Wednesday 27 March 2013

Quick sketches

These quick sketches have been done whilst we were away.
The first is of a guy sat at a bar in a hotel we were staying in...his faithful dog stayed right beside him all the time, this was great for me as it gave me plenty opportunity to draw both of them.

Then of course I had to draw a certain lurcher!

I'll be posting more sketches and photos very soon....hope you enjoy these for now....











Tuesday 26 March 2013

Mottisfont

A recent trip down to Mottisfont another National Trust property, near Romsey in Hampshire. A bit like a bus mans holiday for me, seeing as I work at the National Trust house near us, Arlington. However, this one was very different....the house a totally different style. It was nice meeting the staff and volunteers there, exchanging some info about Arlington and comparing some of the ideas they have at Mottisfont, perhaps taking back some of those ideas too.

Although, I am glad Arlington still uses its working stables, the Mottisfont wire horse would be a lot easier to look after!

With that I will leave you with some of the photos I took that day......hope you enjoy























Sunday 24 March 2013

Sunday Sketches



It does sometimes happen, that I find myself without a sketchpad to hand....but you can usually find something to draw on.  Yesterday I found an old envelope in the car and just saw it as a piece of drawing paper.   Luckily I had a pen and my waterbrush in my bag, phew!    Although, only a very small sketch it is a reminder of a good day out and I'll be sticking this into a journal page for keeps.



Many thanks to Blue Chair Diary
for hosting Sunday Sketches



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Friday 22 March 2013

Coffee break


I wondered the other day : ' how few lines would a mug of coffee make'...


but somehow I still 'add' unnecessary lines!!! grrrr.....


How about we all have a Coffee Break together

so kick back and relax....

and have a very enjoyable weekend


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Saturday 16 March 2013

Watercolour postcards

On our recent trip I bought a Cotman Water Colour Postcards pad.



Ideal for sketching the places we go to and obviously a sketch of Cambridge was a must.   I know, not perfect by any means, but an indication of the place at least.  I am in awe of anyone who could sketch this building in detail, it's full of it by the bucket load!



being a postcard it only measures 6" x 4"  (that's 15.2 x 10.2cm in foreign money!) so is nice and quick to draw and colour in.  In this case I've waited for it to dry completely and then covered it with Modge Podge as a sealer.....(using watercolours can have a down side to it, once wet...disasters!)






Now here's the thing.  I know there are loads of website/blogs where people Swap Postcards, with some fully subscribed etc.  So I'm thinking about an

Ann's Postcard Giveaway

every so often - No Swaps, just a postcard winging its way to a willing recipient.   And let me say here and now they will only be sketches, no Fine Art,  I want to enjoy sketching and/or painting them without added pressure!

If anyone would like to receive this postcard just leave me a comment on this blog post and I'll put your name in a hat.   I'll draw a name out on Thursday evening (21st March)- 
Let you all know the name drawn out on this blog and then the lucky person can email me on:  somesaddlesoap@hotmail.com 
 with their address details.   Oh, and this is Open to all - in other words the UK and beyond.


I'll see how this one goes and if it is successful then I'll make a point of doing these every now and again.  But don't forget


You need to be In it   
to Win it


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Friday 15 March 2013

Beyond Devon....





It has been a great week.  Firstly with a visit to an area where my husb. was brought up in his early years....we actually found the house he had lived in.  Plus I got to sketch and paint throughout our trip.  We stayed in two different locations (Hotels were lovely) and to top it all we got to meet and visit with relatives, which was wonderful.

All started with a long drive over to Bedford.  One day we took a drive around Woburn Park,
 here's the streetview of a small portion of the park you get to drive through.  The main house not yet open to the public, but here is a glimpse of it, thanks to streetview again!

My sketchbook was kept busy throughout the week...





Vases - sketched during some 'down time' at the hotel


even part of a wallpaper pattern got a sketch!



We visited Cambridge which was interesting, lots of tourists (including us) and I took some photos, of course...






My one sketch there was brief as it was SO COLD, brrr.... I couldn't hold the pencil and hence coloured this in later...




and came across this rather bizarre modern memorial...very modern against the old buildings..

Read up on it later and it all made sense...


  Another town and more sketching - Watching people scurrying about, they all looked in such a hurry and Cold,  getting their shopping done and back to somewhere warm!
As I tend to avoid sketching people, this proved a useful exercise .... how will I get
better at sketching them unless I give it a go!




metal statue against the natural wood of a tree - set each other off
(here's the streetview of it)



in such cold weather finding a random palm tree seemed a bit
unusual, but it was obviously very happy with masses of ivy climbing up it


and this is where I will love you and leave you for today my friends
whilst I Link to
with many thanks to EVA & Kristin for hosting


and trust you will all have a great weekend


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Sunday 3 March 2013

Tree on a hill



A quick sketch based loosely on the one I did last week  ~ here ~

at least I think this qualifies as a 'sketch' although I have to say that I didn't draw it out first.  Just used clear water to roughly 'place' the slope of the hill and tree, then dropped the paint in.  Again I used one of my squirrel mops...oh, what bliss to have a paint brush that does the work for me.

 I added some darker mix with a smaller sable brush once the first layer of paint was dry.



       and as it is Sunday, I am Linking to Sunday Sketches

Sunday Sketches