Promotion update #3 - Table at Festival Preview event

I had a table at the Cheltenham Festival Preview night on Sunday evening, organised for me by the Three Counties race club. I neglected to take any photos of my table, on which I had my sketchbooks open on good pages and prints displayed in literature holders that I bought in Staples. Anyway I managed to sell a few of my prints and some packs of screen print postcards, which was good, and receive some feedback about my work from people, which was nice (mostly).

I did some drawing of the principal speakers, AP McCoy and Nicky Henderson, although they were a long way away from my table at the back of the hall. These drawings look like they were done on parchment - again, it's just the cursed Blogger image uploading:

Screenprints #2

Here is a scan of my screenprinted postcards that I made yesterday in a bright Cheltenham yellow colour. I will pack them up into wee bags of 5 and attempt to sell them.

Giclée Prints and Screen Printed postcards #1

I have been working on doing a series of prints to display and hopefully sell at the Festival Preview event which I have a table at on the 7th March. I narrowed down the drawings to just over 20 which I thought might work as prints roughly A4 - A3 in size:

I printed these out on the MFD and narrowed down further to about 15. I wanted the prints to be mounted ready for framing and found a local company Cotswold Mounts who cut mounts to standard and custom sizes and also supply backing boards and bags. I ordered just over 30 of these and have prepared the files to the correct sizes for fitting into the mount frames. These I plan to print at Hardwick at the first opportunity.

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I also wanted to do some postcards but, having had a look through various websites offering postcards decided I'd rather do some myself, which I may yet regret given the time I don't have. Rather than going for more Giclee I decided to use some of the line drawings I'd done in the earlier stages of this project and go for some screen printed postcards which would allow me to spend some quality time in the print room.

The line drawings are all of characters from the course and I decided to add in a spot colour - I initially thought yellow as this is associated with Cheltenham racecourse with the yellow scarves at Festival time etc. I used some background elements from other drawings I'd done to form the colour layer as well as putting in some block tone in photoshop. Here are the designs I came up with:

Having shown these to a few people and received good feedback I went ahead and prepared them for screen which involved shrinking them down to A6 size - I'm afraid they will be a little small for my liking but I can always come back and make larger ones. A6 is also standard postcard size and will allow me to put them in proper sized bags for selling. Here is an example of the design for the screen: 

Actually, this one looks quite good in b/w: 

I will get some thick paper from Hardwick tomorrow and hopefully crack on with printing them in the evening. I can do a letterpress of this blog address and my name and email on the back afterwards.

Cotswold Life

I am in the March edition of Cotswold Life magazine! Just a wee drawing, but a good description of the project. See page below: 

Promotion Update #2

Since I last posted, various developments:

1: A drawing of mine will be published in the March issue of Cotswold Life magazine. This came about through Tracy Spiers on the course who works for the magazine. I don't know which drawing they have used! But await the outcome anyway. It is likely to be a small image as I got in just before the deadline, and some explanatory text with a link to this blog.

2: Following onto this, I pitched a daily blog idea to the magazine's assistant editor Candia McCormack - the idea being that during the Festival I will send some drawings to the magazine and they will feature them on their website with text written by me as well. The Festival is four days so this will mean coming back to the studio, scanning and cleaning things up and doing a bit of writing. The idea was welcomed and all going well will go ahead - which is excellent. I hope this will give the work and myself a bit more coverage and also give me a bit more of a clear idea of how to approach the work during Festival week.

3: I have also obtained passes to all four days of the Festival (11th -14th March) through my contact there. This won't get me into the Parade Ring or weighing room but the rest of the place should be on. So I don't have to fork out cc £300+ for tickets which is nice.

4: I made some more business cards as I ran out; again on the MFD but this time with some decent card from Rymans. Made a template in Indesign this time so it printed Duplex, then trimmed them down:

5: I have approached The Loquens Gallery in Cheltenham which specialises in cartoons and watercolours. I introduced my project and work and exchanged business cards. They said that, contrary to logical assumptions, Festival week is quiet as far as art sales ago, but they can at least look at my website and see whether they like any of the drawings.

6: I will hopefully be able to have a table to sell work at a Festival preview evening event on the 9th March organised by a contact I met at the racecourse - Steve Ennis who organises the Cheltenham and Three Counties Raceclub. I have prepared just over 20 possible prints in A4 size ready to go with a few A3 and will have a look at buying some mount board or getting pre-cut ready made mounts from somewhere possibly the range to mount up some Giclee prints I intend to do at Hardwick.

