Meet Duckie

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This little fella has been around since Harry was a baby, recently put through a 40 degree cycle and now floating around the house reminding me of the baby that once was.

Free Range

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Wednesday saw the third egg in succession laid by our very own ducks Joey and Chandler and Harry and I shared them for breakfast...Delicious! We are finding just one egg a day which makes me suspect we either have a male and a female or one of the birds is being lazy!

The rain is making it very difficult to plan days out with Harry, so today I popped to the supermarket and purchased a comedy film, which Jake watched with us in the afternoon.

Graveyard Picnic

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An unusual place for a picnic I know but Harry and I love the local graveyard and the couple of hours we spent laughing and eating sandwiches together there on Tuesday were the kind of memories worth taking to the grave.

Below is the start of this spread, sketched in the early hours before I finally climbed into bed.

A Late Lunch In Ramsey

Monday morning was a little hectic so it was after one when Harry and I decided to ignore the rain and head out to Ramsey for a slice of cake and some duck feeding.
We stopped off at Choices cafe where I seem to remember seeking refuge from the rain last time I visited Ramsey. The rain fell from the grey sky while Harry and I tucked into our chips and cake and cleared just as we were leaving, allowing us to stop off at our favourite duck pond and hand out our stale bread before heading home.

Jackson's & Seawhite

Just started a new journal for Harry's school Summer break. It's a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook made for Jackson's. It is cloth bound, has 98 pages of 140gsm white cartridge paper and measures 14x14cm/5.5x5.5".
It cost £4.80.
After using the very absorbant and flimsy Hahnemuhle DS A5 journal recently, it's an absolute delight to work on and I love the square format.

Patience

This woman was trying to explain something to her Husband. Trying...very hard... without much success.


“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”
Arnold H Glasgow

With Love...

...From Mum

Desperate Romantics

After Millais...Gouache & Ink ©A Davies

Desperate Romantics is a brand new 6 part drama by the BBC about the lives of the pre-raphaelite brotherhood. I watched the first episode on Tuesday evening with excitement. I sketched while I watched and enjoyed every moment, some of which were rather raunchy I might add.
Can't wait for episode 2 this Tuesday. If you missed it, you can watch it on BBC iplayer HERE...Enjoy!

Sketching By Firelight

There's nothing quite like the light and ambience of an open fire and this last sketch from my weekend at the cottage was sketched in pure firelight.

Wells - Day 3

Another very quick spread in my A5 Winsor & Newton heavyweight sketchbook.

Standing Ovation

Second day at the cottage in Wells and a quick pause with my sketchbook. People gathered to watch a dog show so I stood and sketched a couple of them before heading to the seafood van for a light, tasty snack of crayfish.

Back At The Cottage

On Friday I drove to Wells-Next-The-Sea for another weekend break in our favourite rented cottage; Maryland Corner. I unloaded the car in the pouring rain in my little bobble hat but it wasn't long before the sun came out and made for a lovely evening.
I made a couple of quick sketches before hitting the sack in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Pastel Garnish

...complete with a pub beer mat.

A Year Together

Jane has been coming to me for art tuition for a whole year this week and we celebrated our anniversary by dining out for lunch together. (Thanks Jane)

Above is her latest work (in progress) and below are some shots of her with other wonderful works she has achieved during our time together....There are many, many more!

I love our time together. Jane is passionate about her work, generous with her heart and a pure pleasure to be with, I am proud to able to call her my friend aswell as my student.

Happy Anniversary Janie, here's to another wonderful year together!

More From My Handbook Journal

My Son, The Grog

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The school play and my Son, Harry, was a Grog...and what a wonderful Grog he was too!

Elderberry Ink

Calypso Toes

A little self pampering

Waiting For The Bank

I made this quick sketch in Chatteris while waiting for the bank to open.

Skylark

A trip to Skylark nurseries in Wimblington resulted in a quick sketch with my cuppa in their cafe on Sunday afternoon.

Early In The Morning...

Enhance, Transform, Spotlight

My current beauty enhancers, a trip to the flicks and a man-made spotlight make up my journal spread for Saturday.
Quite a mixture!

Inspired

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I sketched with much more ease today, selecting a subject came easily again and hopefully my little sketchers block has passed me by.

He Is Home

Jake is home safe and sound and he's had the perfect 'lads' holiday with lots of booze and late nights...I can say that out loud now because he's home, safe, here, with me!
Phew!

I was 'The Artists Model' for March Art Group this morning which I really enjoyed. (I was clothed)

A very quick view from the studio window in watercolour first thing this morning, between drying my hair with the studio hairdryer, and today I gathered the seeds from the very first poppy seed pod this year in the garden.

*Sketchbook note of interest:
This sketchbook hates water, especially when using both sides of a sheet. It far too quickly turns to tissue and the surface bobbles terribly. I'm finding it frustrating. I may have to change journals for the school Summer break, those five weeks of journalling are far too important to me to have the paper let me down, I record them for Harry to give to him when he's older.
The A5 size is great to work with though, after so many A6 journals recently.

Subject Search

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Went in search for inspiration the other night, first in a boxing book then ended up on Posemaniacs website with some 60 second figure studies It's been a while since I visited there, it never fails to get my pen moving.

New

Apricot Horizon

Doddington Sports Day

My family attended a local annual event in the village (Doddington) this weekend. I returned alone with my sketchbook for a while.

I later drove my eldest Son into March to stay at his friends for a short nap before a group of them headed off to the airport for 4 days in Magaluf, Spain.
Oh the joys of parenting!

Prizes and Presents.

On Thursday I visited the WI Open Gardens in my village, Doddington. I had company so didn't manage any sketches while viewing but won a book on mushrooms in the tomobola which I used later that night as a reference for the sketches.
I also attended Ellie's second birthday party and later sketched her eating her cake from a photo I had taken earlier that evening.

Sketchbook note of interest:
The Hahnemuhle D&S sketchbook does not like too much water, when sketching plein air, as I usually do, it doesn't cause a problem because the sun dries out the layers quickly but when working in the studio I found it very quickly started to turn to mulch with quite small applications of water.

A Morning At Jills

I was invited to spend the morning with some of the March art group in Jills garden where we sketched and indulged in Jill's homebaking.
I started my new journal while I was there and have to say how nice it felt to have a little more room in the larger book.

I had a lovely time...Thanks for making us all so welcome Jill!

Hand Picked

Hand picked from my garden and hand painted into my A6 Hahnemuhle travel journal as my last spread to complete it's pages.
It's been a fun journal to work in but I've gone a little larger with my next choice; an A5 D&S Hahnemuhle containing 80 natural white pages of 140lb cartridge paper.

Choices

I found refuge from the rain in Choices Cafe over the weekend, a wonderful little place in Ramsey that serves a variety of fresh coffee and the most beautiful homemade cakes.

I'm in the process of replacing all my old videos with DVD's and recently ordered 'Stepmom' that arrived Saturday morning.

Now when I sketched this spread I hadn't intended there to be a link but for me there is...The thing I love most about 'Stepmom' is the positive message it carries and the reminder that we all have choices through every step of our lives...They may not always be the options we want but they are choices none-the-less.