Another post featuring something I’ve drawn, read, and listened to.

Drawing

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been working on an A3-sized octopus, which I’m creating entirely with dots. An octopus is quite complex because of its long tentacles that shoot off in all directions, twist around, and are covered in suction cups. For inspiration, I dove into the archives of the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam for reference material. There I found a German nature book by Dr. Otto Buchner from 1913 full of sea creatures. I traced the most interesting illustration. I’ll share my own octopus as soon as it’s finished.

Reading & Listening

Paul McCartney is releasing a new album1. With many artists who’ve been around for decades, I usually let news like that pass me by. But not with McCartney, 83 years old. In 2012, I saw him live, and for over 2.5 hours, he looked a lot more energetic than his audience. A year later came *New*, which was a really good album with hits like “Queenie Eye” (great music video, too).

Coincidentally, I just finished reading *Man on the Run*2, about Paul McCartney in the 1970s. Tom Doyle describes how, after the breakup of The Beatles, McCartney retreated, depressed, to his remote farm in Scotland. He tried to start over, solo, and of course with Wings. It’s easy to focus on his musical missteps or oddities. His seasoned blues musicians, for instance, wonder how they ended up dressed as clowns in a sandbox, playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

But that overlooks how skillfully he manages to reinvent himself time and again. All while facing insanely high expectations—from the public, the press, and himself. Despite all his success, he comes across as insecure. Reviews can sometimes be devastating. You almost forget that he was only 33 in the mid-1970s.

By the end of the decade, he has reached number 1 in the US with five consecutive albums. His single “Mull of Kintyre” remains the best-selling single of all time in the UK for years. Wings’ worldwide tour draws more than a million people.

In 1980, he is arrested in Japan for drug possession. A large package is simply in his carry-on luggage. He avoids a maximum of seven years in prison, but has to cancel his tour, and Wings falls apart. A few months later, John Lennon is murdered, bringing a bizarre end to a confusing decade.

By now, the tally stands at 27 studio albums. And that’s not even counting the Beatles, live albums, and other singles. I’m not yet familiar with much of his solo work. Fortunately, Paul McCartney compiles the 154 most important songs he wrote into two thick volumes in *The Lyrics (1956 to the present)*. Alongside the lyrics, he shares his personal memories and photos. I’m slowly working my way through his body of work. One song at a time. Reading and listening.

My favorite remains RAM. Written on his Scottish farm. With “Uncle Albert” and “Admiral Halsey.”

See you next week!