Cappuccino and a muffin.

Posted on May 9, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white drawing, cappuccino, Coffee, muffin, Pen and ink, SketchingLeave a comment

I do like drawing in my little sketchbook. It’s getting full of pictures and poems and some short stories.

This morning a friend took me out so we had a cappuccino and a muffin. It was lovely to have a chat. I decided to draw what was on the table so here’s the result. I like crosshatching to add shape and shade to make it more 3 dimensional.

We were talking to the waitress and and she saw my sketches. She said that she used to be good at art and sometimes shows her children how to do things. I suggested she get a little sketchbook to start drawing in again, I hope she does.

Trying to do a self portrait

Posted on May 7, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Fine Art, front view, Life, Painting, Photo, self portrait, Sketching4 Comments

Not right yet, eyes too close together, my nose is too long. But it’s getting there slowly. I need to try and make the eyes slightly smaller too. I tend to paint self portraits straight on although I might try and do a three quarter profile one instead as it can be more dynamic. This took about an hour and a half. In acrylic on canvas.

Digital drawing of a woman

Posted on April 30, 2025 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, ArtRage app, Digital drawing, Metallic, Sketching, stained glass idea, Stylus, WomanLeave a comment

Playing with Artrage, it’s been a while, I wanted to create the impression of a stained glass window. I like drawing digitally and I used a stylus to try and control my shakiness. I like this app because it had various pens and the ability to make the colours metallic. I paid for it, but not much and I’ve used it for several years .

Bird doodle

Posted on April 28, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Bird, Black and white, Childhood, Doodle, Fun, Imagination, Memory, Silly, Sketching, squeakLeave a comment

I love my little notebook, getting filled up with sketches and doodles and bits of writing prompts. This bird recently appeared squeaking and squaking (odd word spelling I know) on the page. With this drawing comes memories of drawing odd bits when I was a child. I used to try and draw butterflies and moths and horses too. It is about learning to draw and freeing your imagination. Art is life!

Witch of the wood

Posted on April 27, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged character design, Doodle, Hair, Life, Mystery Plays, Nature, punk, Sketching, Time, witch of the woodLeave a comment

I’m involved in the Penkhull Mystery Plays and we had a read through of the whole play yesterday. I just decided to doodle what I think the main baddie in the play could look like. Her hair is a tangle of flowers and weeds and twigs. Sharp faced, but without the beak of a nose and hooked chin of traditional depictions of witches. She’s more punk than ancient. I could imagine piercings and tattoos too.

Storyboard

Posted on April 26, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged penkhull mystery plays, Penkhull Village Hall, read through, Sketching, Stoke-on trent, story boardLeave a comment

I went to our read through of the Mystery Play today, we had tried to edit it down and it now is about an hour long including stage directions. The author, Andy Perry, has created a story about the creation of the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the naming of the six towns. Now we will be organising rehearsals. I hope it is going to be good. X

Story board

Posted on April 25, 2025 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged back of an envelope, Drawing, Life, penkhull mystery plays, pictures to explain, Sketching, story board, Tired2 Comments

Drew a story Board for the Penkhull Mysteries today, started by drawing in the back of an envelope then did better A4 sketches.

This took a couple of hours. I was absolutely shattered by the end. I had intended to go shopping afterwards but I came through the front door, sat down and fell asleep!

Cat and stars

Posted on April 23, 2025 Posted in Cat, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, card idea, Cat, Design, Drawing, ife, Moon, Sketching, Stars, Tuxedo cat, Window3 Comments

An idea from 2017 for a design for a cat and moon and stars. It’s not a good photo but I like the idea and I wish I’d got round to sorting the design out and getting it printed off. This is only an initial design. I would have strengthened the black areas and line work. It’s nice to remember this.

Crafts

Posted on April 21, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black ink, diamond art, Drawing, Life, notebook, person, Portrait, Sketching, WomanLeave a comment

Portrait of a woman called Carol in our craft group working on some diamond art picture. I enjoy doing small portraits, quickly done, it fits in with my Parkinsons shakes, if a line goes awry I can hide it in cross hatching. I have a small notebook with very pae blue lines so they are not very noticeable. I never want to stop drawing and painting. It’s my life. X

The Leopard destroyed

Posted on April 17, 2025April 18, 2025 Posted in Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Felt pens, Memory, Sketching, the Leopard Hotel in Burslem1 Comment

Sketch of the Leopard Hotel in Burslem that was destroyed by fire in 2022. I just found this on my phone. I’d done several murals in the back room and was devastated when this happened. The pub was empty and it had been broken into. The wiring was tampered with.

There are some ideas to rebuild part of it using the historic frontage to keep it’s architectural authenticity. I hope it happens. #bandofsketchers drawing in felt pens.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Sketching