Sketch Crawling With Harry

I felt a little guilty neglecting my journal over the holidays, so I decided to make up for it and create some fun time for myself and Harry at the same time.

A sketch crawl!

After dropping our bottles into the recycling bins at Doddington, Harry and I went into the post office to check our lottery tickets.
We then headed into nearby Wimblington in search of a bunch of flowers, picking up a hot comfort drink along the way from Sisco garage.
Flowerless, we paid our respects to some friends in Doddington graveyard before heading back home to grab a sofa each for the film 'K9'.
Later in the evening Harry decided to add paint to his sketches, I had coloured mine on location so took the opportunity to grab a final sketch of the day using the red pen selection I won from Andrea which arrived earlier that morning.

A most enjoyable day spent together laughing, sharing and snuggling. Harry made some fantastic studies in the short time spans we had.
Harry's sketches can be found on his blog HERE.

Two For One

A vase I purchased a while back, a real bargain at just 99 pence in duck egg blue, sketched from the sofa while watching X-Factor repeats Sunday evening.
A quick sketch in the doctors surgery waiting room helped complete the spread Monday morning.
Nothing major, so please don't be concerned.

Street Life

Making use of the few minutes I had after arriving early to collect Harry from school.

Festive Goodies

Held my last class of the year on Wednesday and we spent it journaling some of the treats I'd lined up especially. I then dashed off to a Christmas buffet where I ate two slices of the most delicious lemon cheesecake I've ever tasted!
Yum!

Latte With A View

A quick sketch of the HSBC building in Peterborough, from my cosy seat in Starbucks.

Vasari, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael and Wimpy

Nice mix eh?
Went Christmas shopping today and feel so much better knowing I have started, perhaps now I can concentrate on my commission painting tomorrow.

Mum and I lunched at the Wimpy where I managed a quick sketch before we were served our food. I later filled the rest of the spread with notes from the second (and final) part of the BBC4 programme 'Travels with Vasari'.
The paper collage in the background is an old paper bag I found in a drawer that I thought looked Festive, so I ripped a piece off and stuck it in my journal before I left this morning.

Heavy Metal

I managed to whip my journal out again between moves during our Monday night pole dancing class.
Tuesday night was spent in front of the TV AGAIN, watching 'Imagine'. This week's focus was on sculpture by Richard Serra who uses sheet metal by the ton to create huge installations.

Lunch At The Anchor

After my class this week we all went for a pre-Christmas lunch at The Anchor in Wimblington and, as always, I took my sketchbook along.

This sketch completes my little A6 Venezia journal. You can view all of the pages together on my Flickr account here along with a picture of the Venezia journal itself.
I've really enjoyed working in this little book, so much so that I have already started another.

Dickensian Day

The Dickensian Market took place today and, for it's premiere year, was a suitable success. Benwick is a very small village in the Fens that receives no through traffic and so the success of the market relied totally upon promotion and local support.
My own stand experienced a very busy time between the opening at 12 until around 1.30 and proved to be the most successful art event I have participated in since my solo at March Town Hall several years ago.
To my delight there was an interest in some of the works that were not part of my 'Close to Home' project that produced some sales and commission works.
Some homes were purchased by their respective owners and I even sold a few books, clearing me out of the stock I pre-ordered before the event.
I met some wonderful people who seemed to have been following my 'progress' in the local papers quite closely, which was most flattering.

Although I left with more of my house sketches than I would have liked to, I realise that the cold, windy day may have been somewhat of a deterrent and remain hopeful that the personal letters I posted to each home owner on Friday will create interest in the following few days.
One always has hope right?
In an area proven as 'difficult' for artists, I feel I had a positive day all around and enjoyed the Dickensian feel of the day very much. I look forward to this becoming an annual event, growing and drawing the local villagers ever closer.

Close To Home - Update

2 Pond Close, Wimblington

Today was spent signing and mounting the 27 sketches from my 'Close to Home' project ready for the Dickensian Market tomorrow.
Both, the Cambs Times and The Fenland Citizen newspapers have been kind enough to spotlight me and the project this week and response has been very pleasing already.
On Thursday evening the Local Studies Librarian contacted me wishing to place an bulk order of my book to be placed in our local libraries as a reference and I have already been contacted by a few home owners asking me to 'hold' the sketch of their home until they arrive at the market.
The weather forecast seems ok, which is a blessing since I discovered the market is not in the village hall but right in the centre of Benwick high street.
I have my mounted sketches, my book, several other pieces of work in a browser, a couple of canvas and framed pieces, a basic tool kit, my trusty chair, my faithful boots, numerous layers of clothing and a sketchbook all packed and raring to go.

I will, of course, update you all on my return.

