Some Recent Doodles

Home Crafts

My latest passion is making stuff out of household rubbish ( not such a new thing for me!) and covering it all with a layer af papier mache( newspaper and flour paste ) and painting it with gaudy colours in the style of Indian gew gaws. It's great fun and excellent for filling the days when stuck at home during this awful Covid 19 pandemic. Today I started on a new pile of tat that includes a soya milk carton, cake box, toilet roll tube, cereal packet etc. It looks like a real mess at the moment but hopefully when the paste has dried will hold together like the previous space helmet ( see above ). H

azel has found it very amusing especially when it gets stuck on my head!

Mother's Day

Nice photo of my Mum as a teenager that my sister Barb put up on FB this morning. We miss her of course - she was a wonderful Mum and will never be forgotten. Hazel went over to see her Mom this morning - took some pansies to plant in the garden and waved and blew kisses through the window at her. I stayed in to paint the recycled junk boat ( made from milk catons, packets and waste containers ) called the S.S. Corona. Just one of the many silly projects lined up for the next few months we are stuck indoors. We have lots of rubbish so we are not short of materials. Photo soon.

New Doodles

New doodles from my sketchbook. Daily drawings for FB group "Daily Doodle". Coloured pencils and graphite.

Self Isolation

Staying in most of the time as I am in that vunerable over 70's group. Just back from a forage to local Co-op which foolishly I thought would be quiet at 8 am but car park was full and people coming out said there was no milk or bread! So wandered on a bit further past the lines of cars eager to get to Aldi and Lidl. The local Spar shop had milk and plenty of bread but at a price - almost a third more than the Co-op. O well, at least we have some and I bought some beans and tinned tomatoes as they are always useful. Thankfully we did our big shop last week before all this panic buying set in. Our freezer and fridge are relatively full so we could probably exist on what we have for a few weeks. But I expect when the mad rush for bog roll and hand cleaner is over the shelves will fill up again.

Interactive Arts 27 Years Celebration

Off to Manchester for 24 hours of fun and elbow greets. Met up with John Hegley to show him round the Curious Things exhibition which he seemed to enjoy especially the hand and feet shaped postcards. Then over to the Interactive Arts celebrations and speeches to open the exhibition in Benzie, The Link Gallery and Grosvenor Gallery in MMU. John read some poems and sung a song about Hazel. Did some colouring in of figs. Met Jim Medway the cartoonist/illustrator. Another former I.A. student as was Ryan Gander ( not present ) and many more alumni who gathered to catch up and knock elbows. Later in the Mezze bar for drinks and impossible quishy tower burger. Stayed night in the nearby hotel as Hazel had to come in the next day to turn on all the videos, TV' s and computers. Sadly because of the flu scare lots of people stayed away.

Lower Marsh SE1

Discovered this still from the 1950's film "Waterloo Road" recently on Instagram of Lower Marsh market in it's heyday. Sad to see it now with just a few stalls left. Even in the 80's it had some life when I worked at Cooper's Natural Foods part time. All gone now. The seond photo was taken a few years after Coopers closed - the building empty and falling into decay. Business's bought out and run down so property developers can buy up huge chunks of London for huge profits - sheer greed. A once lively community decimated. There;s Tim Cooper in the other photo - an early shot of the health food emporium with some of my paintings on the walls.

Doodles and Frodsham

FRodsham this morning - early start. Found a few DVD's in the various charity shops inc. a boxed set of jean-Paul Belmondo £2-50, Arthur Askey boxed set of avi. fuzzy films that some devotee had put together. Not sure I'll be watching much of that as it is a bit too blurry being 4 films on one CD. I thang yow! As Arthur would say. Hazel got a few bits and bobs including a spool of green thread, a plastic letter opener and a box of joss sticks that smell like a hippie commune. Then to a friendly antique shop where the owner amused us with tales of propelling pencils etc. Hazel bought one with a penknife attached for some reason. She obviously fell for his disarming patter! Then off to Lady Hayes antique emporium for more rummaging in piles of tat. Not much there really. Gone down hill from it's glory days of the noughties. Home for some doodling and tofu and egg seedy bun.

Lunch With Eve's

Nice day in town shopping and then to Sandbach to to look round the market and Aldi and onwards to the Eve's in Alsager. Delicious lunch and amusing chat ( forgot camera so this is a previous occasion ) and Hazel managed to prize some old work off Tony for the MMU Interactive Arts allumni show. Some wonderful intricate booksworks and maquettes. Got home before it got dark and the wind and rain arrived again. Crackers and cheese for dinner as we are too full for anything more substancial!

