In The Dark

Just because it’s the holiday season doesn’t mean I get away without doing any scribbling. I wanted to do something a bit different so I prepared a small square Khadi handmade paper sketchbook by sponging an Indian ink wash randomly over the pages. I’m going to draw at night, as it’s dark by about 4.30Continue reading “In The Dark”

Nearly finished……….

Just a quick scribble from a visit to the hospital; it’s a good place for sketching. I got right into her jacket – well not literally, she might have thumped me! Drawn with my Pentel V5 pen into my A5 purple silk recycled sari sketchbook, which is now nearly finished. A few more days……

Drawing Through Tears

Dad-in-law had to go back to hospital today, where we spent some of this afternoon. I sat and sketched a while in the assessment centre’s waiting room, where visitors mixed with patients waiting to be assigned to a ward and their relatives. Opposite me sat a man with his ill wife. He cradled her handContinue reading “Drawing Through Tears”

Fish ‘N’ Chips

Husb took me out to lunch today. Fish and chips in the Windsor Caff. With salt and lashings of vinegar. Lovely. I had a very few minutes to scribble and I drew the lady opposite us. I’m a bit uncomfortable about drawing people who are out-of-the ordinary, as I don’t want to risk poking funContinue reading “Fish ‘N’ Chips”

The Hidden People

This is definitely my last blog about my recent trip to Iceland, probably. Our most excellent guide, Olafur, told us about the hidden people, the Huldufólk,   supernatural beings who live in rock formations and only rarely show themselves to humans. Many Icelanders believe in their existence. One day, we went off road in giant jeepsContinue reading “The Hidden People”

Hot And Steamy

Another dawn on the road, another glimpse of the morning star. On our last day we went to the Blue Lagoon, a mineral-rich outdoor pool filled with hot volcanic waters. We had to run from the nice warm building out into the freezing cold and then plunge into the lagoon. Lovely. The skies were spectacularContinue reading “Hot And Steamy”

The (Late) Morning Star

It was a bit weird getting used to the very short days up near the Arctic Circle and waking up, breakfasted and out into our tour bus for a comfortable 9am start meant that we were stumbling around in pitch darkness. But it gave us a chance to see the sunrise every morning over theContinue reading “The (Late) Morning Star”

Hot And Cold In Iceland

  Iceland is full of geological wonders. In the freezing weather of late November, we welcomed a stop to explore geysirs and hot springs. The original Geysir, the origin of the name for all similar phenomenon, no longer blows, but a few yards away Strokkur blasts away every few minutes. The landscape is ethereally mistyContinue reading “Hot And Cold In Iceland”

East Meets West In The North

Iceland is a lump of lava up by the North Pole. The reason it’s there is because volcanoes keep erupting in the area because the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian tectonic plate are pulling apart from each other. And this keeps setting off volcanoes. As the plates rip apart from each other, aContinue reading “East Meets West In The North”

Floyd On Ice

Travelling across Iceland with Olafur The Guide, Otto The Driver and a gaggle of, mostly, babyboomers, we went off-road in some giant jeeps up to the Gigjokull glacier. We’d had three days of deep snow, which was spectacular but unfortunately it meant that we weren’t able to see any Aurorae because of the heavy cloudContinue reading “Floyd On Ice”