Category Archives: out and about

More Porto Pavement People.

Some more of the very quick sketches I did last week on holiday. I like to stand on the pavement and speedily scribble people walking along, most people move quite fast. I prefer to follow someone from when they’re quite a way down the road. I used a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, size S,Continue reading “More Porto Pavement People.”

Porto Pavement People.

I sometimes stand on the pavement and scribble people walking along. Most people move quite quickly so my sketches are speedy. I generally spot someone when they’re quite a way down the road and follow them as they get closer, focusing on the essence of the figure, not the details. I did a few ofContinue reading “Porto Pavement People.”

The Rediscovered Sketchbook.

Sometimes I put a sketchbook down and forget about it for months or even years. I don’t know why I do it, some of them just seem to fall out of favour or maybe a I fall in love with the novelty of a new one. This little leather-clad book is one of these. IContinue reading “The Rediscovered Sketchbook.”

Old And New

Here’s another sketch I did on holiday in Porto, Portugal last week. It was very hot (for me anyway) and Husb and I took refuge in the beautiful Crystal Palace garden near our little hotel. There was loads to sketch there but I settled on this view of an old statue, probably 19th century, inContinue reading “Old And New”

Strange Trees In The Dark.

I was so taken with the odd pollards in the Porto park, Jardim da Cordoaria, that I went back the next evening with my landscape Khadi sketchbook and Derwent Inktense blocks and spent a while drawing the strange trees in a mix of natural night-time darkness and harsh orange/yellow street lighting.

Pollards In A Park In Porto

Husb and I went away for a few days, which is why I haven’t blogged recently. It’s our first trip outside the UK since before Covid19 and to be honest I was nervous, but we met up with family from different parts of the world in Porto in Portugal and it was so lovely. TheContinue reading “Pollards In A Park In Porto”

Setting The Type.

I spent a happy couple of hours at Swansea Print Workshop this afternoon, experimenting with the vintage wooden typefaces to design my next little experiment in letterpress. I had more or less settled on this one but then I couldn’t find any quoins to hold it together, so I’ll have to go back to finishContinue reading “Setting The Type.”

#StandingStoneSunday: The Sketchbook Stones

When I was travelling around South Wales studying standing stones with pre-historian Dewi Bowen and filmmaker Melvyn Williams, I generally worked onto large sheets of prepared paper. But sometimes I travelled light with just a brown paper sketchbook and it gave me a different insight into what I was drawing, I focused more on theContinue reading “#StandingStoneSunday: The Sketchbook Stones”