March 2012 Calendar sketch

Shew weeee! Hello all :) Here it is, the picture for the calendar from March, presented, I know, towards the end of May... Feel free to make your own comments. For the last month I have been displaying paintings alongside Sylvaine's jewelry at her studio in Brighton as part of the Open House exhibitions. The exhibition has been an overwhelming success with a lot of incredibly positive feedback and this weekend, the 26th and 27th will be the last chance to see the work on display at Farm Road Mews. As a result the Court lodge expedition for May is going to have to be moved to another day. I will keep you posted as to where and when, in the mean time please have a look at the exhibition online by following this link OpenHouseExhibition.
Until then, Adieu from Roo.

There sure are a lot of rabbits...

The birds were singing and the grass was green, but it seemed that most of the animals had the good sense to stay warm and dry, that is all except for the rabbits, and I. They seemed to be everywhere and yet covert, like little coordinated illegal gatherings reminiscent of Shaun Tan's wonderful book, The Rabbits. Suddenly I envisioned thousands of milk rabbits, farmed like cows, roaming the Pevensy Levels and being milked by tiny little rabbit milking machines or by disgruntled and under employed faeries put out of work by a lack of magic... but I digress. I am soaked through and warming slowly on my second cup of tea. The farm was wet and windy. My hiking boots are less waterproof than they used to be and it is impossible to sketch in pencil when your page is wet. You would think that this would be obvious, but now I know... Things that will be included in April's picture, green grass, rain, cows, rabbits, a fleet footed fox and cowslips... oh! and swallows :) ... and once again a pervasive sense of amity, thank you Court Lodge Farm, beautiful, even when wet.

Hello all! I am sincerly sorry for the lack of postage over the last month but exciting things have been afoot. Sylvaine invited me to exhibit at her Open House during the Brighton Festival and i have been directing all of my energy into preparing for the weekend of the 5th of May. I will post pictures as soon as and send invites for a possible private view on friday the 4th... watch this space :) In other news, our car has been written off by a friday night drunk driver, fortunately we were at home and nicely asleep during the incident and are getting a replacement car for the next couple of weeks, courtesy of the insurance company! As a result, I will be travelling out to Court lodge this Sunday, for an EARLY morning sketch and then back to Brighton for a roast to celebrate my belated birthday from the 13th of April. Let me know if you are an early riser and I will pick you up for the mission. March artwork to follow shortly!

Great Video!

Check out this lovely video of a little of what they do at Court Lodge!

Just Published!!!

A little aside, I just got published! Whoo hooo! I mean it was a while ago, but just got my copy:) If anyone wants to see and support this awesome South Africa based intiative, check it out at Indy Planet or Comics Monkey
Happy Easter everybody, bunny ears and chocolate eggs :)

Sunday March 25th 2012

It's beginning to sound a little cliched, BUT what an amazing day! Court lodge Farm is beautiful. We arrived late Saturday night as Marian had offered us Moorhen cottage to stay in for the evening. Sylvaine joined us again for the sketch along with Liz and Marek (who hoped to do some mountain biking). After some delicious polish black pudding fried with onion, white bread, salad and sausage and a little bit of wine, we headed for bed, the clocks moved forward an hour for daylight saving, hopeful to get an early start with the sunrise. Remarkably after only 4 or so hours of sleep Liz, Sylvaine and myself fueled by a warm beverage, made it to the east facing hill top with the dawn chorus all around and the nip-chill of morning gnawing at the seams of our clothes. We sat in the dewy grass watching the landscape change from half light to morning glory and sketched, then trudged back for toffee cheesecake and (after a brief moment of absurdity at not finding any milk whilst staying next to a barn full of cows on a dairy farm) coffee and a wonderful nap! It's the simple things really :) The pace didn't change much through out the day and we spent our time sketching the farm house from the decking of Moorhen Cottage and soaking up the amazing spring time sun which made us all a very happy kinda lazy. In the afternoon I found a baby newt hiding under a concrete slab, which caused a remarkable amount of excitement for a creature 30 x 4 mm (and was viewed by no less than 7 people in a span of ten minutes, which was probably the most exciting and terrifying experience of its entire life!). Clare, after running a half marathon in Hastings, accompanied us for our first river swim of the season (cold and wonderful!) and sadly, after that it was time to leave.
Once more, Court Lodge has proved inspirational, and has left me with a warm and slightly golden feeling of well being. There was some lovely art work produced which I will post shortly but until then, please take a look at the slide show on the right of this page.
(Alas, I have still not managed to sketch any cows!)

Congratulations!

Thank you all for your poems and contributions! They were great fun to read, unfortunately there could be only one winner so, Congratulations to Ree Branndon on your delight-fully foxy poem!

Beyond the watery wood lay a marsh

the terrain, there was uncannily harsh

but outrun the huge, bushy tail he must

tho' the more he ran he got so confussed!

Your original sketch will be posted snail style as soon as is technologically possible!

Sunday 25th of March

Hello! It's time again to head out to court lodge farm. The car battery is dead and the sun is shining. Preparations are underway and I am excited to see what this month will offer in terms of both people and nature. Last month lovely Ms Frouin joined me in the sunshiny meadows, and I am hoping that the slightly warmer weather and officialdom of spring will bring some more artists out of the wood work... we may even draw some cows!
If you happen to be in East Sussex and would like to know more please be in touch! Happy Wednesday, it's beautiful out there :)

February 2012

Tah da! and here it is, thumb nail on left, scroll to the bottom of the page to view a larger image. I have changed the settings on the blog and it is now possible for you to leave comments, I would love to hear what you have to say. This months FREE GIVE AWAY, the original water colour sketch '...and marsh' from Sunday the 26th of February. All you have to do is write a one line description, musing or poem about February's pin up, post it in the comments box and the winner will be judged and contacted by the end of next week! Don't forget to share and tell all your friends... Happy Friday! :)

Where have you been...

For those of you who have never tried keeping a blog, there is a yearning to embellish it, to make it more interesting, readable and at the very least enjoyable. To this end, I have been casting about for pearls to post and things that will perhaps make the blog better, so far the most profound quote "FREE GUIDE TO THE CITY'S TOP CREATIVE PEOPLE AND PLACES" on the cover of a magazine in Brighton and this only for the bright pink allure of the badge. In a way, it is much the same as making a picture. As an artist, I want to transport the viewer somewhere, give them something to hold their eye, keep their attention longer than a few seconds, something that perhaps will make them think and if I am very lucky will one day be remembered and thought back on. As such I am constantly looking for new ideas, new ways of seeing, better modes of mark making... But, for some reason as this month has trickled sand quick through time, I have returned to my roots. At school, armed with only a black ball-point pen, I would doodle down margins and in the backs of text books and sometimes on desks (but I swear only to make them better!) and it is back to black line work that I have returned. Tonight I give you only this post, tomorrow I will digitise and post the results of February's sketch time.