Pitti Vintage

Once upon a time we had jumble sales- community centres full of psychotic grannies elbowing each other in the kidneys to get the best bargain.

These days it's more about pop-up shops selling 'vintage'.

A cartoon in The Spectator magazine

(I'm sure I still have stuff from the 80's...does that make me a vintage fashion victim, or am I just rubbish at buying new clothes?)

A cartoon!

Enough of the holiday pics- I'm supposed to be a cartoonist- so here is a cartoon from The Spectator a few weeks ago.

Siracusa

No cartoons again.

Instead you lucky people get to hear about yet another holiday...and yet another island in the Mediterranean.

Sicily this time- got back yesterday (flight of 1200 miles took 3 hours- as did 45 mile journey from Gatwick to home...thank you 'fast track' e-passport queue and the combined efforts of Southern and SouthWest trains- pah!)

I stayed here...

These days it looks a bit more like this...

Some streets in Ortigia, Siracusa look like this...

And the Piazza Duomo, Ortigia looks like this...

There are lizards...

And there are Spiders...

And I mostly floated about in here...

(which was nice)

L.H.O.O.Q

The longest day has passed- phew!

Night will soon be arriving at a sensible time, and with luck I might lose the summer artistic block.

It happens every year- maybe I shouldn't bother trying and just accept stuff is sub standard when it is warm and pleasant outside my window.

No decent ideas for a couple of months- no takes by the mags- but I do have something in print. 

This cartoon was thought up about 2 years ago and was originally drawn in my usual scratchy style.

I redrew it to send to some overseas markets- made it a bit glossier and 'finished'.

They didn't take it- but it did find a home back on these shores- in the cosy embrace of Saga magazine.

In case you're interested- compare and contrast...

Original drawing

The redraw- oh, and with the caption...

I also had another version with some extra detail- in case it wasn't clear what the joke was about- but then I wondered if that would make people think I was underestimating them...agghh! So I didn't send it.

I worry too much I reckon.

But here it is anyway

I still prefer the scratchy one- and I think the painting is nicer in that one too.
(If that really had been a Rembrandt it would have had a frame- something nice and ornate- but let's pretend not to notice that)

Ricky Lenin of the Rovers

The footie world cup is on- I’ve watched a few matches and have enjoyed it so far. I don't follow the sport at any other time, but who can resist the lure of Faroe Islands v Equatorial Guinea (live from São João do Rio do PeixeLott, on ITVRubbish at midnight)?

I was told once by a cartoon editor that most mags don't take football related cartoons.

I'm using that excuse as to why this one wasn’t taken- although it being not very good and a bit obscure could be more genuine reasons.

I drew it ages ago-after the death of a football coach, who I recalled was vilified by the press and hounded out of his job by fans- but was elevated to sainthood through the act of having a heart attack.

I was trying to make a point about the mawkishness and hypocrisy of the sport- football is now a game of two halves, typically preceded by a minute's silence respect for someone or other...

pròxima parada...Plaça d'Espanya

I haven't drawn any cartoons for ages.

And I am not sure if I have anything in print at the moment.

So, to fill a gap in this blog, here is a pic from my hols...just returned from Mallorca yesterday.

I had always thought it was a grim, package holiday hell of a place (Brits of a certain age will know what I mean- y'know- "the water in Majorca don't taste like what it oughtta.")

But it's lovely.

Most people just head for the beaches...I spent a week on buses, trains, and walking up hills.

Eternity was in our lips and eyes

Cartoonists are sometimes accused of being bitter old cynics- but we can also show the sweet and romantic side of life too.

A cartoon of mine in this week's Spectator magazine.