tea-powered scribbles

people in lecture theatre

2012-01-05T22:39:00.003Z

sophie the #%?*! giraffe...

2011-12-01T22:17:00.003Z

...on account of the fact that she bloody squeaks. ALL THE TIME.

m.r. james got nothin' on this baby

2011-11-30T09:38:00.005Z

The arrival of child #1 earlier in the year has reduced the vast oupouring of creativity here at TPS to a slow trickle. It has had other effects too. My Better Half has not yet found time to visit her local salon and looks increasingly like some latter-day Rapunzel. As a result of this, she is leaving stray hairs in the bathroom after her fortnightly shower, which brings us to today's post.

At TPS headquarters this morning, I encountered a phenomenon that can only be described as supernatural. On entering the bathroom, I was met with an icy blast that chilled me to the marrow. Then, I pulled back the shower curtain to reveal a matted clump of wet hair that had taken on the appearance of... the late Dennis Hopper circa Easy Rider.

We have all heard stories of the Mexican farmer who found an image of the Virgin Mary in his tortilla or the factory worker from Wigan whose morning toast bore an uncanny likeness to Che Guevara, but these are nothing when compared to the ghostly goings-on in my own bathroom. Admittedly, the otherwordly chill I experienced was simply down to the fact that the missus had left the window open so that steam could get out, but in no way should this lessen the spookiness of the event.

Next time: how I once discovered green ectoplasm by the plughole, only to discover it was a spillage of mint-flavoured Original Source shower gel.

imaginary transaction

2011-11-29T21:38:00.003Z

[Scene: A small coffee shop on the platform of a busy London train station.]

Me: A small Mocha, please.

Man: Certainly Sir. Whipped cream?

Me: No, thanks. No whipped cream. I don't want anything that would cool down the drink that is shortly to pass my lips. No. My only requirement is that the coffee you're about to serve me should be hot. Very hot. Piping hot. Scaldingly hot. In fact, I would go as so far as to say that the temperature of the beverage I require should be that of a bubbling river of magma straight from the earth's molten core. It should be akin to that of a hissing, steaming torrent of plasma extracted from the surface of the sun. It should be not unlike the burning lava that flows through the fiery rivers of Hell. It should be HOT and nothing – no milk, cream (whipped or otherwise) – should be added to quell the raging, boiling waters within. Please note that I am not a litigious person and providing that the aforementioned drink arrives with a securely fastened lid and a thin protective circlet of cardboard to shield my fingers from the intense nuclear-style forces contained therein, I will take all responsibility for any burns sustained post-transaction.

Man: £2.25, please.

[Postscript: the coffee was tepid.]

(sweary) sketchbook page

2011-11-21T21:10:00.004Z

I don't know who added such profane language to this sketchbook page (probably the missus) but easily offended readers should probably avoid reading this. And if you are offended then you can fuck off.

(Lots of mistakes in there too. Was I drunk when I – ahem, was the missus drunk when SHE wrote No.3? '... I the trousers and shoes are really rather dreadfully.' Eh?!? It doesn't make sense. It can't possibly have been me who wrote such nonsense. Although I do like the phrase, 'I the trousers'. Like 'We the jury' but for clothes.)

pitt rivers museum

2011-11-01T20:59:00.003Z

british museum

2011-10-11T22:42:00.001+01:00

chocolate bar

2011-10-05T17:14:00.004+01:00

Four years without a single blog entry post upload thingy, and then all I can muster is a picture of some peanut-based confectionery. Bah, this blog has gone downhill...

