Matthew Midgley

Lamb Rogan Josh

matthewmidgley — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:28:54 +0000

I feel like I’m just emerging from a winter creativity freeze. For the last couple of months my creativity has been in a real torpor. My mojo absent.

I’ve been toying with the notion of trying to illustrate recipes – using as little text as possible. Not so that it would be filled with iconography, but rather sketches of ingredients and/or preparation methods.

Okay this first curry is from Kashmir. I’m not a huge fan of the spicier and dryer curries of India and Pakistan. There’s a sweetness from the ginger and the tomatoes and the pepper that I love in this dish.

I just need to tinker with this drawing a little (and the Thai Prawn Curry) just to make it clearer what order the recipe needs to be followed in. Both require a curry paste to be made, which needs to be seperate from the throwing-stuff-in-the-pan part. I think I’ll go with numbers and arrows this time. Although someone did suggest a dotted through-line.

Red Prawn Curry

matthewmidgley — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:22:43 +0000

Thai. Not tried this recipe before, but once the paste has been made there are only a small handful of other ingredients.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry

matthewmidgley — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:34:28 +0000

Vietnamese. My number one favourite curry recipe. Spicy and fragrant. I love the lemongrass hit that this curry gives, especially once it’s been allowed to be reheated to the point where the carrot and the sweet potato have diffused into the curry, giving it a further richness and thickness.

Out of the three illustrated recipes I tackled I’m most pleased with this one. I think the portrait orientation of the page lends itself particularly well to recipe drawing.

A Pocket Full of Coins

matthewmidgley — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:17:12 +0000

I left the Sketchcrawl Sheffield meetup, a couple of weeks ago, with a pocket full of pound coins and a head full of ideas.

Here are the main things I’m trying to focus on in my current sketchbook (Book 18 for those of you who would like to keep a count)

- Work in other sketch books other than my ongoing ‘day book’; having a sketchbook with a theme. I have one or two ideas already, but I’m keeping those under wraps for the moment.

- Experimenting a little more with hatching and shading. Just to add a bit more texture.

- Not getting hung up on ‘having’ to start a new page every day. Weekdays/workdays I think I’ll try and concentrate on revisiting work I’ve already started, but not finished. Otherwise my sketchbooks end up being full of unfinished scribbles.

- Trying to use a wider range of materials – I’ve already got in mind a bunch of materials that languish, unused, in a box at home. It’s time to break them out of semi-retirement!

- Focusing more on adding text to my drawings, or at least somewhere on the page. To add description and, ironically, colour, to my drawings.

The Telamon

matthewmidgley — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:42:50 +0000

Last year I was frustrated to discover that the power plant I sketched was blocking the view of a wrecked ship.

I was Soooooooo excited about coming back to Lanzarote to draw this wrecked ship!
I walked the 4km from the hotel to the wreck site, to gear myself up.
All the time I drew people were drawing up in their cars to take photographs.
I was frustrated after ten minutes drawing when I realised that in my eagerness to start drawing I’d held my sketchbook at a funny angle, so that sea looks as if it’s listing. But it adds to odd angle of the ship.
Later in the week we were having tapas in a little restaurant and the owner told us that in the summer kids climb up the rope ladder at the side, so that they can climb up on deck and jump into the sea.

Waiting to board our plane to Lanzarote

matthewmidgley — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:58:14 +0000

Waiting at Manchester Airport to board our flight to Lanzarote. I was looking forward to returning; now that I know that there is a shipwreck just out of town from where we were staying – the wreck of the ‘Telamon’, just outside Costa Teguise.

Gloves

matthewmidgley — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:47:59 +0000

The weather’s really beginning to draw in here, and while I love the Autumn and Winter months, I’m not so ken on freezing my fingers whilst trying to sketch! This morning I bought myself a pair of inner gloves to wear. Super thin – they don’t feel like I’m wearing boxing gloves to sketch with! But, I don’t really think that they’re up to the job of actually keeping my hands warm. Does anyone know of some sort of ultra-thin glove that will allow me to sketch freely and still keep me warm?

The Chantry Chapel, Wakefield

matthewmidgley — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:34:33 +0000

Another sketch that I started … and then suddenly realised that there was a huge amount of detailed carving in the stonework. Honestly! You’d think that I’d notice these things before sitting down to draw! To be honest I love a challenge. This sketch reminded me in part of Notre Dame Cathedral that I sketched back in May, another tricky, detailed subject.

I may have to hunt out some more ecclesiastical subjects before long.

The Hepworth Gallery – Gallery 6

matthewmidgley — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:04:42 +0000

Felt as if I ought to make an effort to do some drawing inside, although it was beautifully snny outside!

Made my way all the way through the gallery to the final space, Gally 6, and perched myself in the furthest corner; a quick drawing of the interior, with shadow people again – like I did for Hipperholme Golf Club.

The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield

matthewmidgley — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:56:06 +0000

No paints allowed inside The Hepworth, so I went straight outside to draw the entrance.