Drawing

Where to my friend II

I spent most of today drawing.  I thought it was about time I got back in touch with my so-called creative side.  This is really a complex drawing and I’m at last getting to the stage where I think it might turn out OK.  I think the complexity has tended to overawe me, that probably explains why I decided to start on Panel #3 as opposed to Panel #1 - namely if you can see (complete) the end point then maybe that’ll provide the motivation to finish the first two panels (that’s the theory anyway).

I want to pay some thanks to Brian Blank who’s entry for an Illustration Friday inspired me to get back to the drawing board.  Brian’s exquisite and finely detailed work is a great spur.

So what have I achieved for my efforts today, a bit of streetscape fill-in in the top right corner.  There is still a hell of a lot work to be done, but at least it’s coming together.

To give you an idea how much is left to do, see below:

Drawing

Where to my friend

I’ve been struggling with this drawing for a while now and I’m not sure where it’s headed.  It is meant to be a large three panel drawing with each individual drawing being about A1 in size.  This is the final panel and no I haven’t even begun the first two panels.  I’ll only start those panels if this one turns out OK.

The genesis of this drawing was a desire to draw a streetscape but I got dissuaded by the multiple perspective and intricate detail of the relevant street in question.  Compounding this dilemma was the lack of any people interest - so it’s been on hold for ages.  Still there’s been some progress on the conceptual side of things so that I think I know how the final product should look.  Anyway this dude will inhabit the foreground and now I just have to start filling in the rest of the remarkably barren 7/8ths of blank paper......this might take a while.  If I can get this drawing finished before the new year then that will be a very pleasant surprise.

Drawing

Mug Punter #5

Medium: Coloured pencil/graphite
Size: 250mm x 200mm

Look I’m the first to admit that Mug Punter #4 was a bit of a let down, I don’t think I captured the likeness as well as I would’ve liked. I’m much more pleased with this one of the latest generation of the Downer political dynasty. From memory I think Lord Alexander Downer - no he’s not really a Lord, but he does have the behaviour, plummy voice and is occasionally prone to pomposity so who knows - is third generation Australian power politics. A born to rule ethos is probably the tagline to the family crest. 

Typical of the private schoolboy upbringing we occasionally get university revue type humour from Lord Downer - most famously when he was Opposition Leader in the 1990s and quipped at a dinner that his party’s domestic violence policy should be called the things that batter. This was meant to be a wordplay on his Party’s slogan The Things That Matter and went down like a lead balloon.

He gained some additionally notoriety when at a charity event in 1996, the legs of various officials were photographed as part of a “guess the leg” game. It was later revealed that the leg wearing fishnet stockings belonged to Downer.

This type of behaviour led former Prime Minister and political foe, Paul Keating, to call Downer “the idiot son of the establishment” .

So as a homage to aristocratic attempts at playing dress-ups, the (forthcoming) Spring Racing carnival, and silly hats I ask you to all rise and welcome Lord Downer!

Illustration Friday

Open (Selling)

Medium: Coloured pencil/graphite
Size: 250mm x 200mm

This man (Joe Hockey) - a so so likeness, gimme a break I’m rusty - is the current Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, when he was appointed our Prime Minister described him as a “big bear of a man” .  The Prime Minister didn’t mince words by adding “Joe’s a good media performer, Joe’s an avuncular sort of bloke …”.  Uncle Avuncular he has become but for mine he’s become Mug Punter #4.

Since he’s been Minister in this portfolio he’s been a busy beaver, forever having to explain why WorkChoices is the greatest policy since sliced bread and absolutely vital to Australia’s economic and indeed everyone’s wellbeing.  All this open selling is important as we are only weeks away from a general election here in Australia.  Whatever he’s selling the polls say people aren’t buying it.

Perhaps some people just don’t like sliced bread, or, they don’t see him as Uncle Joe but instead see him as “Crazy” Joe [Davola]. 

