Matthew Mabbott Illustration

Hand Study 3 (with coins and water)

After visiting one of my new neighbours over the summer I was inspired! They have a downstairs toilet, which is decorated from floor to ceiling with armadillo trinkets and pictures. Even the wallpaper is a pattern of armadillos. It is absolutely fantastic but seemed to be missing one thing... there was no actual armadillo using the toilet! I knocked this one together for them to rectify this problem!

Teaching over the past few years have been a bit hectic! Starting teaching in the UK consumed all of my time as I pushed myself to be the best teacher that I could be. This came at the expense of my own work, which has taken a back seat to delivering a valuable experience for the students. Lockdown changed my thinking though. I have accumulated a wealth of experience and confidence in teaching, which allows me more room to spend time on my own work. Also, more importantly, I don't think I can push myself further as a teacher unless I push my own skills at the same time. We're all lifelong learners! I pondered these things as I stared out of this window in my office at home day after day during lockdown. Art is important to me ... so expect to see more, a lot more! 🖌

It was fantastic to visit Rome this summer after a year of teaching art at secondary school. It's been over ten years since I first visited during my university days and I wanted to revisit some of the places that had such a big infuence on my art practice.

Ten years ago I completed a number of drawings around Rome and other European cities and I was eager this time not to just redraw the same images but instead to find new angles, explore different media and to ensure that all images were 100% completed on location. I'm really pleased with the variety of images!

As I have often said to my students, there is something personal and special imbedded in images completed from observation. Whether they are successful or not (and not all from this trip have quite worked out) you allow yourself additional opportunities to notice how the various aspects interact with each other, which you can then explore how to convey on the page. Also, by sitting or standing there observing the range of details in front of you it ties you solidly to the memory of that moment as you push yourself to capture a good impression of the scene in front of you. Therefore, for me, these images are much better than the reams of photos that I also took.

I pushed myself as much as possible in these images to complete quick drawings without fretting wildly over accuracy and small details. Even then most took over an hour! I hope you enjoy them.