christopher hitchens – the man without fear

I hadn't noticed the delicious irony of Mr Hitchens' first name until now...

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

give him a pink face

Another recent preoccupation of mine is watching debates featuring Christopher Hitchens on YouTube. This resulted in a portrait of Hitch which I've uploaded to my website.

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

monkees

So, all those sketches of the Monkees (see previous posts) culminated in this portrait of the band. I get slightly obsessed by things and the focus of my attention this summer has been the Monkees. This was precipitated by their first album release since 1834 (or whenever the last one came out) which I bought out of curiosity and because XTC's Andy Partridge had written a song for the album. It's really good, particularly the first six or seven songs and there's a fantastic Mike Nesmith-led track called Me and Magdelena on there which is sublime. I then got the good lady wife (who's name escapes me for the moment) to buy me a cheapo box set of the Monkees first five studio albums – for a tenner no less – for my birthday and this has been the soundtrack to my summer...

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink on Stillman and Birn Alpha Series paper. Digital colour.

blockhead

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

famous people I have seen in real actual life

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

rainbow dash

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

mickey dolenz

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.