My mum recently unearthed a couple of my old poems. I assume from the handwriting I was still at primary school when these two little gems were penned. Luckily I had other talents… but it’s great to see I was conscientious about the environment from an early age. Thanks for the chuckle mum.
It’s hard work keeping a blog. Sometimes I wonder what it’s all for. Is it for me or is it for them (the inhabitants of the blogosphere)? If it’s for me, then do I really need a blog? I could carry on doodling in my sketchbooks and half-heartedly patting myself on the back if the drawing is passable.
I suffer from chronic self-deprecation which is probably why I never made it on the creative front – I was never confident enough in my own ability and knowing how many extremely talented people there are out there, I found it difficult to find my own little patch. But on further reflection, I enjoy drawing and there’s a little part of me that hopes my cartoons bring a teeny tiny smile to someone’s day. Talent shared (average or not) is happiness gained…I think. Ooh did I just give myself a compliment?
It wasn’t until this week that I was given a little ego boost when I discovered that people do actually enjoy my work. When someone other than your family and friends says “I like your cartoons”, it makes it all worth it! And so I must extend my gratitude to the blogger, Michelle who writes for her own blog, the Green Study. She kindly nominated me for a Beautiful Blog Award – Thank you! I must now bestow this kindness on someone else, but it will take time, I need to do my research…
Following the slight head inflation, I immediately sat down to draw only to find I had no inspiration. It happens to all of us no doubt. So what better way to tackle the situation than to draw it.
Everyone is talking about Movember. It is the one and only time of year I wish I had facial hair – imagine the things you could do with it! In case you don’t know what Movember is: During November each year, thousands of men men across the UK and around the world grow moustaches with the aim to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
In the image below, I was testing my new brush pen…
A rather frenetic three days in London have come to an end. I have skirted around the city on various work visits or on the occasional get-together with friends, but I’ve never really had the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere and visit the top tourist attractions. My mother, keen to reinforce the maternal / filial bonds, saw this as an opportunity for us to spend some quality time together. So, with a little bit of planning an a lot of luck we left the quiet solitude of our respective houses in the ‘north of England’ and in the Jura Mountains (France) to tussle and jostle with some of the millions of tourists that visit London annually.
Every hour of our three day tour was packed with interest, culture, art, music, heritage, gastronomic delights and shopping. So much so that I need a few days holiday to recover. We visited the Houses of Parliament (a real highlight); the London Eye where mum was reunited with her fear of heights; Harrods, where for the first time I felt my bank account was completely inadequate; we took in two shows, Jumpy and Singing in the Rain (ponchos are requirement); we were perplexed by contemporary performance art at the Haywood Gallery; intrigued by the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, ‘Bronze‘; enlightened by the Royal Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake; moved by the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition; felt patriotic watching the changing of the Horse Guards and were calmed by our saunter through St James’ Park.
If you felt tired reading that, imagine how we felt at the end of our stay?! Enjoyable and draining in equal measures, there has been talk of making this an annual event…
On my return home, I doodled on the train:
I know I have been somewhat tiresome with my recent rants about work, but it is one of my biggest irritations, no, hates at the moment. I’ve reached my absolute fill, the homeworking quota has been exceeded, my own company is becoming tedious and I have to escape. I daydream about the good old days (with rose tinted glasses of course) when I worked in an office. Oh how I miss the daily commute, the people watching, the office gossip, the office politics, the impromptu drinks after work and the regular, face to face contact with other human beings. As the years tick by, I feel I’m slowly losing the ability to communicate, I’m becoming introverted and find it difficult to make idle chit chat with people who ask ‘how has your week been?’. For the most part, my working weeks are quiet, monotonous, uneventful, uninteresting, uninspiring…you get the drift.
As my other half comes home each evening, eager to plonk on the sofa and relax in the peace and quiet, I’m looking to escape the confines of the apartment which seems to be getting smaller by the day. That’s the problem you see, if you don’t go to work, then you don’t come home from work – it all just blurs into one. There’s no shaking off the day when you walk out of the office building. I just turn from my work computer to my home computer – I’m in the same chair, at the same desk, in the same box room. I eat dinner, I go to bed, I get up, eat breakfast and sit at my desk ready to do it all over again. *Sigh* I think the ideal balance would be to work in an office three days a week and have two very focused days at home. That way I could have the best of both worlds because no matter how much I whinge, there are definitely some upsides to working at home.
Anyway, before you start playing your mini violins, here is today’s cartoon on the subject:
We all have our ups and downs, but I particularly like this roller-coaster proposal story in the Sun newspaper!
Big Hair Metamorphosis 