Bloke & sometime Illustrator (I illustrated The Woman in Black by Susan Hill, published by Vintage Classics). You will always find me on the allotment at parties. Bradford, UK. nicktankard.co.uk for prints, originals and portfolio.
1,575 followers 693 following 2,666 posts
view profile on Bluesky 
I’m so proud to be the newest publisher of this rediscovered book, following in the footsteps of all those before me who recognised the unique + timeless talent of Raymond Briggs. It is an honour to reproduce this work - his stories and illustrations - in such a gorgeous new edition #thestrangehouse
It was lovely. Such care in producing those lovely clean lines and top notch design 👍🏻
Halloween is coming and “Fang & Friends” are waiting for you in my Etsy shop! Available as a giclée art print. Also available as a ceramic mug, t-shirt, and greeting card in the Gift Ideas and Mugs section. Find it here: theartofrobhusberg.etsy.com/listing/7724...
We went to the Miffy exhibition at Leeds City Museum today. Lovely to see such accurate/neat & tidy pencil and acrylic drawings/paintings and to learn about his process. Good on ya Dick 👍🏻😉
I’m still processing the events of last week-my mums funeral. Her lifelong pen friend travelled all the way over to Scarborough/Bridlington from Nashville. It was so lovely to see her again, the first time I’d seen her since I was a boy. She’ll be back in Nashville now. What a journey to make!
They’re on a path to their own destruction then, the tide will turn against them in time. Fools.
I’m sure Labour are doing a terrific job of attracting the extras from Deliverence to vote for them in the next general election but try not to forget about you know…Labour voters, Keir 🤨
Absolutely, where are the left?
I’m now pretty sure that if there was a political party of idiots out there saying they didn’t like clouds then Keir Starmer would announce that Labour will start making cloudbusting machines. Get a grip Labour.
Thoughts keeping me awake. This year I visited the grave of Vincent & Theo Van Gogh, there was a very strong feeling of…eternity. My mum was ill in hospital then but we didn’t know she wasn’t going to make it. I don’t feel her close by, more that she’s traveled far off into eternity, the universe.
True Stories (David Byrne, 1986)
#DavidsMonthOfMusic #MusicChallenge Day 2: A good song for a summer BBQ Meat Is Murder The Smiths youtu.be/eviyEJRZX30?...
Making a start on this book that I purchased in the lovely Kemps Bookshop in Malton on Saturday morning. It’s set in Robin Hood’s Bay, the cover painting very similar to the view from our room in the hotel we stayed in on Friday evening. I’ll be very happy to spend some time there through this book.
Field and Ploughman and Mill - 1889 #artbots #vangogh https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14561
Thoughts keeping me awake. This year I visited the grave of Vincent & Theo Van Gogh, there was a very strong feeling of…eternity. My mum was ill in hospital then but we didn’t know she wasn’t going to make it. I don’t feel her close by, more that she’s traveled far off into eternity, the universe.
I think I’ve had a breakthrough thought about what I’d like to do next and it has taken me by surprise. I’ve been pondering how to make affordable originals for ages and I think I might have cracked it! I’ll start something very soon. Fingers crossed🤞🏼
After my mums funeral on Friday my partner and I traveled to Robin Hoods Bay up the coast. The route from Scarborough to Whitby was closed because of the fires burning on the North Yorkshire Moors. The smell of smoke making itself known long before we made the diversion to Robin Hoods Bay.
Last night we went to see Bill Bailey open the new Bradford Live venue. I was excited to see the transformation of this much loved building. I’m usually a bit nothingy about BB but I laughed all the way through, perhaps the release of some pent up emotion? I look like a French baker on a night off🫤
I think in this case the Ouija would’ve communicated some rather bland sandwiches! Nice place though 👻
Thank you Tara, you’re a good’n! 👍🏻😉
Nice! I’ll keep a look out 👍🏻😉
It’s one of my favourite places. Hearing the sea at night with a black star filled sky above, magical!
Spooky scene in a hotel restaurant, Malton.
Panoramic shot of a smoke free Robin Hood’s Bay from the hotel room balcony.
It’s a brilliant job they’ve made of transforming the building, a venue Bradford can be proud of (alongside St George’s Hall).
