Michael Gage: August 2015

August Bank Holiday

31 August 2015

A trip to Denbies Vineyard near Dorking to deliver pictures for the Croydon Art Society exhibition. The vineyard nestles in a valley below Box Hill on the North Downs, and near the Surrey Hills. And it's August Bank Holiday... What a good opportunity for a sketching trip... except that it's August Bank Holiday.

Heavy rain... Cold wind... Flooded roads... Thick fog...

All I managed was this sketch from the car park. Box Hill is lost in the clouds.

Ink and watercolour, 43 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.

The exhibition continues until 13 September, open every day. The gallery is on the first floor of Denbies, so should be safe from flooding...

P.S. Just realised: we don't need to display the tax disc on the windscreen anymore -- I can take it down now.

No. No. Possibly?

30 August 2015

No...

Possibly...

A small farm upon the downs

29 August 2015

"The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between philosophy and agriculture."

His Last Bow, 1917

East Dean, East Sussex.
Ink and watercolour, 17 x 12cm.

Rebuilding Blackfriars

18 August 2015

Building the new railway station that is on Blackfriars Bridge.

The big columns at the left and right are the remains of the old Blackfriars Bridge, built in 1874, and removed only in 1985. (The only picture of it that I can find is here.) Behind is the newer bridge -- built in 1886 -- so there were two railway bridges right next to each other for nearly a century. Just behind me is Blackfriars road bridge, so in fact there were three bridges crossing the Thames here.

Now they've built a station along the newer railway bridge, using the columns of the old bridge as part of the support.

Ink on paper, 60 x 40cm. Click to enlarge.

To be exhibited at the Society of Graphic Fine Art exhibition, Menier Gallery, Southwark (walking distance from the bridge!), 5 - 17 October 2015.

Mouse

15 August 2015

Playing with the new tablet: Drawing in Sketchbook Pro.

Under the motorway (August)

12 August 2015

Back to the motorway... I've been waiting for a bit of sunshine, but with torrential rain forecast for the next two days, I decided it was best to get out there while I could.

Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.

The biggest change since a month ago is that the big nettle in the foreground has disappeared: it looks like it was cut down. The rest of the nettles have grown a bit more, and the path has been churned up by horses trekking through the mud.

Didn't get quite enough time to finish this... the weather was turning cold, and the rain had already started... It is August in England, after all.

(Third in a series: Click here to see the rest)

Century Cottage

10 August 2015

Century Cottage, Brockham, Surrey

Pencil, digitally coloured. 12 x 9 cm.

Croydon: Queens Gardens

09 August 2015

Croydon Council Offices and Town Hall, from the Queens Gardens.

Ink and watercolour, 38 x 12cm

Click to enlarge.

Overheard conversation: "I literally came right out of the station and there was literally the subway right in front of me, right? and now I'm on the mainland literally right outside Primark, right?"

Borough Market

02 August 2015

Borough Market

Linocut 30 x 24cm.

A new linocut of the flower stand at Borough Market. It's years since I did a print that is only in black-in-white.