
Button Doll, my friend Nicola Hayek makes these and I hung this on our Christmas tree… Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was buttons.
Metallic watercolours and a limited amount of felt pens….
New paintings and regular art updates.

Button Doll, my friend Nicola Hayek makes these and I hung this on our Christmas tree… Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was buttons.
Metallic watercolours and a limited amount of felt pens….

Today’s #30daysketchbookchallenge was to create an image starting with the letter C. So I decided to paint the cat having a wash by the heaters in the living room. Quick five minute sketch.
Watercolour washes. He kept moving!

When your husband goes shopping….. Not sure which of these are essential… Day thirteen, #30daysketchbookchallenge, watercolour sketch, gloves, whisky, cycling magazine and newspaper. A very male collection of purchases.

Today’s #30daysketchbookchallenge was paint.
I’d got a swatch card to fill in with my metallic paints I got for Christmas. I filled in the colours in the set and also some normal watercolours I already have.
Then I painted the water brush that comes with the set (you suck water up into it), finally I posed the question… But is it art?

Found these paints in the back of a drawer. About thirty years old!
They are Rowney Oils and Windsor and Newton Watercolours and a box of various paints, chalks, and coloured pencil. Goodness knows why they got put away. I haven’t checked the oils, they may have dried out, but the watercolours and chalks and pencils should be fine. I think I could call this a win!

Todays #bandofsketchers picture, watercolour sketch of my windowsill…
The cat has her own cat tree because the window sill is covered in glass, geodes, metal sculptural objects and more. I can’t show them all as the cat tree is in the way…. The cat loves sitting there as it’s right over the radiator. I think the diagonals sort of have a flattening, almost japanese woodblock effect? Anyway it was nice to do something in watercolours for a change. I just used a bit of metallic gold and silver marker pen to highlight some of the objects.

‘Neddy’ named by my hubby. Used the watercolour background I’d created and found an image of a horse or pony with a long mane.
I used fine black nib marker pens to draw him, then permanent markers to add some colour to him and to the tall grass around him (fading the colours as it went higher to give a feeling of depth). I then used a 6B graphite pencil to soften the strength of the marker pens. I drew this because I liked the overgrown mane. If the pony ran it would flow out backwards like a billowing curtain or long ribbons.
I did this today because I didn’t have a prompt from stoke urban sketchers so I thought I would still draw something to keep going.
X

Today’s Stoke-on-Trent urban sketchers challenge was what was on your table..
Luckily the cat got on the table as I approached it. Otherwise it’s just books and a box and a carved wooden sphere. The n gauge railway layout my hubby has is out of view. Too difficult to paint! Sketching with a Cotman watercolour set I treated myself to for my birthday last month.
I haven’t painted with watercolours for months. I liked the free flowing colours. Less restrictive than acrylics. Although I did let paint bleed into some parts I dabbed it off with a bit of tissue. I found drawing out with the brush instead of a pencil much easier. I hate having drawn lines in pictures. The other thing was leaving areas white. It’s good to leave negative space and not completely cover the paper. This is turning into an interesting sketchbook. The prompts really make me think.
X







I was just looking through an old watercolour sketchbook with landscape scenes I did a while ago. I think one was done in 2018, but have no recollection of doing the others. I know the one with the harbour wall and blue sea is Polperro? The boats picture was done as a quick sketch. The flowers and hills one is called Storm warning. The two lake paintings were done at Trentham Gardens. The yellow sand and dark rocks is at Bovisand in Devon if I remember rightly. The figure looking out of a Summer house is my partner looking at the view at the Dorothy Clive garden.