the price of one! Result! We got our tickets to see The Pirates of the Carribean- Dead Man's Chest- and then had time for drink before the movie started.

I enjoyed the movie but found that the direction lacked something, Captain Jack's character was not so swashbuckling as he was in the first movie? The ending clearly leaves another movie to come from them and thats fine with me.

Back home and checked my website and email. It appeared to be fixed! I saw emails from my webmaster and it appeared that a hacker got into the server that my website sits on. My webmaster has other sites he looks after and one of those was also hacked into. Anyhow, he reloaded the sites and changed the passwords so we are getting back to normal. Still one ot two things he is working on but thankfully, he saved my site and email, a BIG Thank You goes to him! You can see his own website at www.gcomfx.com

The commission will be delayed but should not be a problem.

Wendy and I have a day trip booked and planned to France. We leave Friday morning and will arrive in France around noon. We are hoping to drive down to Lille and then on the way back, stop off at Cite Europe to get some shopping.

What a week it's turning out to be!

Day Out!

After another extremly busy weekend, Wendy and I had a day planned for Monday, the last day of July. This was a day off for me, although the telephone rang a few times!

I took Wendy to the Chilterns, a place of outstanding beauty and to a venue I draw at. I wanted to show her the place as it is set in the middle of nowhere and is very pretty. We even got to see some of the deer that roam around the area! I also took Wendy to the place where they film the television show 'The Vicar of Dibley' and we went inside the church they use to film for the show!

Then we went on to Henley on Thames, and had a loverly walk along the River and refreshing drink (See pictures!)

We had a late lunch in the Cafe Rouge in the high street, we can HIGHLY recommend this restuarant, french cuisine at is best!

Not long before our family vacation and my trip to Orlando, I can't wait to be on our way!

This evening we are taking some close friends out for dinner at Bluewater, there is a loverly Spanish restaurant we want to try!