Click on the image for bigness (which will also facillitate reading my scrawl).

comic info panel

2011-08-25T14:33:00.002+01:00

A detail from something I'm working on at present...

sketchbook

2011-08-09T10:38:00.003+01:00

The portrait at the top is an okay drawing but it's not such a good likeness, the one at the bottom is a GREAT likeness but is a little over-hatched, and the less said about the image in the middle the better.

snails

2011-08-02T22:20:00.003+01:00

Yes, I know they're not slugs, but 'snaily' bastards doesn't have quite the same ring to it. I don't care anyway. Both snails and slugs have been merrily chomping away on my hostas. THE BASTARDS.

toy lion

2011-07-25T11:47:00.002+01:00

roy orbison revisited

2011-07-23T19:23:00.002+01:00

carl perkins

2011-07-22T18:35:00.002+01:00

pen head

2011-07-21T15:56:00.002+01:00

roy orbison

2011-07-20T12:16:00.004+01:00

Picture of Roy Orbison which I'm not entirely happy with. The original drawing in my sketchbook was accompanied by the following note:

Don't be fooled by a good likeness and lots of detail – this isn't that great a drawing. I have a tendency to elongate figures and I've done that here. Hatching on the left shoulder (his right) is not so good.

Addition of colour has improved what is a very flawed illustration but still, I might have to make another attempt at this...

elizabeth nisha chester

2011-07-18T16:44:00.004+01:00

Despite being given a perfectly good name, my daughter has acquired a number of aliases in her first seven weeks. Click on the image to see a bigger version...

big mouth

2011-07-07T12:00:00.003+01:00

I appear to have given Ellie a bit of a 'trout pout' in this image, which she may or may not have. I think her head was squashed up against the car seat she was in, which squished her cheeks and forced her lips up and out. At least, that's my defence against any accusation of clumsy observational skills...

baldies

2011-07-06T10:57:00.003+01:00

I was in an incredibly boring meeting the other day and I decided it would be a much better use of my time if I did some of that there draw-ring whilst I was there. So I did. Erm, that's it.

...and here are some of her toys!

2011-07-04T11:36:00.003+01:00

birthday

2011-07-03T10:28:00.002+01:00

It's my birthday! But I don't care! I've got a baby! And I've drawn some pictures or her! Some are quite bad likenesses! But I don't care! 'Cos I've got a baby! (etc. repeat until adrenalin runs out)

my favourite piece of work...

2011-07-02T09:10:00.001+01:00

...my five-week old daughter, Elizabeth.

poor traits of a draughtsman

2011-04-12T21:08:00.002+01:00

Apologies to Picabia. Click on the image to see a larger version.

I like the girls that do...

2011-04-05T17:44:00.003+01:00

Portrait of Max Miller for something that might be SOMETHING if I can ever finish it but it looks as though it's going to take forever and I'm fast losing the will to live and I'm bored of my work and so on and so on, etcetera, etcetera.

somerset maugham

2011-03-31T22:28:00.001+01:00

the name of the rose

2011-03-27T17:54:00.003+01:00

Attempt at drawing a cover image for Umberto Eco's 'The Name Of The Rose'. I was never happy with it and consequently it's never seen the light of day until now.

sun studio

2011-03-25T08:04:00.002Z

a versatile actor

2011-03-24T10:58:00.002Z

christmas toys past #1

2010-12-17T16:56:00.005Z

After a rather lengthy lay-off, TPS returns with some more scratchy drawings and a few ill-conceived notes about what I am thinking with my MIND. What with Christmas just around the corner, it's the time to start getting nostalgic about the toys of our youth. And what better way to kick off proceedings than by taking a look at the The Six Million Dollar Man action figure.

As well as a bionic eye in the form of a magnifying glass in the back of his head you could look through, he had a latex rubber-johnny-style covering on one of his arms that you could roll up with some difficulty to reveal bionic PARTS. I think he had bionic parts elsewhere on his person but I'm not sure where they were located and I can't be bothered to look this up on the web as it's really not that important. Did he also have a mechanism in his arm to help pick up heavy things? I think he did and in order to demonstrate how powerful this red-tracksuited cyborg was, the toymakers supplied him with a little plastic car engine that he could get all bionic with.

