Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
After all the hooha this year over Christmas parades and Santas I, like most Kiwis, are feeling pretty jaded on the subject.
There was also the funding of the Farmers Santa, with building developers Mansons eventually stepping in to help fund this one above (sorry Mansons, I left your branding off so I could show Santa's boots in best effect).
The debate is still bumbling on with calls to reinstate the below Santa's winking eye and come hither finger action – features that were removed years ago as they were deemed creepy.
My Last attempt to draw this Santa was way back in 2010 and like the all the drama around Santa each year, I'll probably be back to draw him again too. He's just too big, red and spectacular to ignore.
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