Unfortunately (well it's all relative..) I wasn't in Bristol to join any likeminded folks...rather I was in Edinburgh punishing my liver with some very good friends on a stag weekend.
As you can perhaps imagine, much as I would have loved to sketch all day in this amazing city, I felt that a stag weekend was neither the time or the place. So what I DID do as a compromise was get up early whilst my friends were asleep (and I should have been) and get a sneaky sketch in around the nearby streets. I'll apologise now for the quality of the drawings and the lack of bagpipers in them (they made me want to hide in a bin!!)
FULL DISCLOSURE too: these pics were actually done across the mornings of Sat 12th AND Sun 13th between 7.00 and 9.00..I've melded them together here as they are melded in my memory!
FULL DISCLOSURE too: these pics were actually done across the mornings of Sat 12th AND Sun 13th between 7.00 and 9.00..I've melded them together here as they are melded in my memory!
Both days things got off to a slow start after the night before. I plonked myself in a cafe in the hopes that tea would make me feel human again... In truth the very first drawing I did was a moody self portrait; the cafe had mirrored walls so that I could see myself minging into infinity. I was later forced to eat this picture to save it falling into the clutches of the enemy...
Then it was up the street to get deep with my purpose! One thing I'm sure I'll cherish in years to come is the little notes I left myself describing how bad I was feeling at which time...
I also observed the strange phenomenon whereby if you wander the streets with a blue A4 hardback notebook in your hand, people start gathering round and thinking you're going to take them somewhere. I was tempted to give this a go, but thought better of it...
Also had some strange songs on the brain. On Sunday I woke up rather alarmingly to 'Something Happened on the Way to Heaven' by Phil Collins, which had segued into 'Superfreakin' by Rick James come about 8.15. Coinciding with this found lots of these Sphynxes lining the roofs around St Giles' Cathedral. I am not sure quite what the thinking behind big boobed lady-lions is...
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By about 9.00 on both mornings several things were starting to happen:
1: Breakfast started seeming like a really good idea
2: Tourists really started filling the streets, and I became increasingly baffled by the number of people photographing EVERYTHING but looking at not much.
Being a a noble scribbler I felt quite smug for a moment, but my headache (and the fact that I'd probably have snapped a few things if my camera was working) stopped me shaking my head in disbelief too much.
And 3: I decided it was time to get back, but decided to do one last drawing first. This was a bad idea. I was struck by how many statues of becloaked gents there were seemingly watching down over the citizens of the city. Tried to quickly capture the essence of this but wound up drawing a guy with bunny ears instead. That's the way the artist crumbles I guess!
Then it was back to the group for wandering, tours and occasional drinking. My inability to handle alcohol aside, the weekend was pretty relaxed - we spent most of the time wandering around Edinburgh taking it in, and I have to be honest I was enjoying the sights and being in the company of really good friends so much I didn't really want to be drawing all the time. Got a few in before I fell asleep on the journey back to Bristol though...
