Monday

 

Just because I haven't sketched my lounge for a while

 

 

Belton House

 

Belton House is beautiful!

You get fantastic value from Belton in that you are to view more rooms in this house than any other I have visited on the NT. The staff are so friendly and informative and extremely passionate about the house and the history behind it.

The café is reasonably priced and there is even a cart driven by a friendly guy called 'Robin' that will escort you from the car park to the house and pick you up on demand to take you where ever you wish to go. An invaluable service for someone with disabilities.

 

Wendy and I did the 'Downstairs Tour' which is free and runs 2/3 times a day. It takes you through the basement, the staffs quarters and we saw where they stored wine, beer and food, how it was loaded into the house and was given a brief history of what it would have been like to work at Belton House in days gone by. It was excellent!

 

We left Belton at around 5pm homeward bound and completely knackered!

 

 

Cromer 2014 - Joanie's Chair

Joanie's chair by the bay window looking out onto the cricket field....Such a lovely place to sit with a glass of wine after a long coastal walk

 

Seville Trip 10

 

Hotel San Gil

 

Lovely hotel with a very comfortable room and beds.

 

Very traditional in décor (lots of ceramic tiles and such) and a beautiful, iron and coloured glass telephone box in the reception which you can see here (on the left of my sketch)

St Peter & St Mary Magdalene Church, Fordham, Cambridgeshire UK

Still uploading from my 2014 sketchbook.

 

Spent a lovely couple of hours in this wonderful little church with my dear friend Joannie looking at all the flower memorials

Choices Cafe, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire UK

31-07-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Clarice House, Bury St Edmunds, UK

28-05-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

I love Clarice House! On a recent trip for a spa day I managed a quick sketch in the beautiful conservatory, between treatments, while waiting for my dear friend Jane

My Lounge

26-05-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

A quick sketch from the sofa

Holistic Fayre, Doddington Village Hall

25-05-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

An afternoon browsing the holistic fayre, at Doddington village hall, with friends.

*My telephone line went down for a week and I decided to leave my main computer off for another week to catch up on bit and pieces, so I am only just scanning all my sketches from this beautiful sketchbook by Russell Parry

Roma-Day4-Antica Fontana Di Trevi

14, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Had the most amazing lasagne lunch here, our last lunch in Roma, before heading back to our hotel to meet our taxi.

Home

27-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

I sketch directly in ink with a Lamy Safari fountain pen for all of my sketchbook images, as time has gone on my results have got more accurate and faster and I believe that is because I left the safety of an eraser behind and all mistakes show which makes me chose my lines more carefully and think before laying down line. However, there are times when I think that having a few pencil guidelines might a) speed things up b) help avoid perspective mistakes such as the ones in this sketch.
I believe the sketch still works, it shows quite clearly 3 different spaces in my home and has a certain character to it BUT I am aware that a few things are a little out of 'bonk' too that I feel could have been resolved with a few pencil 'map' lines at the start, it would certainly make life easier for me at times with subjects that have complex perspective issues such as this. Whenever I get tempted like this (note to self top RHS corner of the spread) I reflect on it the next day and remember that it was leaving the safety net behind that gave me progress and that this is my journal, a place to practice, study, log my day....a very personal space for my art, life and growth. So I have decided to resist the pencil urge and work this angle of my home another day, perhaps challenging myself to come up with a way to visually map what I want on the page better....in ink!

Ely Rugby Club, Cambridgeshire UK

22-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

...and a little sketch of a corner of my lounge.

I am back from my wonderful 3 night trip to Roma, catching up with my family, and will get around to scanning the work I did there as soon as I can find time...in the meantime, I have plenty of scans from the sketchbooks I was working in before my trip and am a little behind posting so I'll continue to catch up posting them.

Elton Hall, Cambridgeshire UK

21-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Sketched from a photograph in the program I purchased when I visited; trying to gain a balance between loose and accurate, character and speed

March and Chatteris, Cambridgeshire UK

19-04-13, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Snippets of my day including a visit to The Old Bakers Cafe in Chatteris for a milky coffee and a sarnie.

Cafe Gustosi, Chatteris, Cambridgeshire UK

17-04-13b, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Caffeine fix!

Peacocks Tearooms, Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

14-04-13b, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Harry had rugby training so I took advantage of the time and location and drove to the nearby Peacocks for a nibble and a sketch...or two.

Samovar Tea House, Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

22-04-13b, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Our first official 'Fenland Sketchers' sketch date was held at the wonderfully relaxing Samovar Tea House in Ely. We had 5 people in attendance, which was wonderful!
If you would like to join us: http://www.facebook.com/groups/569759336377845/

Samovar Tea House, Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

22-04-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Our first official 'Fenland Sketchers' sketch date was held at the wonderfully relaxing Samovar Tea House in Ely. We had 5 people in attendance, which was wonderful!

Samovar Tea House, Ely, Cambridgeshire UK

13-04-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

I spent a couple of hours at Samovar with Emma-Jane for the 39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl. My first visit here, such a relaxing, welcoming atmosphere...I will be back! The latte was good too!
I hadn't seen E-J in 4 years!!!...How did that happen??? We have vowed never to let it happen again.
I wanted to try my Seawhite concertina with ink and Tombow marker to see if it bled through before taking them to Rome in May, I am happy to report that the sketchbook stood up to the marker very well.

Tessa's Hair Salon

19-03-13a, a photo by Anita Davies on Flickr.

Added watercolour to the watercolour paper (left)

* A little on the quality of this sketchbook made by Russell Parry, it is truly masterful and feels like a shop bought product. Tightly bound but completely flat, no big gaps between sections. Robust and beautiful!