Hindsight

Let’s start with a bit of off-color humor, eh what?

Day 6

We started at the Globe Theater, and took the entertaining, actor-led tour.

They were setting up for their production of Macbeth, inspired by Gustav Dore’s etchings of Dante’s Inferno.

We went back to the Tate Modern, this time to actually look at the art. I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment, even though I loves me some modern art. They do have a great bookstore, though. This first shot is a bit of found art by Alison.

After that we went to see Warhorse. Absolutely amazing play based on a YA novel about a horse drafted into the army in WW1, just when cavalry became obsolete in the face of modern war technology. It’s supposedly coming to NY soon, so go see it if you get a chance.

Day 7

The (aforementioned wonder-family) the Gormleys took us to Greenwich to see the Christopher Wren buildings of the former Naval College campus, the National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory where they mark the Meridian for Greenwich Mean Time.

That last pic is Zula the wolfhound, who is incredibly sweet, and who pretty much looks exactly like my drawings of Odysseus’ faithful dog Argos, in The Odyssey (coming out October 12!) When we got home I did a few drawings for the Gormleys of Zula, Gabriella, and Mary Clare. I also played on their trampoline!

Day 8

This was the day we were supposed to fly home, but our flight got canceled due to a certain unpronounceable volcano in Iceland. We were flying American, and they handled the whole thing very poorly. They didn’t cancel us until we were at the gate, and made us walk all the way back to the check-in to reschedule. They tried to put us on the same flight the next day, but we asked a lot of annoying questions and eventually learned that a 757 cannot carry enough fuel to fly around the ash cloud, so we got ourselves put on a different flight with a larger plane (a 767).

After that, we headed back into the city, counting our blessings that we had a free place to stay and nothing super-urgent to rush home to. We didn’t have time to do a whole lot, but we went to visit the Museum of Natural History, which has a lot of cool stuff displayed in an absolutely magnificent building. I think the last drawing I did might be my favorite from the trip.

(click to make larger)

After that we went to see the Peter Pan sculpture in Kensington Gardens, then headed home by way of the opera house.

We also saw this cool wall of colored pencils.

Day 9

Finally we flew out. All transatlantic flights were being diverted around the volcanic ash cloud, so the got an extra couple of hours in the air (boo!), and some pretty spectacular views of Greenland (magnificent and inhospitable!).

And there you have it — our wonderful honeymoon in Paris & London.

Now you’ll have to excuse me for a bit, as I have to find an apartment in NY, move into it, set up my new studio, and finish a little book I’m working on by October — plus a bunch of marketing stuff I need to do for the Odyssey, plus polishing off a proposal for the next book. Yikes! You may not hear much from me for a while.

The weather in London was stereotypically cold & rainy the whole week, so I did a lot less drawing (and outdoor sightseeing generally) than in Paris. We still had a great time, though, because (as I think I mentioned already) There are a ton of great, free museums in London, there’s a ton of great theater, and we had a bunch of great friends to visit and hang out with.

Our friends Rachel and Chris hosted us for a couple of nights, and Rachel took us to the Sir John Soane’s Museum. Wonderfully eclectic place packed with interesting objects and cool architectural details (Soane was an architect). They don’t allow photography, and none of my drawings really came out, so here’s a shot of the outside, plus the lovely park just across the street.

I decided I had brought the wrong art materials on this trip. I thought a palette pre-loaded with bright colors of gouache would be fun, but forgot that it dries up and flakes off the palette (unlike watercolor). I had also brought some watercolor pencils, and those were convenient but they were of inferior quality. So we stopped at an art supply store. Wow. This is my favorite art supply store ever. Nothing student-grade, everything beautiful. Some really cool pigment inks I’ve never seen before, a drool-inducing array of sketchbooks, and an entire wall of ground pigments in glass jars (for those who make their own paint, and don’t mind handling a few hazardous substances). It’s called L. Cornellisen & Son.

