Plan A was to draw the church at Worth, but it was too cold and windy, so I settled for Plan B, and drew the house that's next to the church, from the warmth of the car.
The van arrived just after I'd started, blocking the view of the house, so I ended up with Plan C: draw the van.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Under the motorway (December)
23 December 2015
Back under the motorway: nearly all the colour has drained away, and the trees are bare. A couple of the nettles and brambles are holding on, but all the other undergrowth has disappeared.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
(Seventh in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
(Seventh in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Stuff on the table
20 December 2015
Trafalgar Square
12 December 2015
Sketchcrawl with the London Urban Sketchers. The Christmas tree, fountain, and Nelson's column, from the west side of the square.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
The weather turned cold and windy in the afternoon. This is the view from the shelter of the National Gallery; even then it was so cold that the paint wouldn't dry, and I ended up waving my sketchbook under the hand-driers in the Gents.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
The weather turned cold and windy in the afternoon. This is the view from the shelter of the National Gallery; even then it was so cold that the paint wouldn't dry, and I ended up waving my sketchbook under the hand-driers in the Gents.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
The green fence
10 December 2015
There's a corner of the car park where no one ever parks because it's, oh too far to walk to the office. So with no one else around, it's an ideal place to draw undisturbed. The boundary is marked by a fence, turned green with moss over the years.
Ink and watercolour, 13 x 42 cm. Click to enlarge.
Worth Park again
08 December 2015
Three pallets
04 December 2015
Worth Park
02 December 2015
A cold day in Worth Park, but at least the squirrel came out to pose for me.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.
Sussex Art Collective Exhibition
27 November 2015
I will be exhibiting some of my “Sussex” linocuts at the Sussex Art Collective exhibition.
www.sussexartscollective.com
Hop Art Gallery (at the Star Brewery), Fisher Street, Lewes BN7 1YJ
28 November – 20 December 2015
Open every day: Tuesday – Saturday 10.30 – 17.00; Sunday and Monday 12.00 – 16.00
Lewes Late Night Shopping: Thursday 3 Dec 18.00 – 20.00
Hop Art Gallery (at the Star Brewery), Fisher Street, Lewes BN7 1YJ
28 November – 20 December 2015
Open every day: Tuesday – Saturday 10.30 – 17.00; Sunday and Monday 12.00 – 16.00
Lewes Late Night Shopping: Thursday 3 Dec 18.00 – 20.00
Under the motorway (November)
25 November 2015
Third attempt to get back to the motorway! Last week was rained off. Monday was sunny, but too cold: after five minutes of barely being able to move the pen, I had to go back inside. Today, the sun was out, and it was warm enough to draw again.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
The undergrowth has almost all died down, and the trees are nearly bare, revealing some more trees in the distance that I couldn't see before.
(Sixth in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
The undergrowth has almost all died down, and the trees are nearly bare, revealing some more trees in the distance that I couldn't see before.
(Sixth in a series: Click here to see the rest)
A change in the weather
20 November 2015
In spite of the mist, rain, and grey clouds that we've had for weeks, it has been unseasonably warm (the second warmest November on record, so they say). Today, at last, the sun came out, so I went back to the park to paint. But it was also desperately cold, and the sunshine was too feeble to dry the paint properly. I ended up with too many unintentional "wet-in-wet" effects, and didn't finish the picture as I wanted to.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Mist and rain
19 November 2015
I intended to go down to the motorway again today, to paint this month's entry in my ongoing "Under the motorway" series, but heavy rain kept me in the car. Here's the view from the carpark; the motorway is on the other side of the far trees. I kept the electrics on so that I could wipe the windscreen at frequent intervals.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
...And another grey day
12 November 2015
Sunshine at 9am, the first we've seen for over a week, so decided to go to the park again. Of course, by the time I got there, the sky was grey again.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Another day in the park
11 November 2015
Another grey November day, searching for some colour in the park. At least there's no one else around to disturb me, apart from a brown labrador dog who rushes past: no sign of his owner.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Back to the Butterfly Garden
09 November 2015
Back in the "Butterfly Garden" in the corner of the local park. Even on a dull November day, there is still plenty of colour to be found in the leaves and berries.
Ink and watercolour, 30 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.
