Special Days

Mothers Day and Harry's 11th Birthday, journalled in my A6 Venezia sketchbook.

A Few More Figure Studies

A few quick studies, two on prepared pages and one on plain, all in a large Canson watercolour sketchbook.

I Dream Of Italy

Sketched from a holiday brochure.

Benwick Bridge

Benwick River ©Anita Davies

Another quickie while waiting for Harry to come out of school.
This is the same bridge at Benwick River sketched here but at a slightly different angle on a much sunnier day. The deeper angle brought the willow into the frame.

Journal Update

Caught up with some scanning tonight, here are a couple of recent journal spreads from my A6 Venezia journal.

Farmhouse Duet

I had just under an hour to kill before collecting Harry from school last week and decided to take a drive through Benwick into Ramsey looking for some good painting locations. Just before the golf course I decided to turn around and pulled into a farm entrance to do so. As I turned I saw this little property dwarfed by the landscape surrounding it and stopped the car.
I spent the remainder of my time here at Waypost Farm sketching the image before me twice, using watercolour to enhance the first effort and gouache for the second.

Waiting For Diane

I arranged to meet a friend in Tesco Cafe in March last week and arrived a little early. Just beside the car park sits this view, so I found an opening in the hedge and sat on the dry ground soaking up the rare sunshine while I sketched.

I used a Lamy Safari fountain pen with a medium sized nib filled with Noodlers Walnut ink.
I added a little watercolour later back at home.

The Griffin Hotel

My last two visits to The Griffin Hotel, sketched over a latte.

Benwick Bridge

A quickie before collecting Harry from school.

Mepal Moment

Mepal Outdoor Centre - Sketchbook - Plein Air - Ink Study

A quiet moment with a hot latte and my sketchbook at Mepal Outdoor Centre last Sunday before heading home to prepare dinner.
I took my Lamy Safari fountain pen filled with Noodler's Walnut ink along and a waterbrush.
Before leaving I decided to practice making notes that I could later use to produce a painting from, key elements that would help in a full colour rendition.

I have sketched at Mepal Centre before, you can view the sketches HERE

Benwick Barns

'Benwick Barns' - 8x11" Mixed Media ©AnitaDavies

This is the painting I produced from the two sketches in the previous post.

I used watercolour and a little gouache, applied with a 1" hake brush, working bold and fast. I also used a wax resist for the first time in the form of an oil pastel.

I've had a nightmare trying to photograph it on what has been an overcast day here in the Fens, I tried scanning but lost the sky completely. This is pretty close.

I've been tempted to 'refine' and fiddle with it since I painted it but also appreciate it's boldness and the excitement I felt in the moment I made it...It has grown on me and I have learned a little about 'when to stop and take a step back'.

Benwick Barn Sketches

I sketched these little thumbnails while waiting outside the school for Harry last week.
The barns were to my left, a view between two houses, and the landscape directly infront of me. I mixed the two scenes together with some Neocolor and then played around with the barn composition in ink.
I then took the sketches home and created a painting from them back in the studio
...How cool is that!
My own composition, my own references, bold colour and big brushes! I had so much fun, it felt so good to be 'creating' as opposed to copying, dusting off the cobwebs of my imagination.

I will post the painting later today.

Art Class

This week, in class, I got my students to sketch one another and here are mine, a couple of quick ink studies.



I've been meaning to share these photos of my students with their works for some time now. Jane was so thrilled with her rose and so she should be, she did a wonderful job with it. We are currently working on another flower which she is painting entirely with her fingers!!! She's such a pleasure to work with.


Jane holding her rose painting © Anita Davies

...and Roseanne produced this snow scene from her imagination, which is amazing, especially considering she had no artistic background before starting my class. She has a wonderfully bold technique that I admire.

I am so proud of them both!


Roseanne's snow scene © Anita Davies

Bluebells Cafe

Bluebells Cafe - Ink & Watercolour on prepped sketchbook page.

I stopped off at Bluebell Cafe the other morning, my first visit this year, and I couldn't resist having one of their fantastic full English breakfasts with my hot milk coffee..Yum!

I've sketched at Bluebells before you can see the posts Here and Here.

Swan Invasion

Benwick River - Sketchbook study - Plein Air - Ink & Neocolor11

I was sitting along Benwick River with Harry again the other afternoon, sketching the river and a small boat when a swan came passing by. I quickly changed my focus to concentrate on the swan, adding a little neocolor to emphasise the pattern it was causing in the water.

School Run

Three pages created on three different days while waiting for Harry to come out of school.

