Doodling contd.

In response to the now very familiar question 'do you have a website?' I'm afraid that the answer is still no. Not a stubborn no, simply a 'in five years it hasn't ever reached the top of the to do list' no. It may yet happen.

Some years ago, while moving house and having packed everything except the essentials (computer, bed, toaster, pencil case) my story was rejected by 'Postcards From Hell' in the US. It just so happened that two of their chosen writers were local pals Andrew C Ferguson (The Cabinet of Dr Calamari) and Hannu Rajaniemi (Satan's Typist), so I offered to do them a doodle for their postcards. I inked ideas for drawings onto scraps of card, then scanned and emailed, but the publisher bought them on the spot as they were, and asked me to do the artwork for the lead story 'Dark Wine' too.

You should see the ink I get through. In my defence I'm stuck in bed a lot of the time, b)I don't have access to a huge sculpture workshop, c) I'm short of year-round nudes and d) I don't have to check my spelling if I draw the idea rather than write it. Handy at 4am.

So I spose I'm inadvertantly a reluctant sort of illustrator by accident in disguise. Ninja sketcher. I don't mind showing you a couple more drawings now that you know my secret. Don't tell anyone.

This is from a set of fifteen angels:

You might recognise this angry faerie from Andrew C Ferguson's book 'The Secret of Scottish Football':

This is one of my 'festive' designs, exhibited as part of the Edinburgh arts collective KMSO, which also sells all of the exhibited artwork as prints and gift cards online:

I even do colour, about once a decade, as demonstrated here in the chart of the Scottish St Ayles skiff fleet of summer 2011:
I helped build one of those boats.

October in a bun

Some of you may know the renowned bilingual school Bunsgoil Crois na Cìse in Edinburgh (Tollcross Primary School). Earlier this year I was adopted by Mrs McPhail's p4/ p5 class to work with extracts from my story 'Island of Doom', weaving me into the curriculum to look at short story writing, storytelling, translation, illustration and performance, as well as islands in the Forth and local history.

I can report that there has been no audience as daunting as that semi-circle of little faces looking up at me when I read the story to them. I have not been hit by nerves that affected my reading before. Their enthusiasm and excitement for the story has been the biggest reward, and I can only hope that they've enjoyed working on it since. Last week the class presented a short Gaelic version of it to the parents at the end of term assembly, complete with their own drawings on a screen in the background, and I was completely bowled over. I'm looking forward to Tollcross returning next term.

This last month or so has passed in a blur of music. For the days pottering indoors, it is good for my soul to find musicians, better still, musicians who want me to join in. The best medicine of all is inclusion. I confess I've neglected everyone else around me, mainly because I needed this non-verbal time out.

This weekend saw the return of the strange but fabulous West Port Book Festival. Held in bookshops in and around the city's Pubic Triangle. As the publicity says, 'The West Port is Edinburgh’s Soho, a heady mix of booze, bosoms, bespoke tailoring and BOOKS'. I loved it.

WPBF Copyright panel discussion:

Tweeting reports from the Scottish Poetry Library:

Traverse Open Mic (unfortunately missing my flatmate on stage):

As you can see, I normally sketch at a frantic speed, with only four minutes for the open mic at the Traverse pic above, but at Janice Galloway's brilliant event I had the rare treat of an hour with my target talking right in front of me.


For full coverage of the festival, have a look at literary shutterbug Chris Scott's set on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisdonia/sets/72157627777438949/

The thing about his varied lenses is that you never know when he's sneaking a shot...


Today I'm wrapped up in my bed watching a small bedraggled fledgling magpie shelter on the birdtable outside my window.