Seaside Sketchbook

'The One That Got Away' ~ Watercolour on Paper

Hello!

I thought I'd take five minutes to share some of the sketches from my holiday with you (and work done at home inspired by my travels), as promised in my last post.  

 

I tend to carry a small hard backed sketch book with me in my bag most of the time (either a small moleskine or A6 Daler Rowney), along with a pencil and fine line waterproof black pen (a Staedler number 01), so that I can catch interesting moments that might make for good paintings later on.

 

Do you remember the photograph I took of the harbour wall in Falmouth in my Holiday Post?  Here it is:

 

I drew the above sketch whilst waiting for a little boat to take us back to St Mawes, just before it started to rain!

Drawing in a sketch book has the same ability to transport me back to a place in time as does a favourite tune.  I can recall sounds, atmosphere, scents, how I was feeling, and the weather just by looking through my sketches.  

These little boats were drawn from our car, parked up above the beach at Portreath.  It had lashed it down with  monsoonal style rain all morning and we had taken our wee girl to 'Build a Bear' as the beach was out of the question.  After this, we drove the odd mile or so to the coast and after we had finished our picnic, all huddled in a steamy damp car (no, not the nicest of scenarios!), the rest of our little party, wrapped up in waterproofs,  took her down on the sand to look for shells.  The rain had turned to drizzle with a blustery wind by this point, and I remember making the most of ten minutes solitude to capture a couple of little boats in my book, that I could see out the window to my right.


Looking at this sketch now, I also remember armies of dark grey clouds marching heavily across the horizon, and the sea was leaden and dark, with a bright aquamarine band on the shoreline.  Raindrops spattered across the car windscreen, and gulls shreiked and harassed the occasional huddled figures of tourists, who seemed intent on making the best of it despite the soggy conditions.


When I came home, I used the sketch above to do a sunnier painting:

I like turning something 'real' into something more illustrative!
The top painting is unfinished, I decided to begin the second one below instead and embellished it with stamped letters.

The paints I used for these pictures are my New and Compleeeedly Delicious White Night set (shown above in spanking new condition before I got stuck in!).
The paints are Russian, and have been produced by a company in St Petersburg since 1934.  They use very fine pigments and even honey in their colours.  The colours themselves are extremely fine, fantastic to blend and mix and are proving to be a very valuable investment.

I have been using them again this morning, to create something slightly different...

'Party' ~ Watercolour on Paper

I hope you have a fabulous weekend, thanks for dropping by - i'll be back soon to talk about crocheted blankets on a budget, and an Almost Finished shawl!


Love J x

Home Front

'Patchwork Owls'

Hello!

I've been working on some animal/bird character sketches this week, and this is one of them above ~ I'm calling them the Patchwork Owls.

These are what I call my Paint Sketches, I work from pencil sketch drawings and then render them with colour. They are only small, about 10cm square and give me an excuse to play. Oh I like my paint sketch time very much indeed! There is no pressure to perform and execute a brilliant piece, its just painting for paintings sake (if you get my drift)...working on a Real Painting involves a bit more pressure at times, and attention to detail, and blending, and so on...paint sketching is just simple, wonderful, messing about.

In my mind I have a whole zoo of animals that are waiting to be put onto paper, and I've really enjoyed doing the owls, I want to work with the animals expressions a bit more as well.

It's been a while since I really did any animal characters...I think the last ones I painted were for my nephews a few years back. I did each of them a painting when they were new to the world, one was of a train full of different creatures with a letter on each little carriage spelling the eldest's name, and the other was a procession of elephants walking trunk to tail with a lettered coverlet spelling the youngest nephews name. These were done in watercolour but I find myself working more and more with acrylic nowadays ~ I love the way it dries quickly and how you can layer the colours over one another to give some great depth, and you can also water them down so they are almost as transparent as watercolour paint.

I have also been sketching some ideas for my next Small Original, I was over the moon delighted to sell the one I showed you last week (Tulips & Boats) and it is now happily on its way to a lovely new home.

The next painting will most likely feature the following: Beach Huts. Sea. Bunting.

...and, I will post pics as soon as it's done!

So how are you all this week? Have you had the awful cold snap that we have had here?? My goodness, we took ourselves off to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park on bank holiday Monday and nearly froze to death, despite putting several layers on! We also got caught in some icy cold rain showers and had to shelter in some bluebell woods (right next to a badger set) 'til it passed over...but it was worth it, the Wildlife Park is a fairly new attraction in these parts and we really enjoyed it. The Lemur experience where you are allowed to walk through their compound is magical, they are swinging about in the trees right above your head, and sitting not a foot away from the path you are walking on, warming their little tummies in the weak sunshine!

I think with this shock cold spell, I have been driven to a spot of nesting. Brownies have been baked (thank the Lord for Rachel Allen) and much crochet has been done of an evening. We have read lots of books and magazines, built lego towers, napped, made dens under the dining table with blankets, had a thunder storm and lamented the loss of all the blossom on the cherry tree, thanks to nasty gusty winds that blew it all off. We have pretty much harboured ourselves at home this week and I must say, I have enjoyed it very much. The gentle pace has been quite necessary.

Here is a little peak into our world of home made egg cosies, books, the Tiny Allotment (aka a patch of dirt in the back garden), crochet, and other bits and bobs:

Talking of domestic bliss, I have to tell you that I shocked myself the other day. My iron broke. And that meant I had to get a new one...oh dear, I actually felt quite excited at the thought of a new appliance...good grief, that would never have happened 10 years ago!! And so, the new iron was purchased, as was a dinky Cath Kidston ironing board cover (luxuriously thick and pretty) to replace the old one which was so thin you could see the metal through it. Why oh why did this delight me so much? I don't especially like ironing to tell you the truth but there is something about a New Iron and a New Cover that has me itching to get my hands on a fresh pile of laundry and get cracking. Perhaps I need help, or perhaps this is what happens when one is sequestered away in the confines of their home for several days...

Anyway! Im going to have a cup of tea and the other half of my lunch time brownie now - I want to say 'Welcome' to some lovely new followers (eek, they're nearly at 100, how did that happen??), it's nice of you all to stop by and please do say "Hello" if you feel like it, it's always smashing to hear from you, and it means I can come and visit you at your little blog too!

I hope you have a warm weekend, and I will catch up with you all again soon.

Mucho love,

J x

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* Edited to add that the above mentioned Cath Kidston ironing board cover sadly had a tear along the seam and so it has been sent to the land of Returns and I am left with the above mentioned tatty one for the time being!! (Heart actually sank upon discovering it, my dream of ironing amongst the colourful flowers horribly dashed! Bah!)