202. Fundraisers 7 and 8

Parrottee Beach 2,

Acrylic and pencil on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Negril,

Acrylic and pencil on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Here are the final two tiles; I also submitted a 9.5" x 12" pastel painting of this beach that sold. I painted it back in September.

If I concentrate really, really hard, I can pretend this is the view outside my bedroom window. No, it's not; it's foggy!  :)))

201. Fundraisers 5 and 6

Seven Mile Beach,

Acrylic and pencil on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Parrottee Beach 1

Acrylic and pencil on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Yep, you were right!  The theme was either going to be the beach or trees… or both, wasn't it?! I also painted this set of four tiles for the fundraising event; two of which are here and two of which I've scheduled for tomorrow's post. There are no ink sketches to go with them as I just drew the faintest outlines before painting on top. I never tire of painting Jamaica - it's just unbelievable that somewhere looks like that all year round. Interestingly, when the hurricanes come, although the leaves may fly off, the palm trees simply bend down; they don't break. There's a moral in there somewhere!

Happy Monday my dear blog friends. xx

200. Fundraisers 3 and 4

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

(I decided to add two flowers)

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

(A bit lonely without the flowers, don't you think?)

Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

(before adding colour)

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

(before adding colour)

So,  there are my four cups and teacups tiles.  In the next post, I'll show you my final four tiles. Can you guess the theme I chose??

199. Fundraiser 2

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

(Now showing the painted fruit stalks!)

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

I've been gift-wrapping the 14 sold pieces. This one has been sold and I've just noticed that the photograph above was taken before I'd rectified the colour of the fruit stalks - Ooops!! I need to re-photograph the amended tile before handing it over then re-post.

Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

198. Fundraiser 1

Acrylic and Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

Unipin 0.05 pen on 3mm gessoed board, 4" x 4"

We were asked to submit tiles to a charity fundraiser which could be used as coasters or mounted or whatever. I completed eight and two friends did four each giving us sixteen. We adhered them to felt so that, if they were to be used as coasters, they would not scratch any surface and would be wipe-clean. I'll post them over the next few days and also show you a photo of them together in a group. (The untrimmed felt in the background gave me something to hold onto without touching the painted tile.)

Memories of Supertramp because 'it's raining again'….!

197. More Trees, More Park, Can't Help it!

Lamy Safari fountain pen 

in Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook, 8.5" x 5.5" (x2)

It's true! I can't help it - I love sketching the landscape, parks, trees, etc. I'm wondering whether to add some light colour to this so I've taken a photocopy of the sketchbook pages and will mess about with some coloured pencil; if it works, I'll colour in my sketchbook. Maybe see you later...

196. Lovely Cuppa and New Sketchbooks!

Pilot G-Tec-C4 in Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5" (x1.3)

I'm nearing the end of this lovely sketchbook and I'm gonna miss it! However, I have other sketchbooks waiting with baited breath to receive some recognition. I've already started on my Stillman & Birn Alpha and Epsilon sketchbooks, then there are the ones I've stitched and bound - all vying for attention!

Some home-made sketchbooks. My husband has kidnapped the top one; I made the third one down for him as he wanted a slim one and I made the half-sized chunky one for myself as I wanted one with twice the number of pages as the bottom one but without any extra weight.

195. Book Club

Lamy Safari fountain pen and Neocolour II wax pastels

in Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook, 8.5" x 5.5"

I spotted this dear gentleman in the train as we were waiting for the train doors to open on the station and, in a flash, knew I needed to sketch him so when the doors opened I dashed to the table diagonally opposite him. He had obviously just purchased this book and was totally engrossed in it so, for the first twenty minutes of the journey, I was able to observe and sketch unnoticed by anyone (even my husband wasn't looking).

A couple of times when I'd nearly finished sketching, the man looked at me with vague curiosity but I just gazed down the centre aisle until he was lost in his book again. By the way, this is a 'Weymann' (it's from the 1940s):

194. Peace Pagoda

Lamy Safari Medium Fountain Pen, Neocolour II wax pastels and a

smidgeon of Tombow brushpen in Stillman & Birn Alpha Sketchbook, 8.5" x 5.5"

I love drawing buildings and architecture but this structure in Battersea Park was so difficult for me that I can only put it down to the fact that it is not a typically western construction.

It was so cold yet we still had a fantastic day with the Urban Sketchers London group. One of the highlights on these 'sketchcrawl' days is comparing sketches over lunch and at the end of the day; we all had way too much fun at the Doodle Bar (a completely unique artistic space!) at the end of the day warming up with pots of tea and poring over the work in each and everyone's fabulous sketchbooks - artists are so very friendly and encouraging!

193. Sketchcrawl - Vauxhall Bridge

Lamy Safari fountain pen, Neocolour II wax pastels 

and Tombo Brushpen in Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5" (x2)

Done at the Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawl: 'Let's Draw Battersea". This is Vauxhall Bridge from the Albert Embankment. It was full of such interestingly shaped buildings, cranes, etc - my husband had to drag me away to the next spot as I was getting very carried away.

192. Cumbrian Lake

Lamy Safari Medium Fountain Pen in 

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5" (x2)

Hah! Can you tell that I can't remember which lake this is? Shame on me! I'm not totally happy with the background perspective; somehow I've managed to make these majestic mountains look like hillocks. Ah well; I shall just have to draw another one! :)

191. Trees Happen

Lamy Safari Medium Fountain Pen in 

Handbook Travelogue Journal, 5" x 5" (x2)

(writing done with Pentel G-Tec-C4 Brown pen

I did a favour for two friends and they very generously gave me a surprise 'gift'. I have been eyeing up the Lamy Safari for months and wondering… Marc Taro Holmes and many other urban sketchers swear by them.  Well, the 'gift' was enough for me to use some of it to purchase this beauuuuuutiful pen. Oh my goodness! I'd forgotten how lovely it is to use a proper fountain pen and it's also possible to vary the thickness of the lines... AND these Lamy pens are classed as "starter pens"! Thank you so much my dear friends!

Looking for inspiration, I referred back to some very recent photographs of the park. This is actually two separate views of it, tied together with the middle tree. Then, as usual, I became mesmerised shading it - LOL!