More Bridges

The good weather coupled with getting caught up with a few things, has allowed me to get out for another walk and some more plein air sketching. This time I went to some local lakes popular with the local angling community. The walk took me through woodland, along open paths alongside the lakes, past fields of hay so tall it must surely be ready for cropping, and past many families of ducks clearly not impressed at my ambling through their territory.

The walk also took me over some small wooden footbridges. One was made of sawn timbers but was surprisingly ornate in it's construction and looked almost out of place out in the middle of an overgrown woodland track. It had seen better days and many of the floor boards were showing signs of rot and I wonder how long it will be before someone puts their foot through it. I was intrigued by is diagonal design, stepping onto it from the side, and off from the opposite side.

Others bridges were less fussy and were nothing more than a few planks nailed together without any form of hand rail. They looked barely capable of holding a persons weight. It is most concerning because if someone were to fall from the bridge they would find themselves immersed in the fast flowing stream right up to their ankles. But I shouldn't joke. This one in particular crossed a stream that could easily have been stepped over, but the ramp up to it tells me it is there to make the area wheelchair-friendly and hats off to the land owners for making the lakes accessible to all.

I decided to set up under the shade of some trees looking up the hill towards Castle Ashby Manor and it's church. The manor is a typical 16th century manor house and was seat to the Marquess of Northampton.

From a technical point of view, I really struggle sketching while standing. Both bridges were done this way. I could have set up my stool but I wanted to try again while standing as it's definitely something I'm going to have to work at. I found the painting easier than last time. Not that I did any better but I felt a little more at ease and a little more in control of what I was doing. I do find it hard to concentrate on colour mixing and tonal values while out 'in the field', but I had a general feeling of 'doing better'. While sketching the ornate bridge a couple appeared out of the woods and made their way across the bridge. I stood my ground and carried on sketching ... and that is progress indeed.

Can't wait for my next walk.  :-)

Robin Hoods Bay

Last year, when on holiday in Yorkshire, we were based just a couple of miles from Robin Hoods Bay, which is a quaint little fishing village built into the side of the cliffs. The first record of the village was in the 16th century and there is no evidence whatsoever to link the village with Robin Hood of Sherwood Forest. In the 18th century it was reportedly the busiest smuggling village on the coast of Yorkshire due to it's natural isolation. Wandering through the narrow alleys between the cottages conjured up a great sense of smugglers and hidden contraband. By the middle of the 19th century a thriving fishing industry existed.

King Street, Robin Hood's Bay - Graphite

We had to leave the car at the top of the cliffs and walk down the steep hill into the village.  I wandered through the narrow alleyways between the buildings, firing my camera almost continuously ... every turn revealed a new photo opportunity. One such alleyway brought me out at the top of King Street, just up from "Ye Dolphin" Inn. I couldn't figure out why the Inn sign had a painting of a galleon on it, rather than a Dolphin and I guess that will remain one of life's mysteries.

I chose Winsor & Newton Medium Surface Cartridge paper (130 gsm) because it has a strong grain when used with graphite and I thought that would help with the textures of the old buildings. It made it harder to get clean, sharp lines, but the tooth in the paper made the darks easier to achieve. I'm quite pleased with the effect as I think it really adds to the Olde Worlde scene.

Obviously I used artistic licence to omit various 21st century eye-sores such as Wheelie Bins, Television Aerials, roof lights and telephone cables. But one way in which 21st century did help was with one of the buildings which was badly obscured on my reference photo by a large "For Sale" sign. I was delighted to be able to use Google Street View to see what was there. lol.

Bridges and Lock Gates

As my regular followers will know, a while ago I decided I wanted to get out into the countryside and paint en plein air. I did this to some extent with my friend Ingrid when she came to visit a few weeks ago but the weather wasn't very kind to us. Anyway, I've bought myself a backpack specifically for the purpose and the other day I loaded it with sketch pads, paint pads, pens, pencils paints, small folding stool, bottle of water, etc, and headed out into the countryside. Eventually I want to do some long walks but for now I'll keep it local.

The first thing I headed for was a series of bridges near here called The Causeway. They look olde worlde as you drive over them and I felt sure they would make a great subject from down near the river but from that position they actually looked quite ugly being mainly industrial bricks and concrete slabs with a 'decorative' stone wall on top. It was disappointing but I spent about 20 minutes doing this pencil sketch, just for the practice.

From there I headed off along the river bank and after crossing a footbridge and following a narrow trail for a while, I finally came upon these lock gates. This looked like the perfect place to paint so I wasted no time getting set up. I have to say, painting outdoors with the pad on your knee and the paints on the floor, was far from perfect. The sun was really hot and the paint was drying as soon as it hit the paper. I found it hard to be too precise and I've really got to learn to be less detailed when painting outdoors. But it was a great experience and I enjoyed every minute.

Before heading home I pushed through a narrow overgrown path to see what was there for another day and came across another branch of the river next to a Hay field. In the distance I could see what I knew to be the buildings of a local boatyard. I shall come back to this spot another time to paint the scene but for now I spent 10 minutes doing a pen sketch.

Though none of this is what you'd call 'great art', it was great fun. I feel that my art will benefit enormously from making myself do this regularly because painting/sketching en plein air is certainly different from painting/drawing at my desk from a photo. I can't wait for my next opportunity.

Fuchsia "Winston Churchill"

This painting just had to happen one day. I have several hobbies one of which is growing Fuchsia's, and I have about 300 plants covering about 60 varieties. I have a number of favourites but one that has been right at the top of the list for a long time is called "Winston Churchill". Why it was named after him I'll never know because it doesn't typify my understanding of the man. This flower has a very frilly double bloom and is far from hardy, neither quality being very Churchillian. 

