Open Gardens sketching

I spent a very pleasant afternoon recently at the village Open Gardens event. The garden owners very kindly humoured me as I sat sketching, and I also enjoyed some delicious cake :-). Sadly I ran out of time (and sketchbook!) and didn't quite manage to visit all the gardens, but it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. The ink sketches were done in situ, and the watercolour washes plus some additional drawing added later. Pics are clickable to enlarge.

Ink and watercolour, Seawhite of Brighton concertina sketchbook.

St Neots plein air

I spent a pleasant couple of hours last weekend at Riverside park in St Neots. I don't often do landscapey type things, especially not plein air, but I really enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air, and I got to visit a place I'd not been to before (despite it only being a few miles from where I live, tut tut!)

Ink and watercolour, about 5 by 8"

An afternoon out at Wicken Fen

I had an unexpected free afternoon last week, so  popped off down to Wicken Fen with sketchbook and camera in hand...

It's a unique landscape and is stunning at any tie of the year! Watercolour and ink in my Stillman & Birn beta sketchbook. More over on my other blog, Cambridgeshire Nature Notes.

Urban sketchers Cambridge at Downing College

Sunday was a beautiful hot and sunny day, perfect for a couple of hours of sketching with the Urban Sketchers Cambridge at Downing College.

Sketchbook mash-up

From pics I took while wandering around my local nature reserve...

Click the image to see it a little bigger!

Sketchcrawl video: sketching condensed!

Here's a video clip of me sketching at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge, part of the Creative Reactions/Pint of Science art/science festival...

Creative Reactions sketchcrawl with Cambridge Urban Sketchers


#‎CreativeReactions‬ @pintofscience ‪#‎pint16‬

Thanks to Creative Reactions for the opportunity for some sketching, and to Dr Jacek Mokrosinski for hosting.

Sketching in the lab

I thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of sketching yesterday at the Institute of Metabolic Science in Cambridge, organised by Creative Reactions and Pint of Science. Thank you very much Jacek for hosting!
‪#‎CreativeReactions‬ @pintofscience ‪#‎pint16‬

Sketches from the Yorkshire Dales

I've just had a lovely week's break in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales - unexpectedly good weather too, warm and sunny all week! We were mostly walking, taking in the stunning scenery, but I did find time for just a few sketches (and loads of photos of course, lots of inspiration!)

 This was the view from our front window, of the cottage across the road in the very quiet village where we stayed.

 Sketched this fab tree on a walk up Naughtberry Hill

And here's our cottage for the week.


Happy sketching all!

Some sketching out and about...

Fabulous sunny weather at the mo, so I spent as much time as possible outside this weekend...

Out and about at Anglesey Abbey

I managed to sneak out for a few hours a couple of affternoons ago, and I went to the National Trust's Anglesey Abbey, near Cambridge. Managed to do a bit of sketching too.

 Lode Mill

In the rose garden

More from the holiday sketchbook

France sketchbook

I did a holiday sketchbook as a birthday pressie for my sister - some pics were done at the time, others from photos...

Done in an A5 sketchbook, sorry abut the shadow - from the scanner...

Sketching at Gransden and Waresley Woods

I snuck out for a couple of hours today and had a nice wander around a local nature reserve. Spectacular bluebells!

Sketching at Wimpole Hall

Just a couple of sketches at the National Trust's Wimpole Estate...

The house, and the folly ruins. I spent a very lovely afternoon basking in warm early spring sunshine!

Back from my holiday!

Hello blog friends!

I've been away on holiday for a wonderful week on the south coast of the UK, near Charmouth in Dorset. We rented a gem of a little cottage near the coast, and enjoyed unseasonably warm and dry weather too - how lucky! Lots of walking and pottering on the beach looking for fossils, and some sketching was squeezed in too...

This is my sketch of Golden Cap (the highest cliff on the south coast), from Charmouth beach. We had walked up to the cliff top from our cottage, than along the coast path to Charmouth.

Another walk to the beach at Charmouth, on a grey but warm and dry day.

Sketch of some seaweed on the rocks at Charmouth. All these were done in an A5 sketchbook, pen first then watercolour pencils and/or watercolours.

We had a great time - what a beautiful part of the world! Already looking forward to going back there some day...

Out and about

Spent a nice hour or so yesterday up by one of the ponds in the village, sketching. Actually got a tiny bit sunburnt! I'm hoping to base a linocut on this sometime.

 A4 sketchbook, Pitt pen and watercolour.

Out and about again, at last

Hello all! Well, finally the weather here seems to be improving. Today was lovely and sunny, if still a bit n the chilly side, so I took my sketchbook out for a walk. First Out and About sketch of the year. So nice to get some fresh air!

Quick watercolour and ink sketch of the little brook that goes through the village, sketched from the footbridge.

Looking forward to more clement weather and more sketching opportunities!

Out and about in the snow

Hello blog friends! With so much snow around, I couldn't resist taking my out-and-about sketchbook for a wintry walk:

I sketched this standing up, feet planted into the snow, juggling pens, watercolour paints and water brushes between hands and pockets... not ideal, but fun nonetheless :-)

Play Me, I'm Yours

Was in Cambridge yesterday, sitting on the wall in front of Kings College with a cup of coffee. Oddly, there was a piano chained to the railings with a poster saying 'Play Me, I'm Yours' fixed to it... A student walked past, turned round and doubled back, put her bag down and started playing...


Honestly, everyone who walked past had a smile on their face! Great idea. Back home, I did some research and found out what was going on... 

Out and about in the fens

Hello!

Had a lovely day out with the sketchbook yesterday, arranged by local art group FenVAC, so thanks to them! We met at Woodwalton Fen, part of the Great Fen project which will see a large area of agricultural land returned to its original wetland state.

 This is Gordon's Mere, one of the several small areas of open water amongst the reedbeds.

 Here's a footpath through the reeds.

And this is the bungalow on stilts (the fens are very low-lying so stilts are definitely required!) built by the reserve's originator, Charles Rothschild (of the banking family). The stilts have high water lines drawn onto them so you can see how deep the flooding was in particularly bad years!