Urban Art Fair Norwich- Sunday 9th July

Great day participating in the Norwich Urban Art Fair which was part of the Lord Mayors Celebration. I was selling prints, postcards and greeting cards mainly of Norwich but also some of London. As well as exhibiting my work I ran expressive drawing demonstrations with drop in workshops on urban sketching, There were lots of activities, people and architecture to sketch  and a great trio of singers called the "Nightingales". Sketching whilst listening to music was a relaxing combination. The Urban Sketchers Norwich met at the fair to document the event. A great atmosphere.

Derelict Water Pumping Station - 1909 Trowse Norwich

This is one of my favourite places to sketch in Trowse. I have drawn it a few times. It is very close to where I live so an ideal location to experiment with a large scale format. I took my A2 sketchbook,  inks and water brushes. Whilst I was sketching a couple from Sheffield were visiting a local brewery under the bridge and came to chat . They ended up buying a couple of my sketches which was a nice surprise. The sketches were still a bit wet!

Norwich Sketchcrawl - Eaton Park Sunday 18th June.

Catching up on News!  I have been sketching on a larger scale and experimenting with bleeding marks created by inks lately. These sketches were done at Norwich Urban sketchers meet up on Sunday the 18th June. It was a scorching hot day and we met at Eton Park in Norwich which is a magnificent historic park with a great pavilion bandstand and lots of activities. I focused on the Boat pond which is one of the finest in Europe. The bleeding ink create depth in the pond. Great place to sketch must go back.

Sketching Pitch and Putt from the cool shade of the trees which nicely framed the golfers.

#DrawingBreath Project

  
Great to be a part of a community of artists highlighting the vital work of VSO worker Andrew Sesay helping to save lives of mothers and babies in Sierra Leone #DrawingBreath.  Ninth Laurette Chris Riddell has made a wonderful video using live illustrations called Giving Birth in Sierra Leone. 

I experimented with various dip pens including my bamboo ones that I haven't used in a long time. It was much easier working in the studio with this technique. I Did try using dip Pens on location when I went to the Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium but I made a huge mess and gave up. I really enjoyed using the ink in this project and will try to work out a way of taking them out again without too much mess. 

I made all the drawing separately and then scanned them in and composed them together using layer masks on photoshop. I was aiming to get the lighting to be quite dramatic to illustrate how difficult it is for Andrew as he tries to work under very poor lighting conditions often with only torchlight. I must say drawing babies was quite a challenge!

Sunday morning sketching - Pylon's in the landscape

Every time I take my dog for a swim along the banks of the River Yare in Trowse which is a small village on the edge of Norwich, this scene captures my eye.  I have been meaning to sketch it for sometime now and if left too long the pylons will be gone. 4.5km of overhead power lines and fifteen pylons are to be removed from the Norwich skyline by Autumn. These pylons have been here for decades.  The geometric patterns of the pylon structures  contrast well with the organic landscape and become part of it. I found great spot to set up under shady tree. It was quite a blustery day which added to the atmosphere.

Media used: water based markers, derwent inktense water soluble pencils, graphite pencil and derwent spritzer bottle.

Ink experiments - Garlic Bulb

My neighbour kindly gave me one of her first Garlic bulbs freshly dug from the ground of her allotment. The beauty of the shape, form and fresh aroma inspired me to draw it using my ink and bamboo dip pens.

View of Salisbury Plain - Wiltshire

I spent last weekend with friends who live in Wiltshire and have the most wonderful view of Salisbury Plain from their living room french windows. Here are a few quick sketches of the scene. 

Spot the Bee Hive