Happy New Year

Its that time again!

I'm not doing resolutions, I'll never stick to them.

Just do a lot less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff...

Whatever that is?!

weather chaos every year still surprises!

Christmas...who needs it?

Cold weather...who needs it?

X factor number 1...who needs it?

Ho, ho, ho! :P

A day for firm decisions! Or is it?..

...i think the weather is slowing my drawing hand down! I don't seem to be drawing with the intensity of earlier months. It might also have something to do with the better quality paper i'm using. It doesn't roll up very well and i hate carrying packages of stuff, if it fits in my back pocket, then that's where i like to put it, but i have had enough of scraggy bits of folded paper too! I'll have to manufacture that extremely skinny sketchbook and pencil hold-all. Anyone got a sewing machine?

a slight detour...

...i'm still doing portraits, but now i'm trying to make them a bit more sinister. Its not good to lose concentration while doing these. If i go off the boil the pics are ruined, usually, some are retrievable, but its more messy and time consuming. So remember to keep focused, stay awake, drink coffee, do something, anyway!

all this noise is making me deaf...

...its not the noise that's making me deaf, its just my dodgy ear, playing up. I can only cope if i have my headphones on, anything else is just bad, and its not getting any better soon. Another 4 weeks of this insanity then i may feel a little bit better. I have to concentrate on other things to blot out the discomfort. Think, think, think...its no use.

i'm glad all that world cup bilge is over...

i couldn't wait for the final to end, i didn't watch extra time or the ceremonies. I had enough by that point, my results predictions went out the window too! Doing 'serious' drawings now, whatever that means (portraits), i don't know how long this will last, i'll give it a good go! I am aiming to do a portrait a day...i won't struggle for ideas i'm sure, just struggle to decide who i'm going to target! No flattery i'm afraid. I've got to cut out the cheap paper too. Have to invest in some decent stuff after i've used my stocks here. I've got to test myself now, see if i can churn them out, i've done 4 or 5 this week so far, so that feels good. Enjoying this rain and of course 'The Tour'.

J. Loew speaks again...

For the rest of this world cup, i am officially a supporter of Argentina. They seem to fall around a lot less than everybody else, so they get my backing. I'm just hoping that no more 'dodgy' goals are given, or not given if you know what i mean! England were terrible throughout the tournament, and i'm not buying this tiredness lark, why doesn't somebody have the courage to stand in front of the camera and tell the truth. Spineless in spirit and formation.

Frank Sidebottom is the greatest artist...

...you know he is, he really is!

i've never been exceptional...

...please recycle! Happy Birthday Claud!

i can't bear anymore of this election bilge...

...i know how i'm voting, but it doesn't over please me. I don't trust any politicians anymore, even the older ones who seemed to have a sense of decency are looking a bit suspect to me now!
Its all gone TV crazy, even when they get involved in these podium debates, they still don't tell us what they are going to do. I don't think this country is 'broken' either, if it is, then it was broken in the 80's and nobody has mended it since, regardless of how much money they were all making. I'm going back under my stone now, i'll wake up when its all over and done with...hopefully none of them will get in. I tried to listen to radio, but its all over that too, its giving me a headache.

A new year, the news gets no better...

...it has been really shocking to see how many people have passed away already. Mark 'Sparklehorse' died on Sunday, terrible news. Not enough people have heard his music, they may get to hear it now, but its way too late.

These pictures are very often...

...my imaginitave attempt to show faces as i sometimes picture them. They appear to be in two halves! I don't know if you have ever tried to blank out the top half of a face and pictured someone else's top half in its place, but i do it all the time. My face isn't a good example, its not big enough i think(!) There are some faces that are really good for this, not saying who though, even if they are celebs. These are just experiments that i leave alone. Its the same with all the folds in the drawing paper that exist in my pics that i sometimes erase...i like to call these my 'Zips' and of course nothing i ever produce can have a sheen or look new, that would be wayyyyyy too pro-like. so if its a really grubby piece of tatty old paper and not entirely in one piece then its probably my latest offering. I'm really getting into horrible looking stuff being attractive, i haven't worked out if it just applies to my stuff yet, i'll have to check out more galleries for that. I think this is all part of my recyclable life that has got weirder. I even recycle the drawings after i finish em, i'm doing various versions of the same gimp faces, i've probably recycled this wordy nonsense from a previous blog too. Ah well.

i seem to have started the year...

