Cover 2 Cover 2017 - sketchbook one - Classical Mechanics

These drawings are my contributions to "my" collaborative Cover to Cover 2017 sketchbook.

This year, each participating artist chose their own sketchbook theme, and second hand books that suited those themes were bought for adaptation by the group of six artists. My theme was Classical Mechanics. The book was (once) a Child's A-Z of Technology. It was an A4 paperback, roughly the size of a glossy magazine, with slightly more substantial (but no less glossy) pages. The paper proved difficult to work on, and I ended up gesso'ing several pages (sometimes leaving choice images or text).

Top: cover (old jeans, Molotow and One4All markers) and
title page ('found' image from the book, acrylic ink, fountain pen and bad joke)

Newbury Spring Festival 2017: Leo Popplewell, Cellist, lunchtime recital at the Corn Exchange

Last year, I participated in a collaboration between the Newbury Spring Festival and the local Open Studios in which artists were invited to sketch at performances and rehearsals. The results of last year's collaboration (which involved six artists in total) are on display at the Newbury Corn Exchange until 24 May.

I really enjoyed the sketching, and I found working from those sketches to produce finished artworks a very satisfying process. So I was delighted when I discovered that I would be able to do it again this year. I was only able to fit one sketching date in my schedule, and that date was today's lunchtime recital - a performance by the young cellist Leo Popplewell.

There were, by coincidence, a lot of cellos last year. I have come to like cellos; they have beautiful curves and make a wonderful array of very lovely sounds. Young Mr. Poplewell certainly teases out a fabulous noise from his instrument. He was accompanied by Mikey Pandya on piano for the first part of the show (when they performed Sibelius - Malinconia Op.20 and Fauré - Sonata No.2 in G Op.117), but played alone on stage for the second part (Britten - Cello Suite No.1 Op.72).

Taking the train

Moderately crowded trains can be good places to observe and sketch people. They tend to stay fairly still and they tend to keep themselves occupied, making it easy to make unobtrusive sketches.

I recently made a number of journeys to London, and these are some of my sketches made on one such (I have omitted the few that include potentially recognisable faces). It was a busy train; I stood all the way from Basingstoke (a little over an hour).

 

But my children were happy to sit on the floor.

Sherwood Forest and Rufford Abbey

The Major Oak

We visited Sherwood Forest during the summer holidays, but as I just finished an oil painting based on the Robin Hood legend, it seems like a good time to catch up on the quick sketches I made there and at Rufford Abbey.

The ruins of Rufford Abbey, set within the house's own park, are within the Sherwood Forest area, but is not part of the Sherwood Forest Country Park, although both are run by Nottinghamshire County Council. Rufford is famed in the world of folk song for a true poaching incident - which you'll find in my song drawing right at the very bottom of this post. If you want to listen to the song, I can recommend Jim Moray's version.

Sherwood Forest visitors

Rufford Abbey

Rufford Abbey

The Rufford Park Poachers: A song drawing

Paradise in a paper bag

Oil pastel on A3 mixed media paper (cropped)

My son picked these apples (variety: Paradise Citta) from our little tree. It's still laden down with fruit.

Cartoon Capers with Beenham Wind Orchestra

Last night, I had the great pleaure of attending a concert of cartoon-related music, given by the Beenham Wind Orchestra in the church of St. Mary's in Thatcham. The orchestra were not expecting to be sketched, but seemed quite pleased with it nonetheless.

Cornish beach scenes

I often end up on the beach in Cornwall in the off season, or when the weather is not so fantastic as it was last weekend.

So it was not surprising to find that Praa Sands was thronging with people. I made a number of sketches, and they were all about the people on the beach rather than the landscape or the sea.