Tomorrow, I need to tidy my room. It's once again gotten into the state where it's just a place I sleep – the bed, until I cleared everything onto it to use my desk, was the only tidy thing in it.

Yesterday, Jason and I met up with Holly so we could discuss her upcoming project; the one I'm producing artwork for. While I've finished the first piece, I had a few issues with the second and the third that were holding me back – the third, just a minor detail that was quickly resolved, the second, more an issue of inspiration (read: I had none) that soon found itself fixed when Holly told me the plot of her film. I had an idea for a piece that would be quite symbolic, with subject matter that would connect the other two.

Another thing that concerned me was that I hadn't been given a deadline in which to complete the pieces. They could have been needed in three days or a month. A deadline was exactly the kick up the arse I needed to get some work done. Holly told me that I'll have until after Easter to finish the pieces, which is plenty of time for two half-finished A4 drawings – for filming purposes, she's requested they be left unfinished, as a character will be working on them during the shoot.

So, what else have I been up to? Nothing much, in all honesty. I've become horribly addicted to Skyrim. Jason and I take turns playing on my file when he's round. My character's a Nord, somewhere between good and morally ambiguous – as in, I have nicked stuff and murdered a bandit or seven. Slaying dragons is terribly good fun! The game's turned your stereotypical 'wise, benevolent dragon' on its head – they're wise, but they'd also eat you. As Jason found out when he punched one in the face one day.

'Tis the weekend, and I'm alone until Monday. I was meant to be going out with Sian today but that fell through because I didn't know if we were going to be visiting our Uncle Adrian or not and in the end she decided she wanted time to herself. Tomorrow it's definitely just me, probably tidying my room like I've said I will, plugging in my record player and giving some of today's haul a listen. Which reminds me...


First, The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse by the Bonzo Dog Band - these guys are crackers, but fantastic. This is the first of theirs that I've found on vinyl, so I snatched it up to make a start on their discography.

Wish you Were Here by Pink Floyd; one I've been after for a while but with no luck until today. This is the album they were recording when Syd Barrett made his famous sojourn into the studios after retiring from the public eye in the early Seventies. I believe they'd been working on Shine On You Crazy Diamond at the time which, ironically, is a tribute to him.


Fragile by Yes, and inside, a surprise! A wonderful little booklet of photos and artwork, all by the legendary Roger Dean.



And an album that I've coveted for a long time; King Crimson's first album, In the Court of the Crimson King. I had to post several images to show off the stunning album art. But I don't buy albums just for their covers - this is definitely worth the buy, particularly for 21st Century Schizoid Man and the title track, The Court of the Crimson King. Steve, who runs the stall, has the artwork for this album framed and mounted on his wall at home. You can't fault his taste!

I also picked up some old hardback books for use in my 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' project. Part of the original coursework was a study into book art - in fact, you may remember me agonising over whether or not I should go ahead with it and vandalise a book that I had but had never really wanted to read in the first place. In the end, I used the book and it did come out looking lovely. I'm having that crisis again; the books are actually very old, we're talking editions published in the Thirties or Forties, and the old owner had written their name inside some of the covers. Just thinking about them reading the books, being comforted by the words on a well-read page, makes me want to keep and treasure them. Aaaargh. But then if I immortalised them in artwork and did something brilliant with them, that would be good, too.

We shall see. The book art bit won't come until later, anyway - most of what I'm working on is just typical drawing and sketching!

It felt really weird waking up this morning on my own. It always does, the weekend after Jason's stayed. He usually stays Thursday and Friday, going home Saturday morning, but this week he came on Wednesday instead and left yesterday night. Even though it's two of us in a single bed, I love having him over for the night, falling asleep in his arms and in his warmth. Funny how I never gave sleeping alone a thought until I met him. He's an excellent cuddler! :)

Tomorrow, I'll post a little doodle I did recently that was spawned by my obsession with Skyrim. I sat down the other day with a sketchbook and then just drew a Spriggan, out of nowhere. No guidelines, just straight sketching. Considering how spontaneously it was done, the result is actually pretty good! Maybe I'll do some more Skyrim-themed drawings...