I’m not even going to try and explore the sheer lack of attention this site has been getting from me. Instead — here’s some pictures. The first is a drawing of Josh Holloway from this morning.
And here are some pictures from last year and my adventure back to Parkes, including exploring an abandoned hatch in the ground.
From the storm last night:
I flew down to Sydney two weeks ago to see Stephen Fry at the Opera House, and then flew down again just over a week later for Neil Gaiman. Both nights were excellent, and I had the biggest smile on my face when each man walked onto the stage. Of the two nights, I think – and as a massive Stephen Fry fan (as in, he’s a personal hero)this is saying something – I enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s reading the most. The combination of Neil Gaiman’s words, Eddie Campbell’s images, and FourPlay’s music was magic.
I didn’t take many photos during my visit for Stephen Fry, despite bringing my camera, but I had a morning to myself while waiting for a table discussion with Shaun Tan, Eddie Campbell and Neil Gaiman so I wandered around Sydney Harbour for a few hours snapping off shots.
So here I am again. I’m starting another attempt to take one photo a day for a year. And to do one drawing a day for a year.
I didn’t make it particularly far last time (though it did feel like it). Hopefully I’ll do a little better this time around. I won’t be so near as picky this time: if I miss a day, week, or month (or even a year), then so be it – it’s not game over, man, game over! It’s not going to so much rules as guidelines and considering that I hope to do it over a year, I think that’s fine. Yes, there’s something romantic about the notion of performing exactly day in, day out for a year, but I don’t know if it’s any less romantic to do it more casually (it’s certainly more practical), to embrace the fun of it, rather than enforced tedium.
Anyway, to spice things up a bit, I’ll also be attempting to write one thing a day. It doesn’t matter what that one thing is – it could be a story, or it could be a journal entry, or it could be just rambling about the lack of updates re: Breaking Bad’s third season on iTunes. Anything will do, and I think that will give it flavour. Hopefully. It’s certainly an easier undertaking than my one story every two weeks idea I had last year. I don’t think even the first story was completed (though, long afterwards, I did realise how it should be written).
All three of these – the writing, the drawing, the photography – are perhaps things I should be doing anyway, but we humans are strange, strange creatures, and sometimes it takes putting things into a certain context of structure or challenge before we’ll see the value in doing them.
Would it be cheating if I decided this piece would count as my bit of writing for the day? I don’t know. Maybe. But then this is my undertaking, my rules – well, guidelines – so it’s my choice. So we’ll see.
To make things slightly more organised and official, I’ll point out – largely for myself – that the starting day for this whole, crazy endeavour, is Friday, the 9th of July, 2010. It will end on whichever weekday the 9th of July, 2011 finds itself on. I could look it up, but why spoil the (minuscule) surprise? Also, I have a feeling the 9th of July – at least in America – is the release date of a major movie. But I’m not sure which. I could be making things up or I could look it up, but, again, I’m not going to spoil the surprise.
So. Here goes. Starting…now.
—
Oh, and here’s a picture I prepared earlier today:
A rough sketch of the Eleventh Doctor, that came about when I realised the head (and hair) I was drawing vaguely resembled Matt Smith.
One of the reasons I like living in the city again – in one day I can think ‘I need a USB hub’ and ‘I’d really like a Tardis’ and by day’s end I can have something that delightfully resolves both desires.
—
The city continued to provide-
-I also had my cravings for Michael Palin’s 19 disc adventure set (50% off!) and a copy of the Princess Bride novel satiated.
—
Also, I applied for a few jobs. We shall see how that goes. I saw a new iMac with a gloriously sized screen – once I’m working again it will be awfully tempting. I mean, editing on that thing. And drawing.
I want to go to there.
—
Also, also – watched Breaking Bad’s third episode of its third season. I love this show. Even when it becomes incredibly bleak it’s still a joy to watch. It truly is greater than the sum of its parts; and each part – the writing, the acting, the music, the directing – is pretty damn great.
I’m going to go watch the fourth episode now.
And then presumably the fifth, sixth, seventh, etc, until I have to endure the week long wait for the next arrival on iTunes.
I’ve added another timelapse video to the video gallery, and another photo, appropriately enough, to the photo gallery.
—
I’m also listening to the soundtrack for the fifth season of Lost. I sometimes think Michael Giacchino understood the show better than anyone else, perhaps even the writers.
Alright. Rather than go about uploading each photo and drawing for the day into individual posts I’m just going to go right ahead and post them all in one Uber-Post.
The 17th of August, 2009:
The 18th of August, 2009:
Not content with taking a photo a day, and doing drawing a drawing a day, I’ve decided to start writing one story every two weeks for a bit over a year. This is the beginning – several pages of notes for the first story.
The 19th of August, 2009:
They had this cow metres away from a stall selling steak burgers – I’m not sure how that must’ve affected it, standing there for a couple of days in the wafting scent of its sizzling brethren.
There’s always at least one balloon…
And this marks the point when my mind turned to rating the various exhibits of AgQuip for the zombie killing efficiency. All I saw when I looked at this thing was zombies going under its wheels, unable to reach up to the driver’s cabin.
Another effective tool in the war against the zombie hordes.
The 20th of August, 2009:
The 21st of August, 2009:
The 22nd of August, 2009:
Taking inspiration from Underzo
The 23rd of August, 2009:
The 24th of August, 2009:
And rain it did, only a few minutes after taking the picture.
The 25th of August, 2009:
My favourite non-heartbreaking/heartwarming shot from the Simpsons. It lasts all of one second, and is 100% wonderful.
A little bit of Fry.
Cautiously admiring the Summer weather…in Winter. Last time Winter convinced me I should go outside in Summer clothes I ended up with pneumonia. Tricksy seasons.
The 26th of August, 2009:
The 27th of August, 2009:
I had no idea when I drew this little ravenous caterpillar that I would spend the rest of the day drawing variations of him.
This is a fresh A2(?) calendar sheet underneath the keyboard of the family computer – the previous one was (and is, I’ve saved it) covered in drawings and doodlings from many hours of sitting in front of the computer. Some ideas sprung forth from those idle creations of the previous sheet, and no doubt many more will come from this new one.
There seems to be a structure forming for these posts. For instance, they begin with a drawing:
Sometimes there’s more than one drawing. Not today however.
Then there’s possibly some explanatory text in the middle, as this sentence and the one above attest to.
And then they conclude with a photo (or photos):
Potentially followed with some further text to sum up the contents of the pictures (such as the one above with the bird drying itself off after a dip in the dam) and wrap up the post. Done.
