sat navs, new moleskines and photos

Ancient flooded slate quarry, near Swithland Woods. photo: Vivien Blackburn

I went a run out to test out the sat nav on routes I knew before I trust it on longer unknown runs - gosh that woman does nag if you take a shortcut! 'make a u turn as soon as possible' repeated 10 times before a sulky silence while she thinks where to take you next :>)

I wanted to go and check out how suitable the view of this old slate quarry would be to sketch and park - and it's ideal. I can park right next to it and get an ok view over the old drystone walls, which I can lean my sketchbook on. It's on private land so I don't get much choice on view. I like the reflections of the trees and the way the colour is different - the banks are the dried leaves from last autumn, bleached but with a hint of pinkness against the greens of the ivy. The reflection of the bank though is deep murky greeny colours - interesting. The tangle of trees will be an interesting element to draw.

And last but not least - there is a new moleskine out and it's a decent size :>) they are now doing the books (at last) in A4 and A3 sizes - for those in the US that's the size of the paper you use in the computer (A4) and double that size(A3). I much prefer these sizes, especially the A3 to trying to work in smaller books. I find the previous 'large' moleskine rather cramping but I do like the paper as a change. They are on special offer on Amazon at the moment and I've ordered myself an A3 watercolour book :>D The A3 sketchbook (not w'col) apparently has different paper so I'm waiting to see how people like it - I would like one with the same shiny smooth paper as the usual books.

Do you like small or large sketchbooks?