If affection could have saved you, you would still have lived.

Figurative drawings of elderly people in John Lewis

Figurative colour study on a napkin

Small studies of elderly faces

Normally I'd use a 'visual research day' as an opportunity to catch up on much needed sleep rather than actually venturing out of the house to draw! However, as it's a gloriously sunny day I've decided to be productive.

I started my day in the doctors surgery drawing patients waiting for their appointments, although, it resulted in many, many drawings of backs of peoples' heads- not quite as intriguing as I wanted.  So my next stop was the cafe in John Lewis, the perfect hot spot to find the elderly generation! After spending and hour and a half drawing my unsuspecting victims I left with a nice selection of gestural drawings, without even buying a drink.

Close up of my colour study on a napkin

Without a doubt my favourite drawing from the couple of hours was this figurative colour study on a napkin of the customers in John Lewis.  I love the use of gestural line and bold colour. Also, as the drawing was on a napkin the colour has bled onto the page behind it creating an interesting impression of the original drawing.

My last stop from the day was Church Rock Cemetery (Cheery, I know) where I planned to get rubbings in wax crayon from the interesting grave stones. However, I didn't even make it past the General Cemetery, nevermind the main Rock Cemetery.  It was unbelievably interesting to see all the ages and messages on each grave, the words were sweet yet depressing and poetic at the same time.  Out of all the ones I saw, the words that have stayed with me were 'If affection could have saved you, you would have still lived'. 

Wax crayon rubbing from a gravestone.

New Sunglasses :)

And after a hard days work what better way to treat myself than to a pair of new Sunny G's!  Plus they're getting me all excited for summer and it was cheaper than getting my tragus pierced!  HOWEVER! I shall get pierced one day.

I'll keep you updated on how things pan out, and I will be adding photos of my film photos and recent glass making workshop in the coming days. Enjoy Summer :)

Alistair