More than just a Planter

I'm very fortunate to still have both of my parents. They are getting on in years now - mum is 86 and dad is 93. They still look after themselves very well and only need me to drop in on them a couple of times a week. They celebrated their 65th Wedding Anniversary yesterday and I arranged another card from the Queen, which made them very happy.

My Dad has always enjoyed woodwork. He doesn't do the proper stuff ... joints, mortice and tenons, etc ... and tends to 'knock' things together with a hammer and nails. But his leaky shed at the bottom of his garden is his sanctuary and he spends hours and hours knocking out bird tables and nesting boxes. A while ago he was saying he wished he could do something else, but didn't know what.

I was pruning a tree shortly after and had an idea. I took him some branches of varying thicknesses and asked him to make me a Planter that I could put a few of my fuchsia's into. He looked puzzled but said he'd give it some thought. A week later, this is what he presented me with. It is about 18" long and 5" wide, and the 'coal tender' behind the 'drivers cab' is the perfect size for a plant pot. It has sat proudly on my patio since that day. It is looking weathered now, which adds to it's character, and many of the twigs are losing their bark. But it is a treasured possession and will always be so much more than just a Planter.

Lindisfarne

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne is one place I've always wanted to visit. It is too far North for me to do it in a day trip so I need to take advantage of being in that area. Despite a holiday many years ago in the North Yorkshire Moors and another some time later in the Durham region, both within and hour or two of the Island, I haven't managed to get there. The nearest I managed was in 2007 as we were travelling back from a weeks holiday in Scotland. We passed within 20-30 minutes of Lindisfarne, but there wasn't enough time to make a worthwhile detour. So the island remains one of those places I just long to visit.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne Castle sits on top of a volcanic mound known as Beblowe Craig. The castle was built in the 1550's following the dissolution of the monastries by Henry VIII, in defence of the realm against attack by Scotland and in pursuit of their Spanish allies. The island is reached via a tidal causeway that is completely submerged when the tide comes in. I think the boyish sense of adventure of being in the castle when the tide comes in, totally cut off from the mainland, is one of the attractions for me.

Ingrid provided a photograph of the castle for my Art Forum's latest Painting Project, and this is my effort. It's been a while since I last had time for a painting and I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Another sketch.

As is so often the case, yet again I have found myself without time for any serious drawing or painting. I am not one of those loose painters who can quickly splash some paint onto the paper and create a masterpiece. I so envy artists who can do that. To produce anything even half decent I have to mark out some pencil guidelines first, and then the painting itself takes me ages. And when I am drawing, everything takes so long, especially if it's a tricky subject and I decide to do a grid. I know from the feedback I get in my art forum that I am not alone.

Lindisfarne - Water Soluble Pen - A5

Rather than not do any drawing when time is short, I am pushing myself to sketch. A sketch can be very quick and doesn't require the fiddly precision of a proper drawing. In addition, there is nothing better for building confidence than going straight onto the paper with a pen. When sketching with pencil I can't help but reach for the eraser when I make the smallest slip, yet when working with pen, that is not an option.

A sketch doesn't have to be 'good' to be a worthwhile exercise. Take this sketch of Lindisfarne (Holy Island). Although not a great picture it was superb practice at interpreting perspectives, judging proportions and recording the shapes of the buildings. The pen required a confident approach and by using water soluble ink and a wet brush, it also forced me to study the tones in the scene. The picture took just a little over 15 minutes to do and, best of all, it was FUN!!!

Bloody cats!!!

I arrived home from work this evening to see the tell tale signs of a problem I detest. There were a number of feathers strewn across my front lawn. After I'd parked the car and dropped my briefcase into the hall, I went for a look round. Sure enough, I found what I'd expected ... a headless, well mutilated body of a pigeon.

Some of you may remember that a couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to witness the activities of a pair of pigeons from their courtship, through their intimate moments, nest building, egg hatching and finally first flights of the fledglings. The pigeons always hang out on pairs and I was acutely aware of this pigeons mate standing forlornly in the middle of our drive looking lost. As I cleared up the remains, the lone pigeon sat quietly on a nearby fence ... still ... watching. What was going through it's mind?

