Redbridge Lakes for the Sept/October South Woodford Village Gazette. Apart from the lady and mushroom group, the rest was painted from references I found on Images. I even had a fabulous time doing a coloured pencil study of the hunting Robertson tartan! Mainly because that was the one we had as a child, but also because I needed something which would pick up the colours in the rest of the piece, without it taking over.

Even though it's time for the next editorial job, here's the last one. I know these pictures don't make a deal of sense unless you read the piece it was about, but suffice to say, it was about hebe plants and going to the tip. The styles I've used before have been pretty much different, and I've had a free rein on my approach. All very nice, but I had come to realise that there was a certain lack of continuity, and that was making me uneasy. With this illustration I feel I have hit the spot, can reproduce the look, and incorporate the red clothed writer into whatever situation she finds herself.

Another one reminiscent of days gone by, also for the South Woodford Village Gazette. The brief was squirrels eating camellias but as there were other garden features mentioned in the article, I made a trip to Redbridge Garden Centre. Couldn't believe my luck when I came across a stone squirrel.

This is the one in King's Cross. I did want to draw far enough down to get the lovely red sign in, but as usual the paper I had was too small. After an hour and a half, the sun was setting, and the nip in the air had become prominent. Time to leave. I meant to do something small, quick and cute, but unfortunately, drawings, like roads, are often paved with good intentions.

A compilation piece for the South Woodford Village Gazette. I've had a thing for a while now, about those exquisite book illustrations of the '30's, especially those drawn by Rex Whistler for the delightful tales of country life by Beverley Nichols. During the week, I went to see the David Hockney, and also had time to pop into the Paul Nash, as it was daft not to. Well worth it for his pen and pencil work. So what I aimed for here, was that 'memory' of a long gone idyllic world, (pretty much like a holiday) which may, or may not, have existed anyway.

There is a gap in my set of Chelsea drawings. If I had them in 3 rows of 3, there wouldn't be, but as it is, I need one more. For now. Not many boroughs have such attractive street 'furniture', and I thought this cross between architecture and still life would be an alternative one for a placement print. I like it as a pencil drawing, but on later inspection, I'd put in too many segments round the top. The new pencil study is on the Chelsea page, waiting to be finished in ink.

Sort of picking up where I left off over in the Bloggersphere; it all feels a little weird. Anyway, can't live in the past, so here I am. Wyndham's Theatre took me a long time, and that wasn't just the drawing. Cleaning up on Photoshop isn't a five minute job, well not for me, as I had insisted on inking over the original pencil lines, quite necessary too, I may add. Still there is history to pieces done like this, and traces of indelible graphite are a reminder that we don't always get things how we want them straight away.