Miscellanea

Now if only he and the gang make it down under next year

Illustration Friday

Wedding

Medium: Pencil/graphite
Size: 250mm x 200mm

I’ve been out of action for so long, I’ve forgotten when I did my last drawing prior to this one.  I have been a complete slacko for months.  Anyways, I knocked this drawing out today in response to the IF challenge.

Travel

Beijing

I’ve just come back from a work-related flying visit to Beijing.  My overall impression of the city is of underwhelment and uninspiring - and that’s being charitable.  I had expected to find more heart and soul - instead it was drab and grey, incessant modernisation at work.  There was nothing to really distinguish it from a myriad of other dull metropolises around the globe.  Perhaps the pollution and smog is its greatest claim to civic fame - and yes it was bad, visibility down to about 150 metres.  I pity the endurance athletes at next year’s Olympics - perhaps if they start simulation training by connecting a hose to the end of the exhaust pipe of a car and breathing from the hose they’ll be a chance of medalling.

The only chance for some sightseeing was to take a long walk around the nearby landmarks from where I staying - Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Tiananmen was about 2 kilometres away and they say the way to do it is to start at the two massive gates (Qianmen) at the southern end of the Square.  These are impressive and large structures, which you walk through to get to the Square proper.  Unfortunately the smog was so bad that it was next to useless to take any decent panoramic photos.  Nonetheless, the doors to Qianmen were of sufficient interest to warrant a photo, pass through these doors and through the arch and proceed through the next gate and then we get to the Square itself.

The first thing one encounters in the Square is Mao’s mausoleum.  It wasn’t open when I arrived as I’d started my walk fairly early and I didn’t really feel like waiting and going in an paying homage to a body still lying in state. A few snaps of the sculptures glorifying the great revolutionary was enough for me. 

Flanking each side of the Square are a couple of socialist design icons in the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum of China - one has to seriously love the aesthetics of socialist livery with its chic militaristic symbols. 

There would’ve been several thousand people in the Square at any point when I was there at about 8:30am, still it looked empty given that a million people can quite easily congregate there.  Leaving the Square behind, I walked through the underpass to the Gate of Heavenly Peace, where imperial and communist leaders alike viewed the troops under their command.  Mao’s portrait still hangs there, above the central gate.

Pass through those gates and you end up in the Forbidden City - the impenetrable line between the imperial household and the general population.  The palace complexes are a maze of 9999.5 rooms spread across 720,000 sq metres.  Naturally a rolling restoration program is in place to preserve the various buildings.  I was particularly interested in some of the textural/architectural intricacies of the buildings as that shitty smog was still thick as thieves.

Seriously, after walking around for close to 5 hours I was starting to fade badly, and decided to get back to the hotel and refresh.......and get some decent air to breathe.  Refreshed, I braved the outside world again, and walked through the commercial retail area, which was pretty generic to what comes to expect in shopping malls.  Apart from a small alleyway where there was a collection of market stalls/food outlets catering to tourists and locals alike.  Here you could buy food and kitschy souvenirs.  Temptation got the better of me and I bought some souvenirs (read shit - such as a couple of Mao caps, kites and Christmas baubles).......I did draw the line at being tempted by the scorpion or seahorse on skewers as an afternoon snack (yes call me gutless).

Well that’s a wrap from me from Beijing - your foreign correspondent will get back to what he does best (drawing) very shortly.

Illustration Friday

Remember

Illustration Friday

Fortune

After winning a mini-fortune during the Spring (southern hemisphere) Carnival several months ago I thought I’d back up again for the Autumn Carnival.  Unfortunately, this time around I sustained a small loss.  Alas my time of late has been consumed by punting and fantasy football and not creative endeavours, maybe with all those distractions partially out of the way I’ll get back to drawing sometime soon. 

But in the meantime this old drawing of a 1996 Victorian Racing Club Derby winner - Portland Player - beating Alfa and Ebony Grosve (dead heat for second) will have to suffice.  Yep I was there that day, decidedly hot day if I recall correctly and collected on the trifecta as well.  OK that’s enough for now, more fantasy football numbers to crunch.

