People
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Suur Toll & Piret
This statue of a mythical couple, who once upon a time helped the Saaremaa islanders of old, is just opposite the Kuressaare hotel we were staying in during our tour of Estonia. The legends of these two seem to major on saving the island from invaders and the husbandry of cabbages, although this sculpture clearly…
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Street Music
There were a lot of open air street performances in Riga whilst we were visiting. This group were part of the Antonijas Street Festival – I think the lead singer is Chris Noah, and I have to say they were very good – in fact very much better than I have drawn them! Although the…
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Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure where I was trying to go with this picture. However, I drew it anyway because: a – I very much like the window design, b – I thought the statute goes well below the window, c – I thought it might be fun to try out a halo…
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Torii Gaze
Originally this was intended to show a modern (so manga style) Japanese eye within which the mind behind the eye was reflecting on something ancient, a pagoda for example. By various twists and turns it is now a modern eye literally reflecting the light from a nearby Torii gate. However, if I ignore the frustration…
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Croquet
This sport occupies quite a bit of what might otherwise be my spare time, so I suppose it is inevitable that I would eventually draw or paint a game. This particular painting is based very loosely on a photo taken during a recent match at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon,…
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Blue Man
I have mentioned before (and will no doubt mention again!) the jeopardy inherent in producing a portrait, in that the face not only has to look normal, it also has to resemble the portrait’s subject. This particular example is kind of middling in that respect. It looks somewhat like the real face, but is probably…
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Classical Ambience
I recently attended a lunch at Hylands House near Chelmsford in Essex. Apart from the enjoying the event itself, I was rather curious to see the interior of a house that I first new as a near ruin when I was a child, but which is now returned to something close to what I presume…
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Flamenco – Sacromonte
There appears to be a debate – heated at times – as to where flamenco music and dance originated. One of the early places where flamenco was to be found in the caves of Sacramonte near Granada, where the gypsies lived. These days those caves have been sanitised and host nightly flamenco shows for tourists,…
