I've lived for many years in Gloucestershire, despite being brought up in Lancashire and working in London for a number of years.
I'm very fond of this county, it is brilliantly beautiful in many ways, and I'm very fond of the people. They go right across the spectrum from the very poshest people you might meet with their accents that are pure cut glass to the opposite where what they say is barely discernible. I love the range of places to visit and have devised a small guide to the true meaning of some Gloucestershire place names entitled : Glossary.
Drawings and writings on this learned subject can be read every month in Cotswold Life, a magazine mainly populated by the well to do and advertisments for eye wateringly expensive hand made kitchens which no one in their right mind would ever cook in. The people who buy these kitchens probably eat out more than most, and not at the local chippie either.
Here are just a few of the drawings and writings from the series. They need the words to make sense, so make sure you read them to get the full gist.
Hope you enjoy, and coming here is much cheaper than Cotswold Life...
PROPER DRAWINGS
When I started my career in cartoons it was thanks to my parents having an open mind about exactly how I would earn a crust. They were never the slightest bit embarrassed about it and told all our friends and relations. Some of them I suspect thought it a bit of an odd job, and one in particular, a very dear Aunt, was heard saying to a friend that I was a cartoonist "but he can do proper drawings as well".
This page is dedicated to my dear Aunty Anne. These are my proper drawings.
I think she would have liked them.
The Plot. This is a view from my allotment over to Dennis's fine piece of growing. Like all of these it's drawn on card with Indian ink and an old fashioned dip pen. There may be a touch of white paint here and there.
A Cotswold Lane on a bright and breezy day
Canmore in the Canadian Rockies
By some water in the South West of France
High up in the Derbyshire Dales this signpost pointed the way we should be going.
At the bottom of the Chalford Valley in Gloucestershire is a meadow with a stone building, this is the view there. This is the very first stage of this drawing.
A stile on the South Downs Way walk. This was a brilliant bright green day with loads of oil seed rape fields. Great for shadows.
All of these black and white drawings are intended to be converted to colour digitally, and here is just one of the colour versions of the South Downs Way. The original artwork is done on paper, the colour finals are digital files.
I hope you've enjoyed this small tour of my proper drawings.
If you'd like to have one of these original black and white drawings or a colour print then please get in touch from here
Clicking on the drawings will bring up a larger version.