Comments on: Can I borrow your pencil?

By: bollywoodhunk

bollywoodhunk — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:33:15 +0000

this post is i think most interesting i like it thanks for connect my childhood when i was kid then i ask these like question to other

By: cam

cam — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:25:20 +0000

Really enjoying reading your blog. many thanks

By: neil

neil — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:04:04 +0000

If their claim of butterfly encouragement is true – and I have no reason to doubt it – then that’s very much a worthy cause. If the grounds were pristinely cropped I may not have seen the light in that churchyard quite the same way, and might not have stopped to sketch. The longer grass and wild flowers captured th sunlight that morning and contrasted with the darker church building and the shadowing trees behind.

I feel there’s plenty of meticulously manicured environments in large cemeteries, so creating a more natural character in a semi-rural churchyard is ideal.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:40:47 +0000

Great picture, and an interesting story.

With my former Churchwardens hat on, we have endless disagreements over churchyards – usually over the very tight Diocesan regulations we have to operate under, which are much more restrictive than a normal municipal cemetery.

Most small churches usually struggle to find people to mow their Churchyards, as they almost always have to be mown mainly by hand thanks to the headstones. As a result contractors don’t like doing them, and it usually falls to volunteers. Since various conservation groups have been highlighting for a number of years what a haven for wildlife ‘light touch’ churchyards are, that usually means that the grass is allowed to grow in the less used parts of Churchyards as it has done in Stubbings.

Incidentally, one enterprising Rector I heard of, when faced with a similar set of complaints about the grass in his three acre Churchyard discovered that as Rector he had the right to graze his animals on church property, so invested in a couple of sheep that he systematically moved to different areas of the Churchyard to keep the grass under control. Needless to say, although that solved the grass problem, it did produce some other problems…

By: Mom

Mom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:42:30 +0000

The innocuous subject prank…I love it! Keep up the good work.

By: neil

neil — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:37:18 +0000

Can’t say I’ve ever had advice offered, but ignorant peekers for sure. Particularly annoying when they insist on standing to cast a shadow over the work.

Most fun is to draw – or photograph – some totally innoccuous subject, then watch as people stand behind desperately trying to work out what you can see that they cannot.

By: Tim from Radio Clash

Tim from Radio Clash — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:22:14 +0000

In my school/early sketching days I had a lot of that, around my home they knew to leave me alone, but sketching on holiday in Cornwall I got the whole ‘let’s have a look?’ and ‘free’ art crit from random passersby. In fact the nice ones asked and chatted, the less nice ones just rudely peeked.

I was tempted to say no and see what they would do, but I was only 11/12. Even so I was bemused that people thought they had a right to know what I was doing and a right to proffer an opinion on my work when they don’t do that with a ditch.

‘Ooh can I have a look? Nice ditch! You could have dug better there, don’t like the soil, can I have a go on your spade?’

By: Neil Ford

Neil Ford — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:52:35 +0000

And this is why gun control is a bad thing. You should be quite within your rights to shoot people like that!

- Neil.
(Some, or all, of the above may not be serious in nature)