Not only do I love this plant but Churchill is my all time favourite hero. As some of you may know, another of my hobbies is photography, so you can imagine just how many fuchsia photo's I have. So it just seemed natural that sooner or later my favourite fuchsia, named after my hero, and photographed by me a zillion times, should make it's way onto my art easel. 


This painting provided a number of challenges and new experiences. It is the first 'serious' painting I've done with both my new Sceptre Gold brushes and using Arches paper. While the painting experience was great with both brushes and paper performing beyond my expectations, the drawing experience was far from good. Drawing a relatively small portrait on a very rough paper like Arches was far from easy and I can't believe I didn't think about this before I started. The paper was very scratchy under the pencil and any form of serious blending was next to impossible. Still, a reasonable likeness was achieved, and I'm pleased about that.

If any of you are interested in seeing some of my flower photo's there is a small slideshow in the sidebar, but I also have a web page on my site showing flowers in my garden from every month of the year. A year in my garden. And for anyone interested in growing Fuchsia's I will soon be adding a page about training Standards to the ones about Taking Cuttings, keeping them bushy and over-wintering.

Sandsend

Last year we were on holiday on the Yorkshire coast, near Whitby. One day we drove north along the coast road to Staithes, which is an artists paradise comprising twisting alleys amongst fisherman's cottages and a gorgeous small river estuary scattered with small fishing boats. It wasn't possible for me to sketch or paint so my camera turned hot taking scores of photo's. Eventually we found ourselves heading back to our holiday home but decided to pause at Sandsend, where the road turns inland briefly to cross a river before turning back to follow the coast. We enjoyed a short walk on the beach and sat to eat a sandwich mainly because that's the best thing to do with a sandwich. Standing with my back to the sea, I took a photo of where the road crossed the river expecting that I might paint it one day. Today is that day. ;-)

Unknown Knight

Well, I'm sure someone knows who he is, but I don't.

When my wife and I stayed at Bodelwyddan Castle in North Wales some weeks ago, I spent many hours wandering around the castle grounds and formal gardens taking hundreds of photo's as reference material for future drawings and paintings. One of the features I discovered was this statue of a Knight set into an alcove in the East wall of the castle. Despite asking a few people at the time, and checking online since, I've failed to learn the identity of this guy.

I run various painting and drawing projects in my art forum, the primary aim of which is to encourage, help and challenge beginners. I chose this chappy for the most recent drawing project as I thought it might be a good way to tempt people who don't normally draw people, to draw a person without really drawing a person, if you know what I mean. LOL. Anyway, this was my effort and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sharing our art

Last week, my good friend Ingrid (Ingrid Ormestad Art) travelled down from Scotland to spend a week with my wife and I. Ingrid and I promised ourselves lots of art, and that's just what we did. In particular we agreed to get out and about with our brushes and do some plein air painting, something neither of us have done before.

We visited Castle Ashby Gardens, which is where I found the Secret Garden I painted a while ago. The sun was shining wonderfully and we sat in the shade of the Arches in the Italian Garden to sketch. It is a very formal Italian style garden with perfectly manicured hedges and bushes. Ingrid chose pencil to sketch a large Urn, and I chose my soluble ink pen to sketch the Orangery at the far end of the garden. I washed in some shadows using my Aquabrush.

After exploring more area's of the garden, including the Secret Garden which looked just as beautiful as it did the first time I saw it, we found a bench to sit on and attempted some painting. We chose this Urn which was set back in dark shadows. Although I'm happy with the Urn, I wish I hadn't tried to paint the dark background.


On the Wednesday we went to London for the day, mainly to visit the Society of Women Artists annual exhibition in The Mall Galleries. It was a great day that started with the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and ended at Westminster, at the foot of Big Ben. The art exhibition was all we'd expected and it was fascinating looking at so many superb works.

Many of our plein air excursions resulted in us doodling on paper as we discussed painting and drawing techniques and shared idea's. We needn't have gone out to do those things but we just did what we wanted to do at the time, and it was as much fun sharing our methods as it would have been trying to create a new masterpiece. On one occasion, having just set up all our stuff, the heavens opened and the rain fell. We sat in the car until it stopped and then set up again. Not long into our painting, it rained again. My 'masterpiece' got washed from the paper and Ingrid said it looked like a Monet. lol. I may try and finish it because I did take a reference photo before we started.

Not all of our outdoor painting involved travelling. We had several sessions painting and sketching in my garden. One item of garden furniture that received more than it's fair share of our attention was my rusting cast iron Chiminea. Not only did we both paint it and sketch it on more than one occasion, but one evening the three of us sat out until late burning logs and talking.


This was my first art experience in the company of another artist and I have to say I had the best time ever. Exchanging idea's, discussing techniques, looking over each others shoulder and allowing our own shoulder to be looked over, was a very rewarding, informative and satisfying experience. Thank you Ingrid for the best week ever. ;-)

Jack of all trades …

My last several pieces have been in pencil and so I was keen to get back to watercolours. Apart from anything else, I have just treated myself to a new desk easel and 5 new Windsor & Newton Sceptre Gold brushes. But I am somewhat disappointed … not in the new brushes but my own ability.

Recently I found myself waiting for my wife as she attended a funeral and I couldn’t help but kill time (excuse the pun) by sketching the quaint little chapel. The sketch had to be done standing under the shelter of a tree as the wind brought in the beginnings of a shower. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it).