Under the motorway (October)
27 October 2015
Last month, the sun was much lower in the sky, so today I came an hour earlier. (Or with the clocks changing, is it the same time -- or two hours earlier?) Even so, the sun is now only just above the trees that are around the top of the hollow.
And those trees have turned orange and brown; down here in the hollow, there's still a lot of green, with just a few hints of yellow. The orange and brown leaves on the ground are those that have fallen from the trees above. The nettles have died back almost completely.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
(Fifth in a series: Click here to see the rest)
And those trees have turned orange and brown; down here in the hollow, there's still a lot of green, with just a few hints of yellow. The orange and brown leaves on the ground are those that have fallen from the trees above. The nettles have died back almost completely.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
(Fifth in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Florence: Piazza degli Antinori
17 October 2015
Cars in front of the baroque facade of Chiesa dei Santi Michele e Gaetano.
Modern cars are so difficult to draw: no straight lines, all subtle curves. And you can't really see the cars: you can only see the reflections in the glass and metal.
Ink and watercolour, 21 x 13cm
Florence: Piazza di San Lorenzo
In front of the church of San Lorenzo. The man on the motorcycle stays in the same position long enough for me to draw him. Some campaigners are imploring people to sign their petition: "Sign against drugs. Is important. Where are you from? New Mexico? Is beautiful, no? Will you sign against drugs?"
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Florence: Piazza Demidoff
16 October 2015
Florence: Piazza dei Cavalleggeri
15 October 2015
From outside the National Library, across the river Arno to the Piazzale Michelangelo. Didn't finish this because it started to rain.
Ink, 43 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Florence: Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini
14 October 2015
Round the back of the church of San Lorenzo. I've just realised that you can see some of the church windows (cut off at top right) reflected in the windows of the red car (bottom left).
Ink and watercolour, 43 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Overheard conversation 1:
"It's fifteen years since I was last in Florence."
"Fifteen?"
"No, fifty."
Overheard conversation 2:
"French people don't like curry."
Ink and watercolour, 43 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Overheard conversation 1:
"It's fifteen years since I was last in Florence."
"Fifteen?"
"No, fifty."
Overheard conversation 2:
"French people don't like curry."
Florence: Santa Maria Novella
13 October 2015
Widescreen view, in the cloisters of Santa Maria Novella.
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Florence rooftops
12 October 2015
The view from the our apartment at Il Gatto congli Stivali (highly recommended!). Early morning: a cat wanders across the rooftops; sadly, he is not wearing boots.
Ink and watercolour, 43 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.
Florence: Piazza della Signoria
11 October 2015
Crowds! This would usually be an uncomfortable situation in which to paint and draw, but everyone is so busy looking at the architecture (and their phones) that they don't notice what I'm doing. Also, they pause just long enough to sketch them, and keep the same pose for a minute or two.
Ink, 43 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.
Back to the Butterfly Garden
11 September 2015
South Street, Dorking
Daniel don't climb up there you're only allowed to go up there if you live there and you don't I said Daniel get down the bus will be here in two minutes now you're stuck how are you going to get down get down now the bus is here
Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm.
Under the motorway (September)
10 September 2015
The trees higher up are starting to change colour, but down here in the shelter of the motorway bridge, everything is still green. Some of the nettles have died down, but the biggest change is that sun is much lower in the sky: the trees in the distance are in shadow.
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
(Fourth in a series: Click here to see the rest)
August Bank Holiday
31 August 2015
A trip to Denbies Vineyard near Dorking to deliver pictures for the Croydon Art Society exhibition. The vineyard nestles in a valley below Box Hill on the North Downs, and near the Surrey Hills. And it's August Bank Holiday... What a good opportunity for a sketching trip... except that it's August Bank Holiday.
Heavy rain... Cold wind... Flooded roads... Thick fog...
All I managed was this sketch from the car park. Box Hill is lost in the clouds.
Ink and watercolour, 43 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.
The exhibition continues until 13 September, open every day. The gallery is on the first floor of Denbies, so should be safe from flooding...
P.S. Just realised: we don't need to display the tax disc on the windscreen anymore -- I can take it down now.
