Around this time of year, I feel inspired. Perhaps more than in Spring or Summer.  I don’t know what it is; whether the cold weather focuses my attention inwards. I do know that my mood is easily affected by the weather and the music I listen to and so on... I suppose my sensitivities have a habit of drawing out a tiny spark of creativity.

It feels nice to be sketching properly again. I’ve been asked to make a product line for Christmas. I’m working around the theme of a ‘Leyendecker Christmas’. I want to focus on the romance around Christmas, which has been lost, I feel, to rapid materialism. Families, lovers; fun romanticism etc. Should have some finished work for you next week.

gallerie dell'accademia firenze

Here's something I did a little while ago as I'm currently working on a number of projects at once: This is a personal piece given to someone I met for the first time whilst sketching the statue of David in Florence around this time last year.  Really embracing a mixed media approach, which gives it a wholeness and real sense of depth.

Pencil, gesso, gouache and emulsion on paper

8" x 10"

Sketchbooks

Always carry a sketchbook or journal.

Lately, I can’t get enough of my little moleskine and while I could use it more effectively (to broaden the range of ideas and images), in the wider world it’s becoming an art form of its own... Particularly in San Francisco where the third  Moleskine Project , curated by Rodrigo Luff and Ken Harman, is on exhibit from the 5th of December at Spoke Art Gallery. It's well worth a look with some great, new artists on show.

Pencil & moleskine.

10" x 8"

The following is a prep drawing for a collaboration which I'm very excited about.

The purpose of this charcoal is to get an idea of how the image will look on a larger scale than the original photograph. When done right, charcoal should feel like a fluid making it easier to cover large areas .

As with previous drawings, I've used a lot of powder to get that flowing sense and captured the detail by erasing, to create highlights, and with charcoal pencil.

A2

Charcoal on paper.

So almost a week ago to the day, I left London having spent a week in the city...

Ah the memories!

I've never taken pictures like this before... Sure I've taken loads of portraits but none this nice. What I can learn from this? Get more friends.

After spending the weekend in London and meeting people at this year's Top Drawer design show, thought I'd casually look around some galleries - including The Wallace Collection and National Gallery.

Taken at Trafalgar Square. 

This moleskine piece is going to be mixed media experiment. I started off by laying down some white gesso over an older drawing which fell out of favour.

This one could take a while... 

8" x 10"