Escape to Seville

We figured we deserved a break and a rest after all Paul's health stuff. Well, he deserved a break and a rest, I just selflessly accompanied him.

So off we went to Seville. All we were looking for was a bit of warmth, some tootling around,  some good food, and if anyone was offering a glass or four of wine to go with it all, well it'd be rude to say no.

 I wasn't sure what to expect weather-wise in November, but it was lovely. Yes, it was a bit showery and a bit cloudy, but there was also some glorious sun and it was astonishingly mild. I sat in the Plaza Espagna doing this ( far too complex a subject) in perfect warmth, with flamenco buskers playing in the background, feeling utterly relaxed and utterly lucky.

We went into the Cathedral one morning in the rain, and came out to gorgeous sunshine, so we sat in  blissful warmth in the courtyard of oranges while I attempted and failed to deal with the radical foreshortening of the Cathedral tower. 

I also attempted to draw from our apartment window, just as the sun was going down. The sky was changing ever so quickly so this is total painting panic.

 Apart from the weather, another thing that felt entirely unseasonal was the food - the tomatoes are still incredibly flavoursome, in November! I was scoffing serious amounts of them on crusty bread for my breakfast and was loving it!

I didn't sketch as much as I would have liked, it was too too nice just sitting about, being dumbfounded that you can have warm sun in November. I suppose I better go back and try harder another time??? 

It's been a funny old summer.

It has been a gorgeous summer weather wise, and a gorgeous summer family wise, despite it being the summer that also included a bit of a dread diagnosis. Still, we'll muddle on.

The girls have gone back to uni - I miss them in all sorts of ways, and I also miss  having them as sketching buddies. Luckily enough Paul is wonderfully patient  with me sitting there staring, concentrating and cursing. Especially if it involves a pub and a pint: This was done in the garden of our local.

A bit of autumn sun still allowed for some walks and picnics and sketching attempt. I don't think a lot of these work particularly well as sketches, but they work brilliantly well as visual diaries for remembering a day out. This was on the top of Chinthurst hill:  sunny, chicken and avocado sandwiches, sketching, distant gun shot, Max freaking out, hurried departure. 

This is a reminder, hardly needed really, of lots of time spent at the Royal Surrey Hospital.Still, it works as a reminder of lunch on a bench, a sunny day, and relaxed gaps between appointments.

And this is my favourite type of sketch, not aesthetically, but it absolutely brings a smile to my face - I had to go to Tilford so I brought the dog, and we had gas craic with sticks and the water - he was being an absolutely  hilarious noodle. 

I suspect that now with the girls gone and the winter coming - my sketching will be less about sun and sandwiches, and more about sitting in car parks while doing the shopping! 

A Summer of Churches

I have never ever sat in, or expected to sit in, quite so many churchyards, but as a quiet place to sit and have a bit of a draw, they are perfect. This is  my local church, which I've never actually taken much notice of before. That is one of the things I'm enjoying most about sketching - it's just good for making you look at things. I also like the fact that all that looking and concentrating just clears your head, no thinking, no stresses/ lists/jobs/plans/worries about the future - it all just buggers off for a while.

This one was done up at St. Martha's near Guildford. We all went up there, Lou and I were sketching, Paul and Evy were hanging around relaxing. It was sunny and lovely, with far reaching views, and I squished the poor church tower down. which I keep doing :-/ 

This was done after the girls went back to uni - just me Paul and the dog. We went to Selbourne, which is a deadly pretty village and is our go-to place for picking wild garlic in the spring. We had a bit of a walk, sat on a bench with fine sandwiches and chrisps and beer, and then wandered up to the churchyard. Paul and Max were very patient with me! 

The Day that The Circus Came to Town ( sorry Eartha)

I drop Paul into town/hospital each morning now, and en route one morning we saw a circus setting up. I had the sketch stuff in the car ( I'm rarely that organised or keen) so I parked and hung around. I was delighted that I did as it was really cool to watch all the work and organisation that goes into the whole set-up business - it is like a super-fast colourful construction site. It was fun and tricky to sketch though, as it all happens so quickly; one minute there are a few guys and a few cables, the next minute there is a huge tent.

I sat around the back then where the horses were and the ring master came over for a natter.He told me about an artist, Curtis Tappenden, that comes along to performances and does live circus drawings and paintings. Fair dues - can't be easy! 

The pic below isn't from the circus but is from Holycombe Steam fair , but it seems to sort of fit in here. 

Trees and things

Although I walk out on the commons daily, often twice daily, and often rhapsodize at extremely boring length about the beauty of it all,  I rarely paint landscapes or trees or any large intimidating nature stuff. I don't quite know where to start, and how to fit it in, and how to make that many greens. This was one attempt, which I don't mind at all. Especially as I painted it sitting on the ground with the dog tied to my foot as I couldn't find anything else! Then he saw a rabbit... 

Bringing bits of nature home seems far easier - I quite liked my little shadow on this one. 

I was also bringing bits of trees home to examine as I was determined once and for all to learn the differences between pines, firs, and spruces. Which I did. If anyone needs to know, just ask, quickly, before I forget again.

And although I figured out how to recognise a pine - I was unaware there were so so many different varieties of them!  Baffling.  I'm happy staying at the extremely simplistic end of this identification malarky. 

What to draw...hmmm ???

Staring at my art materials, wondering what on earth to draw... well duh! 

This sort of very pink pink seems to me to be one of the few colours you can't make with a sort of standard twelve colour palette - so I keep a little tube of quinacridone rose just in case, for example, someone gives me a huge bunch of pink flowers ( has never happened) or I buy a shocking pink pencil case ( did happen).

