Back to basics. Basic observational drawing. Himself has been having boxing lessons for a while now and I kept saying I would quite like to go and observe. The boxing coach was really quite excited at the idea of me sitting and drawing. He thinks I would enjoy the authentic aesthetics of a traditional spit n’ sawdust boxing gym. He may be right. I will have to go and look sometime. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

It’s always worth holding on to old work you sort of feel something for even though it didn’t quite work at the time. After a couple of years propped up with its face against a studio wall, inspiration may strike when it’s turned around and looked at afresh. As is the case with today’s image. I’m currently sorting through a mass of work because I’ve just been invited to join the emerging artists’ programme at Debut Contemporary in London. So I’m taking the opportunity to loo

Messing with pen and ink is always fun. Inevitably this means calligraphy is fun, except when it’s not. Calligraphy has particular challenges for a visual artist used to playing and messing and failing. Real calligraphers are concerned with proportion and accuracy and devote years of practice to the art. Dipping into Arabic lettering for just a few hours was therefore never going to be a huge success from the strict perspective if a professional calligrapher, but it was an en

Hahahahaha. Hard to take any of this seriously. Liquorice Allsorts spring to mind. And before anyone else says anything, what’s with the odd phallus shape bang in the middle? In case anyone is in doubt, this is the one which went from bad to worse and worse the other day when my phone battery died on me. But the interesting thing, as always, is that even in the midst of abject failure, there are passages within the work that I quite like. Hence the detail shots. #creativity #

Taking risks with things I’ve made is one thing but taking risks with someone else’s is something else. I’m currently running a community sewing project. One of my self imposed rules is that anything and everything produced by members of the community can be incorporated into the final pieces. Experience of running this sort of project over the years has shown me that this is an entirely reasonable objective as long as I have latitude to re-colour or over-embroider if necessa

I spent three hours making a bad painting worse this afternoon. It would have made a wonderful dailyfail except my phone seemed to be using up charge at a cracking rate all morning. I was consequently unable to photograph the disaster. Maybe I will photograph it tomorrow. It is worthy of inclusion although it’s so bad it’s almost impossible to see what I’ve learned from it. So instead a quick sketch meant to show a small group of embroiderers how I envisage a certain curtain

More crayon and combining all that I dislike in a cute pet subject in pastel colors. Things are quite distracted at present. All the more important to just tackle anything which enters my mind. No judging or assessing: just doing. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

Caran d’ache crayons lurking in the bottom of my bag and a new sketchbook/journal with really nice paper that looks as though it will take water well so in nice illogical fashion, instead of playing with water-based media I opt to use the wax crayons. There were only eight in the box. But interestingly, a fuscia, a cyan-type blue and a good orangey Indian yellow were all included. I have liked this primary colour combination for some years, ever since a tutor told me they wer

An almond tree just down the road which over the years I have drawn, photographed and painted. There’s something about the colours of the pinks and deep maroons and olive greens of the old wall and surrounding brick and stonework. Using the new app, I’ve translated more photos into colour notes for future reference. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

I began with a collection of photos I had been taking of pleasing colour combinations. I was planning to make colour notes from the images and then suddenly remembered about the Adobe Ideas app. A few minutes later, I had my colour notes automatically extracted and collated. Then all I had to do was mix a bit of paint and fill in a few rectangles prepared on a sheet of paper so long ago that the masking tape was ineffectually brittle. Great fun. #creativity #Failure #Postaday

What I’m most enjoying about the whole #dailyfail exercise is the complete freedom from having to justify time, concept, context, skill, or a thing else that impedes just getting on with something. It simply doesn’t matter what the outcome is because the basic outcome is the end-in-itself. Today I pulled out of a pile of old drawings a piece of messing I did about 18 months ago playing a game of marking and obliterating, black, white, black and so on. I thought it would be in

More breaking of self imposed “rules” on a series of daily challenges resolutely NOT using digital technology but then again the whole point of the exercise is the breaking of rules. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

I’ve been varnishing furniture in an obsessive-compulsive fashion today, having just refurbished a bedroom with predominantly dark oak furniture. The few bits of pale pine offended my sensibilities. With a few dregs of varnish left in the tin, I thought it might be interesting to brush over some (unfixed) charcoal sketches. Interesting is the right word. The charcoal naturally dissolved and smudged in a very satisfying #dailyfail sort of way and I think there are possibilitie

Still on the greyness of the A58 into town. I am waiting for a decent spell in the studio to do something with these images racing through my head. But this week is looking as much of a studio write off as the last. #creativity #Failure #risk

Sitting in a cafe, looking out on a grey rainy day, I noticed with interest the dull greyness was punctuated by red-orange at every point. Table napkins, awning, car, balconies. Street lamp, lady’s hair and scarf, traffic sign. How very curious. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

Blind contour drawing over and over within confined boundaries of an oddly angled face. Released from any need for likeness. Always a good thing for the sketchbook. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

Back to paint. Still messing with stuff that’s been up on the walls for months. I’m away for a few days now, but I always seem to get an urge to paint when I don’t have access to the studio. Sod’s law. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

Just how hard can it be to pull one decent print from a lino cut I’m happy with? Hours, is the answer. Hours, when the printer to print my chine collé tissue starts playing up and chewing up paper. And the USB lead is too short to reach the printer from the laptop so I have to unplug every time I get up to print afresh. Anyway, print finally there. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

It’s no excuse but I can’t begin to explain how hard it is to do any work when additional children appear on the horizon. It was an achievement to open the sketchbook today. #creativity #Failure #Postaday #risk

Spent a delightful morning and afternoon listening to young pianists performing in the school piano competition, followed by a splendid recital of Schubert, Chopin and Listz by the adjudicator, Jonathan Middleton who apart from performing beautifully was a really nice guy and gave sensitive and thoughtful yet well-considered feedback to the competitors… Bottom line: today was a music day not a studio day, so I ended up playing with thumbnail sketches at the very beginning of