Later, at home, I decided to paint the chapel in watercolours. Fortunately I had taken a couple of reference photo’s which I was very pleased about as my sketch really wasn’t good enough to work from. But the resulting painting was not good. Much too wishy-washy, flat and under-defined. I managed to ‘rescue’ it, to some extent, by using a pen which at least brought in some definition and lifted the flatness … a little.

Another day I decided to paint a Lily from a recent photograph I’d taken. I wanted to make an indistinct background so thought I’d do some wet-in-wet. That soon turned into a mess. I lifted the background off and then reapplied it once the paper was dry, but only managed to achieve the same muddy mess as previously. I considered returning my brushes as “not fit for purpose” but thought better of it. lol. These recent, but not uncommon, struggles with the medium are very frustrating and it has me wondering whether I would be better off concentrating on one medium. Many of my blogging friends seem to work regularly in the same style and medium whereas I am frequently switching back and forth … and that can’t help. You know what they say … “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Ok … so I’m making excuses … I’m off to create a masterpiece … in my dreams. LOL.

Not just a flag.

As we all know, this weekend marks the Diamond Jubilee of the reign of our Queen, Elizabeth II. I'm not sure why we are celebrating THIS weekend as she acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952 and was crowned on 2nd June 1953. Hmmm, I'll have to go and do some research. lol.

My own contribution to the public celebrations going on this weekend is very small .... I have erected my Union Jack outside my front door. But that in itself is a very special thing to do. 

My father-in-law was a very proud and principled man. He served his time during World War II as one of the Desert Rats fighting Rommel. He wore a handle-bar moustache more associated with the Air Force; stood upright; walked with his chest out and stomach in; and was a stickler for time. "Time is time boy!!" he would say. I had a great deal of respect for him and was very sad when we lost him after a very long illness in the early 80's. He was the epitammy of Britishness and would have been as proud as anyone this weekend. 

In 1953, in readiness for the young Queens coronation, my father-in-law obtained two Union Jack flags on short poles. He marked that occasion, and many other events since, by hanging his flags out of his bedroom window. One of his flags made it's way to me after his death, and I treasure it. It is old, worn, grubby and to frail to withstand washing, let alone hanging outside in all weathers. But I can't think of a better thing to help celebrate the Queens Jubilee ......

.... except a large glass of my favourite 21-year old Malt Whisky. "Cheers Ma'am".

As a point of interest, on my web site I have a brief explanation as to the origin of the Union Jack for anyone interested.

Sunset over Buttermere

While working on the Daffodil and appreciating the need to push my darks, I found myself recalling a photograph I took a few years ago and just knew I wouldn't rest until I'd attempted to draw it.

It was late one autumn afternoon and we were driving through the Lake District. It had been raining but had stopped you could sense the sun trying to break through the thick heavy storm clouds. The light was beginning to fade as we headed back in the direction of our cabin. As I rounded a corner I saw the most spectacular of views. Most of the landscape was in near silhouette and the setting sun, though still hidden behind a cloud, was breaking through with powerful beams of light shining down on Buttermere Lake. I stopped the car to take a photograph and the atmosphere was magical. The water was still, there was no breeze, there was no sound. A moment later the spectacle had passed.

Daffodil

My Daffodil drawing was only intended as a quickish drawing just to kill an hour. Following the nice comments you all made, I felt inspired to take it stage further and see where it took me. This is the result. In order to make the Daffodil 'glow' in the sunshine, a darkish background was needed and some strong shadows. I think I may have taken it a step too far, and I'll be very interested to hear what you all think.

White Rabbit

I know I'm not alone in this but sometimes I feel like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland .... "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date. No time to say Hello, Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!!!". With a number of household and family projects that I've taken on since retiring, and given that it's one of the busiest times for the garden,  I seem to have less time than ever for my art. Still, I am getting things done and enjoying catching up on things that have been left far too long.

My art forum forces me to at least dabble with my brushes as I like to take part in all the projects. I painted my square for the Picture Puzzle. Look at the picture at the top of my side bar called "Making art fun". My square is in the top right hand corner of the picture - the body of the bird hanging off the side of the tree trunk.

I also painted this goose for the Monthly Painting Project.




As a treat for myself, I spent an hour yesterday with my pencils and knocked out this Daffodil. It wasn't intended to be a 'proper drawing', just a bit of fun, but it's turned out reasonable and so I might do a bit more to it ... especially the background.


And these small and quick pictures are all it takes to keep me in touch with my art and to 'scratch the itch'. Anyway, can't stop. I'm late, I'm late ......

Rain Stops Play (2)

Following on from the comments in the last post, I decided to do some more to the drawing. Firstly, I darkened the background to push it back as suggested by Sue. To make sure I kept the boy behind the glass I did as Pat suggested and darkened the edges of the raindrops. I also darkened the lower part of the boys shirt to make it look less even and I've done a little work with the hair. 

The changes have significantly increased the contrast of the drawing and given the whole thing much more depth. I don't know if it is something I see because I want to, but I also feel the drawing now has more atmosphere and mood. 

Thanks to everyone who commented previously but especially Sue and Pat.  

Rain stops play!

As I mentioned in my last post, our annual Art in the Park exhibition is starting soon and Entries have to be submitted by Friday. I also mentioned that I had an idea of what to do but that it was ambitious (for me). Well, here it is.

