Michael Nobbs

Category: Drawings

Posts that feature my drawings and the visual work that forms the heart of my practice

  • Instagram and drawing at 4.00 am

    Screenshot of an Instagram post showing an open handwritten journal page dated 22 September 1970. The page is filled with thick black handwritten notes about paintings, travelling, poems, photographs and everyday life. The caption identifies the book as Life with P.: Journals, 1966–1976 by Musa McKim Guston.
    Close-up of a self-portrait drawn in red Neocolor II crayon across an open pocket sketchbook. The face fills most of the page, with large round glasses, one eye clearly visible, a bald head, moustache and beard suggested with loose, waxy marks. Areas of dense red crayon frame parts of the face. At the bottom, the drawing is dated 23-9-26 and accompanied by the handwritten note: “4.00 am I’m not sure if this the start of the day or an interlude between sleeps.”
    Early-morning photograph of a small self-portrait drawing resting on a red-and-white patterned sketchbook on a bed. The portrait is drawn in soft red Neocolor II crayon across an open pocket sketchbook, showing a bald man with large round glasses, moustache and beard. Above it is a round mirror reflecting the artist’s face and yellow phone. A mug of tea, a red crayon and a dark pencil sit nearby. Beneath the portrait is the handwritten note: “4.00 am I’m not sure if this the start of the day or an interlude between sleeps.”

    I’m not sure if this is the start of the day or just an interlude between sleeps, so I’m hedging my bets and drinking decaffeinated tea.

    Yesterday Cathryn described Neocolor IIs as “friendly”. I feel the need for some friendliness in the very dark morning — it feels especially dark this morning; I wonder where the moon is in its cycle — so I’m drawing myself with a red crayon and enjoying its soft waxiness.

    This book caught my eye on Instagram. Do I really need more artists’ journals to read? I have Keith Vaughan and Derek Jarman waiting for me by my bed. Tove Jansson’s letters have been calling to me. But this does look interesting: paintings, reproduced journal pages and scraps of notes. Right up my street.

    I think I might just accept that the day has begun and make a pot of real tea…

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  • Eager to draw

    Close-up photograph of a self-portrait on a small sketchbook page. The face is drawn in dark blue Neocolor II crayon with large round glasses, a bald head, moustache and beard, and one eye looking slightly upwards. Dense blue crayon fills much of the background around the head, with rough, textured marks left visible. At the top are the handwritten time “5.00 am” and date “22-9-26”. Down the right-hand side, in black ink lettering, are the words “LOOKING FORWARD TO MY TEA”. A black pen and blue Neocolor II crayon lie beside the drawing on the red-and-white patterned sketchbook.

    After seeing my friend Cathryn’s Selfietember drawing yesterday which she drew with a Neocolor II, I knew that I wanted to try the same for my morning drawing today.

    I woke up excited to draw (is that a new feeling?), made my tea, put food down for the cats and came back to bed and started to draw before I poured out my tea.

    Photograph of an early-morning drawing setup on a bed. A small self-portrait sketchbook page rests on top of a larger red-and-white patterned sketchbook, with a round mirror, striped ceramic jug and drawing materials nearby. In the mirror, the artist’s face, round glasses and yellow-cased phone are reflected. The self-portrait is drawn in deep blue Neocolor II crayon, with bold glasses, facial features and a dark blue area around the head. Handwritten notes include “5.00 am”, the date “22-9-26” and, written in ink down the right-hand side, “LOOKING FORWARD TO MY TEA”.

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  • Selfietember Day #21

    View of my morning drawing set-up on the bed. An open pocket sketchbook rests on a red-and-white patterned cover of a second sketchbook, showing a self-portrait drawn across the spread in loose dark reddish-brown lines over a pale cobalt-blue wash. The portrait shows my bald head, large round glasses, short beard and moustache, with the eyes looking slightly upwards. A pale blue Neocolor II crayon and dark watercolour pencil lie beside the sketchbook. At the upper left, a round mirror reflects my face; nearby are a small white light, a folded piece of printed text, a blue-and-white checked cloth and an orange mug of tea.

    A calmer, later morning drawing today. I was awake for a few hours in the night, so it was about 6.30 by the time I made my tea, came back to bed and picked up my sketchbook.

    The light in the window behind my head was noticeably brighter this morning, so I put down a wash of Neocolor II Cobalt Blue 5% first, then drew over it with a Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle watercolour pencil in Carmine Lake.

    No deep questioning or mysterious symbolic mark-making today. Just tea, a mirror and a morning self-portrait.

    Close-up photograph of a self-portrait drawn across an open spread in a small pocket sketchbook. The face is outlined loosely in dark reddish-brown watercolour pencil, with large round glasses, a bald head, short beard and moustache, and the eyes looking slightly upwards. A pale wash of cobalt blue fills much of the background around the head, leaving the face mostly white. The drawing is dated 21-9-26 at the bottom right. The sketchbook rests on the red-and-white patterned cover of a second sketchbook, with a pale blue Neocolor II crayon and a dark watercolour pencil lying alongside it..

