roots and clouds

roots and clouds, originally uploaded by aesop.

[gasping out moonlight/ at grass thrust/ down flat]

night

night, originally uploaded by aesop.

['the night breathes between torn clouds']

after poussin

after poussin, originally uploaded by aesop.

awfully muddled though. I'll have another go sometime when I'm not ill!

squall

squall, originally uploaded by aesop.

['no sound of swifts now']

listen

listen, originally uploaded by aesop.

['while the wind-miller listens/to sweeps bidden into motion/by the shortening days.']

Another one that I think will benefit from some digital jiggery pokery.

One thing that's a benefit of deciding to do this thing with digital print is that I can now think about greys (and even colours!) again. I might also incorporate

cullin-stones

cullin-stones, originally uploaded by aesop.

turndust

Untitled-23, originally uploaded by aesop.

dust down

dust down, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text: 'but you must keep the dust down.']

I'm fairly happy with this as is. I might do a bit of retouching though.

burn eight hours

burn eight hours, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text reads: 'go all night.They'll burn eight hours.']
At the time I thought this was a pretty good way to work with the patience and watchful trust in the machinery that I wanted to be part of the book. But I think now that it needs some reworking. Not least because the figure looks distinctly like he's going to drool on his chest. However, I think I'll keep the lighting/sihouette arrangement, and the winfdow becomes a kind of spatial anchor later in the series when the internal space of the windmill goes bonkers. I'll definitely be reworking this.

Newton St Loe Rebus sketchbook

Newton St Loe Rebus sketchbook, originally uploaded by aesop.

Some ideas for a new book in my 'Whistling Copse' series.

Apparently there's also a significant Roman floor mosaic at Newton St Loe, too.

adjusting the damsel

adjusting the damsel, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text reads: 'Go all night. They'll burn eight hours,']

I'm still not happy with this version, but it does have some of the darkness and enclosed feeling I want.

lantern

lantern, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text:' Hurricane lanterns, tallow candles was all we used.']

Grain

Untitled-19, originally uploaded by aesop.

[text: 'and the creeping advance of the grain']
Again, I think this'll benefit from some colour. The original certainly had that going for it. I'm also looking forward to working with this digitally.

swift

swift, originally uploaded by aesop.

Wishing it was Spring again.
[text: 'the unfolding of wings']
from my ongoing Turndust project.

Patrick Moore

Patrick Moore, originally uploaded by aesop.

soon he will scoop us up in his mighty wings and bear us off to his mountain eyrie, there to gaze in wonder at the sublime beauties of the firmament.

original

08, originally uploaded by aesop.

This is the original version of the 'resting under trees' picture from the sketchbook. I don't think that the new version has the same freshness, but I'm hoping to muck it about a bit with the digital process and the hand colouring.

[Unlikely in this silence/ excepting swifts' glassy screams/ overhead,]

This is a version of a page from Turndust, an artist's book project I am currently working on. This is an early stage 'storyboard' version. I've posted it because I am interested in seing if I can use the community to add something to the design process. What do you think of it? What could be improved? What's good? What does it make you think about?

I'm planning to develop the book for screenprint in one or two colours with hand colouring in watercolour, so each book will be a little different, although still part of an edition.

Since this book is intended as a narrative, it's best read from beginning to end. I recommend looking at the Flickr set.

Thanks for any comments.

from Turndust

from Turndust, originally uploaded by aesop.

From Turndust, the book I'm currently working on about windmills. Here I've got a bunch of guys having a break under a tree, seemingly having spent the day at work in the field. My aim is to work with this image digitally before setting it up for screenprint. After that I'm going to hand-colour all the individual images.

a party of tourists

a party of tourists, originally uploaded by aesop.

from the newspaper. I was just drawing random stuff while watching telly last night.

Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere lunam

, originally uploaded by aesop.

moon drawing

moon drawing, originally uploaded by aesop.

the completed advent calendar

the completed advent calendar, originally uploaded by aesop.

Here's a free advent calendar you can print and modify with your own photos instead of the disreputable cartoons I've supplied.

As well as that, why not add notes? Here, I'll start...

Here are the instructions. If they're not clear, I suggest farting around with it until it works:

1. You'll see one of the pictures (see the set with the rest of the pictures) is marked 'right'. This is the right-hand-side f the calendar. You'll need to cut the left edge of the sheet where the rooftop and the wall are. The 'fuzzy' bit near the bottom you can just cut out approximately.

2. Do the same sort of thing for the 'left' sheet, this time cutting along the right hand edge.

3. Overlap the right hand side and left hand side so that the RHS building seems to stand in front, like in the completed picture. Glue it down.

4. Now open up the windows and doors by cutting round three sides of the boxes printed. You can concoct other ways if you like.

5. Trim away the bottom right hand corner of the sheet called 'inside right' so that when 'inside left' sits underneath , the overlap doesn't cover up the nativity scene.