Monday, Monday

Such a wet dismal day, Mum and I got absolutely soaked while we ran errands around Town but the day improved with my school workshop in the afternoon and my exercise class in the evening.
We cut potato stamps in class. The kids were first asked to sketch their homes from memory directly in pen before designing and cutting out their own stamp to decorate it with. I spent the hour both delighting in their enthusiasm and dodging potato flickings.
Pole dancing class was, once again, fantastic fun and I even managed a few extremely quick sketches while standing in line for my turn on the pole.

After choosing my title for this post I decided to look up the group that sang the hit song 'Monday Monday' and found a posting with the same title on 'A Daily Dose Of Architecture', a fabulous blog site featuring some amazing buildings. Check it out!

Oh, the group was of course The Mamas and Papas. You can check out the 'high budget' 1966 video here!

Bakers Oven

Had to visit my framers in Wisbech to collect some mounts and stopped off in Bakers Oven for a quick latte and a sketch while I was there.
I used Winsor & Newton 'Black' & 'Nut Brown' inks which I keep pre-mixed with a little water in a couple of water brushes in my handbag.

Tesco Cafe

This weeks visit to the supermarket cafe before shopping.
There was a slight improvement with the coffee, I ordered cappuccino instead of latte and it tasted a little better, not sure if this is improvement was because they have their machine sorted or due to the change in my order?

Stars And Pumpkins

On Friday we took Harry to the cinema for the new Bond film opening 'Quantum of Solace' and arrived early to grab a decent seat, giving me the perfect opportunity for some figure sketching. I sketched and painted the first star right there in the cinema seat under very dull lighting while the adverts played.
On returning home, Jake and Harry carved their pumpkin out together as they do every year and sat it beside the fireplace right opposite where I was sitting, giving me ideal subject to fill my second star.
The star template is a cardboard piece of packaging I salvaged from a recent purchase.

Tesco Cafe

My first visit to the new Tesco cafe was rather disappointing on the coffee front and I'm afraid to say my return visit this week was not much better, the coffee was awful.

This is going to be a huge obstacle for the regular pre-shopping cafe sketches I had planned but one I am hoping to overcome as the little snippets of practice it offers during an otherwise tedious task are priceless.
I lunched in the cafe with my youngest, Harry, this week and managed to grab a quick contour sketch before tackling the madness in store.

*Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad x

SketchCrawl 20 - Ely

Despite the cold weather, I had a fabulous day with Emma-Jane yesterday.

We met around 10.30 and grabbed a cuppa from CostaCoffee which we drank while strolling towards the river and chatting. We had so much to talk about that we almost forgot the purpose of the day and our first sketch was brief due to our hands freezing to the bone.

We took comfort in The Lamb Hotel where we stayed long enough to warm up and indulge in a bit of lunch which E-J treated me to. (Thanks E-J) We decided the chairs were so comfortable that we'd stay for another cuppa and a little sketching.

We had a quick browse around Tindalls at the art materials, trying to persuade ourselves that we NEEDED something. Both of us managed to convince ourselves of at least one sale.

Back to Costa coffee (yes the whole day DID revolve around coffee, of which I am most grateful!) and we took our forthy beverages outside to make a quick sketch of the Cathedral before parting.

The day seemed to go so quickly, good company can do that!

After I left E-J I slipped into WH Smith and purchased the lettering stencil I used on the six pages I created in my Maruman sketchbook above.

I managed one last sketch back at the truck before pulling off to start my journey home.

I always kick myself that I could have done more but the truth is that, if I had, I would have missed out on some great laughs and memorable conversations with a dear friend, so I am most content with my day.

Back To School - Week 3

Today the children drew grids in their journals and filled them with images of their day. There were alot of blank faces when we started, it's always difficult deciding what to draw but I reminded them of key subjects and before long the room was buzzing with activity.
The children prepared a second grid at the end of the lesson and have taken their journals home for the Autumn break. They will be filling their grid throughout the week so each has a storyboard of their holiday to show on their return...I can't wait to see them!

I'm now packing a sketch bag ready for the morning when I'll be meeting up with Emma-Jane for the 20th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Will share my creations on my return!

Grand Opening

CLICK TO ENLARGE

You may remember my disappointment back in May when our local supermarket cafe was shut down for renovation. Well today the new improved version of Tesco opened complete with cafe and I went down with a brand new watercolour moleskine to mark the occasion.

The newly vamped store was a little disappointing and the cafe is smaller now than it was before but it is on an upper level which offers an unusual perspective for my pre-shopping sketch sessions.

My main concern is that the latte was awful...I hope that's improved upon before my next visit.

More Daily Journal Entries

Busy week!

...Always time for a little sketching though.

Close To Home - Doddington

55 New Street, Doddington

Another house for my growing collection. This one always catches my eye as I drive through the village, I love the front door.