It’s at this point that I should admit that this trip was not entirely business-free. In fact, I did some research in both Paris and London for future book projects. And then there were our two publisher visits. First, Alison was invited by a fan of her blog (Lindsey Heaven, pictured below. Great name!) to visit the offices of Puffin Books UK. We sat around chatting about books and publishing with all of the lovely children’s book editors for an hour, then visited their fabulous roof terrace with incredible views up and down the Thames.

Day 3

Ttouristy wandering around the Strand, Trafalgar Square and St. James’ Park, ending with Buckingham Palace.

While wandering by the Park, we happened on the opening of a portrait show by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. It was quite wonderful. Some of my favorites were exquisite little sketches by an illustrator I love, Victor Ambrus.

Then our second publisher visit: Walker Books UK, Candlewick’s UK counterpart and thus my UK publisher. Again, a thoroughly lovely time hanging out over tea and cakes (ok, donuts) with the fiction publisher, Gill Evans, and the marketing & publicity department. It’s interesting to see how they have to work a bit harder and more inventively over there, because the total market (i.e. the population) is so much smaller than here in the US. I’m not really sure how anyone makes any money at the end of the day, but thankfully it seems that they do. In that second picture, you can see my Beowulf and King Lear on the wall behind me.

From there we walked up along the river to the area around the National Theater, across from Parliament.

The elections were on, so all the newscasters were set up with Parliament as a backdrop for their reporting.

And of course, there’s the London Eye. We didn’t go up, because it’s pretty overpriced, it was a cloudy day, we’d just had fantastic views from the opposite side of the river the previous day, and because Alison says it’s cooler at night. Also stopped in to browse at the excellent independent bookstore Foyle’s.

Poking our heads into the National Theater to get tickets for Warhorse (more on that in part 3), we stumbled on a show of travel drawings, paintings and prints by Doug Patterson. Check his work out, I think it’s quite fabulous.

Day 4

Gotta love the double-decker buses. That fancy building is the Royal Courts of Justice. Chris later told us that the courts are open to the public — apparently you can even watch a trial if you want.

Another branch of Foyle’s Bookstore, where we found my books shelved with Asterix & Tintin. This is the fulfillment of a dream for me

They have a (real) piranha aquarium, too!

Day 5

We meant to hit the Globe Theater, but arrived too late for the tour (they stop tours for the matinee performance), so we decided to try again the next day. We went and had lunch at the Tate Modern, which has a great restaurant with awesome views.

As we were leaving, there was a film crew shooting on the ramp outside the Tate. I don’t know what it was exactly, but it featured an undead boxer chasing a very pale, historically-dressed kid.

After that we went to the Tower of London, which is a pretty massive place. We only got to see about half of it before they closed. Good research material! Starting with the main entrance to the Tower, the prisoner’s entrance, a young soldier, and the chapel:

A model of the Tower, interior courtyard shots, the Rack:

They have some great prisoners’ graffiti:

We also saw the Crown Jewels and related accessories, and took a quick tour through the arms & armor collection, yielding this juxtaposition in my sketchbook, which I call “uneasy sits the crown”:

All in all, it’s a pretty awesome place if you’re into that sort of thing — castles, torture, arms & armor, etc.

Coming up in the final installment, London Days 6-9: Warhorse, Les Mis, Greenwich, cute honeymoon shots, Shakespeare’s Globe, trampolining, The Museum of Natural History, Peter Pan, and Zula the wolfhound. Plus special bonus photos of Greenland!

The last day of our stay in Paris was May 1st, which is International Workers’ Day, a national holiday in France. We knew a bunch of the main attractions were closed, so we mostly just relaxed in the Luxembourg Gardens, where lots of other people were doing the same. Many of them were chilling out with a book. There were more miniature sailboats too, though not as colorful as the ones in the Tuileries.

We left the gardens and wandered around, and soon found ourselves in an area with lots of small publishers, bookstores, and other book-related businesses.

We walked along the river, ending up near Pont Neuf. There was a lot of commotion in this one square, and we couldn’t tell if it had to do with Workers’ Day or if it was because a soccer game had just ended. There was smoke, and some sort of flare or chemical fire burning. We decided to get a little further back, and found that there were a bunch of police standing around on the bridge, keeping an eye on things.

