‘Your Thanet’ Interview

A couple of weeks ago I  submitted an article on my interest in Astronomy to ‘Your Thanet‘ newspaper.

Their copyright statement informs me that I am not allowed to publish this article on my blog (or any website – so please do not mention an earlier blog!), which is a shame.

So I thought I would show you this  – again!

I know, I know, you have seen this image before but at least it is Astronomy related – and it is not a bad image!

Follow this link  and navigate to page 8 to see the full interview.

One Comrade Less

A sad day today.  I attended the funeral of  an Army Comrade, Pete Chapman. I  have known him since I was 15 (1962) when we were both  Junior Soldiers playing the Drums and Bugle (I played the Fife and Bugle). We served together in Gibralter, N.Ireland and Guyana (British Guyana as it was then)and then the Middlesex were disbanded, he going to 1 Queens and me going to 2 Queens. We met again when he joined Kent Police in 1979 (I think, I had already been a PC for 6 years).   In Guyana the Corps of Drums formed a Steel Band. The only such one in the Army. This photograph was taken during one of our engagements:

Pete Chapman is the second in from the Left. I am in the Front Row, third one in. I am grateful to Dave Cochrane (front row, second in for allowing me to publish this photo.

I said at the top that it was a sad day but on the other hand it was a happy day. I met lots of old comrades and we chuckled over past events we had shared and caught up with all the news that we had missed over the years.  I like that – we hadn’t seen each other for 30 + years but we chatted like school children walking home from school. I am sure Pete would have had his own anecdotes to tell as well!
Rest in peace Pete.

Sunday Sunset

We had this glorious sunset yesterday:

Mind you, I had to lean out of the bedroom window to photograph it. Worth it though!

Tech Details: Canon 350D 1/60sec. f5.6 ISO400 (Time1800hrs)

My Little Sketches

It has been wet and miserable in our house this past week (My nose has been wet and I’ve been miserable!) but I got rid of my cold – I gave it to my wife!

So, while I was feeling sorry for myself, I got out my sketch books and selected some little sketches to show off.

These little ones were drawn during a family holiday in Wales a few years ago.

I enjoy doing little pen and ink sketches with water colour washes. I use a Graphic pen and a Daler-Rowney Artist Quality sketch book. My trusty little paintbox with a sable-hair brush completes the equipment I need.

I try to capture the essence of the scene or the character of the sitter without worrying about accuracy. The likeness of the person or scene will be there. To try to be precise will only stifle the immediacy and fun of the sketch. Relax and enjoy I say – it will show through!

First Snowdrop of the Year

I found this single little Snowdrop in our back garden this morning.

Lovely!

Caricature of Michael Howard (MP)

I have been ‘toying’ with the idea of doing political caricatures for quite a while now (well, years really) but never got round to having a serious run at it.  I did do this one of Michael Howard (Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe) when he was Leader of the Opposition.

I am thinking of doing some of the Politicians that are in the spotlight now but they are a bit of an uninspiring bunch.  I might have to look at the back-benchers as they are more colourful characters than those on the front benches.

Any suggestions?

The Caricature Pencil Drawing

One of my outstanding projects is this double Caricature I promised to do as a Wedding Present.

It has reached the final, well almost final, drawing stage. I always do a lot of pencil drawings of the subject and objects before deciding what, where and how they will be included in the finished painting. Lay-Out paper is used as I can easily transfer items onto the next page as most of my drawings go through numerous stages before I am completely satisfied. This is on it’s third re-working as I have ‘jiggered’ things around the page many times to create what I hope is a balanced and pleasing picture. I have only to decide what to do to the female’s legs. Boots, green, I’m thinking.

Can you guess what they do?

You don’t get a prize for a correct guess but if you can figure out why the dog is protective of the ’snowman’ you will get a virtual ‘pat-on-the-back!

Answers in a later post.

Good Luck!

The Patchwork Sketch

I often accompany my wife when she visits Patchwork Shows and I always take a camera or sketch book. I love looking at the quilts and seeing the colours and patterns created by the Quilters. It really is an Art form in it’s own right.

I came up with the idea of doing a painting of a Patchwork Show and took numerous photos and started a sketch in preparation. I have only got this far ;

I was reminded that I had begun this project as my daughter, Janet, is taking a stall at The Festival of Quilts at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre.

I’ll be there and I might even get inspiration to complete this project. It joins a long, long list!!

‘Your Thanet’ Article

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to submit a short interview on Astronomy in Thanet for a local paper “Your Thanet”

The interview has not been printed but a quote I made concerning light pollution has. It can be found on page 4. Click on the image to access the website.

I am still hoping that the full interview will be published but I am pleased with my little quote.

Now, if I could only get Tesco’s to turn down their lighting every evening…………!

My acknowledgements go to the publishers of “Your Thanet “.

Pencil Portrait of Mike

I have been spending my spare time getting images ready for inclusion for my forthcoming new website release date. My old website can be found at davidclare.net It is a one page site created by Tony, my daughter’s ‘technical director’, and I thank him for it. I have decided to create my own website using a software package. It seems to do most things that happen behind the scene for you (HTML, codes, etc) but I am surprised at how long it takes to look at, classify and prepare for publishing each image that will be appearing within it. At the moment I have got to the Portraiture section and this is one sketch that will be included on the site. I drew this some time ago while on a Police Artist Sketch Course (yes, I was a Police Sketch Artist during my service as a Police Officer – more of this in later blogs). As most portraits are individually done it is difficult to retain a copy but as this was part of my course work I was able to keep it.

The yellow tinge is due to the paper it is drawn on. I think I will have to ‘re-master’ it before it is suitable for public display. Another job to add to the list.

Watch this space for the launch date though, please!