Paper, paint and print: 2026

Monday, 9 March 2026

A new sketchbook for 2026!

8" x 6" watercolour sketchbook with
handpainted and embroidered cover

A friend makes beautiful, personalised, hand-bound sketchbooks - a very welcome Christmas gift, ready for the following year's sketching trips.

My sketches so far. In a couple of cases it was not convenient to sketch on site, either due to the weather or the location, in which case a photo was used as reference at the end of the day.

3.1.26 Too cold to linger outside. This was sketched and painted
from the relative comfort of an empty office building

4.2.26 Burford High Street - a bit chilly and blustery
so this was sketched later from a snapshot

7.2.26 An Urban Sketchers meeting in the local Museum and
Art Gallery - a detail from
"The Turnip Harvest" by Harold Dearden (1888-1969)

14.2.26 The Summer House in the grounds of Newark Park
(National Trust property in Gloucestershire). Very busy, with lots
of visitors, snowdrops galore, and two artists showing,
their work in the house -
Jo Biggadike aka Ambling Press (lino and collagraph prints)
and Jasmin Jones (watercolour and mixed media)

18.2.26 A sunny walk before lunch at the Green Dragon Inn, Cockleford.
Warm enough to sit outside afterwards and sketch the entrance
to the pub.

4.3.26 A very foggy start to the day, but brilliant sunshine
by the time we reached Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the
Severn Estuary. Famous for its influx of Bewick swans in
the winter, but also used by thousands of other water birds and
waders throughout the year. A large area to cover and lots to see -
I was attracted to this replica Arctic tundra hut similar to that
which would have been used by researchers studying the
decline of Bewick swans and other birds from that region..