RABlack Art

I’m really keen to hear series 4 now, but I haven’t tracked down an affordable copy yet so my listen-through will have to take a break.

I finished series 3 yesterday, with ‘the Greyhound Track’, ‘the Conjurer’ and ‘the Test Match’. All great but the first one stood out as particularly funny.

This was the point where the telly series was coming up and all three episodes would be way beyond possible as telly productions.

A pen ink and white acrylic sketch of a young woman’s face

A quick #portrait sketch.

She did!

Thanks for the inspiration!

(Last year she was Hoofius but we didn’t get any photos.)

A little extra work on my Beach Boys painting. Mike, Dennis and Al are taking some sort of shape…

Trevor reading about himself.

Trevor reading about himself.

Trevor eating breakfast.

Dear @superhappymatty.bsky.social, this is Audrey as Trevor:

I do get obsessed with particular artists - which is why I've drawn mini pics of 100 Fall records in the last 2 weeks.

I’ve got a new appreciation for the sleeve artists- including Mark E Smith, his sister Suzanne, John Wriothesley, Tina Prior, Claus Castenskiold, Pascal le Gras, and Anthony Frost.

Drawing of Mark E Smith

Drawing of Mark E Smith

Mark E Smith. Born on this day in 1957.

Today I heard the remake of ‘The Newspaper’, the last missing radio episode. I bet Sid James was brilliant in the original production.

But as this marks my last listen to a remade episode it’s worth saying what a great job the Missing Hancocks team did. Far better than you could reasonably expect.

model book shop 'Bluebird Books' with various card people milling about outside.

interior of model. A tiny copy of 'Decca' (the Jessica Mitford letters) is prominent.

another interior shot. This one features a cat.

It's world book day! Up and down the land, children are traipsing into school dressed as Ivan Denisovic. From The Grapes of Wrath to the Poddington Peas we love a book - and a bookshop - over at heykidsrocknroll.etsy.com
Bookshop model kit in stock in our etsy shop.

The Raymond Briggs bus!

The Raymond Briggs bus!

I think I’m up to the last few missing episodes now.

‘The Breakfast Cereal’ and ‘How Hancock Won the War’ are fascinating reflections of the time they were written. And they have a lot of good bits. Not my favourites though (maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to hear them this time.)

The Alexandra Bastedo bus.

The Alexandra Bastedo bus!

Yesterday I listened to ‘the Student Prince’ which is very silly.

At first it feels like it’s going to be very similar to ‘the Matador’ with the oblivious Hancock roped into a dangerous situation abroad, thinking he’s due to give a performance.

The big difference is how it works out for Sid.

I listened to this today and I learnt a lot.

I love the fact that Andrew always covers artists’ later work - there’s something very satisfying about it, and in this case it makes for quite a breathtaking conclusion.

Progress on my Beach Boys 1973 painting. I was close to re-starting it but now I’m glad I’m persevering.

I’ve started this… an experiment that might not work out, but I’m keen to give it a try.

Based on three overlaid photos of the Beach Boys in 1973.

Next step: blocking in the main shapes.

I do get obsessed with particular artists - which is why I've drawn mini pics of 100 Fall records in the last 2 weeks.

I’ve got a new appreciation for the sleeve artists- including Mark E Smith, his sister Suzanne, John Wriothesley, Tina Prior, Claus Castenskiold, Pascal le Gras, and Anthony Frost.

Two A4 pages on my desk. Covered in little drawings of records by The Fall, including 13 in progress that I started this afternoon.

I can’t stop drawing tiny pictures of Fall records!…

Yes! I’d already thought of that one as a potential painting…

Now I’m definitely going to give it a try.

Thank you for inspiring it!

52 little drawings of singles by the Fall.

87 little drawings of albums and singles by the Fall.

I’ve followed up my mini drawings of all the Fall’s albums with all of their singles.

Here are all of the drawings, and a combined grid of both sets, singles with albums:

Thank you so much!

Thank you!

Thanks Kristian!

Thank you!!

Screenshot from Rentaghost. An amazed private detective is peeping into the Meakers’ bedroom.

The scene as it appeared on screen:

1980. Lynda Marchal as Tamara Novek looking after Harold Meaker. Timothy Claypole about to turn him back into a human.

Rentaghost, series 5, episode 2.

A newly finished painting!

(Based on a captivating photo posted a couple of months ago by @agnes-guano.bsky.social.)

I’m enjoying doing this Rentaghost painting.

Can I finish it today?

Acrylic painting of an old potato called Percy. Painted by me, Jan to Feb 2026.

Now finished:
Percy the shrivelled potato.