Looking at Hockney

The Countryfile programme (on BBC) had a segment, before his show at the Royal Academy opened earlier this year, in which David Hockney took the presenter to some of his favourite drawing places, and then back to the studio -

in which was a scale model of the rooms, used to plan the show -

 including this fellow -

If you're quick, and live in the UK, you can see the episode - it's available till 1:34PM Sun, 13 Jan 2013 at bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pqgt9/Countryfile_30_12_2012/. Hockney's part starts at the 25-minute mark, but before that you can watch items about the Brontes, Beatrix Potter, and a land sculpture north of Newcastle - and see panoramic and aerial views of some wonderful landscape.

Hockney uses the ipad for drawing because, as he says, it's the quickest way to quickly establish a range of colours. He talked about his habit of asking people, as they drove along, "What colour is the road?" - and how asking the question is important to the act of looking. "Every time you drive along it, the road is different."