A small farm upon the downs
29 August 2015
"The friends of Mr. Sherlock Holmes will be glad to learn that he is still alive and well, though somewhat crippled by occasional attacks of rheumatism. He has, for many years, lived in a small farm upon the downs five miles from Eastbourne, where his time is divided between philosophy and agriculture."
His Last Bow, 1917
East Dean, East Sussex.
Ink and watercolour, 17 x 12cm.
His Last Bow, 1917
East Dean, East Sussex.
Ink and watercolour, 17 x 12cm.
Rebuilding Blackfriars
18 August 2015
Building the new railway station that is on Blackfriars Bridge.
The big columns at the left and right are the remains of the old Blackfriars Bridge, built in 1874, and removed only in 1985. (The only picture of it that I can find is here.) Behind is the newer bridge -- built in 1886 -- so there were two railway bridges right next to each other for nearly a century. Just behind me is Blackfriars road bridge, so in fact there were three bridges crossing the Thames here.
Now they've built a station along the newer railway bridge, using the columns of the old bridge as part of the support.
To be exhibited at the Society of Graphic Fine Art exhibition, Menier Gallery, Southwark (walking distance from the bridge!), 5 - 17 October 2015.
Under the motorway (August)
12 August 2015
Back to the motorway... I've been waiting for a bit of sunshine, but with torrential rain forecast for the next two days, I decided it was best to get out there while I could.
The biggest change since a month ago is that the big nettle in the foreground has disappeared: it looks like it was cut down. The rest of the nettles have grown a bit more, and the path has been churned up by horses trekking through the mud.
Didn't get quite enough time to finish this... the weather was turning cold, and the rain had already started... It is August in England, after all.
(Third in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.
The biggest change since a month ago is that the big nettle in the foreground has disappeared: it looks like it was cut down. The rest of the nettles have grown a bit more, and the path has been churned up by horses trekking through the mud.
Didn't get quite enough time to finish this... the weather was turning cold, and the rain had already started... It is August in England, after all.
(Third in a series: Click here to see the rest)
Croydon: Queens Gardens
09 August 2015
Croydon Council Offices and Town Hall, from the Queens Gardens.
Ink and watercolour, 38 x 12cm
Click to enlarge.
Overheard conversation: "I literally came right out of the station and there was literally the subway right in front of me, right? and now I'm on the mainland literally right outside Primark, right?"
Borough Market
02 August 2015
Borough Market
Linocut 30 x 24cm.
A new linocut of the flower stand at Borough Market. It's years since I did a print that is only in black-in-white.
Sunflowers: Work in progress
29 July 2015
Sunflowers
Linocut, 18 x 18 cm.
Linocut, 18 x 18 cm.
I use far more white ink that any other colour, so always order two tins at a time, to make sure that I don't run out. But when I opened the white ink tin this morning, it was almost empty. And the back-up tin has disappeared. Or perhaps this is the back-up tin.
So this block is printed just in black relief ink, and then hand-coloured with acrylic ink.
Testing the market
14 July 2015
Linocut, 14 x 14 cm.
Test piece for a larger print of a market scene. It will be either black-and-white, or handcoloured... once I've changed the composition so that the man doesn't have an umbrella growing out of the top of his head.
Accidental pintar
11 July 2015
In London again, down to the storage place in Chelsea to pick up the leftovers from the SGFA Bankside exhibition. Strolling along the Chelsea Embankment with with my bag of bubblewrap, I see a painter at their easel. And then another, and another, and another. Turns out my visit coincides with the Pintar Rapido event: artists paint on Saturday, and then the exhibition is on Sunday at Chelsea Old Town Hall.
I'm too late to take part in that, so instead I will paint the painters.
Here's Chelsea Albert Bridge in its pastel blue and yellow and pink, with one of the artists at work.
And further down the Chelsea Embankment, where the houseboats are docked. There are two more painters nearby (but out of range of my pencil).
Each: Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13. Click to enlarge.
I'm too late to take part in that, so instead I will paint the painters.
Here's Chelsea Albert Bridge in its pastel blue and yellow and pink, with one of the artists at work.
And further down the Chelsea Embankment, where the houseboats are docked. There are two more painters nearby (but out of range of my pencil).
Each: Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13. Click to enlarge.
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