Illustration Friday

Toe Tell

Illustration Friday

Gravity (of the situation)

Medium: Pencil
Size: 420mm x 590mm

I had this idea floating around in my head for a while and eventually got around to drawing it.  It vaguely fits the theme - so why not submit it.  In this case, Bill [or submit your preferred name here] suddenly came to the realisation about the gravity of his situation.

This turned out slightly different than I had intended especially with respect to the tentacle.  Originally it was going to come from Bill’s side, but during the rendering phase it has taken on a more dynamic feel and at least the appearance of coming diagonally from the foreground to “greet” Bill [or whoever].  Unlike Doamna Tomescu no story to go with this one - you’ll just have to make up your own.

Illustration Friday

(Anti) Super Hero - Doamna Tomescu

This is the (fishy) tale of Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu.  Really little is known of her early life apart from the fact that she is Romanian by birth, and reputedly worked as a nurse in one of the hospitals in Bucharest before leaving rather suddenly - under mysterious circumstances - in about 1969. 

She immigrated, alone for the whereabouts of her husband was never fully explained, to Russia and found herself a new life in Vladivostok.  Unable to get herself a job as nurse, apparently she was unable to supply any references from her time in the Bucharest hospital; she had little option but to seek alternative employment.  Thankfully, she was able to find a position on one of the fleet of Russian factory ships that operate out of Vladivostok and seek to catch fish in the Bering Sea and northern Pacific Ocean.  The factory ships are self contained factories on the sea that catch fish and process them onboard and when the freezers are full they return to port.

This tough life, indeed no life fit for any woman really, involved the constant sorting, gutting and cleaning of fish.  As is often the practice in these commercial long line and deep ocean fishing operations there is significant by-catch (non-targeted species of fish).  The drawing highlights one of the rat-tail species, so called because the body of the fish quickly tapers down to a long tail a la a rat’s tail.

Most of the by-catch is inedible, foul-tasting, and occasionally toxic and is usually thrown back overboard to let the sea birds, sharks and other sea predators pick over the carcasses.  As an aside as these are deep water fish and are hauled up to the surface they die because of the change of pressure and most of the fish end up having their bladder displaced – this is clearly evident in the fish Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu is holding.

For whatever reason, Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu, quite enjoyed the work, she especially enjoyed dissecting some of the more unusual by-catch, a practice that was frowned upon because if you’ll pardon the pun there were bigger (non by-catch) fish to fry.  Some of her fellow workmates couldn’t understand her occasional surreptitious chopping up of the fish bladders in particular.  But that is understandable for they did not have Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu’s medical background.

Without embellishing this story any further it was no coincident that Vladivostok at one point went through a spate of largely unreported deaths linked to what was originally believed to be alcoholic poisoning – a relatively common occurrence given the propensity of the population to drink vodka during the colder months.  Yet no one made the connection between the factory ship’s return to port, and Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu’s nocturnal pursuits, and most noteworthy that the symptoms of fish poisoning can mirror those of alcoholic poisoning.

Fugu anyone?

Commentary:

I’m really quite happy with this drawing.  The idea had been floating around in my head for a while, but as per usual getting the composition right in my mind before putting pencil to paper was the major stumbling block.  That said, once the drawing process started there were still a number of pitfalls to overcome. 

I started with the face, which came and went relatively easily, I got the intensity as I wanted it.  The next hurdle was getting Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu’s shirt the right shade to complement the values of the face and getting those folds to a state where I was happy with them.  I then darted back to the headgear, this is a less pleasing aspect of this work, still I didn’t want the headgear to dominate and take attention away from the face or the fish she was holding.

The arms were next, a relatively simple task I must add.  That left me with the fish, the most intricate part of the drawing, one where I could’ve over-egged the cake and being left with the fish dominating the composition.  In the end the balance is pretty good.

And finally, that left the apron – which looked oddly out of place as pure white space before I began putting the folds in.  I dreaded this final bit, because everything else was completed and this left a lot of opportunity to muck it all up by doing a shoddy job on the apron.  Still it turned out OK.

