'Tis the Season to be Moustachioed

This image has been a long time coming. I read an interesting article in the in-flight magazine whilst on holiday about Seattle Sounders' Roger Levesque. He's sadly retired from football now but will likely be remembered by many fans for sense of humor, namely his 'timbers chop' celebration against arch rivals the Portland Timbers.

This video is not of that particular celebration but of another rather comical one, oh and watch out for some superb goalkeeping. Real fans root for roger.

So, continuing with the facial hair theme, Movember is well and truly upon us and is about to enter its final week. I've been raising money over on movember.com and you can check out my progress here. Any amount you can donate can help to make a huge difference to men's health charities, so if you have a penny or two to spare please take a moment to donate them to my attempt at a moustache.

And with a bit of time and some TLC, I'm hoping to achieve a Dalí.

JAB

Attempting to Save the Creative in Me. (The Memoirs of an Idiot)

So lately I've been a little concerned of how little drawing work I've done. This blog entry is mainly to review the stuff I've done over the past three months since finishing University. In scanning stuff in I've been surprised to see that I've done a fair bit of work. There's no real direction or any particular meaning in anything that's been put down on paper to be honest but hopefully the chronicling of everything will help straighten my head out a little.

Morocco and Beyond.

During our venture to Morocco in July I produced a sort of travel journal-esque sketchbook sort of thing. I suppose it was inspired by reading Craig Thompson's 'Carnet De Voyage', not that I'm comparing my sketchbook to his book in anyway. There's no depth or narrative to what I drew when I was away in Morocco, it was mainly for fun. The first time I'd drawn for fun properly this year. I'll put up a few images from the sketchbook on here but it's a large book full of sketches, receipts and bits of nothing so I'm not going to put everything as I'm sure you'll all understand.

The Morocco Journal.

Ah, Moroccans and Illustrators - 

we understand each others fashion sense.

Coca-Cola. Couldn't find much to draw on this day

 but I quite like this page for some reason.

An attempt at reproducing a intricate pattern on the back of the

 doors where we stayed (there's more to the pattern to this

 but the pages in my sketchbook weren't really big enough.

Things you may see in Meknes.

The above image is my favourite page from the sketchbook. I guess I just enjoyed standing on the roof with a Moroccan beer, in the Moroccan sunshine drawing some Moroccan things.

Just to note that When I was on the train with Sanna to Dunfermline the other week I noticed she had a sketchbook dedicated to pages and pages of drawings in a similar vain to the ones above that she'd done when travelling. It's a nice way to work. On returning from Morocco I intended to draw from photographs taken when we were over there, the problem I encounter when I want to do this is that the drawings never quite encapsulate what I want them to. I've done a few little bits and bobs but I do intend to draw from some photos at least to finish of the last few pages of the Morocco sketchbook. Anyways, here's a couple of things that I did do when I got back.

A Meknes Petit Taxi. (Not taken from one of my photos).

My Moroccan slippers. The leather stinks, 

or maybe it's just my feet. Anyway, I like them.

Just for Fun

Besides the Morocco drawings I have some stuff in my sketchbooks from the past few months that are just for a laugh. They make some sense to me...some sense, not a lot though. The majority of the stuff I've done just for fun consists of things that I want to develop in some way either by developing the drawings or making them more 'finished'. Also I had an idea of producing a zine or an artists' book sort of thing by myself although I don't feel that I have enough to go towards that yet and not enough material that fits together or compliments each other enough. I suppose I really need to pick a subject at random and then I may be able to get underway in producing something a little more substantial.

If anyone read my blog when I first started it, 

there's a chance you may know what I'm going on about here.

Dad has a few Buddhas sitting around the house and I couldn't find anything to draw.

Ever wonder why Buddha has a bag over his shoulder? Now you know.

Airport drawing is incredibly exciting. I was amazed that a young 

girl standing near to us was enthralled with my drawing of a cup...

A couple of chaps with fine moustaches.

The moustache idea is a bit odd i must admit, I can't really explain it. I think that since I did the whole 'Ode to the Inventors' postcards thing at degree show I've had an urge to draw old-timey kind of folk and in my eyes there's not much that's more old-timey than a good old, over-the-top moustache...you just don't see them these days. I've had a few ideas going around my head for a collection of light-hearted drawings of some gents with intriguing moustaches...watch this space.

Chaps at the Airport.

I did put a bit of writing on the above images but for some reason I chose the lightest pen that I could find so to be honest you can't see what I've written, and I can't be bothered copying it all out. I think I made a comment that I figured that God would kind of look like the guy in the right hand picture and that the guy on the left is doing some incredibly important work to do with WH Smith of the lottery or something like that.

What would the band The Mountain Goats look like

 if they were indeed mountain goats?

Just a bit of silliness escaping from inside my head. I was having a rough time trying to draw John Darnielle (lead singer of The Mountain Goats), up to a point where I just got fed up and decided I was going to turn him into a goat. I do quite like how this image turned out despite the fact I was just being daft, I may adapt this into a larger version. We'll see.

A Joe Forty's Yellow Cab.

I'm not really too sure why but I wanted to draw another taxi, but i did, and it was made even more exciting by the fact that this one looked all old fashioned. The drawing doesn't look that much like the picture I took it from but I feel like I want to draw it again, I also feel like I want to draw more taxis.

A drawing of a Photo by Loren Brand.

Since Jen and Loren had both done 'Colour Week', I'd thought it had sounded an ace idea, not that I was going to do the whole photography thing as my skill behind a camera is rather questionable but after seeing their photos I had an urge to draw yellow things. The above two images and the drawing of Morocco Slipper came from this yellow phase.

Good ol' fashioned advertising.

