Angels and Demons

There's a lot of drawing in this month's The Artist and Artist & Illustrators magazines. In fact A&I is dedicated to drawing, and there's quite a lot of black and white work in it too. I particularly love the slick and gorgeous drawings by Marie Harnett, they're based on film stills and remind me of a graphite version of Gerhard Richter or Cindy Sherman. I'm not sure how the artist gets around the copyright issues in using someone else's work as a basis for her own, but I love film and the frames she's chosen plus the skill with which she achieves her work is a pretty mesmerizing concoction.

I've had the enjoyable task of choosing £250 of Derwent art materials for the Derwent prize I was awarded at the Patchings Art Festival. To say I was like a kid in a sweetwshop was an understatement.

I'm also thrilled that someone has purchased one of the pieces I have had exhibited at the RBSA's Prize Exhibition. Mum received a phone call today to break the news, though I already had an inkling as Mum and me had seen the red sticker when we went to see the exhibition last Thursday. And I'm dead chuffed about it!

Finally, shocking and sad to hear of Michael Jackson's early death. Michael Jackson's Thriller and Off The Wall albums will always remind me of making preparatory drawings and paintings for my A level art exam. I was obsessed with Caravaggio then, and painted a self portrait by lamplight. The memory of the heat of the lamp and the warm early summer night will forever be conjured up for me by that exciting, energetic, melodic and funky music.

It's very sad that someone who brought such happiness to the lives of so many people apparently had such a troubled existence. It's also so typical that in the space of a few hours Michael Jackson has gone from 'Wacko' to angel. Death, it seems, has made Michael Jackson a hit again.

Doodles I made the other night while 'resting' in the sunshine!