6. Stick 'inside left' to the back of 'left', lining up edges and windows with figures.

7. Do the same to 'Inside right'

8. Cut out the shed/manger.

9. stick it down

10. Hallelujah.
This is a bit late now. The original set of images which should print out to form the calendar are part of the Flickr set this image belongs to. Just follow the image...

chrysanthemum coffeebreak

chrysanthemum coffeebreak, originally uploaded by aesop.

Drawing Chrysanths at L's in my new pocket Moleskine. Scan shows up really yellow when really it's just ivory-coloured.
I did this at work. It's weird drawing my colleagues. I keep hoping they won't notice.

Untitled-16, originally uploaded by aesop.

Untitled-15, originally uploaded by aesop.

Untitled-13, originally uploaded by aesop.

From Turndust.

this	is
a	test

Courageous 2, originally uploaded by aesop.

At 'Caffe Gusto' (sic) this lunchtime I got a free Croissant with my coffee and drew this boat.

Thinking about submitting a new book for the Embassy Gallery show 'Textual Healing'. More about that soon.

slush machine at the library, originally uploaded by aesop.

coffeebreak today. I'm sure the woman at the café must've thought I was staring at her.

P.S. It's the Sand-Reckoner.

what to do while progress bars do their thing, originally uploaded by aesop.

foooooooooot, originally uploaded by aesop.

Drawn while contemplating whales and deep sea creatures on the telly. As the notes say, my foot went to sleep as I drew. This made getting up for a cuppa after Attenborough had finished imparting knowlutainment a bit hazardous.

Untitled-11, originally uploaded by aesop.

I decided against this one in the end. See tomorrow's entry for the version I'll be working from.

Dawkins in Virginia, originally uploaded by aesop.

I was watching this on YouTube after Saxon posted it on Metafilter. He's pretty inspiring, but you had to feel sorry for all the Liberty University people who asked questions. It's not their ballpark, I think, so it was easy for D to show their arguments as irrational.

IMO they're not wrong, per se, just arguing on premises they have no business to be in.

biketool, originally uploaded by aesop.

Untitled-10, originally uploaded by aesop.

Turndust

Back at work again today. Library stuff and doing some work rendering QT movies from my Flash originals, in order to edit together the trailer for the libary Electric December project.

Quite pleased to be at work, weirdly, today. Among the living, so to speak.

Untitled-8, originally uploaded by aesop.

Turndust 6c
not necessarily better than its predecessors. Hopefully I can pull something from these digitally. There'll be a chance for me to braid in different visual material at the digital manipulation stage too, so this might work out as a useful backdrop.

Untitled-09, originally uploaded by aesop.

Turndust 6b

an alternate version.

ship's sails, by aesop

I'm at home with a cold today. Imagine my joy at finding an unexpected read come through the laetterbox in the form of the Patrick O'Brian book The Far Side of the World. In celebration of this I've drawn the ship that usually graces the frontispiece to inform us less nautique readers what the hell Patrick means by a 'ship'.

Invention, originally uploaded by aesop.

I just want to make it totally clear that I didn't mean to draw a picture of Peter Gabriel demonstrating his fabulous new combined coathanger and cigarette lighter. It just came out that way.

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atwork, originally uploaded by aesop.

In the absence of any patrons to bemuse with my library ways on this cold and wet November night (although my ride home was a marvel of smoothly hissing tyres, reflections of lights and creaking from my leathern carapace as I pedalled sedately home along the river path) I took to drawing as I answered sporadic enquiries on that crossword-puzzle-helpline that is the Reference Library telephone.

swift drawing detail, originally uploaded by aesop.

Another swift skeleton drawing. I'm unhappy with the repetitiveness of the 'swift' pictures in Turndust and I feel that some studies of their skeleton might open up some detail and make the pictures more interesting.

swift drawing, originally uploaded by aesop.

a quick drawing of a swift destined for Turndust as a variation on the several live swifts that are kind of in there as ciphers. This way I can put in some more detail.

Untitled-08, originally uploaded by aesop.

The Be Good Tanyas were good, but the venue made it a little difficult to really get into their music. They've never struck me as really a public-event sort of band. (Which is to say their music seems to me more introspective and intimate). However, I enjoyed the playing, which was as good as anyone and makes me feel like learning to play the banjo, which probably just goes to expose my ancient Southern roots. I think I'd be pretty happy sittin and pickin on the porch, occaisionally marking the time with tobacco-flavoured ejecta.

Wagamama's was great. I had a so-called raw juice (carrot, cucumber, tomato, orange and apple) and edamame (steamed green soya beans), and yasai cha han (fried rice with egg, snow peas, mushrooms, sweetcorn, fried tofu and spring onions. accompanied by a bowl of vegetarian miso soup and pickles), with a cold cold Kirin beer. I love Wagamama's. I always feel that the food has done me good (that's probably the juice talking). I think I also respond to the aesthetic of the place, which is efficient without being too mind-bogglingly wipe-clean (like a McDonald's), and the focus seems to be on the food rather than about how Asian it is (despite being prepared by lanky English guys from Fishponds).

Untitled-07, originally uploaded by aesop.

Turndust 5b

Untitled-06, originally uploaded by aesop.

Turndust 5a

Bought a small Japonica today.