I've called it "Rain stops play" and it's an image I've held in my mind's eye for quite some time, just waiting for an opportunity to have a go at it. I have been working on it for many hours every day for the last 4/5 days. Unusually for me, I haven't had a photo to copy, but I have used a number of photo's of rain for reference. I find with those raindrops that I can keep tweaking and fiddling ad nausium and it's hard to put the pencils away and call it finished.


My main reason for hurrying to get it posted is to invite constructive criticism from my blogger friends, especially those of you who work with pencil. I still have time to make a few adjustments and fine tune the picture. And I'm aware that pencil drawings don't fair too well when up against watercolours and oils so I want to make this as good as I can get it. It's also worth mentioning that I don't consider it to be a very commercial subject matter, so I'm under no illusions with regards to the likelihood of it selling.


Any comments, good or bad, will be very much appreciated. ;-)

More than just a cake

It was a brilliant day for me yesterday .... my last ever day at work. These past few weeks have been frantic and intense as I've tried to cram a couple of months of handover into just a few weeks. My 'team' at work have been the greatest and I'm really proud of them. It's the end of the Payroll year and we had a massive target to reach this week made worse by it being a short week due to Easter. They worked their socks off, especially yesterday while I was out of town at a funeral, and I arrived at work on my last morning to find everything ready and waiting for me to just put the finishing touches to. I was well impressed and told them so.


My colleagues from around the company all chipped in to buy me a really nice  Lead Crystal Whiskey Decanter and 4 glasses. The Silver Nameplate hanging round it's neck simply says "JWJ". Perfect.

My own department ... my A-team ... bought me a cake. It's not really fair to call it a 'cake' as it's a complete masterpiece. The photo doesn't do it justice. The only thing not edible is the rectangle of paper used for the 'painting'. It has been hand-painted and includes my name in the bottom right corner. I couldn't bring myself to cut it. I know I'll have to, but I want to enjoy it a bit more first.


So now I join the ranks of the great unemployed. I've worked since I was 18 so I have done 46 years and can't have had more than a month off in total over that period. I've been 32 years, exactly half of my life, with this one company which could explain why I feel part of the furniture. Things are going to feel just a little bit strange waking up in the mornings for a while. Still, I have a great deal I want to do ... re-modelling part of the garden; redecorating the lounge, kitchen and main bathroom; reading; sifting through my stamp collection; photography ... but most of all, ART!!!


My next art project needs to be started without delay. It is our annual Art in the Park exhibition soon and my entry needs to be in by next Friday. I have an idea as to what to do, but it's ambitious and I'm far from sure I can do it in the time available. LOL .... and I thought hurrying would be a thing of the past. ;-)

We've done it!!!

For several weeks now I haven't had the time to post to my blog nor visit any of the blogs I follow. This hasn't been through any lack of interest, but a simple lack of time. I have only a couple of weeks (3 at most) until I retire and my workloads have gone crazy as I try to effect a proper handover to my replacement. I am determined to leave my office ship-shape and Bristol fashion with everything up-to-date and properly in order.

On top of that, I have also undertaken my biggest ever drawing project. Not huge for many of you, but MASSIVE for me. A little under two years ago my only daughter got married. Right then and there I KNEW I just had to do a portrait of her and my new son-in-law on their wedding day. Whilst a nice sentiment the reality is that I am too technically challenged for such a project ... or was. However, where there's a will there's a way ... right? A book by Lee Hammond, plenty of sketching and shading practice, and the will to 'raise the bar' have all contributed.

Scouring through the hundreds of photo's of the wedding I was struggling to find anything suitable. Nearly all the photo's were of posed groups with the happy couple looking straight at the camera. A few had them looking at each other but were obviously posed. Eventually I found the shot I was looking for. It was a poor photo of a crowd and towards the back, my daughter and new husband were exchanging a glance. It was moments after the ceremony and it didn't need words to be spoken for it to be obvious what they were thinking .... "we've done it!".

Daler Rowney "Heavyweight" paper.  220 gms - 15" x 11" 

The photo was taken with flash with a bright window immediately behind them, so lighting was appalling but, nevertheless, it was good enough to work from, especially with plenty of others to refer to for guidance. It has produced a picture of the day that is not in their album and that pleases me greatly. This has taken me almost 2 weeks and I took a dozen photo's of it during the process in order that I might post a WIP. I've had second thoughts about that now but if there is sufficient interest I would be happy to post the stages.

On Saturday I fixed, mounted and framed the drawing and yesterday my wife and I visited my daughter and son-in-law and presented it to them. They like it. ;-)

Moka Coffee Pot

I almost called this post "Decisions, decisions!". I've been quite busy of late one way or another. As I mentioned a couple of posts back, my en suite bathroom is being remodelled and I've spent a huge amount of time trawling round bathroom showrooms looking for inspiration and buying everything needed. Since the job started I've been involved in clearing the room, removing tiles from the wall and then some of the decorating work like painting the ceiling and woodwork.

At the same time my job has exploded in terms of hours in the day needed. At Xmas I decided the time had come for me to retire and I informed the company on my return back to work in January. I've always promised them as much notice as I could give so set my end date at March 31st. There is a lot to do legally and in terms of organisation and handover and ever since my announcement I've been bombarded with meetings and other matters associated with my departure. Over half my time is now spent on such matters and my real work is suffering badly. I am determined to hand over a tidy ship, with a place for everything and everything in it's place, and everything up to date.

So, between the extra demands of my job and 'keeping up' with the bathroom, leisure time is harder to find. And when I do find some it's that horrible decision, art or computer. And if I choose computer, do I follow my blogger friends or play catch up in my art forum. Decisions, decisions!

