Sketching Trees

Pencil in cheap sketch book ( that's why you can see the ghost of Raspberries).

Expect to see a few trees here in the coming weeks. I've joined Vivien Blackburn's Tree Challenge on her blog, Painting, Prints & Stuff.

The Tree Challenge fits in rather nicely with my other current obsession, Sketchercise. I'm walking six mornings per week - about 4km. Still haven't worked out how to post the Sketchercise badge on my blog though - so I'm fit but stupid!

The quick sketch of the tree above (must ask Jean what it's called) is beside the pool where I did my first laps of the season (after walking 4km, so I'm extremely stupid!). Too exhausted to move I turned around and sketched another tree (must ask Jean what that's called too).

Lamy pen in cheap sketchbook

Lime trees - painted on my walk a couple of days ago.

I'm using a beautiful sketchbook made for me by Marta for these little watercolour sketches. Gorgeous HP watercolour paper. Thanks Marta!

Raspberries Graphite Sketch

2B mechanical pencil

Our raspberries are fruiting so I thought I should drop everything and make a quick sketch. I've decided drawing in graphite is a bit like golf - if you haven't done it for a while your body quickly loses its skill. This is my first graphite drawing for quite a while and if I'd realised I was going to get caught up in it I'd have worked on better paper instead of my 'cheap' sketchbook. I really do need to practice more leaves.

I've just had the luck and pleasure of meeting the delightful Margaret Saul, a wonderful botanic artist and teacher who has come to live in Tuscany. Margaret is planning a special program here next year. A wonderful opportunity!

Passion Flower in Watercolour

Passion Flower - Watercolour on Arches HP paper

The passion flowers are blooming in the garden and because they have such a beautifully engineered structure I decided to sketch one. I then decided to try one in watercolour. It was a battle and I think the passion flower won.

I've been so intrigued watching the way the blooms open and close. They don't seem to just wither and die like a lot of flowers but close up like an umbrella in reverse and then bring their outside leaves back over into their original bud form. Amazing.

Graphite sketch

Coloured pencils might be a better medium to capture the delicate geometric form. It could become a long-term passion trying to capture the perfection of these flowers.

Brush Sketch Challenge

Large Moleskine sketchbook - 2B mechanical pencil

This is my Raphael No9 Petit Gris Pur watercolour brush. I bought it (and a couple more) when I had more money than time. Now I have more time than money, I find it's not a brush I use very often. I also wonder what I, who won't eat anything with big brown eyes, is actually doing with this brush!

It came out of the cupboard today to pose for a portrait in the Vivien Blackburn Brush Sketch Challenge. You can read about it on her blog Painting, Prints and Stuff. I was so excited to have the opportunity to be in the running for one of Vivien's sketches, I launched into this without reading the instructions properly. I used to lose marks for that in examinations. How tough a teacher is Vivien, I wonder? She actually stipulated a sketch of 'your brushes'.

He Who Encourages Me

Feburary 2006 (my first attempt at a graphite portrait).

When I first met He Who Encourages Me (HWEM) he was writing on an Epson 286 PC, which didn't even have enough grunt to run the first version of Windows. I had been a Mac fan - using nothing else, since I laid eyes on the very first model. It took me a while to convert HWEM and I enjoyed that 'while' because, for once, I knew more about something than the did! Of course it was bound not to last - my superior position. Now whenever I have a computer problem, I give a plaintive yelp and he comes to the rescue.

Yesterday I discovered on Facebook that Dave of Dave's Blog has lost his iPod. Poor Dave, I was truly sympathetic but couldn't resist a little quip that this was his opportunity to upgrade to the latest model. Well, of course, I got what I deserved. The very same day I dropped my iPod. It continued to work for about 20 minutes and then froze. I tried every troubleshooting tip in the manual before I resorted to the Plaintive Yelp. HWEM was soon on his Mac - a man with a technical mission.

Meanwhile I started checking out the latest models in the Apple Store. I'd finally settled on the new 80 Gigabyte Classic and was thinking of adding some rather flash speakers when HWEM placed my old iPod on the desk. It was working!

In typical HWEM fashion he refused for some time to tell me how he had fixed it. It turns out, for that particular problem, you drop it a couple more times!

HWEM - My Hero.

Sketching En Plein Air

I banned myself from surfing other people's blogs this morning and headed out with my sketching stool. I only got as far as the corner, where I sketched our main street. The perspective is a little out. You may play 'spot the errors', but I'm rather pleased that I actually did this.

Yesterday I drew the garden tools I bought for HWEM on my 'sketching' trip to Florence. I used this as EDM Challenge #103 Draw Some Exercise Equipment - what you use to stay fit. Well, I am planning to use them - one day.