Me at the opening of Bradford Live last night. Bill Bailey was the first person to play there and he was great. My recent emotional pressure build up came out as a laughter (which is lucky at a comedy gig). Here I am looking like a French baker on a night off. A great night 👍🏻
Cheers, Tara. I wouldn’t say it was anything too…inventive, in fact it’s a very simple idea but one which could bring a bit of much needed money in & a feeling of creative freedom & happiness…the holy grail! Just gotta get myself fired up & passionate about it! I’ll get there 👍🏻😉
Thank you, Brian 👍🏻😉
Thank you, Terri x very sensible advice. I’m a little bit perplexed by my lack of emotion but I’m trying to just go with the flow. Just got to keep going x
Thank you, Tara x
Thank you x
Or tutting that I’ve put it on social media! 🤣🤷🏼♂️
I think I’ve had a breakthrough thought about what I’d like to do next and it has taken me by surprise. I’ve been pondering how to make affordable originals for ages and I think I might have cracked it! I’ll start something very soon. Fingers crossed🤞🏼
Thank you, Jane x yep, I’ll just go along with flow. In terms of work…I think I’ve had a breakthrough thought about what I’d like to do next and it has taken me by surprise. I’ve been pondering how to make affordable originals for a while now and I think I might have cracked it! Fingers crossed🤞🏼
Last night we went to see Bill Bailey open the new Bradford Live venue. I was excited to see the transformation of this much loved building. I’m usually a bit nothingy about BB but I laughed all the way through, perhaps the release of some pent up emotion? I look like a French baker on a night off🫤
Thank you, Lydia x
I cried on the evening of my mum’s death but ever since then I’ve been curiously…calm. We went to view my her body & say goodbye & then the funeral the next morning, tears from everyone but me, I have been an iceman, very peculiar, I can’t quite figure it out.
The view from our room in Robin Hood’s Bay. The photo on the left the evening we arrived, on the right yesterday morning when thick smoke from moorland fires blew across the bay. The smell woke us in the early morning. The previous night the night sky was the clearest & starriest I’d seen for years
After my mums funeral on Friday my partner and I traveled to Robin Hoods Bay up the coast. The route from Scarborough to Whitby was closed because of the fires burning on the North Yorkshire Moors. The smell of smoke making itself known long before we made the diversion to Robin Hoods Bay.
We made it through my mums funeral yesterday. Goodbye mum x The end 👇🏻🤣😔
"Sometimes the soul takes pictures of things it has wished for, but never seen." Anne Sexton.
Time travel. Photos by and of my mum in London in (probably) the early 60’s.
My poor window frame dwelling spider chum. This feather is caught in its web and spidey dashes out with every quiver “Ooooh snack time, oh, it’s a feather. Oooo snack time, oh, it’s a feather. Oooo snack time, oh, it’s a feather…and on and on…a bit like my illustration career.
Absofeckinglutely 👊🏻
Cheers, Tara 👍🏻
She did, she loved Scotland 😄 x
My partner is allergic to cats so when I go down to feed our neighbours cat ‘Leonard’ I have to change into my ‘Leonard lesuirewear’ and decontaminate myself when I get back upstairs 🤣
Thank you, Katie 👍🏻
The Woman in Black.
Goodnight. 🖼️ Badger, RJ Lloyd.
Yep, you’ve got it! “Big Len, come over here and I’ll give you a good fussing” (lots of head and under chin scratches, general strokes of the body and talking to him in a daft voice). For this I got purrs 😉👍🏻
North Yorkshire bound again very soon.
Table reflection, Leeds. Sitting at a table in a very quiet cafe in Leeds last night. On the table next to us was an older gentleman who was playing a harmonica, he was absolutely amazing, superb command of the instrument, I could’ve sat there all evening 😌
I wrote about 28 Years Later
Been downstairs to feed Leonard (Big Len). I gave him his breakfast but he was equally happy to have a good fussing. He’s 15 and our lovely neighbours ‘inherited’ him recently. Cats are ace 👍🏻
The weather is very pleasant and I am doing my best to conceal the sadness that is inside me.
This was obviously a bit of tom foolery by some naughty punks but when I first saw them I did think “oh god, what now? is this what we’ll all be wearing next?”
"I thought I would be understood without words." Vincent van Gogh - Letter to Theo van Gogh (1882) Van Gogh's skies #art
Shopping in Leeds this afternoon for something to wear to my mums funeral next week. I mean…it’s a look but I don’t think my mum would approve 👀😳
In Leeds today and I found some great inspiration for my mums wake following her funeral next week 🎩 🤪
Hull Paragon Station.
That’s a quality Government Crisis Situation Room Screen, Richard 👊🏻
Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you, Ellis x
Cheers, I’ll be with my partner. We’re looking forward to the peace 👊🏻
Every new home without a nest brick is a death sentence for swifts. They're cheap, easy to install, and save lives. Let’s make swift bricks mandatory in all new builds. Sign the petition to protect these amazing birds 👇 protectthewild.org.uk/swift-bricks...