Drawing

Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu #2

She is coming (along).  Be afraid.  More to be revealed at the appropriate time.

How to

Gone Fishin’ #2

I spent a fair slab of this weekend working on building a larger trout - to paraphrase and distort the old saying: “If you can build a better trout, the world will beat a path to your door”. 

Having finally settled on the correct method (see previous post), it was time to get cracking by firstly drawing the template onto the betting tickets.  That done I then decided to draw the minimalist trout features onto the tickets, rather than cutting out the pieces and drawing onto the cut pieces.  As I don’t want the trout features to be overly dominant and take away from the betting ticket itself, the drawing is confined to trout markings, fin and tail, and gill features.  This set of pictures demonstrates the actual drawing process, and the finished product prior to cutting.  The plastic implement in the first photo is a godsend when it comes to the later assembly, especially for gluing in tight places and holding down tabs of paper prior to the glue setting.

Once the drawing was completed, I sprayed it with fixative just to ensure that smudging was minimised.  Then it was time to get out the industrial strength craft knife and start cutting out the individual pieces.  I worked on doing one piece at time, what with drawing, then waiting for fixative to dry, followed by cutting, then gluing and in turn waiting for the glue to dry....sort of lent itself to semi-finish one piece and then crank up the production line on the next piece.  It takes about 25 to 40 minutes per piece, subject to the complexity of each piece.  So when a couple of pieces were completed and the glue had semi-cured it was time assemble piece-by-piece as they came off the production line.  Everytime I’ve made these I’ve started with the tail, seems more logical than starting with the head?

After a couple of pieces had been assembled and the glue had cured, I then painted them with gel medium for additional strength and texture (love the clamminess that the gel medium provides).  In between waiting for pieces to dry etc, it also provided a chance to have a break and punt on a couple of races (3 bets for 2 winners including one winner at 20-1 - oh fish give me more luck, please!).  It is really from this point that the complexity of assemblage, gluing and folding becomes more intricate, thank god for that plastic blade thing.  At times it’s a really tight fit to get pieces to fit smoothly together, sometimes a bit of force is required to shoehorn them into place....but care is required because if too much force is used one can crush the trout’s body.  The head is by far the trickiest, quite a few cuts and folds to work through, but once that has been sorted you end up with a final product that looks like this:

I’m happy with the way this has turned out.  The size of the fish works, the drawing elements don’t overpower the surface of the paper, and the gel medium gives a great texture.  Now only a few more to build, but that’ll have to wait as I’ve run out of betting tickets and I’ll get a new supply during the week.  Once enough trout have been created it’ll be time to build a paper stream for these trophy trout to reside in.  The paper stream will be a real challenge, will really need to put the thinking cap on......at least I have until May to get it sorted.

How to

Gone Fishin’ #1

Those trout made out of betting tickets will shortly be making a comeback as well. 

As I’ve insufficient quantities of Japanese betting tickets left I’ve had to resort using local ACTTAB betting tickets. Unfortunately these aren’t quite as busy and don’t have the subtle colouring of their Japanese counterparts (see below) and for the purpose I have in mind the best option is to use the “Mystery Bet” ticket.

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The local tickets are about the same weight of paper, which is good for making teeny trout, but I want to make larger versions of what I previously created.  There are a number of reasons for this including: cutting down on the time consuming fiddly nature of construction; and needing to meet my conceptual idea(s).

Hence I’ve been experimenting with the local tickets to see how they need to be rendered and adapted to accommodate the larger size of paper trout.  So I’ve tried a number of combinations of glue, gel medium, and different weights of base paper (this isn’t necessary for the teeny trout but is a must for the larger version). 

My first attempt involved sticking the betting tickets onto an A1 sheet of 300gsm paper with gel medium, and then applying another layer of gel medium over the top.  I was happy with the feel of finish – clammy just like real fish, but unfortunately this made the paper and tickets too stiff for folding and assembly. 

So as not to waste the vast sheet of A1 size paper I utilised I trimmed it up and cut into rectangular pieces to use as dinner place mats! 

