It has been a busy time: two of the art courses that I have been tutoring concluded; I've run a workshop as part of the Harwich Festival of the Arts; I have had drawings being exhibited at Old Bank Studios (the exhibition closes today); and the garden project continues. Finally, I have managed to do some sketching. This is the latest and the model was fantastic sitting very still. What have you been doing?
![]() Today is the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere, and spring is one of my favourite seasons. I also like autumn ... and summer ... oh and winter if I'm inside and warm and it's snowing outside. On Wednesday, I was sketching outside in order to record the 2016 opening of the National Trust property, Bourne Mill. I'm working with the property this year, so rather than sketch the building, other than the outline, I chose to focus on the open gates. I used a Monologue sketchbook and as the photo (left) shows, I Inked on site. However, I added the watercolour added at home due to icy wind. ![]() On Thursday, Saint Patrick's Day provided the opportunity to get some green paint out as I sketched with some friends in a local pub. The above sketch was completed on site, Winsor & Newton watercolour with Staedtlar pen in A5 Daler sketchbook. More green featured this morning, which is why I'm blogging this evening, as I experimented monoprinting using a Gelli plate. Some of these prints I am thinking of working up, maybe with stencils, or watercolour, or.... not sure. Some as collage backgrounds, maybe. Whilst one will become an Easter card to send to my mum. Now, I'm looking forward to lots of garden drawing, flower sketching, and more spring printing. What about you? Is spring your favourite season? What are you working on?
Yesterday afternoon, I arranged for the Colchester Sketchers to sketchcrawl at the bottom of the High Street. Tucked down a lane is the Coffee Cube café, which is where we arranged to meet. After a week that saw sleet and rain, we were amazed to have a blue sky and sunshine, so half of us sat outside to sketch the castle. Being the organiser, I spent more time talking than sketching at the meeting point, but did manage to spend half an hour on my sketch of the castle. Luckily, as the sun disappeared behind the clouds, it was time to move on. Our second location was Hollytrees Museum, which is a museum of domestic life and childhood. Several of us were attracted by the Alice in Wonderland temporary exhibition. Our final location was the new Tiptree Tearoom at the Minories Gallery. I think we were all so interested in each others sketches and having some tea, that nobody sketched there. I plan to return another day as the choice of teas and cakes demand a proper "sketch" visit.
|
About me
I am a nomadic artist travelling the world for inspiration. Here, I publish my sketchbook work alongside my new finished pieces. Tags
All
Archives
October 2018
|