With Minimal Strokes.

I went out walking in the dark one evening, down to the beach (I’m so lucky to live so close to the sea) and I took a pad of Khadi paper that I had brushed with a thin layer of black ink, to give a grey wash. I took some black and white conté crayonsContinue reading “With Minimal Strokes.”

Taking The Line Forward: 1

Here’s what I decided to do with my Birkrigg Common sketch that I posted yesterday (with the Hoad Lighthouse above Ulverston in the background). I did a few of these linear sketches on my recent holiday and I’m working into this one with some watercolour washes. I like blending watercolours directly onto the paper (Khadi). Plenty more toContinue reading “Taking The Line Forward: 1”

Starting With Line: 6

Decisions! Decisions! Here’s the other half of my Birkrigg Common sketch that I posted yesterday. This clearly shows the Hoad Lighthouse, that towers above Ulverston, whose name invokes a “wolf warrior”. I did a few of these linear sketches on my recent holiday and now I have to decide what to do with them. ContinueContinue reading “Starting With Line: 6”

Starting With Line: 5

It was a lovely warm and sunny day on Birkrigg Common in the Lake District earlier this month and I sat and I scribbled for a while. I used a Faber Castell Pitt pen into my Khadi Landscape sketchbook. On the upper right of the drawing is the Hoad Lighthouse, a famous landmark around theseContinue reading “Starting With Line: 5”

Starting With Line: 4

This is the “other” side of the drawing I posted yesterday, from my Landscape Khadi sketchbook. I like drawing right across the double page to get a panoramic view. I’ll be using watercolours on this – when I find the time! This is somewhere in the Lake District, up a mountain, I can’t be moreContinue reading “Starting With Line: 4”

Starting With Line: 3

Here’s another line drawing I did en plein air in the Lake District recently. Husb and I went up for a few days to see family and get out and do some walking and sketching. This is somewhere on the top of the Lake District, I’ve no idea where! Just liked the look of itContinue reading “Starting With Line: 3”

Starting With Line: 2

Here’s the second part of my line drawing of the Giant’s Grave standing stones at Kirkstanton in Cumbria, done in the field en plein air into my Khadi landscape sketchbook. I like to sketch across the double page as it gives me a panoramic view, which is interesting to draw. When I’ve got a bit of time,Continue reading “Starting With Line: 2”

Dark. Strange. Otherworldly.

There was a time, not that long ago, when I would never have thought that I would be able to visit the German Democratic Republic. And then “The Wall” came down and here I was, just a few weeks ago, in what used to be East Germany, in the silent and dark countryside surrounded byContinue reading “Dark. Strange. Otherworldly.”

Sheep And Wolves In The Dark Silent Night…

I spent almost a week at the Atelierhof Werenzhaim in the town of Doberlug-Kirchhain in the former German Democratic Republic, between Berlin and Dresden and not far from the Polish border. The Atelierhof was out in the countryside, near forest and lakes in quite a Gothic setting. My accommodation was in an ancient stable block,Continue reading “Sheep And Wolves In The Dark Silent Night…”

Just Dancing.

Here are a couple more drawings of multiple figures I did before realising that single figures were the way to go on my A5 sheets of Khadi paper. I did these with a bamboo pen with a blunt cut-off end dipped into ink. I didn’t intend them to be dancing, they just turned out thatContinue reading “Just Dancing.”