While consistency can be a problem, depending on my work schedule and other life stuff, I have been able return to drawing The Brambletye Box recently, so head over and read the latest strips if you haven't yet seen them.

The current auction scene is four pages long, so that's three done and one more to go, with the lastest strip seeing the reappearance of Lily Lawrence and her father, Lord Lawrence. Plus a somewhat unsubtle nod to one of my favourite Franco-Belgian creators.

One thing about digital art is it kind of ... doesn't exist! It does, of course, and usually it ends up being printed or, in the case of Curious Expedition 2, the video game I worked on with Maschinen-Mensch, displayed on a screen. But until CE2 I'd worked almost exclusively in print, so to have the art existing exclusively in the digital ether feels a bit strange.

I wanted a decent record of all the work I did, so I've made a one-off art book (through Blurb), a portfolio, just for my own archive. Although there are no other copies (the art remains the copyright of Maschinen-Mensch), I did make a little video of a flip-through the book, so you can have a peek for yourself.

Tony McPhee, guitarist, songwriter, bluesman, one-of-a-kind musical force, has died at the age of 79. He had a stroke in 2009 (after a minor one on stage back in 1993 - he finished the gig before seeking help), and a bad fall last year. But he leaves a body of incredible work, mainly with his band, The Groundhogs, and a legacy as one of the top-flight pioneers of the British blues-rock scene that emerged in the 1960s.

I can't remember how I discovered The Groundhogs for myself. I was heavily into blues, both American artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker, and the British scene - particularly John Mayall, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Rory Gallagher (yes, Irish), Free and Cream. I spied the double-album Groundhogs Best 1969-72 and it blew me away. Then a friend informed me the band were still going and sometimes played locally. Sure enough, just a few months later I think, The Groundhogs appeared at The Shelley Arms, Nutley, a venue I'd played many times with my own band.

It remains the best gig I've ever been to. The Shelley Arms was not a big venue, and I was stood right at the front, with McPhee standing directly in front of me, raised only a little by the tiny stage. It was almost like a private show and the energy was outstanding. I came away in shock.

I saw them several more times, from Brighton to London and in between. I got a job as a conference porter at a local hotel and was shown the ropes by the outgoing porter, Aaron. One day, as we sat down to lunch he asked me who my favourite bands were. "You've probably never heard of them", I said, "but I really love a band called The Groundhogs". He laughed - "Oh, Tony McPhee? He's my uncle!". And it was true - we went up to London together to see Tony play and I got introduced, a thrill (thanks, Aaron!).

Our band covered two Groundhogs songs - 3744 James Road and BDD, the first from the 1972 album Hogwash , and the latter from 1969's Blues Obituary . Both remain terrific classic albums, but even better are Thank Christ For The Bomb (1970) and the incredible Split (1971). Along with 1972's Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs (complete with Neal Adams artwork), these five albums are the pinnacle of Tony's work (in my opinion), but he didn't let up, with many more gems on more albums from 1974 right up to the turn of the century and 1999's Muddy Waters Songbook and beyond - not to mention a rich library of official live recordings and solo projects.

Tony McPhee worked incredibly hard, put out strong, quality material, but undoubtedly did not quite have the wider reputation and recognition he deserved (though Paul Freestone's excellent Eccentric Man - A Biography & Discography of Tony (TS) McPhee is a worthy tribute). Maybe if he'd have joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1965, when he was asked to replace Eric Clapton, things might have been different, but I suspect not - McPhee was too much of an individual who had to do his own thing to thrive. He did that, and maybe with his sad passing some wider recognition will come. But his wonderful work is available, and if you haven't heard it before, now's the time.

A project I worked on at the end of 2022 and into the new year has just gone live over on the Museum of London website. It's a 7-page comic called Deaf Londoners in the 1660s, and it tells the story of three such people, two who we know of from the diaries of Samuel Pepys.

You can read the comic and see the accompanying resources here, including teachers' notes and a BSL-interpreted video of the strip.

The comic was principally researched and written by Dr. Kate Loveman, Associate Professor in English Literature, 1600-1789, at the University of Leicester, and an expert and author on Samuel Pepys, and all done as part of the Reimagining the Restoration project. Also directing the project was the Museum's Learning Manager, James Harrod.

It was great fun to do, with plenty of detail to research - and it was wonderful to have a couple of real experts on hand to advise and provide material and context for the visuals.

Many thanks to both Kate and James for a terrific working experience, and for bringing me into the project.

My work-illustration website has been woefully out of date for a few years now, but I've, at last, spent the past two weeks redesigning and updating it, and now it's live and published.

It should be good for desktops, tablets and phones, so give it a whirl ... and let me know if anything is broken or you spot a typo .... there's always one lurking about somewhere.

Earlier in February I recorded an interview with Paulo Tirre from Eurocomics, which has just been released on their excellent channel today - you can see it here.

Eurocomics comes out to us from Brazil, and while much of their content is in Portuguese and French, my interview is in English. Hope you enjoy it!

I'm currently redesigning and building my work website - after nearly three years of no updates. Anyway, I came across these mole concept drawings I did for Curious Expedition 2 - I don't remember doing them, but I like them, so thought I'd post them here before February vanishes.

This year saw the 50th anniversary of the Festival de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême, just known as Angoulême to most comics folk, the town where publishers and creators alike gather annually for one of the largest comics festivals in the world.

I've only been once, a very memorable trip back in 2014, but The Beat has included my brief views as part of their Angoulême Memories piece, including some who have been nearly 40 times (such as Paul Gravett).

For a trip down (my) memory lane you can read my blog report from the time here.

Just in case you haven't checked for a while, there have been a few new Brambletye Box strips put up over Christmas and the new year.

Progress has not exactly been zooming along, but it is being made, even while I'm having a very busy January with other work (I'm doing a lovely project at the moment with the Museum of London - I'll show some when I can).

Don't forget you can help support and encourage such progress by joining my Julius Chancer Patreon page, if you're able to. Thank you!

A few anniversaries in 2022 ... 30 years with my wife (married 20), 20 years since I went self-employed, 20 years since The Rainbow Orchid was published in BAM! ... and 20 years since the first entry on this here blog.

Though, actually, the blog is older. It started on AOL in 1997 as the news page of my website, called Nucleus (Internet Archive from 1998), and then became a blog called Webbledegook. Not all those early entries were kept, but 15 Dec 2002 is the earliest I still have archived.

Blogs don't seem to be the in-thing any more, with social media (which I'm not very good at) largely taking its place. But it's still my preferred home on the internet - a natural successor to the fanzines I self-published in the 80s and 90s.

I've not been as prolific with it lately, the most lively era, I think, being during the publication of The Rainbow Orchid. But it still serves its purpose, and I still enjoy it, so I'll keep going.

If you're still reading - thank you very much!