Buscot Park, Oxfordshire

Blue skies and plenty of warm sunshine yesterday prompted us to pay a repeat visit to Buscot Park, a nearby National Trust property.  Although at this time of the year most of the flowering plants were finished there were plenty of interesting vistas with the water garden cascading down to the lake, fountains, statues and a fascinating obelisk sundial at the top of the Egyptian Avenue.

Before heading home I made a quick tour of the inside of the house, just to look at the four magnificent large paintings by Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones,  which decorate the entire width of three walls of the saloon.  They are entitled "The Legend of the Briar Rose" and are based on the Sleeping Beauty story.

I managed a couple of quick sketches in my new Hahnemuhle Cappuccino book - the clock tower is definitely a bit wonky as I was attempting this standing up.

Pen, watercolour and burnt sienna watercolour marker

Autumn Exhibition

After set-up and stewarding Saturday morning for Swindon Open Studios/Urban Sketchers, it was an early start again Sunday morning for delivering paintings and helping put up screens for our art society's autumn exhibition.

I put in three paintings - the first two are the result of my experiments with randomly painted and printed backgrounds.

Sunny Tulips - acrylic and mixed media
Framed size 13" x 13"

Orchid - acrylic and mixed media
Framed size - 15" x 13"

Tree Peony - watercolour
Framed size - approx 16" x 16"

Open Studios and Urban Sketchers

Our local Urban Sketchers group managed to book a table in the foyer of Central Library for the two Saturdays of Swindon Open Studios. We produced some A5 flyers to hand out, pinned a few sketches to our display board, had pens, pencils and paper on hand (particularly for the children) and a changing selection of members' sketchbooks for people to browse through.  We had a fairly constant stream of people interested in the work, quite a few who said they "couldn't draw a straight line", but some who said they might take the plunge and come along to future sketch outings.  So we had quite a successful first day.

The plan had been for those stewarding to do some drawing while there, but it proved to be too busy.

Setting up our display area

Sketchbooks on display

Art society workshop

This month's Monday evening workshop challenge was to work from an uninspiring, black and white reference image supplied at the start of the session.  Members could interpret the subject either realistically, abstractly, as a whole or just in part, with the aim of producing something more interesting.

There were a couple of really imaginative abstract pieces which I admired, but I opted to try out a sketchy image on black paper.  I used a white gel pen to pick out the features I wanted to include, adding oil pastel and gouache to inject some colour.

This was our reference image

I used the Hahnemuhle Black Book -
 really nice, sturdy 250 gsm pages, ring-bound 9" x 9" 

Hahnemuhle Cappuccino sketch book

A lovely surprise in the post yesterday - a parcel from Germany with one of Hahnemuhle' s newly released sketchbooks.  The subtle creamy brown colour is so enticing.  There's even a sachet of coffee included so I can enjoy a drink while I sketch!

Having enjoyed using their Grey Book, I am really looking forward to getting started on this one.

Watch this space!

John Blockley Retrospective Exhibition

I visited this exhibition yesterday with a couple of artist friends.

The venue was in the small Cotswold village of Todenham - the studio of artist Ann Blockley - who organised this excellent retrospective exhibition of her late father's work.  In addition to the impressive range of paintings, we were able to browse through portfolios of John's superb sketches and drawings.  It was an event well worth visiting.

For more images see also: John Blockley

We each managed to grab a few minutes for a quick sketch before heading to Moreton-in-Marsh for a lunch stop, a brief wander round the market stalls and a local art emporium, then a mystery tour of narrow country lanes as we meandered homewards. A really good day out.

A very quick pen sketch of the dilapidated village pub. Some repair work
 was evidently being undertaken, but whether it will remain a community
hub or become a holiday home remains uncertain.

Pat (our intrepid "tour guide") and myself

In the courtyard outside the gallery

The Farriers Arms

Urban Sketchers Swindon

The local John Lewis department store invited our sketch group to spend a couple of hours in and around the store, in part helping to promote Swindon Open Studios which takes place near the end of this month.

Initially, the suggestion did not seem to attract much enthusiasm, but on the day there was quite a good turnout and the challenge was enjoyed.

I wasn't particularly pleased with my effort, having chosen a complicated view of the escalator and stairs, but I struggled on.  I should have followed the example of others in the group who isolated still life subjects from the various display stands.

Pen, watercolour, gouache, wax crayon, gel pen on tan paper

Below are some of the photos taken by Daniel Thuysbaert who organised the event.