TALES FROM THE SKETCHBOOK

this is a page from my sketchbook from around 1978..

we are looking at the top image..


WATCH WITH MOTHER


this was the first time I had imagined this image..

later say 1980 ish..

I would produce an airbrush version using water-colour inks..

If I find a pic of it I will show it to you some time..

today I have this page from my sketchbook..


and this..





'watch with mother' was painted in oil on canvas 8ft wide 5 feet high in 1983/4 when..
I was artist in residence..

at nottingham general hospital..

before the hospital was closed and moved to QMC.

my studio was a circular victorian ward which allowed me to paint large oil canvases.

I was there from 1983 to 1986 and completed 27 or so large oils in that time..

this one started off as a small sketch in my note book..

with a mickey type mouse looking through the window into the room..

where rupert the bear was nailed to his airplane..

the 'toby twirl annual' characters were not in the original sketch..

but were essential to the large oil painting.


I thought I would share this today..

as I was reminded of the painting..

by what was happening over George Floyd..

watching that terrible murder..

on video..

and also I am reminded of watching the 9/11..

atrocity with my mother on that awful tuesday..


RAG TAG AND BOBTAIL

when I was pre-school..

my mother and I would watch these shows..

monday : picture book

tuesday : andy pandy..

wednesday : bill and ben the flowerpot men..

thurday : rag tag and bobtail..

friday : the woodentops..


these days we all watch in dread..

stuff you could not make up..