Dymchurch Steam:

Open House: Welcome to come and have a look. He said he had lived there since the last century. Well he would say that. His father lived there. His father was a headmaster. It was an expensive place to live. He was working in the 'little studio'. The little oil paintings were mediocre. Cosy. He had two Jack Russells. He admired Dexter's posture. The paintings were for sale. I didn't buy.I liked the Nuclear Power Station. The redundant hum didn't register straight away. The pylons marching back home in an orderly procession.

ROCKSALT Restaurant:

96 Comments! HEADLAND.

Serious. This blog site makes me laugh. 96 comments. I mean I love John Cuneo's art. 96 comments. Intermission. The ice cream girls will be coming round shortly. Or alternatively enjoy a delicious hot-dog in the foyer. Need to get out more. Saw Mumford and Sons last Thursday in Folkestone in Kent at The Leas Cliff Pavilion. One of the best live shows in my history. Very hot. Very boisterous. Very good. I can only name one of their songs. Winter Winds? But they were very impressive. Their mum's must be so proud. I can only remember the first line of a song. Can't play a banjo. Failed at the piano. So I went and knocked at the door of Prospect Cottage, Dungeness. No one home. Respect the neighbours. Please don't look through the windows.  Pretty garden. Dexter was at my side. Dungeness is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland.  I've been out and about. Reflecting the bleak, windswept landscape of the peninsula, Derek Jarman's garden is made of pebbles, driftwood, scrap metal and a few hardy plants. A book, Derek Jarman's Garden, is available. After the show how about trying a delicious meal at the Vindohon Tandoori in the high street just 5 minutes walk from this establishment.I ate a Chinese. 
Saturday:Taken for a treat. Lunched at Rocksalt Restaurant. Very tall waitresses. Very thin. Very thin skinned stretched across their frames. They obviously don't eat the chips. Be wonderful to draw. Red Arrows fly past. What's it all about? 96 comments. Remaining under observation.

George Wyllie

Just read in this morning's Guardian Obituary page the death of George Wyllie last week. I remember seeing his work for the first time at Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery sometime in the late 80's early 90's and being seduced and inspired by the wit, artistry, ambition and ideas. 
Also noticed in the birthday column the great photographer Martin Parr is 60 today.

Sebastian Walker

Tuesday already. I'm a gardener. With a bad back. 6:45pm. The emptying of grass cuttings is interrupted by a phone call from Brian.  He enquires if I'm scribbling. Am I working on some marvellous commission. No just mowing the lawn. Cutting a hedge that borders insanity. During the conversations he mentions a programme he'd listened to earlier on BBC Radio 4 about the life of Sebastian Walker founder of Walker Books. In my opinion the radio broadcast didn't give enough credit to co founder Art Director Amelia Edwards, well at least Maurice Sendak mentioned Amelia which prompted Sebastian Walker's sister to. Walker had complete faith in Amelia's choice of illustrator, as was the case with Strat & Chatto not to mention Bully. I met the man on several occasions usually in Walker Books canteen. I got the impression that he wasn't really interested in what I was doing as long as Amelia had faith in my work, fine. But as the programme suggested Sebastian Walker changed the face of childrens books in this country and valued the illustrator. For once the illustrator wasn't treated as an after thought.
Illustrations from Strat & Chatto by Jan Mark. pub 1989. It won The Mother Goose Award the following year. And as I predicted in my acceptance 'speech' well you could hardly call it a speech more a resigned grumbled monologue...."is this it?"... As I clasped  an oversized metal egg coated in imitation  gold leaf sat on a olive-green velvet cushion... "It's the kiss of death." Sebastian Walker winced in the background.  

P E N T A G R A M 40:

Went to Pentagram's 40 birthday bash last night. It was a toss up between that and staying in to watch Chelsea. Ben Casey invites me. Notting Hill. West London. Near enough to Chelsea, not so close to Munich. The sketch is all I can muster, dredge up summon . It falls short. I'm through security. We are greeted by John Rushworth. Preston. Ben says this is David. Shakes my hand. He hasn't a clue who I am. A brass button on a length of red cord is hung round each guest's necks by a tall glamourous girl and we all say the same. Ooh just like an Olympic Medal. A Pentagram Brass Button. A tsunami of faces and shoulders gin and campari champagne martini cocktails with floating flowers. This drink is not camp enough. A ringing in the ears. It's hard at the coal-face. How's the dog? We met once in Manchester at a bar. Gums. You looked at me and said 'Gums'. You remember that? In fact I've been to your house.....I was at your exhibition here Dexter was with you. Pentagram Award. Pentagram Pentagram Pentagram. Can you hear me at the back?Pentagram Pentagram Pentagram. Theo Crosby was there looking down Alan Fletcher was there...looking up. Ken Grange needs to improve his microphone technique. He politely nodded at me. Who is this? I know you from somewhere? I stayed at your house once. You gave me an original Milward Courier Cordless Electric Shaver. Winner of the Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design 1963. I did another drawing. It's been in a drawer ever since. Just a simple portrait. I took a million photographs that day. Send it to me. Promise. Taiwanese crab. Do I know you from somewhere? I am from Milano. I work in Paris. I've come with my boss. Like the artist Raffaello-Raphael. Do I know you from somewhere? We worked together once? One-one. Extra Time. Pub? 3 Halves of lager times three. Corner pub heaving. Spilling. Drogba clinches it. Legend. In West London. Outside in the air she says to Ben where you from? Preston. She's from Burnley. Ray Pointer . John Connelly. Adam Blacklaw. Ben has a word with a drinker in a West Ham shirt. Burnley's colours. He can't forgive West Ham for beating PNE in the 1964 FA Cup Final. Return to Pentagram. Fail to reach the pizza on offer. What am I doing here? What you doing here? Do you work here? I'm a gatecrasher. I've had my eyebrows done today. Edinburgh. Full works. Underarm hair the lot. Follow me. Nova Scotia. Newcastle. We're all here. David Pocknell's here. Mrs.Pocknell is here. In 1984 David Pocknell told me he sensed I was holding back. Kenneth Grange is here. Spirits. And the interior designer who remembered Dexter is here. An architect from Croydon who resembled Einstein was there. We tried to engage in conversation. Work picked up since the riots then? What was I doing there? Gin and Campari. Lager. Chips. Cheesy dip. The chips were delicious.

MON DIEU!

Twenty One ways to thrive as an artist? Sex alcohol and drugs. Blake makes it look easy? Does he? I didn't really watch. Well I guess he's been practising long enough. I can't remember when I last used a light box. Maybe it might be a good idea to dust it down and and try it again.