So back to the drawing board.  This time a lesser weight of paper (120gsm) was tried, and again a double layering of gel medium and hooray, success!  Well at least on the paper flexibility front.  As I didn’t bother to render the first (failed) experiment I subsequently found out that the second layer of gel medium made any rendering on the surface of the tickets difficult if I wanted to use pencil – there appears to be no problem with using a Staedtler Lumocolor permanent universal pen though (those suckers will just about write on anything).  The Staedtler, however, stands out a bit too much, like the proverbial dog’s balls, on the local tickets.

Having got the paper stiffness right, it was time to tackle the rendering issue so I drew with pencil and the Staedtler on an untreated betting ticket, and then painted on a layer of gel medium to see if this either smudged or smeared the drawing medium – thankfully success.

So I think the way that I’ll be tackling this (fishing pun intended) is to produce a number of sheets of paper with (a single gel-mediumed layer of) betting tickets, cut out the pieces, render them, assemble and then add a coat of gel medium to seal.

Drawing

Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu

I haven’t been sitting here idly over the Xmas break, there has been some drawing and creativity happening.  Straight out of something akin to Ripley’s Believe It or Not comes the story of Doamna (Mrs) Tomescu.  All will be revealed in due course......

Drawing

Onward and Upward

This post was going to be a wrap-up of the artistic year, but there wasn’t really anything to report.  In short I didn’t produce enough good art, let’s move on.  Now what do with these?  A few ideas that have been hibernating in my mind will shortly be awakened.  Rip Van Jumpertz arise!

Illustration Friday

(Pre) Invention

...before there can be an invention there must be an experiment.

Medium:  Graphite
Size: 320mm x 460mm

I’m not quite sure what this Dr Moreau-ish style experiment is trying to say.  I originally thought it’d be something different to draw a double-headed trout, then half way through I thought I’d add some accroutements.  Is this a comment on evolution, genetic modification, stem cell research, plain lunacy or just a visual experiment?  In hindsight perhaps it’s a comment on angling art and the need to depict trophy trout in a very stereotypical manner.  Seen one trout, seen ‘em all....hmmm....maybe not.

Illustration Friday

Thanksgiving

Medium: Coloured Pencil
Size: 215 mm [H] x 175 mm [W] (Viva la metric system)

When I first saw this topic I thought how North American-centric.  I have to admit it got my gander up - which is strange seeing that Thanksgiving appears to involve turkeys as a central theme.  Look it’s not anything that’s celebrated in Australia - and I’d never expect Australia Day nor Anzac Day to be an IF theme given that it’s too narrow and meaningless for the majority of IF participants.  Still, I’m sure Thanksgiving has some form of (sacred) meaning for those in North America and is not without merit.

Nonetheless, my reaction was to think of this in a political context - especially the notion of American cultural superiority (is arrogance too harsh a word?).  I suppose the timing of this topic to coincide with the week of US Thanksgiving as opposed Canadian Thanksgiving (2nd Monday in October) reinforces my own prejudices on global cultural politics.  The gradual Americanisation of the world does irk me, I suppose this drawing questions whether all things American should be “forced” on other cultures - personally I think there can be more than one world view.

Anyway, this drawing was done a la propaganda style and can be read on many levels.  Rather than use a turkey to make a spurious link back to the topic much better to use a turkey vulture (Cathartes Aura) to pick over the world’s cultural bones.  In this case said turkey vulture has just regurgitated a cultural bomb American Kultur (Sic) and should we be giving thanks for that? 

Punting

The “Carnival” is Over

Yep, it’s all over for another year.  Unlike the media (Channel 7 especially) that has a vested interest in talking up the carnival, there have been some really disturbing signs, which will get lost in the usual hoopla and slap-on-the-back self congratulatory analysis.  Without boring you dear reader they relate to inconsistency in stewards’ decisions, non-acknowledgement of track bias by officials, the entry conditions for the Melbourne Cup and the deteriorating quality of support races on Melbourne Cup day and Oaks day.  Many problems but no one prepared to acknowledge them let alone tackle them.

