Badger's Diary

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:43:00 +0000

It is raining. The building opposite this block used to be a public baths; now it is a college. Erik’s small apartment was built without a bathroom of its own because there was no need for one. Everyone would bathe and sauna together across the road.

The city I only know through the lens of the friends I know here. I am staying in Erik’s flat and he is a continent away on a health promotion project in Africa. To my shame, since I have known him his work has taken him to so many countries I know only as indistinct names that I can barely say more than that he is somewhere in Africa.

His home town through the scattered raindrops on the window. The world bent across that wet ball. The grey sky coiled to the curve of the street, the prism’s torque shifting earth and air.

He is not there.

Badger's Diary available now.

Work in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:45:00 +0000

I may have moved to Peckham and completed my MA in Camberwell, but some things I'll never leave behind. I'm still working on The Lengths - issue three is in shops now and there's a print of James that I've got that I'll have in the next month. This week, I've been working on a short story for Solipsistic Pop volume 4 and tomorrow, the 1st of October, I'll be back at my old studio in New Cross for the Open Studio exhibitions that are a part of Deptford X 2011 if you'd like to come along. I'll have original Badger art, Badger comics, some of my watercolours of animals that I've done over the last year and I'm putting some of the pages from The Lengths up for sale. It's open from 12-6 at the Old Police Station. You come out of New Cross station and turn left, then you find me in container 2 in the yard of the station.

Bunting

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:07:00 +0000

Even Badger can't hide from the bunting.

Badger's Father Sleeping

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 07:55:00 +0000

Dreaming in the sett

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, but very excitingly so. After the trip to Wales, I've come back to a load of scans to investigate why I've been having seizures or migraines or whatever they are, and although I suspect they won't tell me much, the experience seems to have given me permission to start writing poetry again, which I'd stopped for a very long while. I might put some of them together; I don't know if you'd mind if I put some of them on here?

I've also been writing on my old blog again, about the cuts and about more personal stuff; I'll likely keep the medical things and political there and keep the painting and poetry here. Similarly, I've been putting a lot of work into The Lengths recently, and finding that the painting I've done for Badger, far from just being an escape from the head space I need to be in for writing and drawing that dark and complex a story actually loosens up my style there. You'll probably see the pages in issue two which came after I picked up a paintbrush again for Badger.

I'll be uploading new pictures to the shop next week, hopefully - like most freelancers, I'm a bit cross-eyed looking at bank statements with a highlighter pen in one hand and a mug of coffee that tastes weirdly of confusion and despair at the moment.

I'm going to put all of that down, wipe the pink stripe from my lip and go to the gym and then to the studio for the day instead, I think. I should put up some pictures of that, eh? It's kind of awesome there.

Badger's Diary: A Foggy Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

A cool mist masks the subtlest whiff of spring.

Back Out in Box Hill

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 09:17:00 +0000

Nobility

It's been a while since I drew either of Badger's parents, and it's been a long while since I painted anything using watercolour ink, but I decided that for Lent I was going to give up on giving up and revisit things I'd abandoned, finding some wonderful things hidden away in old computer files and in plans I'd let gather dust in the back of my mind. I'll put some of them up on the shop at the beginning of April once the crazy workload of this month is up, but for now I'm enjoying the fresh scent of green shoots I'm smelling among the spring clean of second chances I'm having.

Badger in Fishguard

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:35:00 +0000

When night falls and tide rises, it's time to stop and think.

Badger Walks in Pembrokeshire

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:01:00 +0000

So, the unexpectedly long trip to Wales allowed a lot of extra time to walk and explore, as well as to catch up with my friend Tony. There were some amazng landscapes to be found there and stopping to sketch in the wind was well worth cold fingers. When we arrived in Fishguard along a winding hilly lane, a young badger ran out into the road in front of us and trotted ahead of the car for a minute, like we had an escort into the area. It was quite wonderful, then tragic to think that badgers like her are threatened by the cull that's coming in only a couple of weeks across Wales. Rather than change human activity that spreads TB to badgers who pass it on to cattle, the solution cannot be to slaughter badgers. That's not just sentimentality, that's logic. Other animals will take up their niche and it'll throw the ecosystem out to take away a sturdy indiginous predator like the badger.

I can't imagine it's a decision that won't come back to haunt us sooner or later.

You may wish to lend some support to Pembrokeshire Against The Cull if you're able, or The Badger Trust.

Badger visits the Royal Observatory in Greenwich at Night

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:30:00 +0000

The brightest star isn't in the sky.

A Windy Day in Brockley

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:28:00 +0000

Even when Badger shuts himself away, everything's connected.

Badger and the clouds

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:27:00 +0000

The clouds can dance and twist all they like.

Badger knows where he likes to sit.

Badger and the big sky

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:25:00 +0000

Drawn on 20cm square canvas, which is looser and harder to draw on

than canvas board, it turns out.

The universe is vast.

The Badger and the butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:23:00 +0000

I got 73% for the first half of my MA, a merit, but more importantly,

I got great feedback on things I can keep learning.

Badger waits

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Waiting for results, at hospital and at college

seems to be a theme at the moment.

Badger takes a shower.

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:18:00 +0000

I drew this while waiting for a neurologist appointment.

It seemed like a better use of my time than getting annoyed.

Badger on Hilly Fields

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:17:00 +0000

Some things in life don't change, even if the snow melts.

Breakspears Road

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:14:00 +0000

I used to live just there. It's still quite strange to walk past and imagine the life

I might have had but moved on from.

Badger and the Moon

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:12:00 +0000

Badger watches the moon and the stars from Telegraph Hill.

Badger can't get in!

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:07:00 +0000

Would someone mind opening the door at the Broca for him, please?

Badger on Telegraph Hill

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:05:00 +0000

Badger walks the streets of Brockley

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:04:00 +0000

Badger watching the snow fall.

noreply@blogger.com (The Pirate King) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 08:52:00 +0000