Crazy Cake Golf

Regular readers may have noticed that I'm quite a fan of cake. Nick likes golf (a bit... he doesn't own any of those unusual trousers or anything). So when I heard that Bompas and Parr were putting a cake-themed crazy golf course onto the roof of Selfridges this summer, it seemed the ideal Sunday afternoon activity.


All the obstacles are London landmarks made to look like cake. They're not actually icing and sponge, that would be a recipe for melty disaster in the British summer, but they look pretty realistic. And you get a Bakewell tart scented score card to add to the ambiance.

There are ten holes, and they ticket it so there aren't queues or too much waiting around. 

Tickets are released in monthly batches,  so you can still go along if cakey golf's your thing.

CPSH July

Sally at Diario chose this month's topics, so visit her to see a round of up everyone who's taken part.

The Colour Blue

The best blue thing around at the moment - the sky! (Added topicality: this was at Box Hill on Saturday for the bike race.)

Ladybird

Not actually an actual ladybird, but the current window display in Louis Vuitton on Bond Street made me think of them.

Art Deco

Our side board which I always think is quite deco-y.

Inspiration

Pile of Mollie Makes magazines and Danny Gregory's Everyday Matters.

Something I Made

A little courgette cake. This was actually not a successful recipe, but I don't think I've made much else this month!

Sunday Sketchblog #23

Another sketch from a photo, I'm afraid, and also from my self portrait sketchbook. We were all dressed up to go to (another!) wedding last weekend, and I quite liked the photo this came from, of us walking from the church to the reception.

Poor Nick... got his head and feet chopped off. It is supposed to be a little book of self portraits though. 


Visit Emma to see what it's her sketchbook this week.

Week Word: Summer

Emma chose our very appropriate word this week... the long awaited 'summer'.


Unfortunately, as I sit in an over air-conditioned office and the streets outside are thronged with tourists I haven't really had chance to enjoy it too much just yet. In attempt to find some inspiration I looked back through some sunny holiday pictures, so my contribution this week is a sketch based on what felt like a very summery photo.

And yes, when anyone points a camera at me I tend to make a stupid face and adopt the most unusual pose possible. Getting the arms and legs in vaguely anatomically correct positions for this drawing was quite a challenge!


Hopefully everyone else is getting plenty of sunshine this summer... visit Emma to see the other summer-y posts.

Resourceful Chap...

So, London is all about sport at the moment. As I might have mentioned, I'm not very excited about it.


However, walking along Piccadilly this morning I saw this rather serious chap who was clearly committed to sport in a way I could wholeheartedly support. He was cycling along on his little tiny Brompton... with his jazzy coloured swimming shorts draped over the handlebars to dry in the long awaited sunshine. So resourceful!

I like to think he's a true Londoner and had been for a dip in the Serpentine before his cycle to work. Perhaps it's some sort of commute-triathlon and he ends his journey by folding up his bike and jogging the final stretch?

Neighbourhood Felines

Pretty much all our neighbours are retired. This is what happens when you move out of Proper London. You might think, therefore, that our neighbourhood cats would rejoice in names such as Tigs or maybe Boots.

But no. When we arrived with our own sizeable feline (who goes by proud name of Vincent Noir) he was immediately forced into battle with the local menace, Johnny Voodoo.

And if that wasn't enough, the cul-de-sac is also patrolled by a pair of fiends known (by Jackie at number 4) as The Black Marauders.

We originally thought there was merely the one Black Marauder (which would be enough for any neighbourhood) until we had a cat flap fitted and Nick opened the back door to chase off the latest beast attempting to gain unlawful access. It's possibly an insight into our lives that he immediately assumed he'd acquired double vision when, out of the gloom, twin Black Marauders stared balefully back at him.

I live in the fear of the day they all put aside their differences and form a gang to terrorise the leafy streets of Staines upon Thames. Thankfully, at the moment they seem quite happy to sit under bushes and growl at each other with just the occasional sortie via enemy cat flaps. 

(The observant may have spotted that my drawing also includes Aragog's Bush. This is where the spiders live. Abandon hope all ye who enter there.)

Sunday Sketchblog #22

Another fairly quiet week on the seeing interesting things front, so today's sketch is my usual  weekday breakfast.

I make myself have two cups of non-caffeine based tea before I have any coffee. Hydration is important, kids.


I'm trying to draw with my new pen straight onto the paper, without any pencil beforehand. Hence the shape of that bowl not conforming to any known laws of physics...


Go visit Emma and see if she has a sketch for us today.