Friendly Lunch

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Back at the Griffin Hotel again last week, this time for an overdue lunch date with a very good friend. Lots of talking and laughter but I still managed to slip in a quick sketch.

Two More Joural Spreads

Two more spreads from myA6 Venezia journal.

2 for 1

I was feeling extra creative on Saturday and managed a spread in my journal early morning before I even got to bed. Later Saturday afternoon I had the house to myself and decided to watch one of my favourite films...with my sketchbook in hand, of course!

Happy Birthday Jake

My Son Jake turned 18 today.........Mindblowing!

New Journal

Started another A6 Venezia to continue my daily journal entries in. I'm enjoying these little books, their size isn't too demanding for me to manage alongside my focus on people this year.

I'm Back

Woohoo, a PC genius called Mark from PC World, arrived this morning and breathed life into my internet lifeline by fixing my computer. So, you are stuck with me again!

A few sketches of Harry using various different forms of ink in my large Canson sketchbook are my offering today.

Oh No

Woke this morning to discover my pc would not switch on, so here I am over at my parents with no scanner to show you any artwork. I have a technician coming out to me on Wednesday and hope matters will be resolved quickly...Until then....

Three Artists And Two Daffodils

The last two pages in my 2008-2009 A6 Venezia journal remember three wonderful artists, Tony Hart, Bernini and Borromini.
The daffodils come from a bunch gifted to me, a bunch of sunshine that brightened my week!

Morning Coffee At The Library

I tried to capture a whole scene at the library this week and even managed to colour it before heading out for a stroll and a cigarette. My return visit was cut short by a telephone call, so I wasn't able to colour my last few studies but thought it a productive coffee break none the less.


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Me and Harry

SP from life - Sepia Pilot Pen - 20 min study

Probably the friendliest looking self portrait I've sketched from life.


Harry from life - Sepia Pilot Pen - 15 min study

Sloppy Self Portrait

SP - 10 mins - Lead - Lge Canson sketchbook

I made this self portrait sketch from life in 10 mins, then left it to go about my day. When I opened it later that evening I decided to have some fun with my watercolours and a large brush, working wet into wet, I allocated myself another 10 mins and spent a further 5 minutes 'enhancing' it with a pigment liner once it was dry.


SP - Watercolour & Ink - 15 mins - Size 12 brush - Lge Canson sketchbook

Harry Re-Mix

I had a page of started and unfinished studies of Harry in my large Canson sketchbook, ones I'd began only to find he'd vanished when I looked up again. So, I slapped a thin coat of gesso over the lot, some remained visible others, like Harry...Vanished!
I coloured the base with gouache once dry, then set about trying to capture Harry without him knowing again. I was quicker this time and managed three half decent studies throughout the day.
Finally, I added a little watercolour to emphasise my new studies, resulting in a far more interesting page than I'd started with!

A Few Journal Pages

Well, as you can see from the spread above, my eldest is now home safe from his skiing trip to Bulgaria - He loved it but was so pleased to get home and EAT!
On Sunday, while Jake slept off his jetlag, Harry and I made clothes for my art manikins from old studio rag. I have no idea why we decided to do this but it was fun.



Late Sunday evening I felt awful and went to bed at 10pm!!! For me, that is unheard of. I felt like I had been hit by a bus and in the early hours of Monday morning it became very apparent I had caught Harry's bug...I spent Monday recovering with a good movie, pain killers and lots of fluids. Feeling much better now!

My Harry

On Friday, Harry came down with a bug that left him feeling really poorly all day. Luckily it didn't hang around for long.
I managed to grab a quick sketch of him using a Verithin pencil on a gesso base in my large Canson sketchbook.

By Sunday he was feeling back to his old self, so while he surfed the net, I sketched him again. This time I used ink and watercolour.

Harry has been sketching me again, you can see his latest on his blog.

The Weekly Shop

...and a latte stop!

Back at Asda this week. Left a little later than I usually do and the place was packed, I was lucky to find a seat in the cafe.
Of course, this meant lots of interesting subjects, including a guy with long hair, a leather waistcoat and cowboy hat...Just wish he had sat in my view!

The Power Of Art

I created this journal page while pausing the Rembrandt section of my Power of Art DVD's. It is a fantastic box set of a series that was shown on the BBC some time ago, I enjoyed it so much that I purchased it and watch it often.