I also had a space capsule type thing that the figure could go in. If memory serves correctly, it was some kind of BIONIC chamber into which he could recharge his PARTS after a hard day's work lifting up car engines and so on. It was the worst toy EVER. Boys want their action figures in imagined scenes of explosive adventure, discovery and fighting NOT recovering from their labours in a recumbant electro-digital snooze. Bah!

italian sketchbook

2010-09-10T08:06:00.002+01:00

And here's a couple more...

italian sketchbook

2010-09-09T22:05:00.005+01:00

'Didn't get the chance to do much drawing on a recent trip to Italy (too busy attending weddings, climbing mountains, wandering around canals and eating gelati – you know how these Italian holidays are) but here are one or two things from the sketchbook I kept while I was there...

watercolour experiments

2010-08-22T18:53:00.005+01:00

Some time back in February of this year, pen-enthusiast, crossword-solver, compulsive sketchbook-keeper, cartoon-pedlar extraodinaire and general, all-round balding polymath Dave Shelton put me on to Carbon Platinum Ink in response to my request for a genuinely waterproof ink that could be used in a fountain pen without gumming up the works. With lightning-quick reaction time, I ordered some at the end of last week and it arrived the following day. I dutifully filled a pen with said ink and created some ART which I'm posting here.

I'm really pleased with the results. The ink itself is fantastic – providing it's left to dry completely, it doesn't bleed at all with the application of watercolour – and the drawings, though nothing out of this world, have a freshness and a charm to them that I don't think they would have if I'd coloured them with my digital crayons as per usual.

I'll try and do some more in the days ahead and will the post any results. Well, I say any results, but truth be told, the material that makes it on to the TPS blog goes through a rigorous selection process in order to maintain the illusion that there is some level of consistency to my work. You should see the crap that doesn't make it. Sheesh...

P.S. Credit must also be given to the very wonderful Elwood H. Smith who discusses the merits of Platinum Carbon Ink on his Drawger blog which you can read here.

building

2010-08-17T19:22:00.002+01:00

Beautiful Victorian red-brick building on the corner of Lansdowne Road and York Avenue. The perspective on the left hand side is dodgy and it took me ages to finish it and I feel as though I've been looking at it forever so I'm no position to say whether it's any good or whether I like it or hate it. So there. I'll shut up now.

Click on the image to enhance the viewing experience.

bb king

2010-07-26T10:44:00.000+01:00

Portrait of BB King for something I'm currently working on...

marion

2010-07-19T14:43:00.002+01:00

Look, I KNOW this isn't a great likeness, and I know that the hatching is more than a little indelicate, but I've tried to draw this about a million times and this is as good as it gets. OKAY?!?

paris sketchbook '94

2010-07-16T08:44:00.003+01:00

Two drawings of the Sacre Couer, made two years apart! Sadly, the earlier one (top) is the better version. Sigh...

paris sketchbook '94

2010-07-15T08:38:00.003+01:00

paris sketchbook '94

2010-07-14T08:48:00.005+01:00

Two more images from the 1994 Paris sketchbook. Click on an image to optimise your viewing experience.

paris sketchbook '94

2010-07-13T16:36:00.002+01:00

Marion and Jo (you know who you are) are proving rather difficult to capture on paper at present due to a breakdown in talent, inspiration and perseverence, so as a thinly-veiled diversionary tactic, it's time to answer the 'tea-powered scribbles' mailbag which isn't literally bursting at the seams.

An electronic epistle has been sent from a Mr P. McGladdery of Oldham, Lancs. He writes (with reference to recent postings):

"Can I be on your blog? My absence seems ridiculous given I am both a soul star and almost a Yorkshire man".

Well, Mr P's letter had the 'tea-powered scribbles' team rummaging through the archives and they had to go all the way back to the box marked 'September 1994' to unearth an A6 Daler Rowney sketchbook with a picture of the aforementioned correspondent in it. You'll recall that Mr P. played Passepartout to our own Phineas Fogg on a 80-day tour around the world* that year and that 'tea-powered scribbles' kept a detailed visual chronicle** of everything encountered along the way. Over the next few days then, we intend to share with you some of the pages from that September 1994 sketchbook and it seems only reasonable, given the original request, that we begin with an inky likeness of a certain Mr McGladdery. Enjoy.