Some of the racing was sublime, some was ordinary - two emerging horses Efficient (the Derby winner) and Miss Finland (the Oaks winner) look the goods.  We’ll have to wait and see if they can compete against the older horses next year.  There were a couple of good betting collects and a couple of wipe out days (not helped by track bias).  A new betting system was trialled (in a virtual environment) and shows some promise so I’ll keep monitoring it before I go live.  And yes a few more punting lessons were also learned.  Still the biggest individual race thrill remains the Melbourne Cup - the Japanese came and saw and conquered, and good ‘em if I say so.  They were gracious winners.

When you end the Carnival with more money than you started then it’s got to be an OK Carnival I guess.  I leave you with a quick and dirty and tiny colour pencil sketch of the 2006 Melbourne Cup winnner, Delta Blues (thanks to Andrea for awakening the enthusiasm to again dabble in some equestrian related subjects).

Drawing

Mug Punter #3

At last another member has joined the Punters Club.  It good to see that someone so esteemed and well respected within Catholic circles has found the time to be nominated.  Then again we all can’t be going around looking for the long-lost fruits of our loin, instead his strong religious convictions and values ideally position him to take control of the nation’s health policy.  A grand welcome to the Club, your enigmaticness!

Additional notes:  I’ve always been fascinated by the fez, so no surprise that I’d eventually do a drawing of one - I think it fits MP#3 very well.  I’m quite pleased with the tassels. This guy’s got an interesting face including a crooked nose, dominant ears, unusual mouth....perhaps all that amateur boxing MP#3 undertook in his youth took its toll. I struggled getting a reasonable likeness first time round and eventually found the problem was his left eye (the right eye from the viewer’s point of view).  I originally had it too narrow and the upper lid at the wrong angle.  Still it’s all come together....and yes we really do have a betting ticket like that here.

Drawing

Mug Punter Revisited

With the greatest race in Australia this weekend it’s an appropriate time to revisit the Mug Punter series.  I had high hopes for this series, but after completing the first two some time back I got fatigued.  I guess the fire is in the belly again and I’ve made a start on Mug Punter #3.  Not quite sure how to analyse this chappy.  Still a bit of work to do on him, some tweaking of the eyebrows especially. 

Punting

Mummify the Memory

This Saturday is Caulfield Cup day - one of the great days of the Australian turf.  In this year’s race I’ve narrowed the chances down to three horses: Sphenophyta, Our Smoking Joe, and Activation (Pop Rock the Japanese runner could also be considered, but heck how do you compare Japanese form with Australian form).  For a range of reasons I’ll be having some money on the favourite, Sphenophyta.  Its form is strong, but it really pulls at the heart strings as it is raced by the same interests that won the Cup in 2003 with Mummify.

Mummify was one of my favourite horses, both from the punt and because of its courage.  In 2003 it led from whoa to go to win the Cup in superfast time.  Then in 2005 it tried to do the same thing and just got swamped on the line, finishing third.  Unfortunately, that brave effort told on the old warhorse which snapped a sesamoid near the finishing line and despite attempts to save the horse, Mummify was destroyed the following day.  I shed a tear immediately after the race and also the next day on hearing the news that Mummify could not be saved.  Sphenophyta races in the same colours as Mummify, the Freedman colours of red, purple sash and white sleeves. 

One year on and we will see whether there is room in racing for sentiment, for the memory of Mummify I hope there is.

Mummify returns to scale after winning the 2004 Yalumba Stakes - photo: Melbourne Racing Club

Post Script:  Yes there is no room in racing for sentiment, Sphenophyta had every chance but could only finish fifth.  All in all a very dirty day at the punting office, a loss equivalent to 8% of our bank...ouch.  It does not make me feel better that nearly every professional form analyst in the country had a shocker as well.