 And I love these two little tubes - utter rubbish - they were £1.50 each , and that included 12 kids colouring pens! But they are perfect as  brush and pencil tubes. Well, when I say perfect,  I did have to shorten the brushes, just a tad. They seem to be having a little hat doffing encounter here.

There has been an old marmalade jar full of brushes in the kitchen for years now, containing old brushes, dead brushes, hard brushes, kids brushes, and for some reason, there is also a long feather. 

Of Cabbages and Things

Much though I'd love to be off  sketching my days away in the sun, the reality is of course far more prosaic. I'm often at home itching to practice, but can't for the life of me decide what to paint.  Food works though, especially when, in the case of these this glorious buttonhole kale, you buy it just because it looks so wonderful. Having said that, it tasted pretty good too, and kept a lot of the purple colour once cooked.

Okay, I bought these yellow beetroots for the very same reason! Utterly irresistible no? 

Mackerel are always tempting to paint, but luckily I also adore eating them.

And I actually grew these borlotti beans! admittedly it was a lousy crop, but still. 

Salmon Nicoise for dins -  how can I, Irish born and bred, be so lousy at painting a spud. 

And a packet of pasta - I think I just wanted to try out using masking fluid. 

Doodling with Daughter around Bristol

It has been utterly fabulous that both my daughters have caught the sketching bug this summer, it's been an absolutely gorgeous way of spending time with them- I love it when we are all sitting silently and peacefully concentrating, brows furrowed, tongues out - although I think might just be me.

Me and Ev tootled off to Bristol for a couple of days and attempted a bit of urban sketching. I'm still a bit apprehensive about sitting in busy places, she's totally up for it. We even had people stop and take our photo a couple of times, although I have a sneaking suspicion they are focusing on the young and lovely artist and are cropping out her mum.

This was at St Nicholas Market; we sat in a cafe outside and drew, which I wouldn't have dared do alone. I bought a cool orange bag in the market, to replace an old one I've had since the kids were babbies. 

This is the Cathedral from College Green - we sat there one sunny evening, people just lounging  around in the grass in the sun - eating, drinking, playing, and us two painting - all perfect.

And this Cabot tower. I suppose it's probably not really urban sketching as such if you deliberately avoid the urban and find nice quiet parks, but hey ho, these things take time. 

And this is Evy, doing her Cabot Tower. 

Hanging around in graveyards

In what couldn't exactly be described as the most astonishing imaginative leap ever, we went from sketching in churchyards to sketching in a massive cemetery, Brookwood near Woking. It has some fantastic graves, especially the older Victorian ones: imposing statement mausoleums; Gothic monuments made all the more Gothic because of their crumbling disintegration; crosses of various shapes and sizes now leaning in various precarious directions, and a host of melodramatic angels, reaching, weeping, sighing and best of all, staying perfectly still for drawing purposes

I've tried the angels in oil before, somewhere down along the blog, but I think they suit watercolour quite well. 

  We had a couple of trips to Brookwood over the summer, my sister Sal came once, she forgot  her drawing stuff but brought the chocolate, so that worked.

It is a surprisingly lovely place to sit and sketch.

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I Urban Sketched! in London! All by myself!

Somehow or another, a few practice churches and I mustered up the courage or daftness to go off out and draw buildings in a busy urban location, and not just any old half decently populated location, but bang on in the middle of Trafalgar Square. I was heading up to London anyway as I volunteer at the Courtauld - so I brought my pad and paints etc with me. Being totally honest, and regardless of the results, I was dead chuffed with myself!

I only meant to try the lions or something in Trafalgar Square, but it was terrifically hot and the only shady spot I could find to sit sort of faced the National Gallery -oops!



The next week I went back to Trafalgar Square but faced St Martin in the Fields. It turns out that the 'pesky people' I have been dreading drawing in front of are either utterly uninterested or really nice and friendly.

The following week I sat in the Courtauld Courtyard, and was almost late for my shift as I was totally befuddled by all the windows, pillars and frankly, unnecessary details! 

Hanging around in Churchyards.

I was keen to try and draw buildings - I've not really done it before and churchyards seemed to be a handy enough option. I suppose they provide a decent practice building and  are quiet and very importantly, it's easy to find a comfy grassy place to sit. This is Farnham Church, where Evy and I sat  in the sun after a bit of ( fruitless) job hunting for a summer job for her.

We also sat in Godalming Churchyard, sort of in a bit of drizzle:

And all three of us went to Puttenham, where I seem to have lopped a considerable amount off the top of the tower:

On another day, myself and Evy dropped into Peperharrow, where it was heritage day. We sat drawing away while the guide chap explained to the group of visitors how Cromwell  went off to Ireland and 'disaffected' some Irish people.  Hmm. 

Summer and yet more sketching resolutions

Oops, life got in the way of  oil painting - yes, that old excuse again- and I had weirdly forgotten about sketching. Then this summer Lou came home from uni with a new sketch-a-day habit ( not the worst habit to come out of uni with) and myself and Evy joined in too. Having sketching companions meant I was brave enough to move away from the kitchen table, and we head off to many exotic locations, well, when I say exotic, it was Surrey churchyards mainly.  Painshill Park was a good starter day out as it had different style little buildings to practice on, and no pesky people about to witness our early attempts.

It was an encouraging trip, one okay pic, two duds, that'll do. I like looking back over these; they are fab reminders of some great days out.

We tried a few museums - this was the one in Haslemere: Evy was drawing a lovely case of butterflies, and then after the drawing, Ev and Lou had gas craic out in the museum garden attempting to play croquet.

And we tootled off to the Sculpture Park near by in Churt, although I didn't find stuff I wanted to draw and mostly sulked instead. 

And this was the Rural Life Center at Tilford: