Drawing wild birds

I went to the North Lakes in July to participate in a workshop led by John Threlfall, organised by the Field Studies Council at their centre on Blencathra.

John is an outstanding contemporary artist, committed to the drawing and painting of wild creatures on location from direct observation. In his own words he witnesses the natural world through pencil and paint. The books of his paintings are annotated descriptively and poetically, every wild creature painted within its own landscape.

He currently has a solo show exhibiting at the Donald Watson Gallery in Aberlady, near Edinburgh. His work will also be on display at the Society of Wildlife Artists annual show at the Mall Galleries in London in Oct/Nov this year. 

As well as all of that he is a very good teacher.

The workshop took place over 4 days in the most spectacular location of The North Lakes near Keswick. An extended spell of high pressure meant clear skies and warm temperatures all week.

Drawing birds is a challenging thing to attempt. They move, they swim, they hide, they fly away. John stressed the importance of close observation in order to identify characteristic features and gestures, and above all, patience. We all applied ourselves and had a very rewarding and enjoyable week, learning as we sketched.

In four days sketching, I used up a pad of A2 cartridge paper, 4 pencils from tip to stump, trashed a portable chair, ripped the buckle from a bag, and wore out two old shirts.  (Also a fair bit of strong coffee, gin and tonic, and white wine, but that's another story)

A selection of sketches of canada and greylag geese, attempting to capture characteristic gestures and positions (Fiona):

Garden shed

garden shed from Fiona's garden; inks and watercolour (Jane)

Broken-down garden sheds are a bit of a speciality in Wolverhampton. As they sag and lose planks, people prop them up and patch up the holes. Black Country people are endlessly resiliant and resourceful. Makeshift blue vinyl rooves are a common sight and almost a work of art in themselves.  These temporary structures become permanent fixtures amidst the nettle patches and compost heaps at the end of the garden.

Jane was taken by this particular shed, and came round to sketch it before we put up another in front of it (in order to decant the contents of our broken-down shed so that we can patch it up in turn, so the cycle continues..). In the spontaneity of her brushstrokes and the discrete use of the startling blue, she has captured the wildness of the undergrowth, and the dappled light as it filters through the tall trees, as well as the unique character of the garden shed.

Sketching in Tuscany

We had a wonderful and inspirational week in Tuscany. Our trip started in Pisa, the air fresh and clear after overnight electric storms. The view from our hotel was spectacular. We sketched for an hour before journeying to Volterra for the workshop.

Leaning Tower, Pisa; pencil (Tina)

duomo, Pisa; watercolour, conte crayon and ink on altered book (Fiona)

In Volterra, we were greeted with a gentle and warm-hearted welcome by Klaudia, Wolfgang and Anton to the Villa Guadelupe, and over the next few days formed a firm bond with the group of diverse, talented and committed artists who had travelled from all parts of Italy, and from Spain, Germany and Russia, to take part in the workshop. The hospitality was fabulous. Simo and Caroline were supportive and energetic workshop leaders, taking us from sketching inside the villa, looking outwards to the gardens and hills beyond; then back to the ancient history of the area, sketching in the Etruscan museum and the Roman amphitheatre and the streets of Volterra; ending with a sketchcrawl to the final public exhibition of our collective work on the final day. Simo has written a summary of the workshop in english here  and in italian on her blog here.


We finished the trip off with a day in Florence. The warmth of the landscape and the people and all that we'd learned made us want to stay longer; a sign of a great week. Photos of the workshop and participants here

A few examples of our sketches:

Val di Cecina from Villa Guadelupe, Volterra; watercolour & conte crayon (Fiona)

Val di Cecina from Villa Guadelupe, Volterra; watercolour (Tina)

Olive groves and the Val di Cecina; indian ink (Fiona)

Volterra garden; watercolour (Tina)

Etruscan bronze statuettes; inktense pencil (Fiona)

Florence, from Santa Croce; ink & watercolour (Tina)

Seeing the world one drawing at a time

Two of us (Fiona and Tina) are flying to Italy next week to take part in 'Tuscan Landscape', an urban sketchers' workshop in the ancient city of Volterra, based in the beautiful Villa Le Guadalupe.


We will be sketching and seeing our surroundings 'one drawing at a time' in keeping with the urban sketchers' manifesto (see below). Their philosophy of truth in looking, capturing and sharing is one that chimes resoundingly with all us who sketch and paint. We'll also be sketching the magnificent Etruscan and Roman remains, working expressively and experimentally exploring interrupted lines and fragments.  We're very much looking forward to sketching in such a wonderful environment and meeting the interesting people who are also attending. In fact we're so excited to be going, and to be going together, that we've been quietly delirious for weeks.

I attended a similar workshop in 2011 and wrote about it in my personal blog here and here.

USK Manifesto

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation. 2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel. 3. Our drawings are a record of time and place. 4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness. 5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles. 6. We support each other and draw together. 7. We share our drawings online. 8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Reading this manifesto earlier this summer, I was spurred on to sketch even more regularly. I've therefore had a very pleasant summer sitting outside cafes and in pub gardens, consuming excellent coffees, beer and various cakes, pies etc, sketching whatever I could see in front of me. I made my own sketchbook, taking an old poetry textbook and altering the pages by staining them with inks, household emulsion and gesso or including extra pages, mostly old monoprints, textured papers etc. Every page is different and the challenge has been to work on whatever surface presents itself next, no matter the subject, and no matter how difficult! I'll post about how I made the book in another post later. 

All sketches have been done on location; on some of the pages, colour and texture has been added later. Here are a few examples:

Victorian pub 'the Rising Sun'; watercolour, ink and gouache on yellow household emulsion paint (Fiona)

16thc coaching inn 'The Crown'; gouache and inks on ink-spattered text (Fiona)

fields and sky at Compton Verney; watercolour and gesso (Fiona)

stone sculpures at Tong church; inks on old monoprint (Fiona)

Tong church and village; watercolour, inks and white marker pen on household emulsion (Fiona)

light and dark; inks, crayon and gouache on household emulsion (Fiona)

watercolour, gouache and inks on old monoprint (Fiona)

summer sketchbooks 3

Sue came back from St. Ives with sketches on watercolour paper, sketches on postcards, a moleskine watercolour sketchbook (almost full!) and also a number of life-drawings from an evening at the St.Ives School of Painting. Truly spectacular output, not just in quantity but also in the quality of the paintings, each one a watercolour gem, demonstrating her usual lightness of touch and sensitivity in choice of subject and composition

Here are a few of her colour studies, again all worked on location en plein air:

summer sketchbooks 2

Sue came back from St. Ives with sketchbooks filled with ink and watercolour studies. Her love for the town and surroundings began when she first went there on holiday as a teenager. Her sketches show great sensitivity of touch and deep affection for the landscape. All her sketchbook work is done from direct observation en plein air.

Here are some of her pen and ink drawings of boats in the harbour:

summer sketchbooks

Some extracts from summer sketchbooks, with more to follow over the next few weeks...

An ever-stretching wild river meadow of dandelions with fields of yellow oil-seed rape beyond, sweltering in the golden light of mid-summer, the river deep and fast behind me.
This was worked up from an in-situ sketch as preparatory work for a painting on canvas. I've started to work in a bigger format (A3 sketchbook) in an attempt to ease the transition from living in my sketchbook to stand-alone work.

Severn valley, Shropshire; 82cm x 30cm; inks, watercolour & enamels on gesso (Fiona)

This sunflower sketch was an experiment in using Ecoline watercolour inks. I bought a set a few years ago and have never really got to grips with them, mainly because I'm used to making a limited palette work hard, and tend to avoid brilliant colours.  However, the vibrancy of these inks really comes into its own using pen and wash. The subsequent Indian ink washes and cool conte crayon  work as a counter-balance.

sunflower; 30cm x 41cm; inks & conte crayon (Fiona)

bleached treetrunk, Himley Hall; 30cm x 41cm; inks, aquarelle & conte crayon (Fiona)

I sketched this old dead tree trunk in the teeth of a very brisk north wind, so worked quickly with a broad bamboo pen and various inks, flinging it all around in order to complete the entire sketch in about 15 minutes. That way I could get back quickly into the warm sunshine... but also a great way to free up a drawing and work expressively.