I am hugely behind on visiting the blogs I like to follow, so much so that I'm now beginning to miss some of the posts. I WILL catch up, I promise.

"Moka Coffee Pot"
Graphite - 10" x 8"

That said, I had some free time today and chose 'art'. I like drawing silverware (not that I've done a great deal of it) and this months drawing project in my forum is this fine Moka Coffee Pot. With my recent passion for sketching and Pen & Wash, it seems like a long time since I last picked up my pencils with serious intent, and so this subject appealed greatly.

These pots are made of aluminium and used over a flame or electric range for making espresso coffee. It consists of two chambers, the lower one holding water and the upper one collecting the coffee. It produces the coffee by passing hot water pressurised by steam through ground coffee contained in a basket set between the two chambers. It was first patented by inventor Luigi De Ponti in 1933.

Now I'm off to try and catch up with a few more blogs. Hey, from the end of March I ought to have all the time I need for blogging .... and my art ... can't wait!!!

Secret Garden

Just a few miles from my home is Castle Ashby Estate. It consists of a superb old house sitting in 10,000 acres of splendid Northamptonshire countryside with extremely extensive and tranquil gardens. Work began on the house in 1574 and continued into the early 1600's. At the suggestion of King William III in 1695, four great avenues of trees were planted but all bar one were removed by Capability Brown, the famous landscape gardener, in 1761. The magnificent gardens are open to the public every day of the year and consist of Italian gardens, an Orangery, formal gardens, Rainbow Borders, Spring Walks, an Aboretum, a Butterfly garden and a Secret Garden.


When I was last there I had strolled through the Butterfly gardens enjoying the heady scent of Lavenders, Buddlea and Hebe's and watched the butterflies and bees flitting back and forth as they went about their daily chores. 

Pen & Wash - 11"x 8"

I made my way from the Butterfly garden through the box hedges and came across this ... the secluded Secret Garden. Filled with Lavender, Roses, Jasmine and Salvia the scent was out of this world. I made my way along the Rose covered pathway and sat for a while in the shade of the Gazebo just soaking up the peacefulness and contemplating the rich tapestry of colours and textures that lay before me. 


I took some reference photo's because I just knew I had to paint it one day. I will be going back this summer and I will be taking my sketchbook with me.


  

Shaping up!!

A busy time in the office and at home had already reduced my time for art but now things have gotten a whole lot worse. We are having our en suite bathroom completely remodelled. I have always tackled jobs like this myself and did the main bathroom on my own a few years ago however, this time we are having the work done for us by professionals. 

Having said that, I'm finding it next to impossible to sit back and do nothing so to satisfy my need to get involved I decided I'd take care of clearing the room of all the existing stuff in preparation for the plumbers to do the rebuild. So I'm lifting the flooring, removing the basin and toilet, dismantling the shower cubicle and chiselling tiles from the wall, all without water squirting everywhere .... we hope!!!

As an accountant, and therefore a pen-pusher, my hands aren't as tough as those of a labourer so for jobs like this I do like to use a pair of good quality leather work gloves. Apart from anything else, I have on occassion missed the head of the chisel with my hammer. I know you girls use Hand Cream to protect your hands. Call me a wimp if you must but for me cream just doesn't do it.

As good as the modern strong plastic toolboxes are, the old fashioned hesian Plumbers bag takes a lot of beating. It holds a huge number of tools yet it can be carried easily and as soon as it is laid on the floor it flops open and all the tools are instantly accessible.  I have two and wouldn't be without them.

Despite how it might seem, this post isn't about my bathroom project but is all about art. There was a time when I thought quick sketches, though great fun, were fairly pointless and served no useful purpose other than to occupy a few idle minutes here and there, but of late I have been changing that opinion. As you all know I've been doing much more sketching recently and I'm actually beginning to feel as if the pen is moving over the paper in a much more relaxed and easy fashion. Shapes seem to be coming together more naturally and the pen feels as if it is moving more freely.

I am really looking forward to when I can sit down and do a more serious painting or drawing but in the meantime these sketches are helping me feel really positive about my art.

Boats at Scarborough

I've had very little time for myself since just before Xmas and 'art' just isn't getting a look in. Life does get in the way sometimes. I don't know about you guys but there comes a time when I just have to do something about it ... anything!!! This evening, in desperation, I scanned through some of my holiday photo's and came across this shot of some boats moored in the harbour at Scarborough. When I saw them last year I was immediately struck by their bright colours and just knew I had to paint them one day.


Anyway, with a little under an hour to play with (it usually takes me an hour to get all my stuff out and decide which pen to use) I decided on a quick pen & wash.  I attempted to work quickly with the pen to try and get some energy into the pen strokes but I'm still too cautious - but I'm getting there. I chose a brush about 37 sizes bigger than the one I normally use (or at least, that's how it felt). Working quickly without waiting for previous area's to dry has made this a bit messy but still, it's made a reasonable little picture and I'm certainly feeling a lot better for having done it.

The first of many

Today was the day I had been promising myself for a long time. Well, it wasn't a day - in the end it turned out to be just 45 minutes - but they were gooooood!! For 3 months it has sat on my shelf teasing me seductively. Perched at eye-level I couldn't help but see it every time I sat at my desk. That black shiny Moleskine sketchbook was just pleading to be taken out for a stroll. I know it will sound very silly but I didn't want to use the Moleskine just as any other sketchbook. I wanted to save it for something special and not soil it's pages just by using it for any random scribblings. In the end, I decided it should be 'the' sketchbook that I take out with me when I start my plein air sketching, and that is what I did.