7: I intend to research the racecourse gallery itself which apparently exists somewhere in the bowels of the grandstand and which I am yet to find although I need to know who runs it so things to find out here.

Forest of Dean drawings

These are the drawings I got done on the Forest Adventure, all done in the hostel or the pub due to the weather. I thought it would be worth analysing them in the context of my ongoing development of observational and reportage drawing. 

I think this drawing works well with its unusual perspective and playful characterisation. I wasn't so bothered about capturing the James' features more than conveying a sense of companionship. I gave James Baily small wiggly arms which makes him look somewhat like an overgrown child - he was at the time struggling with his horrible burger and feeling fairly helpless. I enjoyed drawing the plate of burger that was giving him trouble.

I am trying in general to think more about how to treat objects in drawings that are principally about people - how to observe them appropriately in relation to the people in the pictures.

I used my Lamy safari pen for many of these drawings which skates quite well over the smooth moleskine paper allowing for rapid drawing. The ink also collects in tiny dots which create quite an interesting effect.

I like the table tennis drawings above and below as I've gone more for a lively approach rather than aim for characterisation above all else. One obviously has to choose a pose for the tennis players as the movement is too fast and (in the case of these amateur, undisciplined players!) rarely repeated. I tried to get a sense of how the style of play sheds light on character - Matt Amos jutting forward and prone to rash shots, Jacob laid back and languid. 

I am pleased with this drawing which is unusually composed. I hope it captures Jon and Jess quite well. Jess was always a werewolf in the games (of werewolf) we played and had an extremely poor poker face which betrayed her every time. Jon is wearing his usual expression of impish amusement; I am pleased with his bendy leg which somehow sheds light on his sense of humour. I went for a gently comic effect here without hopefully any malice. In this drawing I actually drew the whole window and much background detail in the common room and had a fair amount of time to do so as I was generally killed in the game fairly early.

Putting the window in reminded me slightly of David Hockney's drawings, which often feature characters against the backdrop of a window. I associate Hockney with producing many drawings of friends, although he tends to draw in sittings as opposed to observing daily activities. In particular Hockney's naturalistic drawings done in the 1970s, where his attention to detail and likeness comes to the fore.

Briefly: Hockney's sparse use of line (Picasso?) in observing still life: 

A drawing of the artist's father - sensitive characterisation and positioning the figure within a sparsely detailed context:

I think there must be something in the process of drawing friends and those familiar that changes the experience of drawing and the focus slightly. One can be less precious with those that one does not know. However, there is a certain sensitivity that comes through in drawings of people we like and are familiar with. 

Festival Trials Day, 25th January 2014

Festival Trials Day is the last day of racing at Cheltenham before the four-day Festival in March. During a week when large tracts of Somerset disappeared underwater and freak weather events battered the country, the racing hardcore descended upon the racetrack undeterred to pay their dues. Unsurprisingly, the Club lawn was roped off and the ground declared Heavy.

Since this meeting is generally all about gleaning any tips and form for the forthcoming Festival I decided to spend most of the day drawing in the Tattersalls - the main betting ring in front of the Grandstand. This meant I could also get under the cover of the stands should the weather turn, as I fully expected it to do.

This is a view from the near end of the Grandstand across the betting ring with Cleeve Hill in the background. The light was initially quite bright and the weather clear if blustery.

All the best characters - like this lady wearing several different animals - are to be found in the Tattersalls where the punters monitor the changing prices on the horses before putting their money on. Each betting company operates a 'pitch', which consists of an electronic board and sign mounted on a stand, to which is attached a small staff and a collection of boxes, bags and trolleys to set the thing up and take it home at the end of the day. Each bookie has a man or woman sitting at the computer set up behind the pitch, presumably to keep the odds updated (above). Below, this casually-dressed punter collected a sheaf of notes from this bookie so had obviously had a good win:

Above: this lone punter kept his eyes on the second race from minute one and only gave up towards the end. Below are two drawings that didn't quite come off as the subjects decided to shift off too soon:

Some of the bookies have traditional names - some very old - and others opt for puns such as 'Spread Ex', above. This bookmaker was really a kind looking fellow. Some betting-ring characters, such as the gentleman below, seem to have no discernible function - he hovered around the same pitch all day without ever seeming to do any work or place any bets:

Below, this priceless granny was huddling against the cold - or perhaps her bets weren't coming off:

Above, I thought these chaps looked quite distinguished, but I didn't get their colours. The chap in the hat was wearing a striped puce and emerald suit (natch) while his friend was more casually attired in a navy coat and open shirt. Like something out of John Le Carre, I thought.

