One of my first pen and ink sketches. The idea of the bear began with a recollection of a trip to Whistler, Canada. We arrived in town hoping to partake in some snow related activity – but realised very quickly that we had in fact visited at the only time of year when snow is no go. Unwilling to let this get us down, we hired three quad bikes, and set off on a cross country safari, which for the most part was fun, but not that exciting until the strangest thing happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what appeared to be a black bear, casually eyeing us up from the tree line. On closer inspection (yes, I know), it turned out to be a bloke wearing a bear outfit, and smoking a cigarette – apparently situated there to provide us riders with a level of excitement and danger not actually present. This was the inspiration for the illustration below.
Hounds & Birthdays
With my sisters birthday imminent, and as usual, not much idea of what to send, I employed the Noodlers talents to create something suitably thoughtful for the occasion. I've been working with Philip the sausage dog (and his owner, Mrs Clare), on some illustrations for his forthcoming memoirs. Having seen evidence of this, my sister requested some portraiture of her own furry meatsocks (Alan and Basil). Their long features and distinctive forms providing excellent potential for a couple of sketches.
Downhill
Manon (one of my five nieces and nephews), is a pretty good cyclist. In fact, she's the world downhill female champ, which is quite impressive considering how fraught with danger it is, and the level of competition involved. So, I thought I'd make her a nice picture. I quite liked the idea that once you get started down the track, you have absolutely no idea where you're going – the key skill being that you can hold-on long enough to survive till the end, at which point you drink champagne (with a bit of luck).
Monsters Ink
I've been working on a new theme recently. A monsters gallery. It started as an idea for a birthday present for a Spanish friend of mine, who I call 'The Spanish Dragon'. So named because of her of her wild, fiery nature, and haircut. So the first monster started to reveal itself, which then led to another, and another. Very simple to draw, but seem to have a disproportianate level of character in relation to the amount of ink used.
Arduinoodle
So I've been messing around with a gadget called an Arduino for a while now, in the hope that I can learn about the word of physical electronics, or hacking. Perfect kit for the noodler. It's early days, but I've managed to incorporate a certain amount of interactivity into my illustrations – but there's loads more to explore. My first experiment was an Interactive Nicholas Cage. Based on the ambient noise levels, he would become more agitated (demonstrated with the use of LED eyeballs). Things have advanced since then, with my first foray into capacitive sensing, or touch-sensitive activity. Also using the sister-software –Processing, to translate physical inputs into digital visualisation.
Sausage
The Noodler has been working on the memoirs of a middle-aged sausage called Philip recently. Along with his PA (Mrs Clare), Philip the sausage has been regaling us with his exploits over the last few months, and has requested that I be his official artist. Work has slowed somewhat in the last few weeks, no doubt due to his existing and extensive summer schedule, so watch this space. In the meantime, here's some of the work so far, along with a link to his own blog.
http://philipquinn-waters.blogspot.co.uk
Huis
My Amsterdam chums Sam and Anna are moving into a new burrow soon, and to ensure future low-cost visiting arrangements, The Noodler thought it a good idea to furnish them with an artwork to hang on their new walls. Self-interest aside, I thought that a Dutch inspired sentiment, rendered in glorious black and white might brighten the place up and provide a gentle reminder to the home-owners that I have a right to demand floor space on a case by case basis. The Dutch have a saying that goes 'oost west thuis best' which roughly translates as 'east or west, home is best'.
Bench
I've been meaning to steal a beer-bench from the Dog House in Kennington for a while now, but uncertain about the logistics for getting it back to the house. So the Noodler must knock one up instead. I'm thinking that my resident fox and his guests will be pleased to have something to use for their dirty dealings in the wee small hours too. So I varnished it.
Bee Hotels
I've been reading about the poorly state of our Bee population in the British Isles, and thought I'd noodle up a small contribution to the ongoing welfare of the bees in my garden – of which there are plenty. Apparently you can help make life much easier for the furry, flying baked beans by constructing suitable accommodation for them. Prices vary.
Broom handles and kebab sticks.
