Garden Shed

A small little garden shed. I would like one like this please that I can do my painting in - bright, light, dry,  cosy and surrounded by loads of inspiration. 

Trees

Today felt like the warmest day of the year so far and I had an enjoyable bike ride out and about though it was overcast, damp and very windy. Scribbled these trees in drizzle - the iPad is fine in such conditions but it would have been impossible to use my sketchpad. It isn't a brilliant sketch but I was playing with patterns and exploring how I can use and incorporate them into my iPad illustrations when drawing  from life. I rather rushed it because I was beginning to get a bit chilly.

I have been exploring more with my acrylic paints but after working for so long digitally I am finding that traditional painting is sooooo slow and not yet giving me a sense of life and playfulness that I get with iPad work. Will continue to experiment.

Hopton Titterhill and Croft Castle

I have been up to my favourite part of world this past weekend. Saturday was spent around Hopton Titterhill in South Shropshire. I had a very enjoyable walk from the main cark round the hill and down the eastern side to the restored castle keep at Hopton Castle where I sheltered from a heavy rain shower. I then continued past the church and along the road towards black hill, up towards Obley then back to the car. It wasn't too cold and the sun was almost warm when it was out, but at one stage I did have to shelter in an old barn from a torrential downpour and almost gale force winds. A day of contrasts. Wildlife notes: as I drove up through the village in the early hours of the morning I came across a hedgehog wandering around; found a dead goldcrest which actually looked so small and almost cute (not idea why it had died); and came across a couple of the largest wood ants nests I have seen for many years - one must have been almost 4-5 ft high - very rarely have I seen any in this part of the Welsh border.

Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day for the most part and again it wasn't that cold. The above picture was drawn in the walled garden at Croft Castle (NT): weeping willow, snowdrops, hellebore and honesty. 

Sketching at Wrest Park

Spent the day at Wrest Park, Beds, sketching visitors to a wedding exhibition. It was a very pleasant way to pass a very wet and windy January day. Here are some of my scribbles.

Sketching people

A few quick sketches made in a local Sainsbury's cafe today. Had the day off work for my birthday and so went out on my bike and stopped off for a couple of hours in a local superstore to do some drawing. A great place to go as it was full of people at lunchtime. These are the sketches I did on the iPad but I did others in my sketchbook.

Three trees

A scribble inspired by something I saw on the web today.

Frosty Morning

Went for a walk this morning in the woods near Lilley. It was bright and sunny with a decent frost on the ground. These brambles leaves looked stunning in the sunlight with translucent reds, greens and purples against the backdrop of the sun streaming down though the trees.