A Coffee, Or Two, In Ely

I spent a lovely morning in Ely on the 15th, my first stop...A latte with vanilla powder topping in Starbucks.
In the first sketch (above) my Lamy Safari fountain pen filled with Noodler's red/black ink gave me some frustration, it kept missing and became a nightmare to use which is most unlike my Lamy. It wasn't until I'd taken the nib off, cleaned it and drank down my latte that I realised this interruption had occurred because I'd ran out of ink...The moral of this story is NEVER expect a caffeine addict to function intelligently before their morning fix!

I pushed on with a pigment liner for a while before moving on.

I headed over to the Cathedral for a bite to eat in their cafe where, on entry, I was stopped in my tracks by the stunningly beautiful watercolour entitled 'Under the octagon at Ely Cathedral' by Alexander Creswell. I gazed in awe for some time before finally grabbing a coffee and some lunch in the cafe.

The image below proves that it isn't such a good idea to try to sketch while balancing a well filled sandwich both women are suffering from short-leg-itis, a man made disease caused by my very own hand...and this was AFTER a good caffeine fix!

Self Portrait

Spent 20 minutes in the mirror with some gouache and a very serious expression!

Harry has got the sketch bug bad and I now know how he feels when I follow him around with my sketchbook. He sketched me again the other day, this time while I was at my pc.
You can see his sketch here on his blog

The Olde Griffin Hotel

After visiting The Olde Griffin Hotel in March for my 21st sketchcrawl and seeing it's potential as a place to capture people in my sketchbook, I decided to try to return at least once a week.
Last week I managed to get there around lunchtime and the place was buzzing.

I Took a square 6x6" W&N heavyweight sketchbook along. These books are most affordable and the paper is hard to beat; it's smooth for ink takes light washes well and loves coloured pencil...A good, cheap, all rounder then! I enjoyed having a slightly larger page, the small canson I've been using for the hospital and Asda is only 4.5x6" and landscape format.

I seated myself twice during this visit, which I hope shows in the lighting; the top sketch being closer to the window and the bottom sketch at the back of the Griffin.

The couple above attracted my attention because they seemed so content and comfortable with one another, talking constantly, unaware of the crowd around them.

The bare flesh a struggling sweater could not conceal is what got my pen scribbling in the lower sketch.

Doddington Hospital

Another visit to Doddington Hospital on the return from my morning school run.

I was very lucky, reception was very busy. I managed to sketch the receptionist and captured a really good likeness which got me off to a confident start.




A man sat waiting for a cab for a few minutes, which gave me another chance to grab my watercolours.



Finally, the two small tables at the coffee kiosk where I sit became full, the tables are very close so I feel a little rude sketching customers usually but because it was so busy everyone was chatting to one another and their attention was off my mischievous doodles, so I managed another coloured sketch. I discovered that the coffee machine has a latte pod, which I made use of immediately. I was there for around an hour again and really felt switched on, I got a great likeness of the three people I concentrated on mostly and was even asked for my card by the kiosk attendant who is keen for me to be a speaker at a women's group she attends. Great morning!

Recent Journal Entries

I'm still trying to journal as much as possible as well as sketch people daily.


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Harry

Lamy Safari fountain pen filled with Lexington Gray Noodler's ink and watercolour.
8 Minute study

My supermodel Son Harry!
While I sketched him, he sketched me...You can check out his portrait of me HERE on his blog.

Lounging

A few more quick family studies.

Doddington Hospital

Another trip to Doddington hospital, on the way home from the school run, for a coffee and a sketch.

March Library

Last Thursday I took a drive into March, intending to grab a coffee at the library and sketch some of it's visitors. I noticed a woman walking infront of me had a box of art materials and watched as she entered a room off the main library floor. I'm not sure what possesed me but...I followed her inside! I introduced myself and asked about the group. It seems the group is more of a gathering than an instructional group, this really appeals to me...being in the company of like minded people for a couple of hours a week. Sadly the group is full and has a long waiting list, I put my name down. The chair (Gill Jolley) invited me to stay the morning as her guest and I spent a wonderful two hours looking at other's work and chatting. The group knew of me from my column in the Cambs Times and it was a rather odd but very pleasant experience.
The group was extremely welcoming and I had a great time. (Thank you all!)

Before I left the group booked me to hold a mini workshop in April, which was the cherry on a deliciously iced cake!