Kenya Sketchbook 1

Holidays abroad are always a good chance to chill out with a sketchbook. New sights and sounds reboot the artistic imagination and give drawing skills a kick up the backside.

Last month, my partner and I spent a fortnight in Kenya. We had an 8-day safari along the Great Rift Valley followed by a trip to the Kenyan coast. 

Today, Friday and Monday, I'll be posting some of my sketches, together with links and a few audio recordings.

This chap boarded at Abu Dhabi with wife, 5 children and innumerable rucksacks. He distributed them (the rucksacks) in overhead bins throughout the length of the plane and spent the rest of the flight revisiting them. Unbelievably, he was also on the flight back and I'm sure he'd acquired another child by then.

Nairobi Upper Hill Campsite and first experience of log-heated, open air showers. Being able to reach out the bedroom window and grab a banana for breakfast was a novelty.

Carnivore is Nairobi's famous, strictly non-vegetarian restaurant. They advertise themselves as providing "a beast of a feast". I've now eaten crocodile - which is probably the best way round. 

Carnivore also serves buffalo bread - small, spherical objects which I doubt very much are made of bread. I fed mine to the restaurant cat and I'm pretty certain that cats don't eat bread.

Dawa is a Kenyan speciality and is Swahili for 'magic potion'. That's always a good starting point for any drink. It consists of a whole lime, sugar, vodka, lemon, crushed ice and honey. It is claimed to cure all known ills and is therefore highly recommended.  Hic.

Camp Carnelleys at Lake Naivasha. It is on the edge of the lake and at night has an electric fence to keep out wandering hippos.

By contrast, Kembu Campsite, just north west of Lake Nakuru, is much more old colonial in style. We stayed in a timber bungalow with a superb verandah.

It took a while to get my eye in for drawing the locals. To be frank, political correctness was kicking in and proving a severe inhibitor. Once I spotted what Gado in the Daily Nation was getting away with, I relaxed and began to enjoy myself.

Askari, or security guards, were at all the places we stayed in. This is actually a member of the tourist police. They take their tourists seriously over there.

Airport security at Malindi Airport.

One of the local entrepreneurs with his hand-carved business card.

For more drawings, see:

 Kenya Sketchbook Part 2

Kenya Sketchbook Part 3

TRAVEL INFO:

We booked through Gates Travel in Kendal and flew with Etihad and Kenya Airways. The safari was a family group trip and our guide was Janine Angell of Activity Safaris. Our rather cool Maasai driver was Kim from SunTrek Safaris.

Click on any of the sketches to see the full, HD version.

Potty behaviour

Rather a difficult front page story for this week's Westmorland Gazette.

Cumbria Police Chief Stuart Hyde has been cleared of major wrong-doing after a long and expensive investigation by the authorities. But Cumbria's new police and crime commissioner begs to differ and has called for his resignation or retirement.

A legal minefield at best and not one my steamed editor wished me to tiptoe into. I ignored him, of course, and you can see my view of it below.

The other story which caught my cartoonist's eye was a protest about dog control orders. These were hugely complicated and legalistic measures brought in by our dear South Lakeland District Council, to curb naughty dogs from doing unmentionable things in public places. Given that very few dogs could read the orders, I'm not sure what they were designed to achieve. Some of the public feel similarly and have organised a protest on Saturday. 

As usual, here is the selection of ideas I thrust at my editor. Which would YOU have chosen? Make your comment below and then race here, sirens blaring, to find out if you were correct.

Power to the People

Catching up …

Last week's new-look, bigger, brighter Westmorland Gazette had several stories of interest for a cartoonist. 

The first was a visit by excellent actor Warwick Davis to the Grasmere Games. Sadly this one was ruled out for fear of upsetting somebody or other (I have no idea who).

The other story was about the introduction of more electric car power points throughout the Lakes, to cater for the three electric cars which visit each year.

As usual, the choice of sketches lies below. Feel free to vote for your favourite in the comments and then buzz across to my website to see if your choice matches my editor's.

Waving at Saturn

Monday, 19 July 2013, 10.27 p.m. - A time to go down in history.

The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn was in a position to take a photograph of Earth and, this time, we were all in the know. In fact, NASA had asked everyone to go outside at precisely that time and wave at Saturn.

So that’s what we all did. Furthermore, in the UK we were lined up so that we actually faced Saturn at the correct time. Even more amazingly, we had clear skies.

The Eddington Astronomical Society organised a mass viewing at Kendal Castle. 120 people turned up to wave at Saturn and view the solar system's 2nd largest planet.

NASA reported many of the events throughout the world and, gratifyingly, the Kendal Castle event was the only one featured in the UK.

For this historic event (and because I like drawing googly aliens), I had to draw a cartoon. Below are the ideas I pitched to The Westmorland Gazette.