...with a serious lack of patience and a foul mood to back it up! It might be Seasonal Affective Disorder, or the cold weather or the number of people who seem to be rushing everywhere, who's way i seem to be in! Not many people spend time being polite any more, all the rushing tends to make any spark of politeness evaporate. I'm sure i'm guilty of this as well...i am trying to address it, but sometimes the haze takes over. That is why i try not to get into these hazy situations. I'm going to start afresh, again, tomorrow...we'll see how long it lasts, i need some form of reminder to keep me cool i think. Mmmmm, More thinking to be doing. At least the snow has left, that's given me a thought! Lots more pictures finished, but not many/any pretty ones though. :P

its even more dangerous out there now...

beware of people who smile too much, they are not what they seem and are not to be trusted! Don't fall in to the trap, it'll be hard to escape from...I learned the daft way!

no more wet weather please...

i don't do umbrellas, not that it would be much use in this deluge! All the fallen leaves have gone, now its just buckets of rain. I'm sure i can avoid the wetness if i plan it right. No real inspiration with the pictures these days, but i have just thought of something, so i'll try and do that later...its an old idea.
For a laugh, go to google and type a silly statement and see what pics it comes up with, i just tried 'sandwich face' and got a picture of an ugly piglet! Bored of that now! Ho, hum.

its getting colourful inside...

...outside its just gloomy. I like it when its dismal, i'm not just talking about weather either. I've got a bit of a throat pain thing going on at the moment, i may be losing my voice that would be nice for a bit! My drawings seem to be coming out as twins, no reason really, maybe to fill the page a bit more, or to make the figures look less isolated. Look at all this colour too, i'm trying to stick to the gloom of black and white but the pinks and greens are slipping through. How secure is myspace? How sensible are their security measures? How bloody difficult is it to log on if you have a really old email address and useless password? Don't ask, it has been a mini nightmare, and usually bobbins like this doesn't get me worked up, ooh, but it was an annoying weekend! Hope this one is a lot better...i think we know why. Keep smiling...somebody has to!

quite a lot of things have been going on...

...since last time i posted, but there is one constant, headaches, its very annoying and painful! Oh, i've been drawing a lot too. I'll probably add them later, when my head clears, it doesn't seem to be clearing soon, i'm going to sleep it off, hopefully. More later.

its taking much longer to recover from...

...illness, over-indulgence, physical exertions, even just sitting or standing still in the same place for more than five minutes! My joints seem to seize up after any short time of idleness; knees, knuckles, shoulders. I don't think i can blame the weather, i put it down to the effects of insomnia. Yeah, i think its lack of a sound night's sleep, even though i can sleep a little longer each night, more than i used to. God forbid, that i try to play any sport! Running for buses is tough enough, so no, i won't be doing a marathon either...marathon drawing maybe! I think the answer is to get more active, works for the brain i suppose. We'll see :P

getting dizzy making patterns...

...this is not helping my eyesight at all! They are also taking ages to do, but i've got tons more of em waiting to be finished. I might try and make my own wallpaper that would truly drive me insane i think, not just the putting together of the images, but then having to look at it on a wall! I'm now getting a headache, yawn, its bedtime!:)

starting to draw again...

...i managed to scribble these things this week. My head is not in the usual place these days(no jokes please!) so i'm feeling very distracted and less creative. I'll be doing more doodles as per usual, but i'll be trying to make em neater and cleaner, not sure it'll work for me as i tend to treat all pieces of paper grubbily! My printer is up the spout, but its producing some weird effects when i print stuff, think i'm going to go through a lot of ink, so hopefully i'll be able to manage the strange outpourings from the machine...i really do hate to waste paper, not to mention ink! You do know the inky stuff is more expensive than gold, don't you?