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)

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

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.

portrait of Fiona

Tina has started work on a portrait of Fiona, perhaps the first of a 'drawing allowed' series. 

It may become a large painting in oil, or perhaps the start of a series of paintings inspired by friends busy doing what they like doing.. in Fiona's case working on a crocheted blanket. It could also form the basis for a more complex work of multiple small-scale portraits. Or it may remain as it is. One of Tina's favourite things to say about art is that anything is possible, and that we can do anything we like, such a liberating thought.

Tina is fascinated by the facial expressions and head movements as people concentrate, and also their hands as they move through the necessary productive positions and gestures. In this initial exploration, she surprised herself by painting Fiona smiling as she worked. So, this is a starting point; an accomplished and insightful exploration that managed to surprise the artist but at the same time a source of inspiration for further work.

In the spirit of the twin-face of Janus, the name-sake of the month of January, we could all pause and look afresh at our work and sketchbooks, reflect and take inspiration from these starting points to further develop our future work, perhaps allowing ourselves and our work to develop and mature in surprising directions.

Fiona crocheting by Tina (watercolour and gouache)