It started to get cold so I moved under the grandstand for protection. Above we are looking over the betting ring to the winning-post.

If I had a favourite horse, it might well be The Giant Bolster, who stayed on well to win the fourth race, the Argento Chase over 3 miles 1 furlong. He is a Gold Cup regular but generally overlooked despite finishing runner-up in 2012 and fourth in 2013. These two punters had backed him but, confusingly, appear here to be standing in mid-air in front of the big screen.

Another excellent granny; evidently a day out for all the family, and some dead animals too.

You wouldn't have known it, but in a minute or two the heavens are going to open...

... in the second spectacular thunderstorm to hit Cheltenham races this season. Sunny one minute, then the skies darken and a flash of lightening precedes an enormous clap of thunder. Hailstones and gale-force winds then proceed to blow over most of the bookies' umbrellas, destroy several food stores, loosen some fences and send debris and some unlucky punters everywhere. One of the bookmakers even lost his electronic board and had to put up a plastic whiteboard instead. I drew this mostly from memory as the storm can only have lasted five minutes and most of this time I spent looking on anxiously.

And, indeed, you wouldn't have known it had happened at all from the expression on this old boy's face, who was back to his form study as soon as he realised the worst was over. Doubtless he's seen it all before.

Finally, some more bookmakers. They perch about a foot higher than everyone else to better project their incentives and accept bets. Below: it is now gone 4 and the light is fading; I wanted to capture the orange glow projected onto this bookmaker's face from his electronic board as he accepted some last bets on the final race:

Tales From The Turf/Sporting Art and caricature

I discovered this book in the Oxfam charity book shop on Bath Road: Tales From The Turf by Jeffrey Bernard & Hugh Dodd. It was published in 1991 as a collection of columns Bernard wrote for the Sporting Life and the Spectator from the mid 70s until Bernard's death in 1997. Whether the articles were also illustrated in the magazines I don't know. Sadly the Sporting Life also died a print death in 1998 and now only exists as an anodyne betting news website with no features at all. I was in a school production of the play 'Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell,' so named after the line printed in the paper when fill-in writers covered for Bernard as he struggled with the alcoholism that was to kill him. I wasn't Bernard in the play, incidentally.

Bernard's stories are largely anecdotal and accompanied by full-colour paintings by Hugh Dodd, who at the time was mostly a caricaturist. He has gone on to major in Golf and now chiefly does landscapes of famous golf holes. At this stage he was clearly influenced by Degas and Lautrec whose use of pastel hatching to colour features in most of the pictures. I find his caricatures generally too unsympathetic and rather lacking in variation although the ones I have scanned here are exceptions. One could equally say that they do a good job at portraying the venality of the racing scene Bernard describes in his tales. There are also small sketches of horses done in pen that I prefer.

One suspects that an illustrator like Ralph Steadman might have done a better job illustrating Bernard given his association with the similarly self-destructive but entertaining Hunter S. Thompson. Yet for all this Dodd's pictures are not useless in conveying the familiar sights of horse racing, though he does very few horses. The interesting thing is that, really, the racing 'scene' has changed little since the early 90s and, were it not for the fact that this sort of caricature style has rather gone out of fashion there is very little that has dated about the content of the images.

This sort of sporting book - and the use of illustration in them - was quite common until the 1990s, and could be found across all sports. It is less common now, although not nonexistent. I suspect the professionalisation of contemporary sport has toned down the number and value of anecdotes that emerge from the ranks of increasingly musclebound, identikit players. Sport books are more often po-faced nowadays, either bone-crunchingly motivational or utterly depressing; there is less of the old school-boy humor. An exception might be found amongst cricket books which still produce a few of this type every other year. A contemporary illustrator who does sporting caricature is John Ireland:

More often we have variations on the graphic design theme, as with Phil Tufnell's latest offering: 

Most horse racing books feature nothing but photos; there are plenty of antique racing prints on the walls of the grandstand at Cheltenham racecourse but no contemporary illustrations. I have picked a hard nut to crack. Cricket is easier. Ex-cricketer turned journalist and broadcaster Simon Hughes' recent lighthearted cricket history book had a cover by Paul Slater, a take on Da Vinci's The Last Supper featuring famous cricketers (but, deeply inappropriately, none of them West Indian or Asian): 

I am not really in the business of doing covers for sports books just yet. But anything that is to do with sport is connected in some way to this sort of work, and the intent; to capture a familiar aspect of the sport and convey it in a way different to photography, is very much relevant, I feel.