Wrapped up warm with overcoat, scarf and gloves, I put the Moleskine in my pocket along with a couple of fountain pens, Aquabrush and mechanical pencil. I left the house and walked off towards the village centre. Ten minutes later I found myself sitting on a bench across the road from the War Memorial, which was a big relief because I hadn't even realised I was missing!! I removed my gloves, fired off a reference shot with my compact camera, and took out the fountain pen loaded with Sepia ink. I started to sketch but nothing happened so I took out my Moleskine and opened it to a blank page. That wasn't difficult as they were all blank. 

The view before me was of the villages War Memorial. The local parish council make sure there are wreathes of Poppies on the ground all year round. As I sketched, a few couples walking dogs strolled past but after a casual  glance in my direction they paid me no heed and that is the 'fear' I need to conquer. I am a big fan of using water to bleed soluble ink to give tone so after I'd finished sketching with the pen I took out my Aquabrush to tease out some tone.

A few paces from the bench put me within sight of the village pub. This time I decided to sketch standing up, which is just as well as there was nowhere to sit. Because I was standing I chose the pencil. I haven't sketched like this before and found it challenging. For some reason I found perspective much harder to deal with than when working from a photograph. Around this time I was aware of how cold my hands were but I knew it was pointless attempting to draw with gloves on so hurried myself along as best I could. The sketch doesn't do justice to this fine old building but the exercise was about 'confidence' not 'art'.

On my way into the village I had noticed several 'emblems' carved in stone and set in walls, usually near a large gateway or entrance. They obviously tie all of the properties together in some way and I decided to sketch one on my way back home. They consist of a Snake or Serpent twisting around 5 arrows. A trip to the library is called for to find out their significance.


As I walked home I reflected on the Moleskine and confess to being a little disappointed. My 2B pencil took well but I find the paper a little too waxy for the fountain pen and waterbrush. It worked, but not as well as I would have hoped. Still, it's early days and my Moleskine has a lot more outing's in store for it, so we'll see how we get on. Today's brief 'sketching walk' was the first of many. ;-)

The best of 2011

As the year draws to a close I find myself reflecting back on my art journey over the course of 2011. There have been those successes I have been very pleased with and proud of, and there have been those that I have not been pleased with but have learned a lot from. That's one of the nice things with art ... even when we mess up we learn something, so it's a win-win situation most of the time.

Reflecting on my highlights I have pulled out a few pictures I'd like to share with you again. Firstly, the one and only painting I've sold in exhibition ... "The Steelworker". I got into a real mess with this one because I cleverly decided to try candle wax to create the water on the furnace floor. It was a huge mistake so I tried to overpaint it. That's not easy with watercolour. Anyway, long story short, I wrestled with the wax and created mud on top of mud on top of mud. I became as close as I've ever come to not finishing a painting, but in the end I got there.

2011 was also the year I attempted my first ever portrait. This graphite drawing of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow was a major "dip the toe in the water" exercise. I didn't have proper blenders or tortillons and didn't really appreciate how they would be used, so I managed with some tightly rolled up kitchen paper. It was a learning curve of huge proportions.

This 'discovery' of being able to do realistic drawings in graphite led me on to trying various other subjects and one of my favourites of those is this Leopard, which I stupidly thought was a Cheetah. Duh! Still, whatever it was didn't detract from the enjoyment of gradually watching him come together, spot by spot.

I have always enjoyed drawing with Pen but haven't done any for a long while and these pencil drawings led me back to pen work, but at a new level. I experimented with cross hatching which I'd never tried before and confess to having a long way to go before I'm pleased with what I'm doing, but this drawing of Robin Hoods Bay didn't disappoint me.

But I felt that all of this very tight work was having a negative effect on my watercolouring (if that's possible - lol). So I tried my hand at sketching. I find it difficult to just 'let go' and let whatever happens, happen. But the more loose, free and easy, hurried sketching I did with my pens, the more I felt at one with the paper. Pen sketching and loose watercolours all came together for me in this very simple painting of the river at Staithes. A totally alien style for me, but one which I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of my 2011 highlights was to receive a request from a young couple who are getting married in April at Edinburgh Castle. They wanted to know if they could use my pen sketch on their Wedding Invitations. It is small moments like this that make you feel your work is appreciated for what it is, and that's important for us all.


I can sum up 2011 for me by saying it has been a milestone year. I conquered personal fears by stepping out and sketching in public and I've tried several different techniques and media. I have had the disappointments that have taught me lessons and the successes that have helped my confidence. Most of all, I have enjoyed sharing my journey with all of you, just as I have enjoyed following your own journey's. You are all an inspiration to me.

My goals for 2012? To consolidate on what I've accomplished in 2011 by trying to bring my new found confidence into my watercolour painting, to improve further with my graphite and pen work, and to try some serious work with Charcoal and Pastels. Most of all I intend to get out and about with my sketch book culminating in some watercolour painting en plein air. That is an ultimate goal.

Thank you for your support during 2011 and I wish you all the very best for 2012.
Happy New Year!!!

Oh no, Not again!!!

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

Candles were flickering, the light it was dim

The log fire was burning, the weather was grim

Outside it was fierce, with the snow and the ice

But inside was warm, cosy and nice.

When suddenly there came such a rattling clatter

Everyone startled … what was the matter?

Could it be reindeer on the pavements outside?