Speedy Sunset

The view from my studio is pretty fantastic throughout the entire day but the sunsets are simply spectacular.
Every evening a different show appears outside my window as the sun drops it's head beneath the Fen...I never tire of it.

I decided to catch one in my sketchbook, you don't get long and it changes constantly by the second but I wanted to capture the 'banding' on this particular showcase the other evening. I managed to make two sketches; one in mixed media (running inside like a mad woman to grab things from my studio table) and the second using Neocolor11 and a waterbrush.

A Quick Cuppa At The Library

Red/Blk Noodlers ink on prepared sketchbook page (gouache & watercolour)

Another quick session at the library accompanied by a hot black coffee. It's such a great place to people sketch.


Ink on sketchbook page

Mixed Media Sketch

Benwick River, plein air sketch in large Canson sketchbook - Mixed media

Parked up at Benwick river again the other morning after the school run and sketched the bridge using watercolour and a little soft pastel.

Victorian Pin-Up

Journal spread sketched from my Olivia De Berardinis book while watching 'The Victorians' on TV.

My Son, Harry (10), has finally updated his blog. He's posted some Simpson sketches he made and has more to come over the next few days.
You can check them out HERE

Fly Casting

Harry practising his cast in the yard, he looked so natural. Khan, our Border Terrier, was so excited she wouldn't stand still for a second!

Morning Coffee At The Griffin Hotel

Painting From A Sketch

'Benwick River' -Mixed Media 9x11" -©Anita Davies

Six years into my art journey and I am still having 'firsts'. This is the first time I have ever completed a painting from one of my own sketches...no photos, no references of any kind, just the ink sketch below.
What fun!


"Benwick River" - Ink Study in sketchbook ©Anita Davies

Now I know that I strayed a little, some parts of that worked well, others did not. The composition works better in my sketch, I made too much of the road in my painting and split the composition into equal thirds, which I think makes each third compete a little for attention. The river sweeps more in my sketch, which I prefer, as do the trees along the back right. The bank looks more like a hedge in my painting and the jetty looks more like a table with the back leg I added.

However, none of this matters because I painted it all from my very own sketch and THAT alone makes this painting a personal success.
I enjoyed selecting colours and creating texture with my new 1" hake and I loved being all loose and artsy. I was in my glory slopping watercolour about, then dipping my fingers into my pastel box, grabbing my ink filled waterbrush, then gouache and generally being unrestricted in my choices of media.

I am going to have such fun with this project!


"Benwick River" WIP - ©Anita Davies

Waiting For Harry

A quick sketch while waiting for Harry to come out of school. I added the watercolour sky on location and the acrylic ink splashes back at home in the studio.

Prepared Surface Sketching

Harry and our whippet 'Scoby' - Lamy Safari filled with Noodlers 'Walnut' ink using a medium nib on watercolour and soft pastel.


Harry - Lamy Safari filled with red/black ink using an extra fine nib on watercolour


Harry and Jake - Lamy Safari filled with Noodlers 'Walnut' ink using a medium nib on gouache.

A few family sketches on prepared surfaces in my large Canson watercolour sketchbook.

I'd forgotten just how much prepared backgrounds add to a sketch and since I have had mixed media out on my desk recently for the 'Mixed Views' project I thought I'd dabble on a page....which soon turned into a few pages.
They look so much more interesting than just ink sketches and give instant 'meat' to a few minutes work.

Inspired

Journal spread inspired by my new Ray Balkwill book: 'Painting Landscapes with Atmosphere'.
In these small thumbnails I tried to recreate a specific time of day using a Lamy Safari with a medium size nib, filled with Noodler's 'walnut' ink and a water brush.

Studies of Harry

Tonal Study in Ink

Benwick River - tonal study in Ink - 21 x 13cms - ©Anita Davies

Took Mum and Harry for a walk along Benwick river a few days back and managed a quick tonal study from the bridge while I was there.

The sketch was actually made in one of my three new hand*book journals that Sandy kindly sent over for me after reading that I couldn't find them in the UK. (Thanks Sandy) However, it soon became apparent to me that the paper would not be able to take all the experimentation I had planned for it this year with my 'Mixed Views' project, so I ripped it out and stuck it into a large Canson watercolour sketchbook. I plan to use the hand*book journal for my 'People' project once the few pages I have left in my little Canson are full.

I liked the cross section view of the Fen and the way the turbine in the distance pulled your eye back into the composition as it drifted with the row of trees.
It's such a beautiful spot.

I used a waterbrush filled with diluted black ink to paint with and a 0.2 pigment liner to sketch with...There's a little white gel pen along the river's edge too.