Michael Nobbs

Tag: Companions

  • The Exuberant Artist Podcast

    Lovely to start the day listening to and watching my friend Monique talk about her creative practice, building community and living well as a home-tethered artist and maker.

    A timely reminder to find ways to live well within our limits.

    A photograph of a cosy early-morning drawing setup on a red, grey and cream checked duvet. An iPad is playing The Exuberant Artist Podcast, showing a video conversation between Emma Freeman, wearing a green jumper, and Monique Francis, seated in a darker room. In front of the screen is an open, handmade pocket sketchbook containing black ink portraits of both women, with speech bubbles recording snippets of their conversation. The podcast's title is handwritten across the top of the pages, with the date 31-10-26 at the bottom. An orange fountain pen rests beside the sketchbook, while an orange reading light illuminates a tea tray with a hen-patterned cloth to the left.
    A photograph of an open, handmade pocket sketchbook resting on a red, grey and cream checked duvet. Across the two pages, beneath the handwritten heading “The Exuberant Artist Podcast”, are two loosely drawn black ink portraits of women wearing glasses. On the left is Emma Freeman, with speech bubbles reading “You're a beautiful soul” and “I love that you have this delight!” On the right is Monique Francis, with speech bubbles containing fragments of the conversation, including “Sometimes remind myself I'm living the life I want” and “I much more about process than product.” The date, 31-10-26, is written at the bottom. Part of the podcast video is visible on an iPad behind the sketchbook, with an orange pen lying to the right.

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  • 4.50 am GMT

    A photograph of an open homemade pocket sketchbook resting on a red, grey and cream checked duvet cover beneath a round, wooden-framed mirror. The right-hand page contains a bold black ink self-portrait of the artist wearing round glasses, with a beard and moustache. On the left-hand page, handwritten text reads: “4:50 am. I reached for a Moonlight Chronicle to read instead of my iPad and then drew myself. All before making my tea. A good start to the day.” The date, 26-10-26, appears above the drawing. Reflected in the mirror is the artist, wearing round glasses and holding a yellow phone in front of his face, revealing the pose from which the drawing was made. An orange Kaweco fountain pen and a black pen lie beside the sketchbook. To the right of the mirror is a yellow-covered copy of The Moonlight Chronicles, decorated with an illustration of a figure drawing. The scene is softly illuminated by warm early-morning light.

    I reached for a Moonlight Chronicle to read instead of my iPad and then drew myself. All before making my tea.

    A good start to the day.

    A close-up photograph of an open homemade pocket sketchbook resting on a red, grey and cream checked duvet cover. A bold black ink self-portrait fills the right-hand page, showing the artist's bald head, round glasses, beard and moustache, with the circular outline of a mirror surrounding his face. On the left-hand page, handwritten text reads: “4:50 am. I reached for a Moonlight Chronicle to read instead of my iPad and then drew myself. All before making my tea. A good start to the day.” The date, 26-10-26, is written in a small box above the drawing. Part of a round mirror is visible at the top of the photograph, with an orange fountain pen lying beside the sketchbook. Everything is bathed in warm yellow light.

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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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  • A trace of Mary on her birthday

    Screenshot of an entry from Mary Gordon’s blog, Fat Black Cat Journal, showing a post titled “Lady of leisure,” dated 18 September 2022. At the top is a painting of a woman in a dark coat and hat standing beside a war memorial. Below, Mary writes about identifying with the woman in the painting and reflects on exhaustion, disappointment and trying to keep going.

    Today would have been Mary Gordon’s birthday. I’ve been particularly missing her of late, especially when I spoon coffee into my little stovetop espresso maker, a ritual we both enjoyed.

    A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that her blog, Fat Black Cat Journal, is still online, and I feel as though I’ve found a way to reconnect with her — with traces of her.

    It hasn’t always been easy to read. This entry, written a few days after her final birthday, feels particularly painful and, as has been the case numerous times in recent days when I’ve been encountering these traces of her online, I’ve wanted to reach back in time and give her a hug.

    Sometimes things happen and you realise that you have been putting one foot in front of another and trying to keep going. This has been happening for YEARS. Everything from prepandemic to now has been grim, foot infront of another with no relief. Just another fucking thing to deal with. My joi de vivre fucked off many years ago. I’m now in emergency mode all I want to do is slowly crochet the same piece of yarn over and over again and listen to some semi decent drama on the radio and work out a way of keeping warm. And I don’t want to talk to anyone either I cannot bear the thought of how my life has just been a series of disappointments, and failures, many of which were not my fault but I have to live with them all the same. Last night I could hardly bear it I watched an Italian film whose central character was a smug leftist filmmaker. A smug leftist film maker scuppered my film career many years ago. And I remembered the three months of my life when I woke up and cried every day.

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  • An emerging 4.00 am drawing habit?

    I seem to be awake at 4.00 am a lot at the moment and have decided, for now, to just go with the flow and draw myself.

    The complete video, in which I leaf through David Hockney’s book Faces 1966–1984, is available over on my Patreon.

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