A fact of the current restrictions upon our normal lives is at once curious, obvious and virtually universal; that being the loss of, and consequent longing for, normal, boring, and even tedious everyday experience. Missing erstwhile unremarkable pleasures of life, like going to the pub, restaurants and concerts is bad enough, but when one starts to get nostalgic over things like hopping on and off buses and even journeys on the tube, it’s apparent that the present regime is really starting to bite.
This nostalgia struck me keenly the other day when I was trawling through slides of old sketchpads dating from the time of my commutes to art school (an incredible forty-plus years ago). And, as an artist’s sketchbook is often a tool for magnifying the seemingly mundane into something more meaningful, it occurred to me that the drawings from those old books might provide a peculiarly apposite reminder, for all its apparent dinginess and dreariness, of the glory of normality…
One never knows where a post might lead. It was interesting to look at your early sketches, but I never did as much sketching as I should and was unfamiliar with “Biro.” It is not a term used in the U.S. The marvel of Google quickly took me to Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro and his 1938 invention, the ball point pen. Perhaps that is a benefit of the current restrictions: time to go wandering on the Internet.
Gosh, yes Ray, Biro was one of many Hungarians (many of them Jewish too) to enrich our lives in many wonderful and disparate ways. In Britain, Biro is used in the same way as “Hoover” or “Fridge”, and I was surprised last time I was in the States when I asked the hotel receptionist if I could borrow her “Biro” and she didn’t know what I was talking about.
Thanks Tina. Can’t believe I was 16 when I did the bus sketches! I actually clearly recall standing in the bus yard at Edgware Station doing the first drawing – I even remember that it was starting to rain, causing me to rush the drawing. Terrifying how time disappears…
One never knows where a post might lead. It was interesting to look at your early sketches, but I never did as much sketching as I should and was unfamiliar with “Biro.” It is not a term used in the U.S. The marvel of Google quickly took me to Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro and his 1938 invention, the ball point pen. Perhaps that is a benefit of the current restrictions: time to go wandering on the Internet.
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Gosh, yes Ray, Biro was one of many Hungarians (many of them Jewish too) to enrich our lives in many wonderful and disparate ways. In Britain, Biro is used in the same way as “Hoover” or “Fridge”, and I was surprised last time I was in the States when I asked the hotel receptionist if I could borrow her “Biro” and she didn’t know what I was talking about.
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PS: I had better put in a link to Biro;s Wiki page, so thanks for alerting me!
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What a wonderful artist!!
Ana
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Thank you again Ana.
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Very good charcoal drawings
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Thanks Tina. Can’t believe I was 16 when I did the bus sketches! I actually clearly recall standing in the bus yard at Edgware Station doing the first drawing – I even remember that it was starting to rain, causing me to rush the drawing. Terrifying how time disappears…
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