The Dark Water

Wax and grow, spreading, slow,

Trickle and wend, around the bend.

Gurgle and flow, up we go,

To laughter's death and smile's end.

Seep, creep, up the wall,

Grip the pipe, grasp the gutters,

Up to the highest windows tall,

To parch the life behind the shutters.

Bubble and creep, quick and steep,

Ooze and pour, onto the floor,

Through the window, in we seep,

To the light blue room, with the painted door.

Inktober Drawing Challenge 7&8

Art Challenges

The Albatross

It's been a long time since I've been able to do one of these! Here's my third Inktober drawing. The rest can be found on my twitter - @GreenEwan

Vancouver Science World

Thanks Kendra and Cody for an awesome day at Science World! The staff had never seen someone scrutinise the human arm for so long. At one point we were standing around this poor woman, everyone with their sleeves rolled up, trying to match muscles with a real disembodied human arm. I have so little pigment in my skin, I may as well have been an exhibit.

"Back Home"

ATYN: Edinburgh

i) 5 min pose 

ii) 40 min pose

Return

I'm back from my longest gap away in a long time. I'm currently working on an animated book called Don't Be Alien, and I'll be posting about that in the next month or two. Also, it feels really good to draw something that makes no sense for no reason:

All the Young Nudes - Edinburgh, 30th June

Sketchbook Pages!

Sanba

This is a portrait drawn from life of Sanba, our transport from our time on Jeju. I started with a rough sketch, then finished with a mechanical pencil and coloured in photoshop. We explored the whole island on her in every kind of weather imaginable. We miss you old girl!

Sketching at Britannia Shipyards

Peace Festival at the Jeju Horse Park

 i)

 iii)

iii)

i) Faces from the coffee shop in the Horse Museum. A welcome relief from the heat and lack of indoor toilets. ii) On the first day a peace shrine was erected. The yellow ribbons may represent the Sewol disaster. iii) The cairn. Horse related sculptures are scattered all around the park, although most seem to congregate around landmarks. People mostly slept on the benches.

Tornado Potatoes and Long Shadows

-View from an alleyway in Insadong-

-Insadong street signs-

-Visitors to the Palace District-

               Returned from a very quick final tour of Seoul. We packed in fireworks and palaces, and met two friends whom we've been missing for a long time. The sun was low and dazzling, and the streets were like swollen rivers full of people. I sat in a shadow from a sign to draw and had to move from time to time as it slid away from me. Seoul doesn't smell that great at this time of year, but the company was excellent.

Will always love this place.

New Sunday Drawing Club

I started a thing! The next week will be important, as I was directly paying the model this time. I wonder if people will still come if they have to chip in a bit. Let's find out! The model is the amazing Daniella LaBosseire.

Chuseok

The coast road west of Shin Jeju is just gorgeous. I finally took the wheel (handlebars?) after passing the first part of my Korean driving test. Nobody died! We're having the best vacation ever.

Vagrant

The Ghibli Museum

Like most people, we followed the river from the train station to the Ghibli museum. It was a gentile, and almost pastoral route, with basket-laden bicycles passing us on the narrow road, and trees throwing dappled shade across the pavement.
We passed a wrought iron totoro in a hedge with a sign in its teeth, and approached through a metal gate attended by a security guard. The building looks surprisingly small from this side. It's only from within that you can see it goes down as well as up. Everything has been allowed to be overgrown with ivy, and a certain tree spirit was waiting as if to take our tickets behind a false foyer with the ubiquitous ivy pouring down the sloping walls as if from above.
From this point on I'll swear myself to secrecy, as I don't want to spoil it for any future visitors. Cameras were not allowed, but I did this one sketch inside the 'high ceilinged hall'. With thanks to my subjects for staying still for so long.

Nikko and Temples

             On Monday we took a long journey by train out to Nikko, where the first Shogun built enormous shrines and temples among the mountains about nine hundred years ago. Clouds were shooting across the sky, and although it threatened rain nothing much ever fell. Except for the odd splat of a drop from the trees, which were mostly gigantic cedars and surrounded the temples.
The first drawing is of the stairs at the entrance to the temple area in the forest. It's across from a beautiful river. The restaurant in the second drawing is set on the other side of the bridge. It's a deep red in reality. Red and green are the colours of Nikko. The stairs were absolutely enchanting. They run away under the shadows of the great cedars from the bright roadside, and the shrine gate you can glimpse is like the statue from Spirited Away, promising magic beyond.
              The other one is from the top of the stairs near the shrine of the sleeping cat. I can't imagine a more badass deity. If I was a monster, I would go nowhere near a sleeping cat-protected house. There's no knowing what it would do if it woke up.
             Finally, it's the bottom of one of the eldest cedars in the park. Every ancient stone was covered in moss, which tiny leaves and ferns erupting from the gaps. There was an incredible sense of the weight of empty space around the gates, temples and trees. It was magical.

Asakusa and Central Tokyo

- Aki Oka at dusk -

- Tokyo seabus -

- Coffee sack umbrella -

On Saturday we went on a grand tour of central Tokyo. We saw Kaminarimon (Lightning Gate) which is at the head of a busy market full of fun touristy things and leads to a beautiful shrine. I had a shot at wafting smoke over myself, but can't say for sure that it healed anything. Got smoke in my eyes waiting for Adrienne to take a picture. It was ridiculously hot, and as atmospheric as you could hope for.
We were taken on the seabus. I have no idea how we would have fared without Kuni and Akemi to guide us, but it would not have been nearly as rich and full a trip. Some of the sketches below are from the boat.
We ended up in an indoor craft street called Aki-Oka. Superb handmade stuff of all descriptions, and we ended up in a coffee roasting shop. The barrel is full of unroasted coffee beans, and is sporting an umbrella made from a sack. The photo is of the street outside. Many of the shops were beneath the skytrain.