I’ve been away

A combination of lack of inspiration, a new job, holidays and general laziness have been conspiring against me over the past few months.  I’ve hardly put pen to paper except to doodle in the margins of my notepad during exceptionally boring meetings.

I envy those comic artists and illustrators who manage to pour their creativity onto paper  week in and week out; keeping the masses entertained with unwavering dedication.

I recently took time out to holiday in Greece. Kefalonia to be precise.  Despite my love of crisp autumnal mornings and streets scattered with crunchy brown and yellow leaves (if we’re lucky – usually it’s soggy, wet, mouldy leaf litter and unpredictable weather), I think a short stint in warmer climes is good for the soul.

Every day for a week, I tentatively opened the curtains (as I would do in the UK) wondering whether the skies would be dark and foreboding, and every day I was delighted by clear blue skies and golden sunrise.

During the first couple of days, two things stood out.  The first, which I’ve drawn in this post, was the extraordinary number of ferrel cats.  Unbeknownst to me, Kefalonia is often referred to as the Island of Cats.   They are everywhere, lurking in alleyways, behind walls, under cars, in supermarkets, beneath bushes and in restaurants.  Always watching.  If you feel something brush against your leg or catch some movement out of the corner of your eye, it’s likely to be a cat slinking past you.  Not one meal was consumed without a handful of cats watching us put every forkful of food to our mouths.  This was the first thing that made me put pen to paper in weeks.

Cats

A little excerpt from my sketch pad! catsMy second observation (amongst others) will be covered in my next post or posts (depending on my mood) so stay tuned!

Close encounters of the herd kind

Image

close encountersLast weekend we headed down to Shropshire for a change of scenery and a spot of camping.  We’ve been camping every year for nearly 15 years and every year I’m filled with excitement at the ‘idea’ of communing with nature, cooking over an open stove and exploring my surroundings.  Somehow, the reality never quite lives up to the ‘idea’.  But, in a masochistic sort of way, I enjoy the uncomfortable sleeping, the 5am dawn chorus, the rain showers and leaky tents, the midges, the toilets located 5 minutes from your pitch and the cold nights etc.

This year was particularly cold after we forgot to bring some vital equipment, namely the sleeping bags (amongst other things).  Before you judge, I recently spoke to a friend who forgot the family tent on one trip, so my incompetency levels haven’t quite hit rock bottom.

This year our destination was The Buzzards a delightful little campsite (listed in Tiny Campsites, by Dixie Wills) on an organic smallholding.  Elaine, the owner, is full of beans and more than happy to help you with anything you may need (including sleeping bags!).  She handily sits on the tourism board for the area so can supply you with a leaflet or map for every nook and cranny worth visiting in the area.   If you fancy exploring some quintessentially English villages, taste testing cider, tromping around medieval ruins and beautiful countryside, then Shropshire is a good choice.

Now to the cartoon.  Yes this did happen.  We did get chased by a large herd of cows (approximately 22 of them) across two fields and over a fence.  I have video footage though it is mainly of the ground whizzing past as I run for safety – accompanied by a soundtrack of “wait for me” and “oh my God!” and lots of heavy breathing.  On reflection, I think the cows were more intent on getting a closer look at us, but having read numerous stories of people being trampled to death, I didn’t want to take any chances by facing up to them.  Except of course to film it!

Doggy chat-up lines

dogs chat up linesI’m off to a wedding tomorrow and have been trying to draw some caricatures of the happy couple.  There’s a real art in capturing someone’s personality and features with a simple few strokes. It is not my forte and because things haven’t been going well, I decided to take a break to draw something easier – like dogs!

Overheard on the bus

on the busI love people watching on the bus, you hear all sorts.  My other half came home chuckling the other day and told me about this conversation between a mother and her 5yr old(ish) child.  What a bizarre thing for a small child to think of.  Apparently it had the whole bus in hysterics.  I wonder if it is worth spending a week or so travelling around the city, drawing interesting conversations…

Some days it’s all about the CAKE!

CakeI have a very sweet tooth and can put on weight just by looking at a cake. There’s a voice in my head that is constantly chanting ‘EAT. EAT. EAT. EAT.’ More often than not, it’s chanting ‘EAT CAKE. EAT CAKE. EAT CAKE!’.  I try hard not to succumb to the urge to satisfy my cravings because afterwards there’s a taunting voice chanting ‘FATTY, FATTY, FATTY’.   Sometimes I wish I could just have a great wedge of deliciously moist cake and not feel guilty!

Chatterbox

TALKINGI have a habit of talking… A LOT!  My other half who is a woman of few words has described my chatter as white noise.  Yet she has developed a skill where, when pressed, she can relay the first and last part of any conversation, thus creating the illusion that she is listening intently.

Holiday UK #10 – A Romantic Dinner

ship innThis is the last in my series of holiday cartoons.  There is no diary entry for this cartoon but it comes at the end of yesterday’s entry.  After a full day driving in the rain, we decided to dine in the comfort of a local pub at Lerryn, the Ship Inn.  It had Wifi so we spent several hours making up for lost time by updating Facebook, Twitter and checking emails.  Until this point we hadn’t really missed our electronic connection with the big, wide world but on a cold, drizzly evening, we couldn’t resist the temptation.

Holiday UK #9 – Aerial Crime

seagullExcerpt from holiday diary 1st July:

“Parked at the National Trust Car Park at Frogmore (157516) and made our way down to the coast at Lantivet Bay.  The sun was out and the sea was a beautiful turquoise, you could almost imagine you were in the Mediterranean.  On arrival at Polruan, we hopped on a water taxi to Fowey to join the throngs of German tourists and to tuck into a delicious smoked Mackerel and Beetroot Bagel from the delightful Lifebuoy Cafe.  We tried to take our usual “lunch with a view” photo (we have a series of these taken on various walks around the country) when a seagull swooped down from nowhere to grab my bagel.”  

Driving CornwallExcerpt from holiday diary 2nd July:

Windy and drizzling today – what a contrast to yesterday.  After a few false starts we end up on the way to the North Coast.  First stop, Rock. Well, the Rock pier car park for a loo stop.  Rock is a rather posh village on the other side of the estuary to Padstow (you can cross from Rock to Padstow on a foot ferry). The village is dotted with high end clothing stores, restaurants, bistros and cafes… 

…I was unimpressed by the drive to Polzeath – we didn’t really have a destination in mind.  The Bee Centre? Vineyards? Cider Farm?  We finally decide on Lanhydrock where we’ve been before, but in the dark on an impromptu ghost hunt with mum and dad.”