Forty years ago

Distant memory

A memory of something that happened to me when I was at college just popped into my head. We wereon a London trip to look at Art galleries and museums. For some reason wewere given cloakroom tickets (raffle tickets) instead of actual train tickets on the way down. We spent several hours visiting the National Gallery, the Courtauld Institute, the Tate and the Whitechapel Gallery. But then I miscalculated the distance from another gallery to Euston Station via the Underground (the map is very beautifully designed but the distances are altered to make all the stations fit. And so me and my friend arrived on the platform at Euston as the train yo Stoke-on-Trent started to pull out. I ran but couldn’t jump up to the train door. We had to go to the station ticket office with our raffle tickets! After explaining they agreed we could catch the next train, two hours later we were off. But unfortunately it only went to Stafford, I don’t know how we got back from there but we did… Bus I think, yes, I couldn’t afford to get a taxi the twenty miles we were short on a student grant…

Send a drawing

Sent today to the Russian Embassy from an idea on Instagram by @johnapedder

It’s worth a try. Using the postal system instead of digital media means there will be a physical object to show my objection to the war. Its a peaceful drawing. On the reverse I’ve written ‘from a concerned UK citizen, peace and love’.

I’m deliberately not using offensive language. I do not wish to be aggressive, I just remember that old film about Santa, where all the children send a letter through the US postal service, which proves Santa exists. Perhaps this might have a small effect.

Watching an old black and white film.

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Watching an old film from 1964. I can’t remember the title, it’s what they used to call a ‘kitchen sink’ drama. They were much more slow paced than modern films, but with a lot more content and thought. They make you question the reality of how people used to live.

As I watch I can see that it will probably end in tragedy. Callous men and downtrodden women. Emotions and complications. Sadness and worry….

Trafalgar Square

Today for our virtual sketching visit we drew Trafalgar square in London.

Every weekend Stoke-on-Trent Urban Sketchers chooses a venue to draw from and this week was a view of Trafalgar Square with the National gallery and one of the famous lions in the foreground. The image was taken from Google maps and each sketcher drew it or another view of it. There were about ten artists drawing and sketching or using ink pens, some of them were using watercolours too. At the end we had a throw down (a digital view of all the drawings). An enjoyable couple of hours.

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