john welding illustrator

Unrelated to my dancing witches, I watched the 2013 horror comedy Witching and Bitching(Las Brujas De Zugarramurdi) the other night and really, really liked it. It starts out as a 'wacky crime' caper but at the arrival of a village (Zugarramurdi) and the introduction of some great characters (among them Javier Botet, Terele Pávez  and Carolina Bang) the movie turns up the horror/comedy. The entertaining weirdness culminates in a great 'Wicker Man' type parade, featuring'Krampus' Devil Parade characters that are you know, popular on the Continent.

I adapted that wakefield tree drawing I did the other day for a friends birthday card.

I do the Thornes Park trim trail three times a week and this is a view from the parallel bars, looking West over to Gillsike House.

Another tree quick draw work in progress. Thornes Park again looking towards Gillsike House. The trees are at their barest and will look different in a weeks time as spring rises. The maroon getting in the way is me, blowing small puddles of ink into sticks and tree branch shapes.

Another tall thin drawing of a Wakefield tree. This time at Heath Common.

Some character designs for David Chappell’s ‘The Great Marquess’ novels.

A long thin drawing of a tree where I go running in Wakefield (Thornes Park). Drawn on A2 heavyweight cartridge paper with a variety of brushes, pens and inks.

Another quick draw. One of the trees where I go running on the trim trail at Thornes Park. Drawing bigger than usual on heavyweight A2 cartridge paper with a variety of pens, brushes and ink.

Caught my cat Ash, climbing in the ivy. It's that time of year.

Logan for me was a much better film experience than Kong: Skull Island. Both have difficult scripts, both for very different reasons but  Logan has a secret weapon which is the three main actors, who give an extraordinary performance through out. I saw Kong a week after seeing Logan, I'm still thinking and recommending people see Logan, where as Kong is another tired blockbuster which has been seen a thousand times before. Which is okay, I went in knowing that I was going to see a movie about a giant ape, I'm just not thinking about it.