*We went to Paris for about a week.

**I did some drawings while I was there.

...but only one for David

2010-07-10T08:35:00.003+01:00

... and three attempts at Emma...

2010-07-08T10:18:00.006+01:00

I was quite happy with the first drawing I made of Emma (bottom) until J. pointed out that the hatching on her face made her look a bit, erm, 'excessively wrinkled'. It's certainly over-hatched. I find it really difficult to apply hatching to women's faces without making them look ugly, or old, or hairy. I think the strokes need to be shorter and finer — maybe drawn with a different sized nib to the one I usually use.

Anyway, I redrew the picture and initially, I thought it was an improvement on the original. What was I thinking? It's TERRIBLE. I gave her a really fat neck and tiny squinty eyes that she doesn't have in real life. At least, they weren't there when I last looked.

So, preferring to salvage what I could of the first attempt rather than go for a third version, I scanned in the original drawing, deleted the offending marks with my digital eraser, printed out a copy and rehatched the affected areas. The new version isn't markedly different from the old, but I'm much happier with it. We'll just have to see what the reaction from the Earth Mother is. And if she's mortally offended by it, I'm not too concerned about any physical retribution. She's in Uganda. Heh, heh.

it took four attempts to get graham right...

2010-07-07T09:46:00.002+01:00

sketchbook

2010-07-02T07:43:00.005+01:00

Another double page spread from the A4 sketchbook I'm currently working in.

I sat in the Casson's back garden one afternoon and drew an enormous tree they have there (a sycamore, if memory serves me correctly). It took me about four hours to get most of the drawing done and then I returned to it periodically over the weekend to fill in the rest of the leaves.

Initially, there was a lot of heavy hatching on the shed as I tried to capture the cast shadow of the tree but I put so much in that you couldn't see the wood (en shed) for the tree and I had to remove quite a lot of detail with a tippex pen. It's better for it.

sketchbook

2010-07-01T19:20:00.006+01:00

An A4 sketch from a couple of weeks ago. This is the first chance I've had to scan it in though, as I needed to utilise the A3 scanner at work.

J and I went up to North Yorkshire for the weekend to spend some time with the Earth Mother and the rest of the Casson brood. We met Graham (the Casson paterfamilias) outside a London train station and he kindly drove us all the way to sun-baked Northallerton for a thoroughly splendid couple of days. The food was incredible, the weather amazing (they'd turned the heating back on since I was last up North) and the company as friendly a bunch of people as you could hope to meet. Thanks to all concerned for their many kindnesses, especially Marion and Graham.

With regards to the drawing above, I'd intended to fill the whole double spread with inky scratches (good name for a blog that) but I got a little car sick after completing the right hand page and had to stop.

As always, click on the above to see a larger version. More Yorkshire-inspired sketches to follow over the coming days...

big cp to the ijc

2010-06-28T20:55:00.003+01:00

alex cox

2010-06-27T10:03:00.002+01:00

frank sidebottom r.i.p.

2010-06-25T10:30:00.003+01:00

So sad to hear the news that Chris Sievey aka Frank Sidebottom passed away at the weekend. Sadder still to hear that his family were now struggling to pay for the funeral costs. Still, it was heartening to read that a fund has been set up asking fans for donations and this now stands at £18,000. Any surplus cash will go to cancer charities.

On a lighter note, you can remind yourself how fantastic Frank Sidebottom was by listening to the various podcasts at:

http://www.radiotimperley.com/

and you can download these for free through iTunes. You know you must. You really must. Thank you.

I mash go down to the sausages today...