I know what was going through my mind!!! If I knew which of my neighbours had allowed their cat to exercise it's natural instincts in my garden, I would have taken the mutilated corpse back to the neighbour and told them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine!!!

My apologies to any of my followers who are cat owners, but I am seething right now. So much so that when I sat down a few hours later to pickup my sketch pad and pen, there was only one thing on my mind.

Fuchsia - coloured

Fuchsia "Blackie"

I stood the ink drawing of the Fuchsia (see previous post) on my shelf where I could see it as I came and went into my 'study'. I always do this as it helps me to see them through the eyes of others after a while.

Anyway, the starkness of this sketch has been screaming at me to add some colour. In the end I gave in and washed in a weak Cadmium Red on the Sepals, and a weak Purple Lake to the corolla (petals).

In truth, the sepals should be much more vivid and the corolla ought to be very dark, almost black. Even so, I like this much better and have decided to do a proper painting of this flower when I can.

Fuchsia

Fuchsia "Blackie"

I just haven't been able to do any drawing or painting lately and just had to do something. You know what it's like ... that itch just has to be scratched, no matter what.

With very little time I decided a quick pen sketch was the order of the day. Besides, I like the challenge of going straight onto the paper with ink. It is unforgiving and is a great confidence builder. As my regular followers will know, I'm rather partial to using non-permanent ink and a wet brush.

Normally I would choose a hard landscape to sketch with pen, but I thought it would be interesting to try something softer this time. I'm a very keen Fuchsia grower with several scores of different varieties. The delicate frills of this "Blackie" (really a very deep dark purple) was just what I was looking for.

Lost my virginity ...

... or in other words, I've finally had my first plein air experience.

I promised myself that the next opportunity I had, I would try and be courageous and attempt something plein air. I have been inspired entirely by my blogger friends. I have long been a fan of Keith Tilley and thoroughly enjoy his exploits into the wild and rugged Scottish hinterland where he lives. The first urges to try it myself came from Sandra Busby's account of her day with Sue Pownall and I can imagine how wonderful that must have been. More recently, Michael Bailey's quick sketches have inspired me to finally make the effort. There are others whose blogs have contributed to the many small 'kicks' that have ultimately led to me losing my virginity.

Sketch 1 - Beach Gardens

My wife and I have just spent a couple of days on the east coast and the opportunity to embarrass myself in front of scores of strangers finally presented itself. Before I say any more I must say that ALL of the sketches I produced are poor. They were very hastily and nervously scratched out but for me the pleasure, satisfaction and sense of achievement comes NOT from the quality of the sketches, but from the challenge of drawing in public and the barriers I succeeded in breaking down. I am not a confident person and I have a low opinion of my art, so to attempt something in public was a double challenge.

Sketch 2 - Southwold Pier

While doing the first sketch of the Beach Garden at our holiday resort, two ladies who had been sitting nearby, passed behind me and one of them said "Wow, did you just draw that?". We exchanged a few brief pleasantries and they went on their way. Though they couldn't see much since I was using a small A5 pad, it was nice of them to comment and made my first experience a pleasant one.

The second sketch was done sitting on a cliff top bench high above Southwold pier. The bench was on the public pathway and scores of people were passing by. None of them spoke and I kept my head down, but I was aware of the passing eyes.

Sketch 3 - Beach Gardens

The third effort was a more serious attempt at producing a worthwhile picture, though it had to be done standing up, which I found particularly difficult. Again I used pen but this time on an A4 pad. I had my watercolour pencils with me so I was able to add some colour which I then touched up with my Aquabrushes.

My final effort was a very quick doodle of the view in front of me as we stopped beside a lake for a quick snack.

Sketch 4 - Lakeside picnic

As I've previously stated, I'm under no illusion as to how poor these are from an art perspective, but this exercise was never about the art. Whether or not I ever reach the stage of attempting a proper watercolour painting plein air remains to be seen, but I will certainly be making a bigger effort to carry a pen and sketch pad with me when I go out and about. To all my blogger friends who have inspired me, thank you. ;-)