After Womad we visited some friends in Hampton Marshall and had a lovely lunch, and then visited my old university friends who live near Calne. This sketch is of their dog Lily. She wouldn’t stay very still until she was given a cows hoof stuffed with liver pâté to chew on! Even then it took several attempts on the same page before I could get anything close to a dog-like sketch.
Tue-30-Jul-2024
Here are the sketches I did on our last day at Womad. The first was done while my wife and daughter did yoga in the Arboretum (the festival is held in the grounds of Charlton Park, in Wiltshire). In another area, some of us joined ‘Sew-mad’ – where people were sewing bunting (along the theme of the cosmos?) and I did my second sketch. The third sketch was done at the “Taste The World” stage, where artists performed, were interviewed and cooked their favourite dishes (in this one I tasted mango ceviche). The last sketch was some during the performance of Enji who is Mongolian but sings jazz and bossa nova. The highlight of the night for me was to watch Baaba Maal!
Sun-28-Jul-2024
Here are the sketches I did on our second day at the Womad festival. The first is of the view from our campsite – where we all woke up feeling like we hadn’t slept well because it was surprisingly cold at night. The second one was done while I watched and listened to some poetry readings, while I sketched this Jonny Fluffy Punk was reading. Later I listed to Lemn Sissay at the same spot. The other artists I watched that day included Alison Goldfrapp and 0.
Sat-27-Jul-2024
Here is another sketch from our first day at the Womad festival. Noriko Tadano is a Japanese shamisen (a lute-like instrument) performer, composer and vocalist. She was playing on the Ecotricity Stage at 5pm. Later that night we watched Yungchen Lhamo on the Charlie Gillett stage – but that was late at night so I didn’t sketch.
Fri-26-Jul-2024
Here are the first two sketches I did at the Womad festival (World of Music, Arts and Dance). Womad is a long running cultural festival, that started in 1982 (Co-founded by Peter Gabriel), with more than 160 festivals having been conducted since then, with artists and musical styles from all over the world. I went twice when it was held in Morecambe…probably in the early 1990’s. On our first day we set up our campsite and then wandered around to see what was happening at random. Ars Nova Napoli who were playing at the Siam Tent, play reinterpretations of Naples folk music and Hirahi Afonso are from Gran Canaria and play a jazz-tinged repertoire.
Fri-26-Jul-2024
This is the last sketch I did while we were staying in Suffolk…my daughters new hiking shoes. The day I drew this we planned our meals for Womad camping, did a big shop in the supermarket, said goodbye to my mum and sister and crammed all of our luggage into the car. These shoes seem to be excited for the next leg of our holiday, as they are already walking off the edge of the page!
Thu-25-Jul-2024
On 24 July we had another morning of trying to sort out our hire car, followed by a nice relaxing walk in the “Old School Wood” and along the footpaths going towards Little Waldingfield. The Old School Wood is a community woodland bought and planted in 2008 and managed by a group of volunteers. After this we visited my mum again for a chat and a cup of coffee, when I did this sketch (featuring a bit of wonky perspective!).
Wed-24-Jul-2024
On the morning of my daughter’s birthday we went for a nice sunny walk over the road from where we stayed in Suffolk, to the nearby church in Little Waldingfield. That was after umpteen phone calls to the car hire company trying to get a replacement car because a warning light appeared on the dashboard. I was not impressed with Europcar. We couldn’t get in to the church (a pity as according to one website it has some interesting features), but sat in the churchyard and ate our sandwiches. Our afternoon (after visiting my mum) was spent at my sisters house stuffing ourselves with a veggie barbecue, strawberry merengue and cake!
Tue-23-Jul-2024
I did this sketch of the main house (behind which we were staying in Suffolk) after a day out in Bury St. Edmunds. At the time I was still getting used to it being so light in the evenings in the UK. Going out to sketch has also helped me with my jet lag…if I hadn’t done this sketch I would surely have just fallen asleep on the couch again!
Mon-22-Jul-2024