Parasol

Here is a pastel I drew some time ago. The situation and place are pretty unimportant as far as the drawing is concerned (though it was based on a photo taken on the beach at Holme-Next-The-Sea in Norfolk): it was the simplicity of the layout and the colours used that I liked.

I tried to do a larger version of this, making the colours brighter and cleaner, but it all went horribly wrong and I never finished it. In that picture, I tried laying down a base layer of acrylic to strengthen the colour of the pastels I placed on the top, but I wasn't careful enough and was never able to subsequently cover up my errors. Ah well. Maybe I'll go back to it one day.

Make poverty history

I think this is a worthy enough cause to take a short break from the usual sketching fodder. Since the G8 Summit is taking place in the UK, I figure the least I can do is post the message below, which comes courtesy of the G8 REBOOT website (link in the title above):

Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty.

On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic.

8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and made the trade laws fair. If these 8 men agree, then we will become the generation that made poverty history.

But they'll only do it if enough people tell them to.

We don't want your money - we want you!

Visit these sites to find out more:

• Make Poverty History


• Commission for Africa


• Live 8 Live

And while they carried on looking for stones, I carried on sketching. Here is a picture of Seaford Head: a view that I have photographed many many times, but not drawn until now. It might be nice to do this one as a watercolour some time.

Beautiful weather here in the UK at the moment. Went swimming in the sea on the South Coast on Saturday, and afterwards, while the girls gathered interesting stones, I sat and sketched their pumps drying in the sun. I like the loose style of this, and the contrast between the dark shadows on the inside of the pumps, and the brighter areas where the sun shone on them. Amazing how something that is black can provide such a range of tones.

Father's Day

Well, this weekend was Father's Day in the UK. Not traditionally an event that we as a family make a great deal of fuss over. But this year, my two lovely girls proudly presented me with a beautiful Cotman Painting Plus Watercolour set.

Now, I know very very little about watercolour painting, but I've wanted to learn for a while. With luck, I'll be able to put some of the results of my trials up here on the blog in the coming months.

Here's a sketch I drew while on holiday last year of Smardale Bridge. In the 1700s, this used to be on the main road between Kendal in the Lake District, and Kirkby Stephen, in the Eden Valley; this was one of the main East-West routes in the UK. There was a coaching inn right by the bridge. Now, the bridge is in the middle of nowhere, the road and the coaching inn have crumbled to the ground. You pass this bridge when you walk from the village of Ravenstonedale to Smardale Viaduct (a Victorian railway viaduct, again, disused now). We sat and had our lunch by the bridge, and while the others looked at flowers and insects, I sketched.

Back to sketches after a bit of a break. Here's my daughter's handbag, sketched just as it lay on the table while we were on holiday. Surrounded by the beauty of Cumbria, and I draw my daughter's handbag. You've got to smile.

Well, it's not very often you get to see the Queen, but I just did, on the streets of Cambridge, about half an hour ago. I managed to take a snap with my camera phone and thought it was worth blogging about!