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.

Blackbird skull studies

From my slowly growing collection of 'nature table' items! Graphite and ink studies of a blackbird skull.

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.

Couldn't resist a bunch of home-grown beetroot that someone was selling at their garden gate. Ink and watercolour sketch of one, before they all got turned into beetroot houmous...

Lamy Safari fountain pen with Platinum Carbon ink, watercolour, on Saunders Waterford CP watercolour paper, 9 by 12"

Indian running ducks

Ink and watercolour sketch, Indian runner ducks.

Fun to draw, with just a splash of colour too...

Cherries and a bullfinch

More ink and watercolour sketching. There are a couple of cherry trees on the green area near our house, but the birds usually get to the cherries first. Our next door neighbour managed to pick a bagful and gave some to us. And while I was sketching these ones (and before I ate them) a bullfinch was calling from the top of the rowan tree at the end of the driveway. I could hear him, but took a while to spot him!

Lamy Safari pen with Platinum carbon ink and watercolour, Stillman & Birn alpha sketchbook.

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.

Nice weather for ducks?

Nice weather for ducks? Even the duck sat on the front lawn the other day couldn't take the torrential thundery downpour that suddenly appeared - she got up and waddled to the shelter of the shrubs... I took a photo of these guys a while back and enjoyed sketching them the other day. Platinum carbon ink with a Lamy Safari pen, watercolour, Seawhite sketchbook (square format, which I'm quite enjoying :-))

Sketchbook mash-up

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

Click the image to see it a little bigger!

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

Daffs in the sketchbook

A lovely splash of colour in this grey and dreary winter...

Pears!

Faced with the first pristine blank page of a new sketchbook... Pears! You just can't go wrong with pears...

Black Combe ink and watercolour

Here's another ink and watercolour painting, based on a pic I took up on Black Combe in the Lake District a few years ago. Enjoyed fiddling around with this one last night for a couple of hours, then spent the rest of the evening on the 'Rightmove' website looking at property for sale in Cumbria...

Ink and wash sketches

An item that has long been on my wish list is a Lamy Safari fountain pen, so for #inktober I decided to treat myself to one at last :-) These ink and wash sketches are based on photos of various places I've visited over the past few years. The ink is Platinum Carbon Ink, which was sold with dire warnings about how it will kill your fountain pen if you're not careful!

A very penguin Christmas...

I hope you've all had a very merry Christmas! Here's the card I did for my other half - it's a little painting of the small collection of penguins that we've somehow accumulated :-) (they live in an alcove in the chimney breast, of course...). Wishing everyone a very happy 2015!

Feed the birds

Here's a small ink and watercolour I did for a Christmas card exchange on the Painting Friends forum. This is a Great Tit, a small bird fairly common here in the UK. They seem to have had a really good breeding year - there are lots on our feeders (and I had one on the windowsill the other day, tapping at the window!). I'm also doing a linocut based on this image, so watch this space!

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!

Happy birthday G!

Here's a quick watercolour and ink sketch of my niece, who is 18 today. Happy birthday G!

Some sketching out and about...

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