As we were standing there, and I was trying to draw, the police opened the trunks of a couple of squad cars and started taking out their riot gear!

A large crowd of people spilled out of a bar and started loudly chanting the Marseillaise. We backed up to the other side of the bridge. It was pretty dramatic for about a minute as they approached the line of cops, but then they all turned and went down into the subway station. The cops didn’t follow them, so I guess they figured it was the transit police’s problem at that point.

We stopped by Notre Dame again for one more drawing. We ran into a very funny young guy who was traveling solo, and we exchanged picture-taking courtesies.

As we meandered back to our apartment we took a few pictures of some of the more beautiful buildings in our neighborhood.

Next: London!

Here are the sketches I did last weekend at ASP’s Timon of Athens. I didn’t add color to any of them because the costumes are basically all black and white. And because I didn’t have time, which is also why I’m not going to write a full review. I basically agree with the two reviews I linked to previously.

Excellent performances from the whole cast — depicted below — Steven Barkhimer, Daniel Berger-Jones, Allyn Burrows, Joel Colodner, Michelle Dowd, John Kuntz, Will Lyman, and Bobbie Steinbach).

I just saw ASP’s Othello. Unfortunately I missed the dress rehearsal for this show, so it was just a regular performance. Well, actually, it was a daytime performance primarily for local schools. It was kind of neat seeing Shakespeare with a bunch of high school students. I could sense their confusion at times, but for the most part they got into it. They were most audibly impressed by the fight scenes (very well-done) and the kissing scenes.

This is an emotionally powerful performance. Jason Bowen has the title role, and he starts off as a very mild and genteel Othello, but once Iago turns his mind to jealousy, his wrath is palpable. At the intermission the audience already knows Othello has fallen wholly into Iago’s trap, and it becomes almost an exercise in masochism to return for the second half and experience the tragic conclusion, wherein dread and pathos for Desdemona’s fate is amped up higher and higher before — well, if you haven’t already seen or read it I guess I shouldn’t spoil the ending, but it’s a Shakespearian tragedy.

The set design is interesting, but odd.  There’s a weirdly-shaped backdrop that has lines radiating out like cracks, not just across its surface, but out across the whole theater space (above the actors’ heads — see first two sketches). One of the kids sitting near me asked “what are those lines for?”, so at least somebody was paying attention. Most of the platforms are pointy triangles, and have more triangles cut out of them. I read it as a cracked-mirror metaphor, the whole performance being enacted in the cracked reflection of Othello’s broken love/trust. (Not bad, for what I’m sure is a tight budget for set design.)

As usual for ASP, the acting is excellent across the board. Ken Cheeseman does a great job with the juicy role of Iago, and I especially enjoyed Doug Lockwood as the inept Roderigo. It’s somewhat long, at almost 3 hours, and the parking is kind of tough around there. But the show is worth it. It only runs through this weekend, though, so hurry if you want to see it.

On Wednesday I went to see Sleep No More for the second time. Still great. Still confusing, still almost no narrative, but still spooky as hell, with dancing that still blows my mind. I’ve done aikido for 10 years, and if I tried some of the stuff these folks are doing, I would break numerous bones.

I mentioned previously that this show is (sort of) Macbeth mashed up with Hitchcock’s Rebecca. You can watch Rebecca on YouTube, which I did. It’s pretty good — the story is just a watered-down version of Jane Eyre, but it’s Hitchcock, so it plays out well. Here are a few sketches I did while I was watching.

Then on Saturday we went to see The Donkey Show, completing our experience of the ART’s Shakespeare Exploded festival. We’d heard great things about this show. It was a TON of fun. Basically the equation is Dance Club + attractive half-naked dancers + a very rough approximation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The last part of the equation was probably the weakest. The rendition of Midsummer as simplistic enough that I think we would have had about as much fun with just the dancing and the eye candy. Certainly there were none of Shakespeare’s words in evidence. It was really just a highbrow excuse to ogle shapely torsos and dance for a few hours. Which is important, because that’s the kind of excuse I need sometimes! In summary, Art: B-, Entertainment: A+ (if you like dancing).

