Fallen from Olympus V

 Here's number 5. I think I'm going to stop here, at least until I've done more exhibition drawings and probably postcards, too. 

This viewer is a combination of the central figure in Pictures at an Exhibition and someone I drew more recently who moved before I could do his body. Both these people had been to the Library downstairs before visiting the gallery, so were carrying books with them. I had decided that the art work in this one would be a landscape, and I started off aiming to use the background of the Alex from last yearr's Diwali cards, but later it became evident that I should use the one of the Art Gallery and Museum from the same set.

Fallen from Olympus IV

 Number 4 in the series. I was keen to use one of the Dance of Death postcards, and this one being the most explicit dance seemed right. I also wanted to revisit the woman in the floral dress from Pictures at an Exhibition. They seemed to call for each other. She seemed one of the more... robust figures I'd drawn in an exhibition context, so I felt she would stand up to the picture of Death. Also I felt the off-beat rhythm of the various elbows would work somehow. It has turned out to be something that has really worked for me.

Fallen from Olympus III

 The third. You can believe that I drew this woman in an exhibition if you want. I will neither confirm nor deny it. She seems the proper foil to the clothed figure in the framed picture. 

I've got better at using an acetate mask to remove the viewer's profilr from the framed picture. I like it as a way of combining and recombining linocuts I've used elsewhere, 

I've got another two or three of these in my head. I've earmarked some other postcards and I've got at least two drawings I want to use. I've also got some other ideas bubbling away, so I might park these and see how they go.

Fallen from Olympus II

 The second in this series. I remember this guy in the gallery. From the back, he looked like a giant. But when he turned round, he seemed more normal sise. Anyway I managed to draw him in gigantic mode.

The frame stays the same from Olympus I, this time with another small nude from way back. Back then I used to cut up  tea cartons and print on the inside. I was so cheap. So it's in a much less humble setting now. People often look at art askance like this. Almost as if they don't want to confront it directly. 

I printed this one and the next together over the last couple days, having had more time conducive to cutting during the week,

Fallen from Olympus I

 Often, when I'm on "minding" duties at an exhibition, I do a bit of drawing in the quiet moments. Which is nearly all the time, to be honest. The people who spend more than a couple of seconds in front of a work risk being immortalised by me. I enjoy this kind of drawing because it's hard getting an acceptable picture in so short a period of time.

While doing this I thought it'd be worth revisiting something like the print Pictures at an Exhibition from some time back. I thought I could make a frame to fit some of the postcard images I've done and use a mask to use the same thing with a number of viewers.

So this is the first of what may be a few. The postcard dates back to 2021.

I might also dig out the block from Pictures at an Exhibition and cut out the woman in the floral dress to re-use. I may also try colouring these with brush and ink. I'll have a go on one of the least successful prints and then decide.

 I thought the title might reflect both the art and the viewer being at least in part more holy than they first appear.

Pigeon

 We were given a free stall at a VE Day market in town. For me, VE Day equals pigeons in Trafalgar Square, because my dad was there on the day and had his photo taken with pigeons like you did back then.

Anyhoo I thought I'd print these "plein air" as it were. Didn't work. The atmospheric conditions meant the ink didn't dry. But it was a fun evening anyway.