Through the Round Window

Earlier this year, inspired by various people, children mostly (but also a few grown ups too), I started drawing. Within a few weeks I realised how much I enjoyed it, and perhaps more importantly how much it en-joyed me! I also began thinking of using the bicycle and the lamppost as a sort of prism through which to view the city of Glasgow. I had always admired certain buildings and areas of the city for their aesthetics, and have always been fascinated by signs and symbols which in these instances have a sort of metaphoric depth to them. I soon developed a key, unconsciously, of using these emblems in my drawings, and of ommitting certain others (no bike chains or locks, spare use of rendering, natural unstaged settings, and of course the ubiquitous bike rack or lamppost). 

I was also fascinated with fascia boards and shop fronts, (inspired by 3 years living in Warsaw and the wonderful examples I saw there), and how they could lead you into a more symbolic setting when combined with the bicycle. The laundrette would come to signify a self-cleansing through energizing one's own self, the cafe or 'espresso' bar the self-expression of the organic human being, the church as religion (as re + ligare, meaning restraint) insofar as avoiding the temptation of being transported and faring the way oneself, etc, etc.)

I began then to couple each picture to a text I had written about the value of cycling, much of these already being in this blog already. And so it was that I began to draw in earnest, and I wondered if I could draw the whole city... in the same way that I had walked it. For drawing itself is a type of wayfaring and discovery...

These are just a few of the dozens I have so far drawn, but I have been amazed at the artistic quality of so many shop fronts in Glasgow, from Dennistoun to Finnieston, from Govanhill to Broomhill, from my own humble Govan to the length and breadth of the Great Western Road... I imagined if I could draw people's attention to my writing (which is the most important thing) via these drawings (which have a much more immediate impact on the viewer/reader then I would have succeeded in my task). Time will tell....