I only did a few quick sketches at the beginning. Because, really, it’s more fun to watch people dance than to try to draw them.

I went to the dress rehearsal of ASP’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and did lots of sketches. I’ve seen this play so many times,  that I found myself focusing less on the story and more on the differences and surprises in this production. The main plot is solid and moves along well, with good performances and some very nice blocking in the “forest” scenes (read: urban jungle), but what really stand out are the scenes with the players. John Kuntz and Robert Walsh are two of my favorite ASP actors, and they are hilarious as Peter Quince and Nick Bottom, along with their troupe of misfit tradesmen-actors. The end of the play is a masterpiece of comic staging. I also liked Marianna Bassham as a punked-out Titania.

I’m trying to do less sketches per page, so that each piece stands on its own a bit more. Consequently I filled a prodigious number of pages. I’ll put a few highlights above the cut, and the rest below, for those who are interested.

more below the cut:

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For those who aren’t aware, the American Repertory Theater is in the midst (or really toward the end) of a program they call “Shakespeare Exploded.” I previously blogged about the reading of Robert Brustein’s play Mortal Terror, but that reading series is the sideline to the three main shows, which are: The Donkey Show, a dance club musical remix of Midsummer Night’s Dream; Best of Both Worlds, a gospel / R&B musical version of Winter’s Tale, and Sleep No More, a sort of… well, not a play, and not Macbeth, but… more on that in a moment.

I bought tickets to all three shows, and I’ve now seen Sleep No More and Best of Both Worlds. Below the cut is my full review, with some mild spoilers and more detailed advice. Here is the summary: unless you are easily freaked out AND really don’t like art that freaks you out, DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND GO SEE SLEEP NO MORE. Bring someone with you, but be aware that you may be separated in the course of the evening. Also you will be walking around, not sitting in a theater. DO NOT waste your time on Best of Both Worlds (unless you like really cheesy imitation Broadway stuff –  and don’t say I didn’t warn you).

Unfortunately it’s too dark to draw in Sleep No More, but these blind contours came out okay. More drawings below the cut.

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I have heard absolutely fantastic things about all of the performances that are part of the ART’s “Shakespeare Exploded” festival — http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/festival/shakespeare-exploded — and I am planning to see them all, but events have so far conspired against me. However, I did get to the reading of a new play by Robert Brustein, called Mortal Terror. This is his second play about the life of William Shakespeare, and as I have been seriously contemplating the possibility of writing & drawing a graphic novel on that very topic, I was keen to see what he has done with it. So keen, in fact, that I went out and bought his first play about Shakespeare, The English Channel. I was really hoping for a Q&A afterward, but no such luck.

I suppose I’ll give you a full review of both plays, but put it below the cut for those who don’t care or don’t want spoilers. In the meantime, here are some sketches I did of the (fabulous) actors reading Mortal Terror.

They are: Stafford Clark-Price as Will Shakespeare, John Kuntz as John Marston, Tommy Derrah as Ben Jonson, Jeremy Geidt as Sir John Harrington, Michael Hammond as King James, Merritt Janson as Queen Anne, Ian Kerch as Robert Catesby, and Wesley Savick as Guy Fawkes, with Laura Liberge reading the stage directions.

Apologies if my attempt at a likeness is unflattering to any of these fine actors. I really enjoyed their performances.

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I went to the dress rehearsal for ASP’s Taming of the Shrew on Tuesday, and it was huge fun. I really like what they’ve done with this show. Die-hard feminist detractors of this play will probably still find it lacking in redemptive qualities, but Sarah Newhouse is a strong Kate, and there is a fairly clear “this-story-is-a-male-invention” frame around the whole thing that helps. ASP continues their strong tradition of musical experimentation, lively choreography, and excellent comic performances.

Here are my sketches – somewhat but not entirely chronological, because I was jumping between different digital and traditional media.

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – Photoshop 1b

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – Photoshop 1c

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – Photoshop 2b

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – Illustrator 1

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 2

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 3

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 4

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 5

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 6

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 7

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 8

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 11

Taming of the Shrew sketch by Gareth Hinds – traditional 12