Pictures by Derek Bacon
A new portrait of TV’s most reassuring gardener. Like Monty Don, I’m also growing tomatoes in my back garden but not many are looking that red yet, or are as big as Monty’s. Fingers crossed though.
This is the 2nd time I’ve done our Monty. The first one was a traditional number: ink, pencil, crayon and all that. This one, however, is drawn straight into Photoshop with my Wacom tablet.
This one went on for ages. I drew the table and the guy on the phone about 6 months before but then gave up on it.
I do that sometimes. Starting the picture is the exciting part, but that feeling fades so I end up sitting on stuff. However, as I was on a roll from the last picture, finishing this one happened quite easily. Funny how it goes. (Also shown here is the first rough version.)
“Now everything’s a little upside down,
As a matter of fact, the wheels have stopped.”
an illustration idea for Veda.
Gouache, white pencil, regular pencil, gel pen and ballpoint pen
This one had a long gestation period. I drew the figure and the foreground plant when I still lived in Osdorp, sometime in 2016 . Then I came across it the other day and realised what it really needed was a bull.
“I think we are well-advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not. Otherwise they turn up unannounced and surprise us, come hammering on the mind’s door at 4 a.m. of a bad night and demand to know who deserted them, who betrayed them, who is going to make amends. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.” Joan Didion
This is number 6 in my ‘Date night‘ series—drawings of people I’d love to spend a few hours with. Imaginary meet ups with unlikely people across time.
Double portrait of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
‘We all remember Charlie‘. This is number 5 in my ‘Date night‘ series—drawings of people I’d love to spend a few hours with. Imaginary meet ups with unlikely people across time.
Here we go. Leadbelly and Robert Johnson. I’m not sure if these two ever met, but they do here. I love Leadbelly. When I had to have my appendix out in a hurry a few years back, all I could think about was listening to Leadbelly again. Anyway.
‘Shiver for me now’. This is number 4 in my ‘Date night‘ series—drawings of people I’d love to spend a few hours with. Imaginary meet ups with unlikely people across time.
