More From The Hand*Book

A few very quick sketches including a portrait of my Mum reading.

Short Break 2

Another sketch from my last visit to Joannie's in Coltishall.

I've managed to fill lots of pages in my new journal since we arrived on Sunday, we've been very active providing me with lots of interesting subjects. Joan has no scanner here so I'll upload all my new sketches on my return home.

Column Week 13

These are the images and text that made up my illustrated column entry in the Cambs Times and Wisbech Standard, in print today:



These days my shopping trips to Tesco are usually accompanied with a visit to their café, where I indulge in a frothy Latte and sketch some of the customers as they go about their day; a great exercise in studying the human figure.
So, you can imagine my disappointment when I found the café boarded up during my visit on Tuesday morning. The huge renovation project that has been going on there had finally reached the café and stolen part of my shopping ritual.
Keen to return home with a page of sketches in my journal, I found my way back to the car park and made good use of an inconvenient situation by sketching a few of the numerous changes that surrounded me.
Not such a disappointment after all, although I really did miss my routine Latte!

If you would like to see more, my daily journal entries can be found on my blog : http://artbyanita.blogspot.com/.
Wednesday Night Art Workshops. Benwick Road Recreation Centre, Doddington. Contact Anita: 07790554201

Which Watercolour Sketchbook?

Inktense

In my last post, Emma-Jane left a request for advice on choosing a watercolour sketchbook. Here is her question:

I have some questions for you, Anita, about the watercolour sketchbooks you've tried. I'm hoping to find one that is case bound and smooth enough to take fine pen comfortably but is also a good paper for Inktense, coloured pencil and straight watercolour washes - so that I can experiment with using just one book for my journaling. ("Take two sketchbooks into the shower? Not me. I just sketch and go!!")
Would hot-pressed paper be suitable ..? Any advice on this would be appreciated.

E-J,
It took me a long time and a lot of 'mistakes' to find the kind of sketchbook you are searching for so I had no hesitation in dedicating a post to your request.

I would most deffinitely choose a HP paper if you are hoping to produce ink pieces. This is the Canson sketchbook:


I have now had the pleasure of owning and using 3 of these gorgeous red books and they have happily taken all of the media you wish to use with ease. In fact, I have even used gouache and collage in these beauties and I'm sure they would take acrylic too!
They are filled with 230g/m watercolour paper with a traditional white, matt surface. Acid free with archival permanence.
The description also claims they can be used for chalk and pastel, which I know will please you.
They come in 3 sizes and I purchase mine from Greatart. They each have 60 pages and I was thrilled to find them at such a reasonable rate, they are a pleasure to use and look fabulous!

All of the images in this post were created in the Canson sketchbooks, all in different media.

I hope this was useful to you.


Watercolour

Gouache

Watercolour Pencils

Ink

Coloured Pencils

Graphite

Next...

Harry - 15 mins - sepia ink

This is the final page in my 21cm x 15cm Canson HP watercolour sketchbook.
I have enjoyed this book so much that I recently ordered another, along with a smaller 15cm x 10.5cm one for my handbag. The 230gsm paper reacts well to watercolour washes, coloured pencil and ink and it's smooth surface makes writing a few notes a pleasure.

I've decided to put the new Canson aside for now and use the Saunders Waterford book I have on my bookshelf next. It is the same size (21x15cm) but is made of thicker 300gsm HP watercolour paper. It has 36 pages, comes in 3 sizes (A5, A4, A3), 3 grades of paper (HP, NOT, Rough) and starts at £13.95.

I'll be starting my new SW journal today!

A Busy Week

I have been exceptionally productive this week, so much so that I have a number of journal pages to share in this post in order to close the week.

The first is a 2 minute sketch I made on Wednesday, while waiting for yoga class to commence.

Above, you can see that the bunch of Daffodils, I have sketched a few times already this week, are now all in bloom.

After my meeting with John Elworthy on Friday I popped to Tesco Cafe to kill time before collecting my youngest from school.

I still managed to arrive outside the school early, so I parked up and sketched the Acorn Video shop, made a few notes and added colour on my return home.

Inside View

An antique chair to show off my posh cushions...A view constantly disrupted by the kids DVD's.



The single door entrance of my studio...A view of organised chaos and one too many empty boxes.



A comfy sofa, a hot cuppa and a view of the Fenland sky...Perfect!

Nature's Treasure

Well here they are, those very same daffodils from yesterday. I woke to find they had exploded with life during the night and turned into a pot of gold.

We gained two new family members today, 'Bonnie & Clyde' , Harry's new pet budgies.
Bonnie is pure white and Clyde has the most beautiful, bright aqua shades rolling down his back. He is a real cheeky character but Bonnie loves him and they look so cute together. They spoke to each other while I sketched this afternoon...spring flowers and the sound of birds - Magical!

Sketching Clyde from life was near impossible, he just didn't stop moving and even did a little dance for Bonnie at one point. I can see my new subjects are going to prove more than a little challenging.

Gift Wrapped Sunshine

Daffodils, all clambered together along the roadsides, wrapped tightly just waiting to explode and reveal their sunshine kisses straight from Mother nature.

They are not my most favourite flower but they offer something no other bloom does, lighting up the worn out landscape of faded blues, greens and greys bringing with them a promise of brighter, longer days.
That is why I love them.

I purchased my tightly packed bunch from a florist in Whittlesey today and liked the paper they were wrapped in, so I used a piece of it as a backdrop for today's journal entry. I'm hoping to capture them again this week as they burst open.

'Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems' ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

“Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be over here, looking through your stuff.” ~ Jack Handy

Overworked and Neglected

My Pentel water brush is so overworked that I had to renew it.

