Under the motorway (January)

21 January 2016

Under the motorway: All quiet in the January cold. The undergrowth has disappeared, and the puddle turned to ice. For the first time in this series, I had to do this picture over two sessions as it was so cold: in the first session, I drew the scene in ink and added the first layer of paint, and then in the second, I added more layers and detail.



Ink and watercolour, 31 x 23cm. Click to enlarge.

(Eighth in a series: Click here to see the rest.)

Also a picture of me at work, so you can see just how close the motorway this is!




Outwood windmill

19 January 2016

The windmill at Outwood: built in 1665, and the oldest working windmill in Britain. It actually appears twice in this drawing.



Ink and watercolour, 35 x 13 cm.

Cold Canary

17 January 2016

Another exciting day with the Urban Sketchers London group.

The first drawing is the building work at Newfoundland Point, where you can see the "Shard", the "Cheesegrater", and the "Gherkin" on the horizon. The challenges here were:
1) the freezing cold wind
2) the surveyor who needed to plant his theodolite right in front of me
3) the clouds of sooty smoke belching from a vent
4) the fact that cranes move (there was actually only one orange crane)
5) did I mention the freezing cold wind?



In the afternoon, we moved to the Roof Garden above the new Crossrail Station, where it was slightly less cold!



Nonetheless, Canary Wharf is full of interesting drawing subjects and it was a great day out; many thanks to Katherine for organising it, and to everyone who came along.

Both drawings: Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm.

Winter greens

15 January 2016

Winter greens in Worth Park. Another drawing that took two sessions. The first was rained off after twenty minutes. Today, the sun was at least trying to shine, but it was still so cold that I had to draw with gloves on. Which isn't easy.



Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.

Worth Church

13 January 2016

Worth Church: Too cold to paint outside -- so I'll go inside. Where it's even colder, and the paint takes ages to dry. (This was drawn a few days ago, which is why the Christmas trees were still on display.)



Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13 cm. Click to enlarge.

Frozen ducks

11 January 2016

A bitterly cold day up by the village pond. The two ducks on the island did not move the entire time that I was there, even the one in the water.  I hope they're all right.



Lingfield Pond
Ink and watercolour 31 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.

Confused seasons

10 January 2016

The confused seasons: amongst the dead flowers hanging on from last year, there are already tiny green leaves sprouting on the buddleia bushes.




Lingfield Butterfly Garden
Ink and watercolour 31 x 23 cm. Click to enlarge.

A corner of the car park

08 January 2016

Too wet today to even get out of the car, so here's a corner of the car park. At least I can be fairly sure that this is the first time that anyone has drawn this view, ever.



Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.

Next to the motorway

06 January 2016

It was so cold in the wind that this drawing took two sessions. In spite of some sun breaking through the mist, I couldn't manage more than twenty minutes outside, and even then, it was a bit hurried towards the end. This is the bridge where the M23 motorway cross a footpath on the outskirts of Crawley. You can just make out the cars and lorries rushing by.



Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.

Stuff on a shelf

04 January 2016

One of the good things about drawing is that you notice things that you hadn't seen before. For example, I now know where I left the screwdriver.



Ink and watercolour, 42 x 13cm. Click to enlarge.