Last week, I had to pop over to Italy to do some banking and negotiate with builders. As always, my sketchbook was in my handbag and here are a few of the sketches I did. It's newsletter time!Due to a cash flow issue, I am currently temping at the University of Essex. I only have 30 minutes for lunch but have managed to do a few sketches so far. This one I did the week before... With a couple more weeks there, I wonder what I can do next.
The railway viaduct at Chappel has been on my "to-sketch" list for many years, so on Friday I arranged for the Essex & Suffolk Sketchers to meet at the Swan pub. With quickly failing light and the temperature dropping, I sat on a bench in the Swan's car park and quickly tried to paint it. It was difficult to tell the colours I was applying as the light changed and dropped. Above is as far as my first sketch got. Heading into the pub to warm up, I think the guys having bar snacks got drawn by everyone. As usual, I spent more time chatting than drawing, so these two were all I did. Plus, Degas got bored and decided when it was time to go home. I was sketching in an A4 Monologue sketchbook with Winsor & Newton watercolours & Inktense pencils. Instead of posting yesterday, I sketched of my neighbours' apple tree from the conservatory. I'm trying out a Canson A5 sketchbook, whilst the paper initially struggled with the amount of water, and took ages to dry due to the cold weather, the paper hasn't degraded and there's little cockling.
Whilst my sketching mojo has made a small comeback this week, I seem to have lost my words, hence the non-title of this post. On Monday, I had 20 minutes to have a cuppa before a meeting in Somerset House. I sat on the terrace and had to sketch my view of the London Eye. On Wednesday, I had to go to Maldon and with a spare half hour started to sketch an amazing garden-covered barge. I didn't have time to add colour, so I did it at home later. Thursday I was stuck in the hairdresser's for ages, so grabbed my A6 Laloran sketchbook. I'm a bit concerned as I don't recognise that old lady in the mirror. I sketched myself in the same position in 2010. I remember that I didn't wear my glasses and had to squint at the book. Then yesterday, I joined the Essex & Suffolk Sketchers at Henny fete, where I visited a local garden, which happened to be serving cream teas. Using a Daler A5 sketchbook, I sketched it to justify eating it despite my ever expanding waistline. Finally, I did a very quick sketch trying to capture a feeling of the quintessential English fete, whilst my assistant dug herself a hole. As it was so colourful, I used a rainbow pencil by Lyra in my A5 Daler sketchbook. So that was my sketching week. Now if I could only think of a title...
Still struggling with a missing drawing mojo, amongst other things, I started #DrawAugust which is a twitter hashtag challenge. Back in January, for Liz Steel's Sketching Foundation course, I sketched the fence which divides the house from the neighbours. Now, in summer I resketched it as part of a changing story and as a record of my parents' garden. Following that, I did another sketch from the garden. This time the ripening apples on the neighbour's overhanging apple tree. A very quick sketch of the birdbath was done on the 3rd. Whilst today I have sketched Degas sunbathing in it. I aim to do more garden drawings over the month, which I'll share here. What are you doing this week? ... talking and playing. On Friday night, I had arranged for the Essex and Suffolk sketchers to have a 3rd DrinkDraw evening. These evenings are proving to be very successful and we had a good turn out again. We went to the Rose and Crown in Wivenhoe, which has this great quayside beer garden. The above photo shows us hard at work sketching the estuary, boats, pub and more. I spent most of my time chatting and/or playing with my assistant, who likes the drinkdraw evenings out, than painting. oh well there's always next month. More talking than sketching occurred last Saturday too. It was the #48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl day, so I arranged to join the Drawing London on Location group at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. Unfortunately, my sketching mojo didn't come too. I was ready to sketch on the train but... it was packed as the Norwich train had been offloaded onto the train I caught. I found a seat, got sketchbook and glasses out and... the man next to me proceeded to tell me all about his life as a cruise ship pianist. Arriving at the museum, it was one of those days that the scale of the building was intimidating and the gardens stunning but... nothing grabbed my attention. I decided a cup of tea was the solution, which it was as I loved the organic lamps and was lucky enough to have the people I was drawing stay as long as I sketched. After another wander around looking at the exhibits, I chatted to a few other sketchers, then decided to head off to look for my sketching mojo elsewhere. As my lack of results on Friday show, it hadn't come back by then. Fingers crossed I relocate it this week.
As mentioned in my previous post, we were down in Devon to sketch the new Tavistock Edge event. My assistant was an absolute star, so we spent virtually all day at the event. First up was a flash choir in the Pannier Market. Naturally, I knew where and when this was occurring and found a bench to sit on, although hadn't planned on the huge crowd blocking my view. The sound was lovely and Degas was happy as long as she had her pig's ear and no-one stood on her paws or tail. Next up, we wandered to the Buskstop, and sketched The Diggurz, who list the genre as roots/redneck/celtic. Degas was fantastic even having a little dance at one point. From the Buskstop, we wandered down the road to see the Lodestone Border Morris group. Degas found the stick bashing a problem, yet still stayed for a couple of dances. I'm really pleased with the sketch as I tried to focus on the colour and movement. What do you think? Finally, we wandered to St Eustachius' churchyard where there was a whole afternoon of entertainment. My favourite was Miss Von Trapp who describes herself as "Murderously Quirky Dark Cello Cabaret: Morbidly Vaudeville Songs, Cabaret Numb...ers and Performance Poetry to revolt and entertain..." and I thought she was brilliant. I certainly hope the festival will continue next year as we had a great time. What do you think of my sketches? Please leave a comment as I love to receive them.
Having an invitation to a new fringe event in Devon, Tavistock Edge, I decided my assistant and I would have a holiday beforehand and found a cottage for us just on the edge of Dartmoor. I did lots of sketches throughout the week. I was especially fascinated with the cattle in the next field, as was Degas, so I drew them as she barked at them. Here are the landscapes: Here is a selection of the animal sketches: I'll post the Tavistock Edge sketches next Sunday. What do you think of my sketches? I'd love it if you left me a comment below. It's summer newsletter time.
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About me
I am a nomadic artist travelling the world for inspiration. Here, I publish my sketchbook work alongside my new finished pieces. Tags
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