But which, I hear you (and various aliens) cry, is featured on this week’s front page?

Well, to find out you can visit my website. But before you do, cast your vote in the comments box below.

P.S. If you wish to see Cassini's snapshot of us all waving, click here.

P.P.S. Yes, for anyone wondering, I went outside to wave at Saturn. My dogs had other ideas, however, so some of us barked at Saturn instead.

A Bit of a Royal Do

Excitement gripped the area this week. Could it be the return of Eric Robson and Gardener’s Question Time? No, someone even more august, despite the fact that it’s July. The Queen and Princess Royal were visiting.

It’s been many decades since the Queen visited South Cumbria, possibly put off by the weather. I can’t speak for the Princess Royal, partly because it took me a while to work out which one that was. (Not Edward, apparently.)

The Royal Visit began in Kendal, progressed to Windermere and then set sail on the lake for Brockhole, where the Royal Party enjoyed half-an-hour on the Treetop Trek aerial playground.

The last time the Queen visited, social media consisted of the Court Circular. Today it is slightly different. By following #royalvisit on Twitter, anyone could be kept informed, read live updates and see photographs tweeted from the scene by citizen journalists (this is one of the best). As one wag pointed out, it is Royal protocol to curtsey before snapping her Majesty with a smartphone.

The sun shone, the whole area was a-buzzing (not just with bees) and there was a general good feeling in the air. 

And it was press day at The Westmorland Gazette, so how could a cartoonist for Her Majesty’s Press spoil it all by being customarily cynical and embittered? Besides, he might end up in the Tower.

Below is a selection of cartoon drawn for the Royal Visit, with a wider selection of captions. There were also a couple of other stories which I sketched, but don’t let them trouble you.

So, you ask, which Royal Cartoon made it into the newspaper? Well, I don’t know. Apparently at Gazette HQ everyone picked a different one. Press day during a Royal Visit is an exciting affair and as the paper was being assembled in all directions, I drew up the final art and left the captions with them. In an hour or so, I’ll pop out and buy the paper. I’ll know which cartoon they chose, just as soon as the readers.

Loyal readers in far-flung places can see the chosen cartoon by visiting my website, sometime on Friday.

Gardener's Question Time

An exciting media week in the Lakes. The combined might of Cumbria PR and environment campaigners Windermere Reflections succeeded in getting BBC R4’s Gardner’s Question Time broadcast from Brathay Hall in Ambleside.

This was a fun event which is (shhh) pre-recorded. Anyone attending was allowed to pitch a question to the panel. These were then answered in turn by Toby Buckland, Anne Swithinbank and Bunny Guinness. The event was introduced and chaired by son-of-Cumbria Eric Robson.

BBC recordings are always interesting and I’d urge you to go along to one, if you get the chance.

They’re also a good opportunity for sketching, as you can see below.

Eric Robson introducing the recording in Madonna mode

Toby Buckland

Bunny Guinness

Ann Swithinbank

At the end of the recording, Windermere Reflections’ Amanda Holden presented the chairman and panel with personalised bottles of the exclusive Mere Gold beer, brewed by Bowness Bay Brewing Company. Fortunately, ace illustrator and photographer Pam Grant was on hand to get the pack shot.

(Click on the photo to see a larger version)

Gardener’s Question Time goes out on BBC Radio 4 at 3pm Friday and again at 2pm on Sunday.

* Since you asked, my question was: “I have built a massive extension on the side of my house. What fast-growing plant would the panel recommend to hide it from the National Park planners?”

P.S. More media: On Sunday 14 July, at 9.40 a.m., I will be on BBC Radio Cumbria during Val Armstrong's show, describing my favourite place. (I restricted it to the Lakes as the budget wouldn’t stretch for Belinda Artingstoll to interview me in the Swiss Alps.)

Soap and Sand

After last week’s excitement, I thought that this week’s Westmorland Gazette cartoon would be easier. But no. Adventures lay in store.

The main, front page story features the Gazette’s campaign to highlight the dangers of the Morecambe Bay quicksands. Another two people had to be pulled clear last week and the sands are more dangerous now than at any time in living memory.

Another jolly story is about the area’s first online soap opera, set in the fictional village of Cawthwaite.

Meanwhile, in the national news, the CQC cover up story continues …

Add these into the cartoon blender and you have the four ideas below. Rather gratifyingly, my steamed editor picked the one I liked best. I tidied up the artwork and off it went.

Then, lo at the absolute final deadline at 5.30, the phone rang. The cartoon had been pulled again. On consideration, it was decided that the cartoon rather undermined the quicksand safety campaign. It wasn’t really about the quicksand campaign but I got the point.

So we went for another. No time to redraw or do final artwork this week so what you see in the paper and over on my website is exactly as you see below, with a few tweaks to the caption.

Can you guess which one it was? Post a few comments below and then rush to my website to find out if you were right.