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  • This is the wonky messy artist I am

    A small open pocket sketchbook lies on a blue, cream and rust crocheted blanket. Across the two pages is a loose self-portrait drawn in black, blue and grey-beige: a bald head, large blue-framed glasses, dark eyes, a lightly suggested beard and moustache, and blue marks indicating a T-shirt. A rough black block fills part of the background behind the head, and a brown tea splash has stained the top of the drawing. The date 20-9-26 is written along the bottom edge. To the left are an open tin of Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons and a fabric pencil case filled with drawing materials. Above the sketchbook is a round wooden-framed mirror propped on the bed; in it, my face and glasses are reflected as I hold up a yellow phone to take the photograph.

    This morning I woke thinking about the kind of space I seem to have been craving around my drawing.

    A place where I can turn up as I am.

    Where I can draw what I like, with what I like.

    Where I can be serious and playful, thoughtful and impulsive, ambitious and tired.

    Where growth doesn’t mean becoming a different sort of artist, but giving the artist I already am enough room, attention and company to develop.

    My head was full of these thoughts as I drew this morning. I picked up the wrong pocket sketchbook. I gathered whatever materials were around me and started without much of a plan. I changed tools as I went. A little tea spilt onto the page and became part of the drawing.

    I rather love today’s wonky messy drawing. I want to make lots more wonky messy drawings.

    This is the wonky messy artist I am ❤️🐌

    Close-up of the same self-portrait filling most of the open pocket sketchbook. The face is loosely drawn with thin black lines, broad blue marks and broken grey-beige strokes. Thick blue glasses dominate the face, with blue added around the eyes and across one shoulder. Grey-beige marks loosely describe the beard, moustache, jaw and side of the face, while a textured black patch sits behind the right side of the head. Near the top of the bald head is a clearly visible brown tea stain, with a darker centre and a paler watery bloom around it. The horizontal join between the two sketchbook pages runs through the middle of the face. At the bottom is the handwritten date, 20-9-26.

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  • Three self-portraits and a question to take away

    A loose black ink drawing fills most of a cream sketchbook page. My bald head is seen almost straight on, with oversized rounded glasses, a long nose, small moustache and scattered beard marks. The eyes look slightly in different directions and the right ear is drawn prominently. The outline of my shoulders and T-shirt curves around the lower part of the portrait. Underneath, in hand-drawn lettering, I’ve written: “Drawing myself from memory.”

    Three self-portraits this morning. One in a pocket sketchbook as soon as I’d made my morning tea. A second with the mirror turned away, drawn from memory. And then a third, bringing the mirror closer and trying to find ways to really look at myself again — interrupting the habits and repeated visual language I’ve built up over the last three weeks of drawing my face.

    I wonder what would happen if, for the rest of Selfietember (and beyond), I keep finding small ways to make it difficult to draw the Michael I already know?

    The little folded sketchbook rests on a crocheted blanket in front of my round mirror. The portrait shows my face within a circular frame, with blue glasses, dark shading around my head and orange clothing. In the mirror above, the top part of my real face is reflected, including my bald head and dark blue glasses. Behind and beside the sketchbook are the green teapot, drawing pencils and pens, all gathered on the cloth-covered tray where I’ve been working.
    The drawing stretches across the two-page spread of a handmade folded sketchbook. My face is enclosed within a large circular outline, with dark blue glasses, a long nose, small moustache and beard marks. Areas behind either side of my head are filled with rough black shading, while my clothing is picked out in orange and red. Beneath the portrait I’ve written: “5:00am awake from a pretty good night’s sleep after an impromptu trip to town for fish and chips yesterday evening 19-9-26,” with “night” crossed out and replaced by “evening.”
    The sketchbook lies on a crocheted blanket beside my drawing tray. The black ink portrait is visible on the page, with the words “Drawing myself from memory” underneath. Nearby are a green teapot, a mug, a round tabletop mirror and a cluster of pens and coloured pencils, giving a sense of the early-morning drawing session taking place around it.
    The sketchbook is propped beside a round wooden-framed mirror. In the drawing, my face is large and slightly tilted, with one eye especially prominent, dark pencil marks around the head and red-orange colour across the clothing. In the mirror beside it, part of my actual face is visible behind a yellow phone: bald head, dark blue glasses and orange clothing. Pens and pencils lie on the tray below.
    A larger, looser drawing fills most of a cream sketchbook page. My head is drawn in black pen and pencil, with large glasses, an enlarged right eye, a broad nose, moustache and beard marks. Dark pencil scribbles sit behind the left side of my head and near the top right of the page. Across the lower part of the drawing, my clothing is described with a sweeping black outline and rough red-orange coloured-pencil marks. The portrait feels less symmetrical and more fragmented than the previous drawings, with the different materials visibly interrupting one another.
    A wide overhead view of the bed and drawing setup after making the three self-portraits. In the foreground, a large open sketchbook shows the black ink portrait drawn from memory, with “Drawing myself from memory” written beneath it. Farther up the bed, the small folded sketchbook is open to the coloured self-portrait with blue glasses and orange clothing. Between them is a crowded drawing tray holding a green teapot, mug, milk jug, the round wooden-framed mirror, loose pens and pencils, and other drawing tools. An Oxford English Dictionary lies partly under the smaller sketchbook, and an open fabric pencil roll filled with pens and pencils sits at the top right. Everything is spread across a large crocheted blanket made from blue, turquoise, cream and muted reddish-brown squares, giving the scene the feeling of a well-used, slightly chaotic early-morning drawing camp.

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