2010-06-14T13:56:00.003+01:00

A picture of the sea from the weekend. Click on it to get a big one. Oo-er.

double sugar

2010-05-30T15:02:00.002+01:00

I accidentally put two teaspoons of sugar into my tea the other day...

people at work no.314 — yuki

2010-05-26T11:10:00.001+01:00

people at work no.430 — stuart

2010-05-15T09:03:00.001+01:00

people at work no.429 — will

2010-05-11T22:17:00.002+01:00

people at work no.428 — gary t.

2010-05-10T08:01:00.001+01:00

people at work no.427 — c.j.taylor

2010-05-09T10:25:00.003+01:00

An occasional series in which I draw at least 427 people I work with.

tendril-headed man

2010-05-08T16:08:00.004+01:00

Variation on an old obsession. It's quite a large drawing and looks better in 'real life' than it does in miniaturised electronic digital voodoo on screen. You can click on the image to get a slightly bigger version, but even then you won't get the full on Enormo-vision © viewing experience of the original.

The green and purple colours work especially well; I think I must have subconsciously cribbed them from the 'Incredible Hulk'. Speaking of which, I must say that I always had a great amount of respect for Bruce Banner. Despite the constant worry that he might transform into a raging, out-of-control monster at any moment, he still had time to think about buying trousers of a colour that complimented the skin tone of his alter ego. And on that note, did he buy his purple trousers in bulk? And if so, did he get a reasonable discount?

face

2010-05-07T08:36:00.002+01:00

I've been DOING STUFF. Okay?!?

rocket 88

2010-03-30T12:19:00.000+01:00

ein fliegendes schwein pt.2

2010-03-23T08:55:00.002Z

ein fliegendes schwein

2010-03-23T08:27:00.003Z

A couple of weeks ago, I received a rather curious letter from a German gentleman called Hans. In it, he explained that he was a fan of illustration and cartooning, told me that he liked my work and asked if it was possible to send him an image, preferably one containing a picture of a pig. Well, I was more than happy to oblige but I didn't have such a picture, so I drew the above which I sent off to my Teutonic correspondent yesterday.

I've subsequently used it as the basis of a screenprint as I wanted to do a quick experiment with halftone (see next post) in anticipation of a larger print-based project later in the year. Anyway, the drawing/print that resulted from this episode isn't earth-shattering by any stretch of the imagination (I'm at a loss to explain why this particular porcine is grounded, for one thing) but I'm happy with it and it was a welcome break from all the portraits I've been drawing recently.

sweet soul music

2010-03-22T09:19:00.006Z

And that's that. Finally. To recap, you're looking at:

Top row: Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, LaVern Baker.

Second Row: Ben E. King, Donald 'Duck' Dunn, King Curtis, Solomon Burke, Al Jackson Jr.

Third Row: Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Barbara Lewis, Arthur Conley, Aretha Franklin.

Fourth Row: Ruth Brown, Don Covay, Clyde McPhatter, Dave Prater, Carla Thomas.

Bottom Row: Ray Charles, Sam Moore, Joe Tex, Jimmy Hughes, Rufus Thomas.

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

aretha franklin

2010-03-17T18:11:00.003Z

Okay, okay, I know it's not the greatest likeness, but if you turn the lights out and squint, it's a dead ringer for Aretha. I've drawn about forty versions of Lady Soul and this is the one I'm happiest with (you should've seen the other ones, sheesh). Besides, this project has dragged on for too long and needs to be put to bed, so that's it. Over. Finished. Complete. Except for a logo. And a bit of recolouring here and there. And maybe a redrawn portait or two. Arrrgh, leggoofmeknackers.

carla thomas

2010-02-19T11:49:00.002Z

sam & dave

2010-02-18T17:28:00.003Z

Click on the image to see a larger copy.

clyde mcphatter

2010-02-13T09:50:00.002Z

jimmy hughes

2010-02-12T22:26:00.001Z

ruth brown

2010-02-11T08:43:00.002Z

percy sledge

2010-02-10T16:26:00.003Z

arthur conley

2010-02-01T22:00:00.002Z

booker t. & the mg's

2010-01-31T10:42:00.005Z

booker t. jones

2010-01-31T10:42:00.001Z

donald "duck" dunn

2010-01-30T12:07:00.001Z

al jackson jr.

