London in a Fog

I came across a photograph of London, a foggy skyline, nothing especially striking about it except the chaotic scurry of it. None of the charming rooftops; they'd been overwhelmed by boxy cooling units and concrete cubes. Almost lost in the gray were a couple of landmarks, a Wren spire, the Parliament buildings, Nelson on his column. Sometimes I'll draw things to make sense of them. The London I loved from books growing up is gone. I can't decide if the Luftwaffe or property developers have done the worst damage. I think the latter. The UK is an economy that despises history.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dickens

On his 200th birthday, the Great Inimitable is as funny and satirically brilliant as ever. And relevant too, in a world owned and operated by Scrooges. We could use a novelist with his righteous anger and his ability to change minds. I did this illustration several years ago for a Broadway production of A Christmas Carol, the show that Americans love every Christmas and forget immediately afterwards.

Still Life With Pliers

This sketchbook drawing was one of several that were published in Five Dials, a literary magazine from Hamish Hamilton in London. It's edited and art directed by Craig Taylor.

Pop Gothic

I drew this for a wine box for Pottery Barn, but the product never appeared. Still, a fun drawing, turning a gothic pile into a hip bit of filigree. It's like building something elaborate out of tinker toys. Trying to use minimalism to depict the baroque.

Music Hath Charms, etc.

This LA Times story was about how piped in classical music curbed crime on the London Underground. The composer in police attire is Georg Friederic Handel.

Earth hasn't anything to show more fair

This isn't exactly the view Wordsworth was writing about. Westminster Bridge looks on the buildings the other way round. But there is a grandeur here that is fun to draw. The trick is eliminating the extraneous elements and drawing quickly. Sometimes I work directly from the perspective lines, as here. More often I do not, and it is the imperfections that set it apart from photographic reality.

Primrose Hill, London

We spent a wonderful week here a few years ago. I don't get to London often enough, except in books. I did this drawing for our hosts as a thank-you. I occasionally get asked to draw pictures of houses. All I need is a snapshot. There is something about a line drawing. My favorite artists of this sort of thing, far better than I am: Edward Bawden, Ronald Searle and Marvin Friedman who used to do those wonderful illustrations for Gourmet magazine.