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If you walked to the end of Fentiman Road (West End) and crossed South Lambeth Road, you’d enter a street which leads you to the railway arches by the BT building. Near here is the Nine Elm’s Sainsbury’s and at Vauhall Cross there used to be the Nine Elms Cold Store. A landmark to late capitalist decadence and urban desolation.

Today of course, it has all changed. Vauxhall Cross is no longer the no-man’s land it was. You can’t get attacked in the street like you used to (why go to Andalucia to get mugged when you can experience it at home?) and it looks like the beginnings of a set from Blade Runner. For some more images of the landscape/cityscape by Alan Dedman go to: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

Sketch of South London at Vauxhall by Alan Dedman

The Bondway Hostel is probably a hotel now and London doesn’t sport ‘the homeless’ anymore; just would be vagrants flogging ‘the Big Issue’, so some media types can maintain a coke budget.

This sketch is the same as yesterdays, but in a different format! Yes, how to encapsulate the subject within a rectangle whilst celebrating the notion of ‘freedom’ suggested by that bright patch of sky? London has endless subjects like this, for more landscape/cityscape work by Alan Dedman go to: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

A sketch from Vauxhall by Alan Dedman

Coming back from Spain was an eye opener. After the bright sunlight and summery clothes, the Brits at Gatwick were all dressed in black and blue and looked like crows. The familiar negativity of the UK, based around money lust and conservatism brought me back to ‘reality’ as I mooched home from the tube station at Vauxhall – past the Bondway Hostel where the inhabitants of the famed Ralph McTell song sleep off the meths. For more art by Alan Dedman, go to www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

View from under the railway at Vauxhall by Alan Dedman

This is the final sketch from Andalucia; of an empty street in a town near Rondha. It is nice because of the architectural subject matter. Sketches of South London will follow. For more Dedmanian visual statements see: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

Marbella is to be the home of the first English speaking University in Spain. Hurrah! Apparently the Costa del Sol “is virtually free of pollution, has extremely low rates of crime ….. ” etc. Obviously a good place for a university then.

Street in Andalucia by Alan Dedman

US Senator Mark Kirk states that the Spanish economy is now in a state ‘five times worse than that of Greece’. In an effort to advise US companies against exposure to debt in Southern parts of Europe he talks of downgrading the credit rating of the ‘GIPS’ (Greece,Italy,Portugal,Spain) nations. But isn’t the US economy in a poor state too?

Below is a sketch of cafe life in Spain. Along with the soon to be protected Siesta – this could be one of the reasons why the Spanish economy isn’t as good as it should be. But the UK economy is in a rocky state too. So what are we all doing to make it so? We must have something in common! For more drawings by Alan Dedman go to: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

Cafe scene in Spain by Alan Dedman

In Fitur, Spain, this week an entirely new way of selling Spain has been devised under the strap line ‘Spain. A country to share’. The idea being that Spaniards guide tourists to all the nooks and crannies of their country to increase tourism. If this happens in the same way that my girlfriend was guided to park our vehicle by a group of youths in Andalucia, the Spanish tradition of robbing tourists should sustain itself – without the need for EEC subsidy.

Below is a sketch of a Spanish fish market, somewhere near Cadiz, showing a lump of tuna (ethically caught of course). Anyway, see the rest of the Spanish sketches by Alan Dedman here at this blog under the drawing category, or visit www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk for more artworks.

Lump of tuna by Alan Dedman

This is a sketch I did of the car in front of us (hard to do when moving) from our hired Seat that we used in Andalucia. Our vehicle coped with some hefty handling. By the time we returned it, it was a shell with four wheels - gradually dismantled by being reversed into things, broken into etc.

I like how the line isn’t too descriptive and the feeling of eccentric jauntiness which is more to do with the way I was seeing things rather than the way they were. For a driver at the wheel, see my portrait of ‘the General’ on the homepage of: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

Seat hire car by Alan Dedman

What is it about Catholicism? Or the Spanish way of life? Or the way it is reported in the media? ‘Well hung Hector’ of Toledo has just been nicked for offering his 15 cm of pork sword to the World – but he is a Roman Catholic Priest!

A Catechism of Catholic doctrine in Westminster Cathedral says anything like that is not allowed. Well, sketching isn’t harmful. Here is a view of yet another balcony, providing shelter from the sun and respite from the street. For more art by Alan Dedman check: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

Chair on balcony in Spain by Alan Dedman

Planning a visit to Andalucia this Easter? Better take your brolly and a bull-dozer. Many of the beaches near to Malaga are in a mess: Guadalmar, Fuengirola etc and Jerez has its problems too.

Palm trees by Spanish resort

It was disconcerting to find something on the menu called ‘Cohones fabricado des mulos’ – testicles made from mules? at La Posada, a typically Spanish tapas bar/restaurant in Aravaca, Madrid.

It was also disconcerting to find yet another money scam going on there! Yes, four people have been arrested recently for conning ten million euros worth of mortgage applications out of unsuspecting property speculators for a non-existent 45,000 square metre estate in the city.

La Posada was sketched hurriedly before entering it to escape from the heat. Not a favourite, but I relish the childlike lack of responsibility expressed in the line work. We didn’t see Garikoitz Murua there, nor did we see Abel F. For more Dedmanian creations visit: www.alan-dedman-artist.co.uk

La Posada