One of the exercises on the drawing course is to develop a “selfie” cartoon … a character self portrait. This caused me to use up a lot of pages in the sketch book. And to get really upset. Vanity struggles with realism. Ageing is not a good look for me, never mind the artistic challenge of frizzy grey hair.
Why are we in black & white?
“I bought a book: How to Draw Noir Comics by Shawn Martinbrough. He says you have to draw from life or photos … and to start taking lots of photos in black & white.
Does it make us look sinister?
Ta-da! You could draw us like this.
“Yes Mum.”
“Finally, you enter a big department store’s fabric sale. Feeling very tired, you offer up a little prayer. And my sister unearths a roll of linen …
… with a butter yellow background, birds, flowers in coral, a little pink frog or two … and leaves the exact colour of your carpet …
The moment of truth is that you need 11 metres and there are just 11 metres left on the roll. Voila! Very happy and tired, you return home … with my sister and niece carrying a very heavy parcel.”
What a wonderful story, if I do say so myself. Just like a fairy tale. But why have you waited so long before finishing the telling of it?
“Sorry, Mum, I discovered Pinterest.”
“My sister goes off to buy the curtain material you have set your heart on but someone else has bought it. All 36 yards of it…. you write that you “could weep”.
“And when she suggests you come with her and your granddaughter on a trip to the nearest big city one hundred miles away, your first reaction is that you can’t do it. All that traipsing around … You must have been about 80 at the time, Mum.”
But then you think … Ah. Curtains, and off you go. You search and search … but in all the city you cannot find the material you so want.”
“For you still have “that lovely butter yellow” in your “mind’s eye.”
