Seated male nude

Done at new class led by Andrea Morreau at Calcott Community Centre on Cathcart Hill, London N19. It meets every Friday 10am to 1pm.

Close to a kestrel

Another view of a kestrel on Hampstead Heath

Technical note: this was not done with a telescopic lens. It was shot with a 50mm lens on a slow film (100 iso) then scanned to high res, blown up and cropped. Hence the detail.

See also : Kestrel in flight and Kestrels on Hampstead Heath

Call of booty

A rear view of a vivacious model named Stella, who forgave me for the emphasis I was obliged to give to her arse due to the position of my easel in a crowded room.

Kestrel in flight

Going through some old paperwork I found a CD of pictures and this is one of them. It was taken a few years ago on Hampstead Heath. As I recall I didn't have time to get an eye to the viewfinder, and took the shot literally from the hip.

Out of the darkness

A different approach: the paper is rubbed with a light coat of charcoal. The drawing is done with an eraser and highlights added with chalk.
Model Sophia.

Jimi Hendrix on Carnaby Street 1967

This candid photo of Jimi Hendrix out shopping emerged as a lot in a sale of Pop Art at Christies last year. In the era of the smartphone we are used to seeing pictures of the famous caught off their guard, in the 1960s they were more unusual. Jimi carries a bag from I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet,  a boutique which specialized in selling retro military costumes. In his right hand Jimi has a cigar, which he has presumably just purchased from Finlay's the tobacconist, just behind him. Playing Sherlock Holmes, we might deduce that the photographer had seen Jimi go into Finlay's and waited for him to come out.
Jimi was left-handed but as child he was put under immense social pressure to use his right-hand and in adult life he wrote as well as smoked right-handed.
What is most striking about this un-posed photograph  is that it shows Jimi's very pronounced stoop. He was also pigeon toed and walked what a shuffle. Like Baudelaire's albatross, out of his element he was maladroit.


My book on amazon.com Jimi Hendrix: London (MusicPlace) and amazon.co.uk Jimi Hendrix: London (Musicplace) (Musicplace Series) by Saunders, William published by Roaring Forties Press (2010)

"You left out my tattoo"

The beautiful Sophia in charcoal on a chalk ground. When she saw the picture she said "You left out my tattoo". It was just a small one on her right hip.

Strip: a work in progress

Strip will be shot in Britain this autumn by US director Osaretin Oghomwen.
Currently  there is a fund raising campaign at Indiegogo.

Or you can donate via Osaretin's tumblr 

Lay your sleeping head, my love....

Chalk, charcoal and pastels on black paper, and as I drew the lines of W. H. Auden played through my mind:

Lay your sleeping head, my love, 
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephermeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.

Full poem here.

Reclining nude