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Later in the day, having walked forever and ever in the cold we were frozen. Pit stop here for some to visit the loos offered me a quick chance to draw, looking up at the darkness of the bridge to the pale panorama of the City beyond.
They all returned so quickly I'd to stop..and finish it from memory on the train going home.
Thick snow outside: VERY cold, Looking out across the front garden .Drawing through the living room window
Out for the day with Ribble Valley Area Urban Sketchers . Our first ever Meet. And a wonderfully friendly welcome at the cafe.
Out for the day with Ribble Valley Urban Sketchers. Bright and sunny but a mite cold sitting out there, scattered about, on benches and we were ready for the yummy home made cheese and onion pie at 12.30 at Cuppa Cabana just up the road
Out with Ribble Urban Sketchers on a sunny chilly day but we braved it and all sat out sketching. Lovely welcome and lovely food in the tea room, too!
Sketchbook study A5 on water colour paper double page. Free swift painting on the spot with brush and palette knife. No pre-drawing in pencil
Out with Ribble Ueban Sketchers: 17 of us, mid week, glorious Autumn colours and lovely lunch and welcome. Super sketches too..
Inspired by Storm and his wonderful red drawing I've been searching out coloured fountain pen inks of different kinds. Mid search I stumbled across a set of 3 Pilot Parallel calligraphy pens, each with a different nib size and a box of 12 assorted differently coloured bright cartridges to use with them. Wow!!! How could I resist? A "no brainer". So..first step practises..voila..here they are..all except for the largest nib. ( Am going to look for some smaller sized ones too, no wonder I've never any money!) The Requiem was at the end of a novel I'd been reading ..it stopped me in my tracks and brought tears..so it went in as a keeper. I write poems and extracts in my books from time to time...
Some mornings when it's fresh and quiet and the sun's just coming out there's nothing nicer than to sit with a cup of coffee at the garden table and just draw. So peaceful and relaxing. What a wonderful way to start the day.
Another early morning drawing. Playing with differently coloured inks and a dip pen. The plume poppy is amazing..Grows so fast you can almost watch it getting bigger. And the leaves are such an amazing shape ..BIG and frilled and they flutter in the breeze like adancer's skirts. When the light glows through them there's a colour shift from green to grey to a kind of golden ochre..quite magical.
Right opposite the park where I'd been sitting drawing was this fascinating collection of buildings and shapes and patterns. Walking back to the house I just had to perch on the stone base of the Park railings and draw it.
Put this in to share that yours truly really does have feet of clay and decidedly bad off-days!!! with a vengeance. High pollen count here yesterday ( what do they say about bad workmen and tools???)..moi? tetchy and not with it and, like an idiot, adamantly refusing to take any more pills..so no antihistamine so far this year. Hm. Shouldn't have entertained a palette knife let alone tulips with one, esp after being hustled grumbling, back to bed and getting out again later! You're welcome to have a field day and ferret out all the particularly bad bits.. I have!!!
Sitting drawing in the car yet again, during my long over-Christmas stay in Maryland. Little dog Dixie gazing out the window of the passenger seat on the drive there..being ever so good..and I just managed to catrch her before she moved! Lovely group of trees where I was parked..right across the road from me
Interesting to draw, this, with all the different patterns and darks, especially the parasol with its dark underside and spines and the greenery against it. I enjoyed putting the negative shapes in the chair and table spaces, too....
I'd been sitting here for a while, drawing, totally absorbed, when I suddenly had this feeling, as you do sometimes, that I was being watched. When I turned around there was a half circle of about 20 people standing watching me in total silence!!! Staedtler pen and soft pencil
I was , once again on a chilly bright morning sitting in the car outside the Opticians. Facing me as I gazed around were these delightful almost "dolls' houses" but I couldnt see them properly for branches. So out I got, not really dressed for standing outside, stood much nearer, on the grass, under the trees and just lost myself in drawing. I SO enjoyed this one..feeling the wind, the Winter sunshine..breathing it all in. And such a lovely memory to take back with me after so much drawing either indoors or confined in the car.
