paintings prints and stuff

  First shoes, coloured pencil and ballpoint pen in S&B Delta sketchbook A tiny size 3, my grandsons first trainers, sketched in coloured pencil and ballpoint pen.  I managed to catch time to sketch them while he had an afternoon sleep.

A sketch done from our holiday cottage in watercolour/mixed media in an A4 S&B sketchboo We had wonderful views from the house, right left and front .... and even the steep hillside/cliff at the back had primroses and bluebells. This is looking sideways when the tide is high, past a row of terraced cottages that climb up the steep track.  That's 'our' garden ..... for a week anyway! I used watercolour with some pen and a few touches of coloured pencil - oh and a little FW white acrylic ink, a new favourite medium, used with a bamboo pen or brush.  It is really opaque and a clear clean white. so useful for surf etc when you've lost the white of the paper in places,   I work fastish, the painting evolves and I don't always retain all the lights so use this or white gouache to regain them.  I like mixing media, choosing whatever will create the marks I want.  I'm trying to catch a spirit of place and have no interest at all in rules about 'pur...

Little courtyard off the waiting room, people waiting to be seen by the doctor; Rotring pen, water soluble felt pen with waterbrush and Parker jotter in Stillman and Birn Gamma Sketchbook I'm seeing rather too much of hospital waiting rooms at the moment - but the weather was nice so we waited in a little courtyard garden, just off the waiting room, for our appointment - which of course was running late.   Sketching people out in the fresh air relieved the boredom considerably :>) Not great sketches - my excuse is that the models kept twitching and moving and crocheting and suchlike, making it impossible to do the woman's hands for instance  - for me anyway. I just can't enjoy sketching like this with my Rotring pen - I find nibs too scratchy.  :>(    (man on the top right).   I binned my Lamy pen because no matter what I did or how I cleaned it,  it refused to let the ink flow freely - not one I'd ever buy again - unless Lamy...

Autumn, watercolour and mixed media, 8.5 x 5 ins approx Looking from the field's edge, across the stubble left after the wheat was harvested,  towards the far trees.     This one is a study in a limited range of colours - warms vs cools.   I really like the bleached colours of the dried grasses and stubble at this time of year.   Autumn isn't actually quite this far advanced here but I wanted to use this limited colour range so moved the calendar on a bit :>) This was done in watercolour, with the addition of watercolour pencil drawn and scratched into wet washes and a little biro (ballpoint pen).

Waiting outside the surgery, Pentel Brush Pen, A4 quick sketch Waiting for my mother to have her blood test done - a regular trip - I sketched the view from the car again.   Music on and a sketchpad and I don't mind the wait :>) This one was done with a Pentel Brush Pen - unforgiving but lovely to use.   I decided to use the brush pen as I knew it would be fast - last visit I only got this far and she back out and ready for home ........ sketch done in biro A4 From a different parking space, obviously. It isn't easy to keep lines straight when leaning on the steering wheel is it?

Charcoal sketch with digital colour 1, A5 I did a charcoal sketch of this view down to the harbour at Sennen and then played with adding colour in Photoshop to make it moodier. And moodier ...... The original sketch in willow charcoal, carbon pencil, brush pen and biro It would be interesting to do a large charcoal sketch over watercolour washes to get the same moody feel but work more on the light contrasts.  I have to do some work for an upcoming pastel exhibition - could be one to do?   (charcoal and cp and some use of other media are acceptable for this - they aren't narrow minded),

 Biro (ballpen) urban sketches in A4 sketchbook I've had a few sessions of waiting for family while they attend appointments.   Rather than be bored I've taken to sketching from the car while I wait - good practice for perspective even if not an exciting drawing in itself.   I think I'm going to keep this A4 wirebound sketchbook in the car for these times of boredom. and one I showed earlier, part of this series ...... more to follow.

pub terrace in Runswick Bay, watersoluble ink Sometimes, when sketching landscape, people catch my interest and in the midst of something else I'll draw them. These are a random selection from various sketchbooks. All very very fast attempts to catch people moving, absorbed in what they are doing. That interests me more than doing a posed portrait. At the National Gallery , biro and Lyra pencils I worked in biro watching the crowds and added the colour later at home, keeping to a limited palette of warm and cool browns. They were absorbed in looking at the paintings, some wearing the headphones with commentary, one little old lady in an obviously very expensive suit with incredibly wide padded shoulders from the '80s. Ros at Hartshill Hayes and passing dog walkers , pencil Ros sketching along the canal , Wolff carbon pencil Glen sketching , coloured pencil Sue and Pauline on the beach - evening, getting cold, windy , water soluble ink smudged with fingers Here 3 of ...

