A bike ride, breakfast and an urban sketch

Most mornings, weather permitting,  I go out for a 3 or 4 mile cycle ride before breakfast.  With the warm weather we've had recently, I decided to combine my trip out with some sketching at a local park, taking a yoghurt and a piece of fruit to keep my energy levels up.

The only seat which provided the best view of the house within the parkland was a tree stump - in full sun and shared with a colony of ants - so my picnic and sketch were rather hurried.  However, it was good to get back into plein air sketching and I was able to enjoy a leisurely wander through the rest of the grounds before heading home (and a second breakfast).  Later in the day, temperatures of over 30 degrees were recorded so I was glad I took advantage of the slightly cooler hours.

Lydiard House (approx. 8" x 4")
Pen, watercolour and gouache in the Hahnemuhle Cappucino sketchbook

Needle and thread

My sketchbook seems to have given way to needle and thread over these last few weeks.  When tidying up my studio I found a piece of embroidery I started quite a few years ago, so it seemed a good time to make the effort to finish it (see this post). Since then I have tried to neaten up some basic stitches as well as trying new ones and in the process have ended up with several small samples.  Not sure what I am going to do with them,  maybe the basis for a fabric book?  We'll see - in the meantime, I am enjoying spending the odd hour exploring the world of stitch.

Each sample is about 2" square

In some instances I have drawn out my design with Inktense pencils, but I have also used felt-tip fabric pens and one started off as a lino print on fabric.

Drawing Attention (Urban Sketchers)

A link to the June issue of the Urban Sketchers publication - Drawing Attention

A walk in the Cotswolds

Other than my daily exercise - a cycle ride or a walk locally - yesterday was my first planned trip out with a friend since lockdown in March.

We met up in the Cotswold village of South Cerney and took a gentle meander beside the River Churn, then along a disused canal towpath, heading back to our starting point across farmland.  The lane beside the river is unusually named "Bow Wow" and, despite my searches, I couldn't find any reference to its origins.  I am sure it must date to a time before the local residents started using it as a favourite dog walk.

The river at this point is also famous for being the starting point for the annual Grand Duck Race, when the village is closed to traffic and the streets are taken over for the May bank holiday festival. Visitors can pay for a numbered yellow bathtub duck in the hope it will be first to cross the finishing post.

This area has many old Cotswold stone buildings and a snapshot of this unusual riverside "garden room" is the subject of a small sketch in my journal entry for the day.

Garden folly along the Bow Wow
Pen and watercolour (approx. 2" x 3")

Pen and watercolour

I seem to have been suffering from a bit of block on starting any watercolours lately.  I usually use cold pressed paper; however, I found a part used, small pad of hot pressed Fabriano Artistico paper in my cupboard and decided to try out a simple pen and watercolour sketch.

The sketch is from imagination so the flowers are of a rather indeterminate species, but it was good to get paint to paper at long last.

Pen and watercolour, approx 4" x 5"

Hungarian Map Fold

I'm not sure how much this differs from the Turkish map fold, but for some time I've been meaning to design an image that would fit the structure.

I had intended to do a lino cut, but in the end opted to scan my drawing and and print it on the computer, that way I hoped there would be less chance of misalignment.

Printed on cream paper with added accents of gold gel pen,
attached to a brown card blank

For the second one, I left one quadrant blank for a handwritten message.
Embellished with coloured and gold gel pens.  

I also added a close fitting cover and band utilising
one of my hand-painted papers
Closed size 3" x 4.5"