Mini Mail Art Symposium

Nice day with Roger Stevens, Jilly Stevens and Joe Decie who stayed overnight with us before we all went off to Manchester the next day to see John Held and his partner Mary who had been in Budapest and now in UK for a few days to give a talk at MMU on mail art. Also a rubber stamp workshop at Special Collections as part of the Curious Things exhibition. Stephen Fowler the renowned rubber stamp carver and graphic designer came all the way from Bristol which was nice. He brought a big box of his latest stamps with him. Nice to meet up at last sincebeing friends on FB for a while. Peter Arkle the cartoonist was their briefly too. Hazel talked to him but I was otherwise engaged. Printed to the jumbo rubber stamp which was fun and Stephen and few other folk had a go too. Nice lunch in the Eighth Day Wholefood Cafe which was very crowded but we managed to find two tables to push together. It all went on until 7pm and then we rushed off to get grab a sandwich and get out train home. Roger and family went off to visit relatives in Manchester. John and Mary had a curry to sample and then back to LOndon and their flight to SF tomorrow. Phew! The rain held off thankfully so wasn't too wet.

Indoor Boot Sale

Back to the non bargains of indoor boot. Nothing did I find but Hazel got some gardening snips, a set of Snakes and Ladders counters in a colourful box plus a cigarette tin. It wasa busy too but some stalls seem to have the same stuff they had last time. O well - we have too much junk anyway! Then to Lidly to stock up on a few bits. Thne through the drizzle to Granma and Audrey's for tea and chat. A quiet afternoon for me watching a French film "The Gardener's Conversations" or was it "Conversations With |My Gardener?" It wasa bit slow and I nodded off towards the end. Hazel in cleaning mode due to guests arriving tomorrow. More anon.

Even More Doodles!

More old toys and junk around the house. I have not done justice to the bright gaudy colours of the tin toys. Coloured pencils are not ideal really for showing how bright and zingy they all are.

More Doodles

More drawings in pen and coloured pencil from my small pocket sized notebook for the "Daily Doodle" group on FB.

Dave Smith's 80th Birthday Surprise Party

|Nice day out yesterday with Tony and Pene who drove us to Marsden in South Yorkshire for Dave's surprise birthday party in a cafe run by his nieghbours daughter Katie. Snow held off thankfully though it was mighty cold - brrrrr! We trickled in to the cafe from the pub down the road so he got a surprise gate crasher every few minutes. Nice food and chats. Got back home around 5 - traffic not too bad thankfully. Hazel would never have driven that motorway route - she prefers the long way round via Glossop but it was blocked by snow apparently.

Katie's cafe and in the pub beforehand plotting our surprise entrance to Dave's party.

Doodle A Day

Inspired by a Daily Doodle group on FB I have been encouraged to return to my little pocket sized sketchbook to draw something with either coloured pencils or pen ( Stabilo point 88 fine 0.4 ). I did have several attempts over the years ( mainly New Year's resolutions)but they often failed and were neglected. Hazel has always been an avid drawer and adds something to her tiny books every day. So here's a few I've done recently - mostly of objects lying about the place.

Muddy Whitegate Walk

Nice muddy walk this morning over at Whitegate Way. Squelch squelch!...........................Lots of runners, joggers and doggies. Some of the big dogs looked like they'd quite like to eat the little dogs! Tempted by the nearby Station cafe but decided to save money and go home for a cup of tea and biscuit once we'd washed our hands of the mud and grot! Thankfully the early drizzle had stopped and it was quite pleasant despite the cutting which hampers onces view somewhat - further along the cutting ( an old railway line ) it broadens out and one can see more of the surrounding farmland and countryside.

First Indoor Boot of the Year

First indoor boot sale of the year at Memorial court this morning. A few bargains including Dusty Bin money box with attaching nose, ears, hands, feet etc. An ancient and battered Hoopla game, plastic car kits, tons of postcards and a tin of metal gizmos. Then to Lidl to get some bits and bobs. Made some vege soup for lunch and had pretzels to dip in it. Yum!

Congleton Antiques and Junk

Pleasant wander around Congleton today with old chums Tony and Pene just back from OZ and NZ where they managed to avoid any fires thankfully. Not many bargains at the antique emporium but did get a big heavy book about John Peel's Sessions for the BBC which I look forward to perusing at my leisure. Lunch in the cafe on the top floor of Victoria Mill. Cheese and onion toastie and side salad. Toasted tea cake later after a wander round the charity shops in the drizzle.