“He’s here, he’s here” the children all cried

But looking out through the cold frosted glass

T’was no sign of reindeer on pavement or grass

Yet the noise it continued it’s rat-a-tap-tapping

It wasn’t a hammer nor people clap-clapping

The mystery grew deeper, it wasn’t a car

Nor herds of horses, nor sheep going “Baah”

It was more like a woodpecker pecking a log

“Oh no, not again!!”,  it’s John on his blog.

  .... typing a sincerely, heartfelt THANK YOU to all my blog followers for the wonderful support and encouragement you've given me over the past year. You've helped me try new media and new techniques but most of all you've helped me see my own work through your eyes. My confidence has grown hugely during the last 12-months and that is largely down to you. 

Merry Christmas and a happy, peaceful and healthy New Year to you all.

Some basic Maths

I'm absolutely delighted to have been presented with The Versatile Blogger award by fellow bloggers Sandra, Renske and Michael. It is a requirement of the award that I pass it on to 15 other bloggers and that I also state 7 facts about myself. I'm going to do that last part, but not the first.

Think about this award for a moment and do some basic maths. One person nominates 15 blogs. Each of them nominates 15 more. so that makes 225. Each of those 225 nominate 15 more, so that is 3375. And each of them nominates 15, which makes 50,625. I've traced the award back over at least 6 levels, and if every recipient nominated 15 more blogs, then my award is just one of 11,390,625. You can see where this is heading .... the next round will generate in excess of 170 million awards. Also, to be quite honest, I would struggle to nominate 15 blogs that I follow that aren't already recipients.

I'm sure that this sounds as if I'm very ungrateful to have received the award, but nothing could be further from the truth. For me, the true award is being considered worthy to receive it by my peers. I don't need a fancy logo with a title ... just to be named in Sandra, Renske and Michael's lists is prize enough. Thank you all.

As to 7 facts about myself .....

1.  Well into my 60's now, I am working part time and about to retire fully very soon.
2.  I am a keen amateur photographer and I would have a photography blog if I had time for another.
3.  My favourite saying is "Don't let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become".
4.  I am very shy and introvert which prevents me sketching/painting en plein air - but that is something I am determined to rectify in the new year.
5.  I hate the way other people's cats come into my garden to use it as their own personal toilet and kill the wild birds that I've encouraged down.
6.  I would love to spend Xmas in a log cabin in the mountains, snowed in with ample provisions and a roaring log fire.
7.  I'm an expert at taking some nice fresh watercolour pigments and turning them into mud.

Merry Christmas one and all.

Confidence?

Though some of my blogger friends are very confident about their art and themselves as artists, I know that there are many, me included, who are less confident. I also see a serious lack of confidence in the beginners and less experienced artists who join my art forum. Sometimes I try and find some words of wisdom that might help them be more confident in their work and I am continually trying to find ways of boosting my own confidence levels. (Yeh, I know ... I should practice what I preach).

One thing that has driven itself home to me recently is that you, my blogger friends, always seem to like my work much more than I do, and I have been giving this a great deal of thought. I've concluded that this is simply because you don't know what I was trying to achieve - what mood I'd wanted to create; what small detail isn't as accurate as I'd have liked; what colour has dried darker than I'd intended; what 'rescues' I performed during the painting process; etc, etc. You look at my work and see it as you find it, with no preconceived notions or expectations. I look at my work and compare it pixel by pixel (figuratively speaking) to the image that I held in my minds eye before I reached for my brushes. It seldom measures up.

So I now offer a new definition of the word 'confidence' ....

Confidence: the ability to see your work as others see it.


Changing the subject completely, which I can do because it's my blog, a while ago I decided to make my own Xmas cards this year. I even said so here on my blog ... like an idiot!!!

 I thought about it all through September and most of October and actually made a start around the end of October just before the auditors arrived. Remember them?

Anyway, during the time of the audit I was distracted from really important matters, like art, and my Christmas cards got put on the back burner ... again. So yet again this year, I rush headlong into the festive season with a long list of uncompleted good intentions.

As you know, I've been developing a growing passion for pen work and, just as an experiment, I wanted to see how effectively I could sketch a snow scene using black ink on white paper. I had just finished a watercolour of a 'made up' scene for a possible Xmas card, so tried it again in pen. Both are posted here. Initially I wasn't at all pleased with either version but coming back to them many weeks later I am seeing them through fresh eyes. I'm much happier with both of them but I have to say I was really very pleased with the pen version. I refer to my comments above about 'confidence'.

I'd like to offer both as cyber Christmas Cards to all my blogger friends, old and new. Throughout my blogging experience you've been a constant source of inspiration and encouragement and not once have you said "John, that's crap!!!"  I wish you the most wonderful Christmas ever and I hope good old Santa brings you plenty by way of new Art supplies.
Merry Christmas.

A lucky shot

As some of you know, aside from my art I also enjoy photography. When I was holiday in Yorkshire in October, I spent some time in Whitby and went 'walk-about' to get some photo's. Having conquered the 199 Steps I headed out along the harbour wall. As I strolled along taking the occasional shot of a passing Seagull  and considering the best viewpoint for a shot of the lighthouse, I suddenly became aware of the sound of an engine.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw this Jet-Skier travelling at a fair rate of knots. There was no time to think about the best settings for my camera, I just swung round and took the shot. Given the speed of the Jet Ski, and the instant in which everything happened, I felt sure the picture would be rubbish, When I looked at it later I was thrilled to find that my shot was actually quite good. A few weeks ago I did a small drawing of a surfer and enjoyed trying to create the spray of the breaking waves. This picture appealed for the same reason.