Drawing

The Experiment [Part #1]

After a flirtation with eel-shredding it’s time to move on to other things piscatorial.....again, with a bit of a twist in the tale (or tail as the case maybe).  In between doing a very serious garden clean-up all this week I’ve been able to spend at least two nights working on this drawing.  I don’t really like drawing at night, but I like gardening at night even less!  The artificial light conditions aren’t that flash at night and then when I subsequently look at the progress in the daylight I find a zillion things I’m not happy with.......still here’s what we’ve got thus far.  Much more tinkering to do to this drawing yet.

Illustration Friday

Smitten

Pelz et al Eel-mincing Machine
Medium: Graphite and coloured pencil
Size: 320mm [H] x 450mm [W]

Inspiration comes from many sources; take for example this drawing of the Pelz et al Eel-mincing Machine [PEM].  I stumbled across this piece of rare machinery after reading The Book of Eels by Tom Ford – eels are indeed fascinating and mysterious creatures, but enough about them and more about this drawing. Utilising some of my international contacts I was able to trace several dated patent applications on the PEM. 

Pelz was an interesting character, a Mancunian, who at the turn of the last century made a fortune as an extraordinarily successful engineer.  The one failing in Pelz’s resume was the PEM, as it remains probably the least successful and impractical machine ever devised. 

Firstly, eels are extraordinarily difficult to catch in commercial quantities, more so at the beginning of the 20th century.  Secondly, they are an acquired taste and hence there isn’t any widespread market demand. Thirdly, there probably isn’t any useful purpose for minced eel (skin, bones and all).  Hence the economics behind the machine were non-existent and one really must ask the question: why the fuck would Pelz want to devise a machine that minces these slippery and slimy creatures? There is no answer – it remains simply inexplicable.

Thankfully this piece of gothic industrial whimsy has jumped out of the dustbin of history, been dusted off, and revamped as a drawing – a strange and slightly surreal drawing to match the strange and slightly surreal subject.

Occasionally, I’ll begin the process of drawing by doing a quick tiny sketch so as to get my bearings, especially if I want to get a better feel for the composition.  This was my quickie for the PEM [see below] and a week’s worth of rendering later we finished up with something that tries to do justice to Pelz’s vision. Just a word of warning regarding the PEM: Danger – Keep Clear of Door.

Illustration Friday

Trouble

This is an oldie and not so goldie.  Well what can you do when the IF topic comes up as “trouble” and you already have a drawing with the same title...you guessed it, submit it and damn the consequences.  No doubt I’ll suffer the opprobium of commenters for posting something that hasn’t been specifically drawn for the theme.

Currently working on a drawing that involves a decrepit machine with pseudo-Dickensian industrial feel.  That should be ready within the week.

Punting

The “Carnival” begins

The racing is hotting up, no less than 5 Group 1s (internationally categorised races of the highest quality) this Saturday - 4 in Sydney (Randwick) and 1 in Melbourne (Flemington) - so I guess I’ll know what I’ll be doing this week. 

Again we’ll be using the soon-to-be patented staking system (joking) that I developed (that bit is true) - the Canadian.  It is my preferred betting approach, especially for Group 1 races.  Simply put the Canadian has the capacity to maximise gains and minimise losses.  The Canadian effectively parlays a single selection (for the win and the place) in each of 5 races. 

It is not a selection process - the form still needs to be done by analysing form guides etc.  While similar to other “set and forget” betting options offered by the totalisators it has far greater flexibility in that it can operate across different racetracks, extends across different days, and one can pull out at any the conclusion of any of the 5 legs of a Canadian as the bets are placed “manually”.

It’s a great betting approach for this time of year (big fields and very open races), as you really limit your losses if you have an off day on the punt (very strong chance this week)....but if you’re on song (fingers crossed) then the champagne flows for a long time. 

May the racing gods look kindly upon me between now and the end of the Spring Carnival.

UPDATE:  As predicted a tough day at the punting office: a 5th (shocking ride), a 2nd, two WINNERS, and a 10th.  60% profit on turnover for the day - I’ll take it and it’s better than a poke in the eye with a stick.