I’ve booked a night in a hotel in Robin Hoods Bay after my mums funeral next week, I just can’t face a big family & strangers get together afterwards. I just want to sit & stare at the sea & remember my mum in a place that she loved. We had my 50th birthday there last October too, a special memory.
True but bizarrely it’s been the place I’ve had the most or…any scuffles. It’s ok though because the block feature is a thing of beauty on here! 🤣
Yes, my auntie was talking about Eric’s song being a popular choice at funerals she has attended. My mum loved Local Hero and its soundtrack, so much so she went on holiday ti Scotland to find the film location but found out she was on the wrong coast! That was my mum, a bit slapdash! 🤣
It’s a tough one, so many songs still to hear but yep, I’ve a good idea what I’d have at mine.
How on earth did Eric Idle end up liking this post? Cheers, anyway! 🤷🏼♂️
All those songs and pieces of music we’ve loved during our lives whittled down to four or five to play at our funeral. I’m making sure mine are written down now…just in case. God, imagine if you didn’t…”well I once heard him whistling ‘Champagne Supernova’ let’s have that. Noooooooooooooooooooooo🫨
😉👍🏻
By the way, I’m not on the cesspit of twerper/X. I blasted it off into space a long time ago.
I’ve decided to carry on posting here. A good friend from twitter/Bluesky likened it to journaling - a good & healthy thing to do and I agree, it feels like it helps. I’ll just ignore all the stuff that cheeses me off…yes, that means you Captain Tariff. Anyway, I’ll do it when I feel up to it.
It will be on in the background as people mill around after the service on the veranda outside. The music from Swan Lake should wake some people up too! 🤣🫨
I’ve been choosing music to play at my mums funeral next week. A nice mix of Fleetwood Mac, Enya, & the Local Hero theme but I had to draw the line at Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd during the service “Hello, is there anybody in there?” I’ve been laughing just thinking about it, my mum would’ve too!
Thank you, Emma x
Thank you. Much appreciated 🙏🏻🌻
Thank you, Jessica x
🙏🏻😔
This week in photographs. I’m preparing for my mums funeral in just short of two weeks time. I’ve posted on here during this week because honestly…it has helped. So many messages of kindness and care, I’ve appreciated it so much. I’ll be back. Thank you x
I’m ok. I’m just very tired and I’m sick of people’s shit. I think it’s time for the left minded/caring/human/empathetic people of the world to fight back. Enough of this shit.
Cocteau Twins: Summer Blink- doing a fine job. youtu.be/BeXInOIIN14?...
This week in photographs. I’m preparing for my mums funeral in just short of two weeks time. I’ve posted on here during this week because honestly…it has helped. So many messages of kindness and care, I’ve appreciated it so much. I’ll be back. Thank you x
‘celebrant’ that’s the word, that’s what mum is having. She was nice, I think she’ll do a good job for my mum x
I’m ok thanks, very tired but ok 👍🏻😴
Thank you, Marcella. I really appreciate your message. I would add that I’m not entirely sure that it has sunk in yet, strange days. x
👊🏻
Lovely looking home you’ve got there! 🤩
Musician and painter Joni Mitchell (with artist David Hockney) #WomensArt
Thank you, Marcella. I really appreciate your message. On the whole I’m feeling ok. This is how life goes. She got to her 77th birthday and checked out the next day, so many years of ill health, she did well to get this far. It still feels unreal but I’m fine x
Yes, she was very mischievous, a wicked sense of humour. This photograph is from February this year when she stayed with my partner and I. She was on good form then, in fairly good health & had the ability to chat enough to the point where I was relieved to give my ears a rest when she went home! 🤣
She would definitely have approved. She was a cheerleader for slightly wonky humour! That’s where I got mine from. Many funny stories told this week about my mum by family members 🤣
Thank you, Marc 👊🏻
The little punks are kept on their toes by the Barn Owls on the beat in the evening.
I saw some on little electric scooters wearing balaclavas, drinking cans of booze and they had a fondness for the Union Jack and oooh, the language. On the whole they were a good bunch though. The wealthy ones just seemed to be snapping up the best penthayhouses and leaving them empty 🤔🤷🏼♂️
Only the wealthy ones!
They’re a work of art but I wouldn’t want to stand beneath one of them on a gusty day!
They’re a strange sight. Standing silently, temporarily housing adventurous field mice.