Whilst in Dublin and enjoying Guinness and all things Irish I wanted to pick up some of these old Guinness adverts, there's something about them that's so much more appealing than modern day adverts in my eyes. I'm not sure what it is but there's certainly something more endeering about them. For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, I didn't draw this image. I just like it. However I'm on a little bit of a quest to find out what the font is called so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. Thanks.

I was back in work today, it was a relatively quiet day. However I was meant to be taking charge of the shop again for a few days while Mum and Darren took a day or two off but no one else was available to work the shift with me. I have a day off today so I'm hopefully going to wander into town and pick up some art materials that I need. I may get my bank holiday yet...take that scotland!

Taking Back Sunday - Number Five with a Bullet.

Cheers.

JAB

When I'm Cleanin' Windows (In Wigan)

So last week began pretty similarly to the rest, much work to be done and all that jazz. Except that this time there was a little twist thrown into the equation, Mum was taking a couple of days off so I had to be in charge. In reality it wasn't as ominous as I'd originally imagined but I certainly had my work cut out for me. Evenings in Perth alone are a little less colourful than the daytimes in the shop so I entertained myself by cooking, watching films and enjoying a few glasses of wine. I began by watching THX-1138, George Lucas' first film although the less said about that the better - I would not recommend you waste any time on this pretentious piece of crap (Sorry George, you are a Master - but only because of Star Wars). I then watched Thank you for Smoking, a film that I remember seeing advertised a couple of years ago but never got to see. It was an Okay watch, quite a black comedy but very easy to sit through, I'd recommend it if you've got the time. In my boredom I then trawled through my DVD collection (not that my DVD collection is bad, I just feel that I've watched all of them so recently) and I came across Tongan Ninja, so I then sat up and watched that - what a film! I'd forgotten the genius of the guys from Flight of the Conchords and it was a breath of fresh air to see this film again. I'd recommend you watch this film if you are a fan of Flight of the Conchords and of course if you can afford the extortionate £2.99 that you have to fork out for this gem.

The Tongan Ninja opening credits - a masterpiece.

Also this week I decided that I miss having a musical instrument with me in Scotland and at the moment I have no way of transporting either of my guitars up here so I decided to buy a Ukulele -

Samuel, my Ukulele.

It's a bargain at under £15 and will surely keep me occupied until I can get my hands on one of my guitars again. I've been learning a few bits and pieces on it, however I am aware that it sounds terrible at the moment as my fingers haven't adapted to the insanely tiny fretboard. I was learning some beginner bits and pieces, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, No Woman No Cry, and Banana Pancakes. I am aware of the obligatory George Formby jovial reference that needs to be inserted here so here you all go...the master at work. Enjoy...

"She's more like eighty than eighteen, when I'm cleanin' windows"

Maybe if you're lucky I'll give y'all a rendition of this someday.

Musical instruments, movies and work aside, this week (as of Sunday) saw the beginning of my holidays. Sunday afternoon me and Sanna took a train ride to Dunfermline to visit Jen and family. The train was delayed for quite some time due to trespassers or crisp packets on the line or something, but the weather was rather pleasant when we arrived which made up for things somewhat, so we all sat and had a beer in the garden which was equally as pleasant as the weather. Sunday evening we went for an awesome Chinese meal thanks to Mark and Margaret (Hello to you both if you are reading this, hope you are well!). Monday Me, Jen, Sanna, Fi and Daniel headed through to Edinburgh to see some arty things - unfortunately the weather had turned but we still had a nice day out. We visited a few galleries and saw some swell things.

Painting by Andrew Grassie.

We went along to the Talbot Rice Gallery to see the Andrew Grassie Exhibition, I'd never heard of Andrew Grassie before but I was quite taken aback by his work. His works are all photorealistic interpretations of mostly arty spaces, as shown above. The pieces are all fairly small too so you do have to kind of keep reminding yourself that they are actually paintings. I enjoyed this exhibition but thought it was quite harsh some of the comments people had left in the comments book. Silly people.

Robert Hanson drawing of a man with a moustache.

Another artist that I had very little knowledge of at the start of the day was Robert Hanson, Jen had wanted to go through to Edinburgh to see his exhibition and I just like Analogue so of course I agreed to go. Robert Hanson's drawings and prints were both amazing and I would love to have bought one if I had a little more money to throw about the place. We also visited Owl & Lion and the Red Door Gallery - two more places that just tempted me to spend money - however, for once I resisted. Oh and on the subject of moustache's, here's a rather comical collection of all things moustache.

Photo of "Opera for a Small Room" 

The last exhibition we went to was at the Fruitmarket gallery where they had a couple of interesting pieces of work by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. One was called The House of Books has no Windows, which was a rather cool house made of ancient books, everyone was standing on the outside viewing it but me and Jen decided to go inside, like Jen said it smelt like being inside an old book. Another piece they did was Opera for a Small Room, which again was a very intriguing piece of work, they had constructed a small old fashioned looking room in the gallery space which was very dark and eerie, as the show went on the lighting and sound changed very dramatically. Quite an odd, sppoky piece of work but it was very interesting, I just wanted to stay there and see what was going to happen next. I guess you have to see it to understand what I mean though.

Well, that pretty much brings us up to date I think. The rest of the week promises to carry on being just as enjoyable as me and Jen are travelling to Dublin on Wednesday and hopefully me and Sanna are going to see Star Wars: the Clone Wars on Tuesday, which although I am aware doesn't look so amazing, I am pretty darn excited about seeing. Below is a rather comical piece of Graffiti that I saw on my way to meet Sanna on Sunday, the original text repeatedly said I LIKE MYSELF and well, it had been modified but I don't think you needed me to tell you that really.

That's err...nice to Know.

Keep it running along smoothly.

J.A. Birch IV