Physiognomy:

Have you seen this man? He can out draw you. He will blow out candles. He can eat cake.........

JELLYFISH.

Compulsion to stick sketches on here. Reason to draw. Deadline. But. Death to copycat thieves. Man O War. Drowned in Oporto. She was waiting for it to happen she sat sipping afternoon tea from a bone china tea set. A lone customer sat in a grand cafe on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean she witnessed the fool at the end of the jetty nearly succumb to the serpent's wave. It was hilarious. The fool was sodden. He joined her after. She laughed and said I sat here I watched you I was waiting for it to happen and it did. The fool didn't speak Portuguese. It was dark. There was a chill in the air as the fool made his way back to room 43.    

Al Pacino: DNA GER OF DEATH

Cycle ride. Filmed a telegraph pole. Birdsong went silent as I filmed. Camera shy. The Empire Strikes Back - inspiring book of Indian and Pakistan's contemporary art. I turned it's pages this morning my head a book mark between the sheets. Two slices of toast spread with butter and Homemade Redcurrant and Rhubarb Jam and coffee for breakfast. I have to produce a square drawing for someone I met eleven years ago in Oporto. Can't remember. But they have some signed books of mine, must be true. Like a tennis match played Claudia Schiffer at chess. Checkmate. Claudia was in good form.  

HAUNTED AIR:

Half an hour ago a second courier knocked at the door with a large cardboard box. It's like my birthday. It was too hot for the dog to bark. The box contained four books sent to me by editor Tom Avery as a thank you as a bonus for my contributions to his on line magazine Night & Day. I had no idea what his selection would contain. One book the smallest stood out. Haunted Air. A collection of Anonymous Hallowe'en Photographs. America c.1875 - 1955. Ossian Brown. Three photos from the book published by Jonathan Cape. Trick or Treat?  Treat. Beautiful.

A Case of Satyrykon:

It turned up. The case. A ribbon for identification. Yesterday was a Monday of excess. Not excess baggage. Excess. Champagne chased by Polish vodka. Many chases. A bar b queued banquet a feast to celebrate my daughter landing a two month job at short notice in South Africa as an aid/charity worker. Skyped interview. She made them laugh. She flies out Thursday. So any excuse and you can't beat sitting around a table eating drinking. A soundtrack of eighties music inspired by Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al which reminds me I smoked almost an anagram - a camel or four. Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes. SOULS? I had to dig out the Panasonic ghetto blaster to play the Graceland tape. Fine Young Cannibals. Bronski Beat. I met Popeye in Poland. Living breathing spinach chopping apparition of the cartoon. I forgot we had been introduced the previous evening when I introduced myself to him the following day Popeye said but David I know you. He was right. I fished out his card from my shirt pocket. Wojciech is a Chief Curator not a sailorman in his day job. In Warszawa.

Lufthansa Lost My Suitcase:

More sketches of travellers in airport departure lounges. Not enough drawing of Legnica's cartoon festival Satyrykon. I was going to post some of the work that I saw, but the details are in the missing suitcase, except to repeat that Professor Zygmunt Januszewski's Warsaw Academy students stole the show. Such refreshing provocative and challenging work that will sweep away the old school crosshatching cliche ridden tribe of  beer bellied flushed whiskery male dominated cartoonists of the world. It was beautiful to sit and swop stories with the united nations of 1970's illustrators and cartoonists but the Warsaw uprising will guarantee that this fine established cartoon festival of satirical art will survive and prosper in the years to come.

They found my hat in Tel Aviv....

This is a portrait of a privileged lunatic asylum inmate, who serves traditional lemonade to the spectators at the annual cricket match against the local Rotary Club. The inmates and nurses having declared....he has been a patient for thirty eight years.

The hat was purchased on a day release trip in the early nineties from a hardware store in Southwold. The sweat stain  from his head has designed a map of East Anglia on the inside of the hat and you can just about make out Southwold just above Walberswick, but it is not advisable to rely on it for accurate travel pointers.

Status Quo Pictures of Matchstick Men.

Not everyone's cup of Stewart Lee. Maybe a little incy wincy bitty bit crude but it's funny. I can't tell a joke. I can't remember a joke. Something to illustrate in these dark days. I must not attempt to be a political cartoonist. I must not attempt to be a fine artist. I must not attempt to be a childrens book illustrator.......

Cull The Labradors:

D O G G O :

Music to Watch Girls By - Andy Williams.......sums it up, what a crap title. Declined an overnight job - deadline, about now. Sort of depressing. Substitute a 'sketch' of the faithful pet. Hobby: Watercolours and bird spotting. Can a blind dog play the blues? 

PAUL KLEE:

Creative vandalism: Power screwdriver. We could remove this in less than 30 seconds. It would make a perfect contemporary frame for a medieval triptych painted by yours truly. Back at midnight...........

WHAT KATY DID NEXT......

UNCONSCIOUS:

22INCH X 46INCH Charcoal drawing from life: 

Lack of models not ego driven subject. I must draw more from life. I must draw more from life. I must draw more from life. I did think I should draw a cucumber. 

This morning up about 100 yards in front over the other side of the hedge laying in the road. A beast. It's fur the colour of venison. A large deer. Lying still. On it's side. The road was empty no traffic.It was about 9.45am. As I got closer. The deer lifted it's head and looked right at me. There was no signs of blood. I muttered oh god or similar. I wasn't carrying a mobile phone. And gradually the deer rose to it's feet very calm and with a single bound leapt into the woods bordering the opposite side of the road and was gone.  

TREBLE 20

E X I T :

Change My Name:

Ten inch square actress drawing: Rabbit ears. Bunny Girl.....it ain't a bunny girl the ears just sprouted and I followed.  Hare. 

An email arrived in the inbox yesterday from American Illustration, attached to it was a slide show of the latest selection of the golden shiny chosen few. I was not among them although I never bothered to enter anything  but it is obvious even if I did send anything in, I don't reckon I would have stood a chance. The standard is inspiring. So the artists that caught my eye in American Illustration 30 on a first look through, several new names to me dotted around the familiar faces - Elizabeth Baddeley, Serge Bloch, Maros Chin, Vivienne Flesher, Alessandro Gottardo, Olaf Hajek, Takahisa Hashimoto, Tatsuro Kiuchi, Veronica Lawlor, Ted McGrath, Franziska Neubert, Emiliano Ponzi, Brian Rea, Edel Rodriguez, Guido Scarabottolo, Yuko Shimizu, Aimee Sicuro, Gary Taxali, Blair Thornley, Riccardo Vecchio, Frank Viva.... too many to name. Pull my finger out. Pull my pen out. Put my tongue back in. Don't pull no punches.