Grand Miracle Hotel

All aboard the imagination train!

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Hi everyone. It’s going to be a short but fun one this week. I had to travel to London for work this weekend and had yet to write the ol’ newsletter, so had a brainwave on the train platform to play a game along the way, and I’d love to offer you all a challenge with a prize at the end! This week will be mostly pictures because I’m too lazy to type on an iPad screen (and I think we can agree I’ve waffled a fair bit in 2023 already!)

So to stand my by own theory that you can gather inspiration anywhere, I decided that I’d collect images on my phone between home and London and draw it into something by the time it was time to fall asleep in my hotel (Which will be in about 15 minutes when I’ve finished my chamomile tea).

Here is where my day began, a beautiful northern train station- check that ceiling!

When I’m looking for inspiration like this, I don’t overthink it. Just whip out a sketchbook and go for it or, in this case, snapping some phone pics. If there’s one thing that makes me think of the north, it’s red brick walls. Buildings aren’t the thing I tend to prefer to draw but, since today was all train stations and trains and cities, I stuck with it. One of my favourite things to do which sounds obvious, is just to look UP in any environment. My other favourite thing to do is to crouch to the eye level of a wee kid to see how things look.

Now when I started the challenge, I imagined I’d get away with snapping lots of pretty and blurry pictures of passing fields and foggy windows and just kind of sketching something a bit nebulous. In reality, I was squished into a corner with no window, gritting my teeth while some obnoxious drunk lads did their best to ruin my day. Eeesh! But you know what, setbacks are good in creativity- removing possibilities and working within limitations is something I’ve already chatted about a lot, so I wasn’t going to be defeated.

My stop was London Kings Cross where I made a beeline for the sushi place to grab some dinner. To get there, you have to pass this 7ft statue of Sir Nigel Gresley. He’s got quite a presence and I love to think of his nice tweed suit which is now in bronze. He has a grandfather energy, a gentle statesman feeling and something a little ‘happy prince’ about him as he watches the world go by. You might also remember that Kings Cross is famous for its association with a certain boy wizard. This all made me smile because this morning my 10 year old was telling me that her current ‘aesthetic’ is ‘dark academia’ as she swanned out the house in a tartan skirt and black polo neck and oversized blazer (when did kids get so edgy and cool?).

Sushi in hand and it being a fine night, I decided to just park myself in the square outside Kings Cross and people watch. Looking up again, the thing that stood out was the number of illuminated clocks, something I’m not really used to seeing often living in the countryside.

I quite enjoy a bit of illumination and as I sat facing the Great Northern Hotel, I thought about Wes Anderson and started to think about a hotel as a main character.

Having decided my main character in my drawing was going to be a hotel, I started doodling one loosely based on this hotel. It kind of evolved as I went along, imagining a mysterious building with connections to the railways and those who created them and looked after them.

I remembered my own grandad in this moment, who worked aboard the trains on the same line 60+ years ago. I remember he told me he knocked on doors around the Kings Cross area looking for a change of job. I wonder if he tried this hotel? Somehow, my grandad and Sir Nigel Gresley started merging into a new character in my mind. Maybe the little girl in my story has come to the hotel looking for her grandad who she hasn’t seen in a while? Maybe she needs a miracle to find him?

I added some flowers borrowed from my other guitar drawing earlier in the week (actually a drawing of a guitar my grandad gave me) and here is what I ended up with…

AND NOW OVER TO YOU!

One of my favourite things I did last year was run a challenge called ‘50 Word Wonders’, where I invited people to write a story in 50 words, so let’s do that again. Leave me a 50-words-or-less story in the comments using the prompt ‘Grand Miracle Hotel’. The three with the most ‘likes’ will be shortlisted on Easter Sunday and I’ll get my kids to blind choose a winner who will receive a £50 credit for my shop. You don’t have to use any of the prompts I’ve mentioned in this post but maybe they’ll spark something in your own imagination.

I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

Much love and we’ll resume the footnotes and recommendations next week because typing on a screen is maddening and the chamomile tea is setting in.

Night night from London xx