My studio brushes are neglected and looking sorry for themselves.

Me?...I rested for the weekend, enjoying friends and family and am now all recharged for the week ahead.

Christenings and Birthdays

Today I Christened my new 15cm x 10.5cm Canson journal and what a great little book. Due to it's size, I found it a lot easier to whip out in places I may have felt a little rude doing so with a larger book. For instance, it was my youngest Son's school assembly this morning and pulling out a large clumpy journal may have given the impression I wasn't concentrating on the wonderful acting that took place. My little Canson gave no such impression, proved easy to use and allowed me to capture a memory I will be grateful for some day in the distant future.
Now I know I can do this with a small moleskin but the Canson allows me to work with watercolour on the same white paper I would produce a finished piece on.
The assembly was full of the usual moments that tug on your heart and lift the corners of your lips high. Harry was wonderful!

On leaving the school, I headed into Wood Street to pick up my eldest Son's friend. While I waited I quickly sketched the view in front of me from the truck in my larger Canson journal and made colour notes as a guide for painting later.

Buzzing with my new purchase I decided to stop in Tesco cafe before my weekly shop and fill another page in my small Canson. I think this woman suspected I was sketching her but she didn't seem offended so I continued. I coloured both this sketch and the school one with my Schmincke watercolours there in the cafe while I finished my latte.



Lastly, I called my dear friend Joan to wish her a Happy Birthday and after we'd chatted laughed and reflected I made a sketch of my mobile phone, the gadget that allowed me to be right there in Coltishall with my friend on her special day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOANNIE!

New Arrivals

Watercolour & ink

Today my new sofa arrived. All plump and springy, it slotted into it's new home like it had never lived anywhere else.

Yesterday the set of 15 Neocolor ll wax pastels I ordered arrived along with a mini sized Canson journal, I love the look of the Canson journals with their bright red covers and black corners and have really enjoyed using my current, larger sized one.

I plan to keep the mini journal in my handbag for cafe sketches, the size should prove alot easier to whip out on unsuspecting 'models'.

The Neocolor pastels are gorgeous! Such vivid, strong pigments and their crayon like appearance made me feel like a child using them, I can't wait to work on something a little larger than today's sketch so I can get really playful. The smallest drop of water and they come alive, I imagine they will prove to be a VERY useful piece of location kit.

Neocolor ll & ink

CANSON WATERCOLOUR JOURNAL

Full English Yoga

Manea Royal British Legion Club

I attended Yoga class this morning and arrived early...again!
I seem to do that a lot since keeping a journal, grabbing chances between appointments to lurk suspiciously in my truck with a pen and sketchbook in my hands.

After Yoga I decided to turn left instead of right for a change and headed towards Chatteris. Once reaching Chatteris I couldn't get Bluebell Cafe out of my mind, they cook THE best full English breakfast of any cafe I have visited...and I've visited quite a few. After being told all morning, in yoga class, to 'listen to my body' I decided I had no alternative but to indulge.
I'm sure my teacher will be very proud of me.


Blubell Cafe, DJ's Garden Centre, Chatteris.

Happy Birthday Jake

Locations and Postcards

Today's journal entry was sketched on location at the Tesco Cafe in March, Cambridgeshire.

I have been busy creating postcards for my Postcard Pen Pal project where 3 successful exchanges have already taken place to date:

Postcard Pen Pals

I've also managed to get a couple of location sketches in my large moleskin sketchbook while parked:

Location Sketchbook 2007

For now, sketching from the drivers seat is as brave as I get but as the weather improves I'll be heading out, once again, on location.

I now have to decide whether to continue with two separate blogs or add all my 2008 location sketches here on the one blog.

Any thoughts on this?

Poppies and Pumps

It's been a fantastically sunny day here today and, with the cool chill in the air, it felt a lot like Spring. It's amazing how uplifting a little sunshine can be, I got lots done today!
However, today's journal entry was created once the sun had been replaced with black sky and after sketching some silk poppies I decided Harry's new trainers would fit the 'Spring' theme nicely to finish off my page.
If they do manage to put even more spring in his already bountiful step, they could finish me off too!

I Remember Tea

Most of my 'sketch time' today was taken up with creating reply postcards for the Postcard Pen Pals Project. However, I did manage to fill a journal page with a couple of quick sketches.

I hadn't realised it had been so long since I had indulged in a cup of tea but now the very thought of substituting even one cup of delicious black coffee with tea, quite frankly, leaves me in a cold sweat.
I'm not addicted though...no...not me!

Weight Lifting

Seriously, my hand bag could make gymnasiums extinct!
Time for a clear out.

Job Offer

On Tuesday, I received an email from John Elworthy, the current News Editor at the Cambs Times. On Feb 4th, he will take over as Editor.

In his email John said he had been admiring my blog for some time and asked me to pop by his office to discuss a regular illustrated column to appear weekly in both the Cambs Times and The Wisbech Standard.

I met with him yesterday when he explained that he loved what I was doing and didn't want to change a thing for the column, I am simply to select one of my blog entries each week for print.

My column premieres on February 8th.

I am both shocked and ecstatic! Who would have thought blogging could open such doors?

A huge thank you to all those who frequent this blog, your presence is so encouraging and your comments continue to make this blog a pleasure for me update each day.

Placemats

Inspired by the pretty placemat that featured in yesterday's post, I decided to draw around one in my journal to mark out spaces which I then filled with self portraits throughout my day.

Something rather exciting is happening today and it's possible I will be back later to reveal all.
Ooooh, the suspense!