These ceramic cockerels used to belong to my parents (my sister kept them when she cleared out their house). Apparently my mum and dad bought them on one of our first holidays to L’Estartit on the Costa Brava coast of Spain.
Thu-17-Sep-2026
On this day I walked to Brent Eleigh again to visit my mum – barely escaping the rain (and the cars on the narrow road with no footpaths).
Wed-16-Sep-2026
This is the local pub opposite my sister house. It doesn’t seem to be open very often and closes quite early – apparently it focusses on letting out rooms these days. We went out to a pub for a nice British beer in the evening (something that us a must for me, each time I am in the UK), but not this one – instead going to The Crown in Bildeston.
Tue-15-Sep-2026
On this day I walked to Brent Eleigh (where my mum stays) from my sisters house. By some miracle it was warm and sunny. Though by the time I finished my visit, the sky had darkened threatening rain again – that’s English weather for you. My mum has moved into a new room, which she is quite happy with – this is a view of the corner of the room and that’s my hat on the bed.
Tue-15-Sep-2026
This is a sketch of one of my sisters Garfield “toys” (the first that I did in the UK after a long journey from Iraq, arriving in Gatwick, crossing London and taking a train up to Manningtree the day before). She has been trying unsuccessfully to sell this on eBay. I spent my first day relaxing and visiting my mum.
Mon-14-Sep-2026
I started this sketch during my layover between Iraq and the UK, but moment into it they called us to board – and move all the passengers to another waiting areas – so I had to finish this from a photo.
Sun-13-Sep-2026
Here is a sketch I did when leaving Erbil again. My flight was early but at a tolerable time of day. I was intending to spend more time on this but they called us to board the plane. I think the sketch actually looks better because of this.
Sun-13-Sep-2026
When I did this sketch I had missed a couple of days sketching because I was just too busy with work during the day and very jet lag sleepy afterwards. However here is the chair in the Dedeman hotel where I stayed in Erbil.
Fri-11-Sep-2026
Here are some more sketches I did on the way to Erbil in Iraq, after sleeping fitfully on the plane and arriving for a five hour layover with a headache. The first is of a plane in Dubai airport (not my plane and obscured by many things) – where I feel I made my usual mistake of trying to capture too much instead of focussing on one part. The second was done in Terminal 2 (which you have to get to by bus), where I had run out of steam and was just waiting for my flight to be called.
Tue-8-Sep-2026