2010-01-29T08:06:00.002Z

steve cropper

2010-01-28T08:23:00.002Z

barbara lewis

2010-01-27T19:46:00.000Z

joe tex

2010-01-26T23:41:00.001Z

rufus thomas

2010-01-25T08:41:00.002Z

wilson pickett

2010-01-24T09:32:00.003Z

lavern baker

2010-01-23T21:23:00.003Z

otis redding

2010-01-22T21:27:00.002Z

For a full biography of Otis Redding, go to:

http://www.mchester.co.uk/html/pers_01.html

(That means you, Collins)

eddie floyd

2010-01-21T20:54:00.006Z

Eddie Floyd found early success as a member of vocal harmony group The Falcons scoring hits with "You're So Fine" and, with Wilson Pickett on lead vocals, "I Found A Love". As a songwriter at Stax, he wrote material for Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Johnnie Taylor and many others. Floyd was also a hitmaker in his own right and his greatest moment on record came with the 1966 release, "Knock On Wood", a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

king curtis

2010-01-20T18:51:00.002Z

To the casual listener, the name King Curtis may not be a familiar one, but even if you don't know the name, you're sure to have heard one of the many records the saxophonist played on. He supplied the blistering solo on the Coaster's 1958 single "Yakety Yak", backed Buddy Holly in the studio and Sam Cooke live, was musical director for Aretha Franklin and played on many of her sessions as well as on those of fellow Atlantic artists such as Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and Don Covay, and had hit records of his own with "Soul Twist", "Soul Serenade" and "Memphis Soul Stew". It was his mellow, bluesy cover of "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" which provided the soundtrack to the opening scene of cult film "Withnail And I". Curtis had just finished work on a John Lennon session in August 1971, when he was stabbed during an altercation outside his New York home. He died from his injuries, aged just 37.

now, where were we?

2010-01-19T14:47:00.005Z

Oh yes, just before Christmas, if you remember, I'd started a series of Stax-Atlantic portraits. My trip to Thailand (see previous posts) brought that project to a temporary halt, but now I'm ready to pick up where I left off, and 'am aiming to finish the remaining portraits in the series before the end of the month. A new post will appear tomorrow.

(pictured above: Ray Charles, Don Covay, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke)

buddha head

2010-01-16T15:40:00.003Z

spicky

2010-01-15T17:52:00.002Z

Ah, Potato Spicky. The snack equivalent of crack cocaine...

ko surin idols

2010-01-14T21:11:00.001Z

grounds of wat pra singh

2010-01-13T22:32:00.002Z

wat pra singh

2010-01-12T08:31:00.000Z

wat mahathat spire

2010-01-11T08:31:00.001Z

wildlife

2010-01-10T09:37:00.004Z

No snakes or spiders or scorpions I'm afraid, and we didn't get any photos of the lemurs and macaques we saw on Ko Surin or, for that matter, any of the countless species of fish we saw when diving off the coast (no underwater camera). But these are pretty good, no?

wat mae chon

2010-01-09T09:45:00.005Z

Spotted on our second day in Sukhothai National Park, on route to Wat Si Chum.

On the first day, we'd stayed in the 'Central Zone' of the Old City, cycling around the grounds and stopping occasionally to do some drawing. The following day, we decided to explore the various zones beyond the city walls, but our coach to Bangkok was leaving in the afternoon so we were in something of a hurry. The receptionist at the hotel had told us that we absolutely must see the large statue of the Buddha — the largest in Sukhothai — at Wat Si Chum, and also to visit Wat Saphan Hin, a hilltop temple situated to the west of the city.