Afternoon Tea over, happy..and replete we wandered out through the circled glass rotunda, which is the cocktail bar..and came upon this.... another delight.. and right outside! it was a joy, again..to sit and drink it in..and let time pass..seagulls soaring and calling..families and little ones... t-shirted smiley with little legs and "Here comes Trouble"on his chest! Father and son cyclists with helmets, open faces and a warm sharing.. what a delight....
A 3 day stay in London with friends. Decided on Day 2 it would be fun to draw from the car and just keep adding bits as we went along. Fun!!
Quick drawing, from the car, whilst friend Helen nipped in the Co-op to get some food shopping before to take with her back to Lancaster. Added lettering just now..days later. Soft pencil, coloured pencil. fine pilot pen.
Lovely, breezy day..both of us stuffed full of the most delicious fish, chips and mushy peas.... now there's real Lancashire for you!!
Very free, flowing sketch of opening tulips from the garden, just before the petals started to drop. Drawn out with a stick and diluted ink, petals added in brush then additonal tones and shadows with soft pencil
Almost every morning we went to the Panera fBakery for breakfast. Yummy. Don't think it's all over the US. And whenever we parked the zany bright yellow and red of this auto shack sang out at me. So American. One day, when I was in the car for just a fraction longer... Fedex needed, close by!!!.. I managed to scribble it in. So..a very loose sketch..and I was lucky, I had coloured pencils with me.
Off to Salford for an afternoon's Art Education Course. Not drawn from a train for ages. It was fun..except when we went in a tunnel and with sunspex on, everything went black!!! Plus..at so many station stops, I'd just start to draw and a train would arrive and block it all..or we'd set off. Still, I enjoyed it. Lovely memory ..way better than the course I went to!!
A compilation page, this time, done over a couple of days as we zapped about from place to place. The red & steel gas truck was just sitting there at the back by me, as we filled up..and I'd just time to scribble it in and fill the red in later, as a memory. The bottom McDonalds was at the end of the day as I waited for a Mexican take away to be collected. Made a nice change to draw at dusk..
Our first day out, the three of us, drawing in the sunshine together, in the village square. Chatter, cars at our elbow, mothers with prams, sprinklers.. and there we were, lost amongst it all ..on a long bench on the cobbles of a cafe's outdoor tables, mostly empty..everyone peaceful, no one even noticing we were there..... This was the real Gemany, at last..... and I drank it in..and loved it!
Out with Ribble Urban Sketchers for the day. Wonderful lunch under the verandah later and even collected 6 delightful young sketchers along the way..boys and girls
Barrowford Park..a wonderful reunion from way back..and I was invited to be the artist for the day and draw. I was So busy chatting I only did this one sketch! Apologies for my long absence. I've really missed being in here. ...was locked out for months and couldn't post no matter how I tried. tonight: Eureka!!! I was back. Hello again everybody :)))
A different mix in this one. I began with my new Swan Mabie Todd fountain pen, added the beginnings of trees with the back of my super fine Wahl. ..then swished in areas of leaves and shadow with a graphite stick, which was fun!!!! then, almost as an afterthought..out came the good old palette knife, which, once I'd started..felt wondrous..it seemed to pull it all together and add another dimension. The brick pattern down the right hand side of the cottage is with palette knife..even though it's tiny..and other things like the top layer of tree branches, their arcs, some of the drawn lines..and of course, all the whizzy textures, zig zags and marks on the left hand hedge. Certainly something I'll try again..especially big!!!
From a photograph I took last Summer close to home.
How the buildings changed as we left the City behind. So many more trees..residential housing..quieter..not as tall..huddles rather than towering and majestic and sculptural. The end of a brilliant day..exhausted ..but happy.
A friend has been staying over with me for 4 days and we've been out sketching around the area. He's off to Singapore in a few weeks time to do a year's Missionary work there and I've been helping him to move on from just keeping a journal to sketching as well and laying it all out on the page. He hadnt drawn for years but did brilliantly. This was a gloriously peaceful sunny afternoon. Couldnt have been lovelier.
