Mill Road Winter Fair

Mill Road Winter Fair ink, watercolour and coloured pencil

On Saturday 5th December I joined the Cambridge Urban Sketchers to sketch the annual Mill Road Winter Fair. A few hardy souls gathered at the skateboard ramp at the Parkside end of Mill Road at midday before settling off to find a sheltered spot to sketch. I settled on a spot near The Broadway and perched on my camping stool until I could hardly feel my fingers anymore. Discarded coffee cups and escaped balloons swept past me as I was buffeted by the wind and I finally gave in and headed off to Romsey Mill Community Centre cafe to meet up with everyone else and thaw out with tea and cake! I added a bit more colour when I got home and got my fingers unfrozen!

This was my first trip out with Urban Sketchers since breaking my ankle in September and I hope to join the London Urban Sketchers next Saturday in Trafalgar Square. 

Sketching in Spain

Fruit Sculpture

Shadey Corner

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Last year I spent two weeks in the village of Tamariu, on the Costa Brava in Spain.

While there I managed a few sketches. The three below are sketches in the Botanic Gardens in Cap Roig, Calella. This bowl of fruit is a quirky water feature

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Femme du Jardin

Villa in Calella

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                                                   Palafrugell

Palafrugell Market

 

Tamariu

 

The road into Tamariu was precipitous to say the least but worth it for the view. Calella is a short distance along the coast and Palafrugell is the nearest large market town. I came here many years ago as child and am happy to say it is much the same as I remember it, beautiful and unspoilt.

Sketchbooks

A few weeks ago I visited my local art shop in Cambridge to stock up with my favourite Winsor & Newton sketchbooks. I was disappointed to find that the familiar blue covered hard back books were no longer on display, and that the only Winsor & Newton books had black covers and a different weight paper - 110gsm instead of 170gsm. The shop told me that W & N still made the heavier weight books but that they had changed the colour of the covers from blue to black, and that they could order some for me, which they did. I collected my new books expecting them to be the same quality as the blue covered ones I have used for years, so was sadly disappointed to find that they were not. The paper did not respond well to wet in wet watercolour or heavy washes, the surface breaking up and going fluffy.

Since then I have experimented with different sketchbooks - a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook and a Fabriano Venezia sketchbook.

Meanwhile I wrote to Winsor & Newton to ask if they had changed the paper, and if so, why? This is the reply I received last week.

Dear Sue,

Thank you for your email to Winsor & Newton and apologies for the delay in responding to your complaint. I’m sorry that you have been disappointed with your recent purchase of our sketchbook and I would like to try and explain some of the recent changes that have affected this product.

The paper industry has been struggling for some time and we are aware of an increase in the number of paper mills going out of business. It’s likely that the increase in digital media and technology is partly to blame but also we notice that mills are closing down because it’s very hard to compete in this acutely price sensitive market.

This has had a knock on effect for us as we need a supplier who can help us produce a competitively priced, good quality sketch book. In 2007, our original paper supplier increased their prices making the books no longer viable from this source. As a result we searched the world for an alternative supplier who could offer a similar paper at more competitive prices. However, because the paper is from a different mill some of its characteristics were slightly altered which may be more obvious when painting with heavy washes and I think this is what you have noticed.

I’m sorry for your disappointment with our current product but as a gesture of goodwill I would like to send you some replacement Luxury Water Colour Hard Back Sketch Books (265 x 210mm) which have 200lbs NOT surface paper. Please email me your postal address and I will arrange for these to be sent out.

Kind regards,

Tom Groundes-Peace

I am very impressed by Winsor & Newton's response. I did not request replacements or a refund, merely an explanation and information, both of which were sent. The offer of new sketchbooks was entirely their idea and very generous on their part. I have received two of the new luxury hardback books containing 200lb watercolour paper (far too good for sketching!).

I am still on the lookout for the old style blue sketchbooks, they were such good value. I think it's still possible to find them online.

The Immortal Stone

Chinese jades from the Neolithic period to the twentieth century

Jades from the museum’s collection covering the most important periods in Chinese history. Included will be jades for burial; animal sculptures and luxury utensils from the Ming and Qing periods and jades from the imperial collection, as well as fake jades from the late 19th to early 20th century. There will be a catalogue available to accompany this exhibition.

I visited this exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge last weekend. My first impression was that it was quite small, the Octagon is not very big, but I was soon absorbed by the exhibits. There is one fascinating exhibit depicting the various forms of forgery that have been used to make pieces of modern jade look like antiquities. They went to a lot of trouble to do this, copying pieces from catalogues and then scorching them to discolour the jade.

As photography is not allowed in the museum I pulled out my sketchbook to draw the horse below, but unfortunately the nib of my pen snapped and I had to complete the sketch with a non waterproof gel pen. I surreptitiously added watercolour using my tiny watercolour box and waterbrush as only dry media are allowed in the galleries, but it is so small that nobody noticed.

The exhibition is on until Sunday 31 May in the Octagon (Gallery 10)
Admission is free