London Calling

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Husb and I just got back from a day trip to London, taking in the opening of this year’s Society of Women Artists show at the Mall Gallery, some of the permanent collection at the National Gallery and a visit to Intaglio Printmakers in Southwark for printmaking supplies.

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We met up with an old friend who has a still life exhibited at the Mall, chatted to an Englishman about cricket in the cafe at the National and had an intense conversation with a writer and graphic designer in a greasy spoon caff in Hounslow.

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I managed some scribbles on the tube and Trafalgar Square. And now to bed!

Punjab Jamming 1

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I’m trying something a bit different. Normally I draw from life, but today, instead of scribbling what’s in front of me, I’ve been using my recent pastel sketches from the Pakistani Punjab as a starting point. I’m not trying to copy them, but to use them as inspiration. Like a musician jamming, I suppose.

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I’ve been drawing straight into my Daler Rowney Ebony sketchbook using Daler Rowney artist’s soft pastels. The sketchbook is size A4, spiral bound, with black acid-free paper, 180 gsm, a tidy weight.

On The Hoof With A Teapot.

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Husb and I went for a walk on the beach this evening and I did some sketching on the hoof. It results in wobbly drawings! I used my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 with a free Markers app while I followed people. They suspected nothing.

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The sun was setting behind us as we looked out to sea and cast these shadows of us on the sand; me taking the photo and Husb being a teapot.

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The beach was reflected in the windows of the civic centre. It’s lush.

Weird Weobley

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I was so blown away by last night’s Midsummer sunset that Husb and I drove out to Weobley Castle on the Gower Peninsula this evening to find another glorious view. It’s so easy to take our landscape and history for granted, I don’t think most of us realise what an exceptional part of the world we live in. We walked up to the castle and sat looking West over the salt marshes at three weird and distinct woods in the distance, just in front of the Loughor estuary.

 

The sun moved fast and I had to work very quickly as things were changing by the minute. It’s only possible to do a fleeting impression – well it is for me anyway. Maybe not for Monet. I used Daler Rowney artists’ soft pastels into a Khadi handmade paper sketchbook, 6″ square with deckled edges.

 

There was a rave going on just below the castle and we listened to Trance as the sun went down and threw spectacular colours over weird cloud formations all around us.

Magical Midsummer

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I wanted to draw the Midsummer sunset over Arthur’s Stone at Cefn Bryn, a Neolithic tomb 4,500 years old . It’s a spectacular place and the setting sun threw a dazzling pallette of colours across the Gower landscape. A lot of people were gathered to see it this evening. The sky was almost unbelievably colourful, fusing iridescent yellow, orange, pink, purple and blues behind the dark mass of the dolman. Generations of local schoolchildren get their first glimpse of Arthur’s Stone (Maen Ceti in Welsh) on school trips and I guess I was 7 or 8 when I saw it for the first time. I keep going back to visit; there’s something magical about the place.

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I used Daler Rowney artist’s pastels into a Khadi handmade paper sketchbook, 6″ square. I had to work very quickly as the sun sets fast. Today, the Summer Solstice, was the longest day of the year and sunset was around 9.40 pm. The nights will be drawing in from now on. Before we know it, it’ll be Xmas.

 

Individual tales of cold and comeraderie: a live homeless theatre project @Zacs

A marvellous sketch blog from Patricia McKenna Jones with lots of new drawings

Individual tales of cold and comeraderie: a live homeless theatre project @Zacs.

Fierce Foreshortening ( Female Nude )

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I did this digital sketch at last night’s life drawing session. I like the challenge of foreshortening and a reclining pose is right up my street. The shape of the body is very strange but I measured accurately and that’s the shape thrown by the foreshortening.

I used the free Markers app on my Samsung Galaxy Tablet Note 8 and the pose was about 45 minutes. It was very difficult as the head, face, hands and a foot are all there in a foreshortened relationship with each other.

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A Visual Odyssey

 

I’ve edited all the sketchbook drawings from my Pakistan residency into a short film with Adobe Premiere Pro. I drew them consecutively as I journeyed through the country and I also recorded sounds as I went along on my phone, so I’ve added a soundtrack as well. Isn’t technology brilliant?

The drawings were made with Daler Rowney artists’ soft pastels into a Khadi handmade paper sketchbook, 6 inches square which I scanned into my PC. The sounds were recorded on a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini.

Elderflower Evening

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Husb and I have been out this picking elderflowers to make cordial. It’s an annual ritual and makes the house smell lovely. It’s been a fine evening and a lovely way to spend a few hours. I did this sketch a couple of days ago in the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. It already seems like an age has passed since we were there.

Viennese Stroll And A Bit More Egon

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I stopped for some time in front of this self portrait by Egon Shiele at The Leopold Museum in Vienna. I have seen it many times in books but was fascinated when I came face to face with it. The brushwork is so fluid and he creates light and dark and the flow of the material on the clothes by simply using brushstrokes. I made a lot of notes around the quick sketch.

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Viennese architecture is spectacular and it was a joy just strolling around the city. We hung out a while at Café Museum, where Shiele and Klimt used to eat.