Beginning Of The Month

TOP LEFT: SKETCH FROM TOP OF THE DROVE WAITING FOR HARRY'S SCHOOL BUS
BOTTOM LEFT: VIEW FROM PARKSIDE IN WIMBLINGTON
TOP RIGHT: VIEW FROM SKYLARK CAFE WINDOW

The first day of March saw me visiting Skylark garden centre, in Wimblington, for a cuppa and a sketch in the cafe.

I have just one page left in this little Canson sketchbook that I started to fill with people sketches last year.

Copic People Sketches

Harry from life - 10 mins


Jake from life - 5 mins



Pausa coffee shop on location

Pausa coffee shop on location

Sketched from a Mitch Waite DVD, still frame

Sketched from a magazine - 5 mins


I have had a tonal set of 5 grey Copic Ciao markers for a couple of years now and never really used them. I recently started making thumbnail sketches with them and quickly realised their potential as a very handy location media. I have found that creating tonal thumbnails for prospective paintings with these pens allows me to see quite quickly if the painting will work, compositionally and tonally. Colour notes can be made in writing or left to my interpretation back in the studio.

Being a huge monochrome fan, I've become rather addicted to them.

They are so easy to stick in a handbag and 4 pens can be held in one hand comfortably while working with the 5th.
Finding a sketchbook that will take them, however, has been a bit of a problem...They bleed through to the back of the page, especially the black. So far, the best books I have tested are the Derwent Floral, which has paper rather like a Moleskine only a little thicker, and the Canson watercolour sketchbook .

People Sketches

Here are a few pages from my sketchbooks, I have heaps more!
I am really missing my scanner and my own editing programme so apologies if they are showing a little dark and wonky!

The first two entries were sketched while lunching with Joannie, at The Anchor pub, during her visit, the third are some quick TV sketches.

More to come...

School Run

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

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

Friends

A couple of quick studies using Noodlers red/black ink in a Lamy Safari fountain pen.

Dentist Visit

A trip to the dentist on Thursday resulted in me having to have a tooth removed, it's been causing me discomfort but nothing like the discomfort it gave me Thursday night in the early hours after being extracted!
My face resembles the elephant man and I'm very sore but improving and well enough to drive down to Norfolk to be with my good friend Joannie late Friday afternoon which is where I am now.

Asda Cafe

A latte in the supermarket cafe before my grocery shop.

March Library

On Saturday, my youngest, Harry and I spent the day together and ventured out into Town. One of the places we visited with our sketchbooks was March Library, where we had a hot chocolate and a latte while we made some very quick sketches of people using the many computers available there.

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.


CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

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!

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!

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!

Doddington Hospital

Doddington hospital sits approximately a mile and a half away from me and is on route to Harry's school, so I decided to make use of their kiosk in reception and grab a coffee on my way home, hoping to catch some free models.
It turned out to be quite the challenge.
On entering the hospital doors, patients visit the reception desk simply to 'check in' before heading off in the direction of their appointment waiting room giving me just seconds to capture them in ink.
I enjoyed the challenge and intend making this venue a regular haunt through this year, I'm pleased to know that my frequent coffee purchases will also help out the kiosk.
With such little time on each subject, it was impossible to focus on features but great practice for proportion, character and 'feature gesturing'...which is something I find challenging and one of the main reasons for my focus this year; putting a likeness into a rather small area in just a couple of inked marks is something I hope to improve at.

Asda

Took my small Canson sketchbook grocery shopping with me in Wisbech and grabbed a latte and a few figure studies while I was there.

Seeds Of Creativity

'All of the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today'
Kahlil Gibran

When Harry returned to school after the Summer holidays, his teacher asked the class if they would like to bring in photographs of some of the places they visited and activities they took part in during the break. Harry took our journals in instead and his teacher and the pupils were so inspired that they asked to see more.
I thought it was wonderful that a class of ten year olds were so interested and offered to bring some of my journals into school one afternoon, talk about journaling and perhaps create a journal page with them. Harry's teacher was thrilled and, after a short discussion, small journals were ordered and I offered to run workshop sessions on Friday afternoons.
The project was supposed to start on 26th September but Harry came down with chicken pox and this week had already been booked off school for our little break, so I begin the classes next Friday.
I am looking forward to seeing 30 new journals begin, pages brimming with thoughts, dreams and creativity. Who knows, maybe a few of the children will continue the idea into their adulthood...I wish I had started so young.


PS.
I finally uploaded my photographs from our day at Dever Springs and you can view Harry posing with his big catch over on his blog.

Location, Location

Both of these sketches were born of unusual situations.

The first, was created outside the school, waiting for Harry. Now I've sketched when I collect Harry from school many times before but usually from the comfort of the truck, grabbing a moment before I walk down to meet him. This time I took my sketchbook with me and created my sketch while I stood with all the other parents. I added the colour back at home from memory.
The second was sketched in the town library...nothing unusual about that but I did sketch the traffic lights while sitting in traffic waiting for them to change from red to green, which didn't take as long as I'd imagined it would.

The Lunchbox

There's always time to stop for a cuppa and a sketch right?

Cafe Sketches

Another double spread in my small Canson from my day trip to Wisbech. This time from the supermarket cafe while sipping on a latte.

Sketching In Wisbech

Took my small Canson journal with me to Wisbech recently and managed to fill a couple of pages with quick, lead-free, sketches.

I'm a bit of a macro girl, looking through my sketchbooks recently confirmed that to me, so I am trying to widen my view a little and fit more into my plein air, lead-free sketches rather than focusing on a single item.
The Close to Home project has spread my wings and street scenes feels like natural progression to me. I'm often asked if I have sketches of a certain location and, I do, but in bits and pieces...not as a whole or a picture you could frame.

Hmmm...Do I see a 2009 project evolving here!