This is the first drawing I've done with some new leads I bought for my mechanical pencils. The lead is by Pentel and is called Ain Stein. It is made using a new process which Pentel claim makes the lead stronger and blacker than ever before. I have 2B leads in sizes 0.5 and 0.7mm and can report they were a joy to work with. Highly recommendable.

Laptops

I'm right in the middle of my annual audit and am not at all happy. The source of my frustration is nothing to do with my books, records or accounts, but the attitude the auditors have towards trees!!! I have a company wide network of PC's and on it I run professional accounting software. I do all of my work using it, and often extract data into spreadsheets for further analysis. At home I have a business grade PC with a remote link to my office network. So whether I'm working in the office or at home, everything I do is computerised - so yeh, I have square eyes. lol.

The auditors arrived Monday morning, each with their own laptop slung sexily over their shoulder. They make themselves comfortable in the Board Room and set up their laptops. It's at this point that I would dearly love to hand over a memory stick containing the accounts together with all of the working papers, spreadsheets and schedules. I have it all ready for them .... but no, they want it all printing out for their file.

But that's only the beginning. One at a time (there are 3 of them) they come to speak with me about whatever part of the business they are looking into at the time. They pull a chair up to my desk, open their laptop and peer accusingly over the top of the screen as they fire at me their questions, furiously typing my answers into their machines. Cool, so they're not totally unappreciative of the need to embrace modern technology .... are they? Yes, they are!!! Once they have completed the 'interrogation' the report will be printed off for their file. On one occassion, during 'questioning' I pulled up a report on my screen to show them a transaction they were interested in. "Ooh good, can I have a print of that then?", he asked excitedly. "Yes ... just that page" I replied, pretending I wanted to be helpful. "No .... the whole report". "Whaaat???" I exclaimed "but it's 63 pages and you're only interested in one item on page 57". "Sorry, but I have to have the whole report so the item can be seen in context". How #$@%$*@ ridiculous is that?

Sadly, that is the way it has been going all week. I protest and even greet them sarcastically with "Take a seat - have you come to cut down another tree?" .... "What do you do in your spare time - Oragami?". I even tried reducing paper usage by reducing the font size (too small to make notes against) and duplex printing to use both sides of the paper (not convenient for their files). I will be having a moan (which is something I'm rather good at) to the senior partners of the firm just for my own satisfaction.

And talking of computers, as if the audit isn't enough, my laptop decided to die on me a few days ago. Suddenly, inexplicably, it went off and can not be made to come back on. Though annoyed, I wasn't too upset because I am fairly disciplined with back up's and know there is nothing important on the disk that I haven't got somewhere else. I also knew the machine is only 3-years old and I took out an Extended Warranty when I bought it. However, the bad news is that the extended warranty expired in October, just a few weeks ago. I don't often swear but the air turned blue when I discovered that.

So as I approach the remaining days of the tree-hungry audit, witnessing a team of professionals spread their carbon footprint far and wide, I drop my broken laptop into the bin. It's not the greatest of weeks so far but I'm looking on the bright side ...... it will soon be the weekend and then I'll be able to do some painting. Hey-ho!!

A tight fight!

My natural style is best described as 'tight' and the long-term followers amongst you may remember that from time to time I try to do something to help me loosen up. I will try quick ink and wash sketches and sketches against the clock, for example.

Eilean Donan Castle

This Sepia Ink pen and wash sketch is a very good example of one problem I struggle to deal with. Many of my verticals lean to the right. Now it happens that my natural handwriting also leans to the right, very much so. I have always written in an 'italic' style with a very pronounced lean. When I am sketching with gay abandon (as gay and abandoned as I ever get), that sloping tendency shows through into my drawing. I know I can do something about it when I try to, but by concentrating on getting the verticals upright, my work becomes tight(er) again. I guess I just need more practice ... either that or a block under one side of my chair. LOL.

So, have you noticed the "Making art fun" picture in the top right corner. It's just a little thing we do in my forum and I'm really pleased I managed to figure out how to have it automatically updating here. My 'square' is the second from the right on the top row.

Raising the bar

For my recent birthday I put together a list of arty-bits that I wanted, as we do. What I didn't receive as direct gifts I purchased myself using money given to me for just that purpose. Electric Eraser, electric Pencil Sharpener, pads of paper, Fountain pen, ink, Pencil Wrap, and mixing palette.

The pièce de résistance was a book by Lee Hammond on drawing realistic portraits. Her work is outstanding and, as pleased as I am with my own drawing, there is no doubt in my mind that I can do better. I'm hoping Lee's book will help me with that.

Though I haven't had time to read the book in detail yet, I have read some parts and am bursting with enthusiasm to try out a few things. I've always been too impatient to work steadily through the practice stages of anything, so I dived in and had-a-go at this eye. It hasn't turned out too badly and I'm quite pleased overall, but I notice how uneven the blending is compared to what I can see in the book.

So yesterday evening I sat down to concentrate on nothing more than blending. I've come to the conclusion that there are no short cuts to a good result. Pencil on, blend, pencil on, blend, more pencil, blend ... layer after layer ... gradually building a smooth and even graduation. This simple sketch took me over an hour. The original looks better than this scanned version and I'm very pleased with the result, but I still have a long way to go. Still, I know I can raise my game when it comes to pencil work, so I've move my personal bar up a notch. Watch this space!!!

The final gift, which I bought with birthday money, arrived in the post yesterday. My first ever Moleskine Sketchbook. It looks great and I can't wait to take it for a spin. One thing I didn't get for my birthday which would have been the best gift ever .... more hours in the day. LOL.