Audrey Assad's Concert

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a guy in the US asking if he could use my picture in a poster to advertise a benefit concert his fiancée was doing in Arizona! I was in total shock!! He sent me a copy of the poster just now...so exciting!!!

RWS Friends Sketching Day - 14th November 2010

Pencil Sketch

St Michael, Cornhill, City of London

It was another cold day for outdoor sketching, one figure temperatures and rain. I spent a good 40 minutes in the district line from Wimbledon to Tower Hill, I had forgotten how slow this line is! On my way to station I picked a bunch of leaves: a Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) leaf and a very red leaf from another tree which I can't find the name. I tried to do some pencil sketches while I was in the tube, but I've found it a bit difficult to keep my hand steady. Although it was raining we did a tour around Pepys tramping ground and I stopped to sketch in St Michael's Alley. It took me a long time to get the sketch done as I wanted to use a pen & wash technique. Unfortunately, I didn't feel very confident using a pen straight away, so I did a pencil sketch first, then pen on top and some watercolours to finish off.....it took me over 1 hour to do that!!

Watersoluble Chalk Pastels

I went to the local car boot sale this morning and got myself a box of 12 sticks of Pentel watersoluble chalk pastels for just £1. It was a bargain and although I'm not very fond of messy pastels I thought I'd give it a go in the afternoon. I picked one of those huge London Plane leaves on my way back; I draw the leaf contours with a 2B pencilon a sheet of Fabriano Accademia paper and then overlaid the various colours directly on the paper, blending them with a dry brush. I then decided to use a waterbrush on one side of the leaf, but the results was a bit muddy and didn't particularly like it that much. I will definitely try them again, maybe mixing them with watercolour.

Christmas Card

I've almost completed the painting for this year Christmas cards. The big leaf right in front is far too big and the shape isn't quite right, also the berries were not very round at all, but hey it is known that holly is not easy to paint! I'll wait for the go ahead, or most likely the list of adjustments to make, from my teacher tomorrow evening and then off to the printer.

Exhibition @ the Crypt

The exhibition at the Crypt is finally off after two weeks. It was hard work to get things done properly and on time, but it all went very well. I sold one painting and we received lots of positive comments from visitors. I'm hoping to be more prepared for the next one, so I can enjoy it more and stress less!

Back to Class

I did these two sketches during the first two watercolour classes, after the summer break. The poppy was done following an exercise on my teacher's book to help loosen up the style for painting flowers. I enjoyed it very much, but still the overall result was a bit of a muddy effect and the red colour of the flower didn't really show. The second was based on a real oak branch which I picked from the ground on my way back from work. The colours were so autumnal, I wish there was some red colour in it as well...

Bankside Group Exhibition @ the Crypt

My first exhibition ever! I've got six watercolour paintings hanging in the Crypt as part of the bankside group exhibition. It was a bit stressful to get everything ready for the day, but I made it. We'll have an informal private view on Sunday 10th October from 2pm, for friends and family. I hope I'll see some friendly faces there!

One Year of Botanical Painting

I took on a botanical painting class last September at the Landmark Art Centre in Teddington with botanical artist Marcia Hughes. I've always been fascinated by botanical illustration but never actually thought that I would have enough patience to try it. Still a long way to go, but I'm loving it...

Pen & Wash

Water Level Indicator

St Paul's Cathedral

Canary Wharf

I was reading the SAA July issue last night and I found the article on Allan Kirk’s sketching technique quite interesting. He uses Stabilo Fineliner pens for quick pen and wash studies to ‘capture the moment’. I had some coloured pens for some time now, but don’t use them very often as I prefer sketching with watercolours. I thought I would give it a go as the technique allows for really quick sketches on the move. I used some pictures I took during a boat trip on the Thames; it took me about 15 minutes to do all three of them and the results were not as bad as I thought. I used heavy cartridge paper to minimize buckling, although I’d like to do some further tests using watercolour paper.

RWS Friends Sketching Day - 27th June 2010

Holland Park - The Arboretum

Holland Park - The Pond behind Lord Holland's Statue

Holland Park - Kyoto Garden

Had a fantastic day yesterday in Holland Park. It was about 30degC and the watercolours were drying very quickly. The sun was so strong you could hardly see the real colour of things. I managed to get three small sketches done before meeting for lunch at the cafe' (it was too hot to sit in the sun!). I also spent a bit of time taking some pictures with my new camera, but had to revert to the auto mode as I'm still not ready to use the manual settings!

RWS Friends Sketching Day - 21st February 2010

Walk from Golden Jubilee bridge to the London Eye

Golden Jubilee Bridge

Another cold and gray day in London, but at least it didn't rain! It was nice to be out sketching again after a few months.