I was paranoid about encountering deadly snakes on my trip and was frequently witnessed gesticulating wildly and shouting 'COBRA!' whilst running away from lengths of hosepipe, electricity cables etc., so it was with some irony that the only snake I, ahem, came across during my stay was a dead one lying in the road that I ran over on my bike. At least, that's what J told me. I didn't see it as I was consulting a map at the time. If I had seen it, I imagine it would have been at least fifty feet long and would have had a glimmer of life about it, just enough in fact to stretch up and try and give me a fatal bite with it's dying breath. So, my running over the unfortunate reptile was a very brave act indeed...

Click on the image to see a larger version.

yaksha

2010-01-09T09:32:00.002Z

Photographed at the Grand Palace, Bangkok, these giant statues — representing demons from the Ramayana — watch over the Emerald Buddha and ward off evil spirits.

steinbeck

2010-01-09T09:30:00.001Z

holiday reading material

2010-01-09T09:24:00.003Z

patterns

2010-01-08T07:49:00.000Z

school milk

2010-01-07T10:03:00.001Z

A plastic pouch of school milk that Dirty D 'liberated' from her place of work. She said that not all the kids wanted it, so there was milk to spare, but I like to think that she deliberately stole this rich source of calcium from her charges, thus hampering their physical development and giving them all brittle bones in later life. Dirty by name...

On a technical note, this sketch is, for me, a rare foray into pen and watercolour wash, largely because I can't find a pen that I'm comfortable with that will take waterproof ink. Before I'm beseiged by cries of 'Noodler's Ink!, Noodler's Ink!', that's what I used here, but I'm still not happy with it. Although it's much better than other inks I've used, it's still not 100% waterproof and my favourite Parker fountain pen doesn't seem to like it very much. So until I find a better 'colouring-in' solution, I'm sticking with Photoshop.

guide

2010-01-06T14:31:00.000Z

The 'breakfast sweets' in question were like small suet puddings wrapped up in banana leaves. One had some unidentified purple fruit inside whilst the other contained sweetcorn. Like most desserts in Thailand they were incredibly sweet but as long as you didn't eat the whole thing, you managed to avoid instant diabetes.

We took the overnight bus to Khuraburi and arrived on the morning of the 21st December. We were supposed to arrive at 7am but the coach driver must have had his foot down as we reached our destination at around 5am. We hung around for an hour or so, then walked to a nearby market for a breakfast of rice soup and bananas. The rice soup was fresh, tasty and laced with a liberal amount of ginger — a good pick-me-up after a rather inconsistent night's sleep on the coach. More about the bananas later...

An hour or so later we were dropped off at a dock where the speedboat we'd booked ourselves onto was due to take us across to the island of Ko Surin. However, we couldn't leave until all the other passengers turned up and it was another couple of hours before they did. In the mean time, the staff of the boat company (Greenview) looked after us, gave us tea, coffee and the aforementioned sweets, and, having discovered she could speak Thai fluently, chatted to J.

twenty baht note

2010-01-05T13:24:00.001Z

Twenty baht probably won't be enough to buy you lunch, but it would get you a couple of drinks, a ride on a river boat, or a bunch of bananas.

thai type

2010-01-04T19:10:00.001Z

Not so much a tea-powered scribble as a series of noodle-fuelled photos. Still, I like these and wish I'd taken more.

NB. The keen-eyed Thai speakers amongst you will notice that the largest characters on the graffiti photo (centre left) say, 'LOVE'.

wat mahathat

2010-01-03T16:57:00.000Z

This is a statue of the Buddha at Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai. Sukhothai was one of my favourite places in Thailand about which I'll write more later.

I made an attempt at colouring this today, but the original black and white image is stronger. I may return to this at some point and try again, but until then...

thailand

2010-01-02T11:15:00.001Z

I've just spent a lovely four weeks in Thailand hence my recent lack of posts. Over the next few days, I'll upload some sketches I made whilst I was over there and I'm also intending to draw some images based on the many, many photographs I took during my stay.

Not forgetting the soul series I began before I left...