I had a booking last night to caricature on board the HMS Illustrious. A two hour drive to Portsmouth in rush hour traffic which felt like there was a mass exodus out of Bournemouth, like there was a hurricane coming or something!
On arriving at the Naval Port I wasn't allowed in! Do I look shifty, in my wooly hat and camper van?... Anyway I was held there for an hour while the guard entered every spelling of 'Hayball' into the system, and yet..." No I'm sorry sir. You are not on the list. (Compuer says no!)". Supervisors were called, a queue formed, men and women in combats, a football team in their kit, ladies in evening attire, and there was me at the front of the queue keeping everyone waiting. I can appreciate they have to be careful as apparently some reporters sneaked on to one of their ships recently.
Eventually, an officer was called up from the otherside of the dock, who cycled over to sort it all out. A very nice man, so I put his bike in the back of my van and we drove over to the 'Illustrious'. In the end the evening went well and I drew lots of caricatures and eventually left when the Abba tribute band came on. Not my usual venue, but a most impressive ship and the officers were a great bunch of people.
I thank them for making me feel most welcome.
Very sad that so many perished in world war 1.
You see here my grandad getting married. Previously he was wounded by a spent bullet in the battle of the Somme. It went in his leg.
Weird to think if it had have been fatal, I wouldn't be here writing this now.
'A Hare in the Harbour'
A brown hare portrayed by the lagoon ajacent to the Mudeford sandbank, Christchurch harbour.
'I've painted this hare in watercolours on watercolour paper in a different style to my usual acrylics on canvas.
Also, a little survey...'If you were to have a painting of an animal on your wall, what animal would it be?'
Ta, al
Took this pic with my new camera today. Thought J'Odd Eye looked very peaceful, laying in the last of the september sun. (click on pic to see it larger)
PHEW! Given the fact that I gave Glastonbury a miss this year, this monday morning I was able to cycle from here in my Boscombe home to Middle Beach, Studland, near Swanage. (instead of being in a 9 hour queue to get out of Glasto like I did one year, this was much more relaxing! )
It really is beautiful over on the Purbecks. Sometimes I wonder why people prefer to go abroad when there is such nice countryside in the UK.
Anyway... I cycled down to Boscombe Pier and then around the Bay along the prom via B'mth Pier, along to Sandbanks Peninsula. (You know, the 3rd most expensive real estate in the world!) There certainly are some impressive properties overlooking the sea and Poole harbour, old and new style. I hopped onto the Sandbanks floating bridge and was on my way through the dunes to Studland. I 've just had this urge to have a go at doing a painting based on a particular view, I've always liked. Anyway the view did live up to my memory of it. I hope I've done it justice in my naive style.
I took a selection of bracketed photos, ate my cheese bagette, had a paddle and headed home. The return cycle was a lot easier as the wind was behind me. Heres the route and some pics. (I must do this more often! - My advice to others is get out on yer bike at every spare opportunity, weather permitting) cheers al
Wimborne, Grammar School 1886 ... .......well, who would have thought, 83 years later a young alan hayball passed his 11 plus, would be wandering through the gates of this old school with his little satchel, brown blazer and cap with pink ribbon accessories, sewn on by his mum because she left it too late to buy the official uniform (drat!), which meant young alan was without the school crest embroidered on cap and blazer (taunts of 'HAYBALL's GOT NO EAGLE!' -HAYBALL's GOT NO EAGLE!' ) and consequently the wrong cap had an exceptionaly long peak! you get the picture!.. did this affect me? yes, scarred for life! (only joking!)... ........this is all by the by as I'm just here to say I'll be back to my old stopping ground this weekend for... ...Wimborne Folk Festival, Dorset 13th to 15th June 2008 I'll be drawing Caricatures of the festival goers in front of the Allendale centre, so if you are at a loose end and not too far away then why not come along and enjoy yourself, and enjoy the lively pub atmosphere, street entertainment and music. Be good to see you! (and any of my old school chums, most welcome!)
cheers al
"Well it was an interesting experience, with my new independent marquee taking slightly longer to put up than expected! Thanks to Stubby from Stubbington workshops, for help in that department. Easier to take down Sunday night, but not sure why it didn't pack down as small as when I unwrapped it!
We all got away with it weather wise as we only had the occasional drizzle that didn't amount to much, which made the weekend a much more pleasurable time, (apart from a rather un-friendly bee, presumably an escapee from the honey and Bees stand decided to take a dislike to my hand when pushing in tent pegs).
I was kept busy most of the time, beavering away on people's caricatures, which went down very well. The new cow paintings are continuing to get positive comments and limited edition prints were sold and the orders taken on 'cocktail cow' made her the most popular tipsy cow of the show!
I must say how much I enjoyed all the various sculptures that were in abundance and the standard of exhibitor was very high.
We had a great night out in a greek restaurant, on friday night in Henley. Although evenings were slightly chilly, it was still very pleasant sitting in our campervan circle sipping the odd glass of red wine and dining on Harriet of Milkiway jewellery's delightful 'pasta surprise' on saturday night.
Fawley Court is certainly an idylic setting and I was very excited to watch the indian ring neck parakeets flying from tree to tree, that have populated this area of the country, (originally captive birds that have been released and managed to survive in the great british climate).
parakeet video
Beautiful plumage!
Good to see all that came along. It made it a much more personalised, having my own outside marquee, but next couple of shows I'm back in side the main marquees.
See you at Loseley Park, Surrey or Stonor Park, Henley."
hd fairs
ichf shows
Bye for now!
al
http://ahayball.co.uk
These are three new paintings I have done on box canvases. They are available for sale at £225 each from ahayball.co.uk. I just came up with this idea of wine themed cows and a bit that little girl in 'Willie Wonker and the chocolate factory',- Victoria Beauregard, that took on the appearance of a blueberry? (if I remember correctly) I think there is still another one to do and that will most likely be a green cow, probably cocktail driven! Hope you like these anyway. Now the weathers perking up, new ideas should start filtering through, -(I'm not sure where from though!)
This is my old Jalopee, 'Puf the magic wagon', NOW (sniff!) sold to a good home.
Here she is my little whippet cross lurcher J' Odd Eye, faithful friend of 14 years.
Hi, Welcome to my blog!
I thought It would be good to set up, to give friends and customers a chance to give feedback, suggestions and anything in fact that maybe of interest.
I'll endeavor to write-up and post pics that I think would be of interest to anyone including perhaps some strange unusual and comical items. As most people have busy lives I'm not sure how much time will be spent by me or you, and as I'm new to 'blogs', all will be revealed in the fullness of time!
cheers alx
You can see all my art at my website: ahayball.co.uk