Sweltering hot Sunday afternoon. Invitation ( very welcome! ) to Art & Garden at this amazing sprawling "thinking-out-the-box" garden cum river cum forest. That's where the "buts" come in. The world and his wife all liked the idea, too. Lovely sleepy tucked-away village..so nowhere to park. Managed it eventually. Longish walk. Ok going hill but not so good trekking back up. Wandering and chatting was a joy..plants for sale..painted silk acrves, jewellery, sculpture..tea and cakes.. and further out..a rope bridge across the river and long snaking steel steps and rails zig zagging up high bankings taking me out of the sunlight into high rise dappled woodland..and ..whoaaa, suddenly, as the path lightened..this fantastic tree house, weathered and "right" amongst the trees. How could I not stop and draw. Total peace at the start..then zillions of equally eye-dazzled familes oohing and aaahing and banging into me as I blocked their path. Gave up at the end..but was very happy!!!
Whalley is such a mix of interesting buildings and character and atmosphere. We considered buying a house there way back. Wish we had! I run Art Courses at the Abbey, there, from time to time. Drew this sitting in the car, as it was a cool day, after yet another trip to the solicitors whose premises back onto the car park. Fine gel pen, soft pencil, blue coloured pencil and Pentel brush pen.....
What a full day..and so much drawing! rare for me to post a set like this all done on the same day..or almost! As we drove back, happy but exhausted I realised what wealth of interesting buildings were whizzing past my eyes...so out came the book again!
Breezy sunlit day out in Manchester UK..wandering, sketching, people-watching. Towards the end of the afternoon we came across this wonderfullyinviting drift of music, muted conversation and white topped tents amid the trees.Two ice cold ginger beers, a wooden table..time to stop and listen and dream..with the sunlight soft and dappling above us..magical..I just HAD to draw..and that was the feeling that came through....
I'd been dropped off for an hour to shop in Pier Imports and thereabouts and was waiting to be picked up outside Barnes & Noble. How could I not draw the dark tangle of tree branches, lamps ans bridge. I'd loved it as we'd driven up. It would have been wamer waiting inside but braving the cold and standing, scribbling for 5 minutes at the kerbside was worth it!
Drawn from the window of our room. Amazing to be able to draw, in comfort, listening to the sounds of the gondoliers singing and the world passing by.
We'd parked and I was sitting waiting, briefly! I scribbled in as much as I could, with a starter for darks and colours..then finished it off back at the house. Everywhere around here there are trees..even between car parks, where I seemed to draw a lot!!!!
So sorry not to have been around very much.. am struggling and have had nothing to post. I went back to the Hospice to take donations in and felt so tearful when I came out that I wasn't in any fit state to drive..so I sat and drew. The drawing says it all..it's just there..uninspired, dead..no life... but it's a "hello" from me..and I'll be back just as soon as I can.
Lovely breezy day..maybe one of the last of the Summer. Bringing sheets from the line through the kitchen. OWwwww!!!! screech!!! Wasp on the sliding door handle.. hand right on it. Wasp not happy..me even less so. Next day hand swollen up like a balloon, 3 hours, once again, in Accident and Emergency, arm in a sling: "keep it elevated" . Verdict " Classic case of severe allergy. At least this time it wasn't infected: no red lines up arm! Boring place to draw but stuck with it until couldn't hold the book! Fun! Trying a new fine line biro..love it!
Wonderfully sunny, breezy afternoon. Day 3 of friend's visit and I wanted to show him Pendle, my much loved hill, that I'm forever drawing. There's just one road right over the top, for cars and we drove up and parked on the Summit. Whoaaa..what a view. It brought memories flooding back and a lump in my throat. It had been too long. He was away, exploring in wink..and I could draw and drink it all in..magic. Expecting to have just a few minutes I whizzed it in in a flash then realised he was loving it and would be a while..so I relaxed and just kept going.....