Small cardoon flower 1 , coloured pencil and biro in moleskine sketchbook, Vivien Blackburn One of my students (thank you Gill :>) ) kindly brought these cardoons in for me to draw. There is something really interesting about thistles/cardoons/artichokes to draw - the contrasting textures and fascinating shapes. The sketch above is biro with coloured pencil and the one below simply coloured pencil. Mostly the pencils are Polychromos and Lyra. I really like the way that cp's work on the paper in a moleskine. It's very limited paper in the materials I can use on it - ink, which I only use occasionally or pencil/coloured pencil. I wish it was possible to buy the paper in larger sheets though. Does anyone know if the new Folio moleskine is the same paper? that strange sort of waxy finish? If it is I'd like one, if it isn't then I wouldn't bother as I've got nice A3 cartridge paper sketchbooks already. Small cardoon flower 2, coloured pencil in moleskine s...

Quick sketches of pebbles and shells all done with a Parker biro in a moleskine sketchbook, Vivien Blackburn The first one is, I think, flint* - are the holes softer elements that have eroded away in the sea? it looks as though something has been eating it! like a potato attacked by slugs with smooth even tunnels. And a very bad sketch of a mussel shell covered in barnacles and with the flat pattern ?where one had been. Another piece of ?shell ?coral was delaminating and was full of holes, again as though something had bored through it - all over. Curious. and another not wonderful sketch of a shell - I find it quite hard to give this flattish shape of shell any sense of 3D - especially when drawn in biro - why didn't I go and get a pencil? *further inland, near Thetford, are the Neolithic flint mines of Grimes Graves. I visited them as a teenager with my school (Thetford Grammar School - we lived in Norfolk at the time) and crawled through the very small passages - I could...

Sketches of Sam playing football - from photos, he moves far too fast for me to attempt sketching this from life without a lot more practice! Biro in Moleskine sketchbook I definitely need more practice. We had a family get together in Bourton on the Water , in the Cotswolds. A beautiful place but very very busy. The men and Sam played football on the Green by the stream and I got loads of great photos but the movement was too fast for me to try sketching from life. I need a lot more practice. These started off a bit cartoony as I was thinking about making him a book about the day and I'm not quite sure where they ended up! Sketching children isn't in my comfort zone and as I had 2 daughters, sketching little boys is a new area - clearly needing more practice.

Rocks between Sennen Cove and Lands End. Watercolour, biro and coloured pencil. 10x11 ins approx. Vivien Blackburn Jeanette has issued a challenge for people to paint/draw rocks. These are some-I-did-before plus a new one from today. I had to work from a photo for this new one as sadly I'm 320 miles away from Sennen Cove right now :>( The figure gives the scale of those massive rocks though and gives me vertigo as well! I couldn 't stand that close to the edge. To see the stages as a work in progress go here Why not join in and leave her a link to your rocks?

Aylestone Meadows, Winter, sketch, Vivien Blackburn, charcoal, watercolour and gouache on hand made paper 6x4 ish A small sketch on hand made paper of the water meadows and the medieval packhorse bridge in the cold winter light. The light today is grey/white and leaches the colours, making the world almost monochrome. The bare branches make intricate lacy patterns. It was done mostly in charcoal and charcoal pencil with a little watercolour, small touches of coloured pencil and white gouache on a pale beige paper. You can see earlier work in the series here or here . At Watermarks , our group blog, some of us are going to revisit a place throughout the year as the light and seasons change, noting the changes in colour and mood with time. This is going to be 'my' place to revisit. It only takes about 15 minutes in the car and I like the area with its canal, stream and multiple bridges from the medieval through Victorian to modern. This is to be part of a series on local waterwa...

quick sketch of moving figures in watercolour, pencil, biro and coloured pencil copyright Vivien Blackburn Yesterday I went to the coast to deliver the work to the Neptune gallery. My husband went with me and I decided to sketch - not a good idea! It's not the same as going with friends who also paint - I was conscious of having to hurry up so he wouldn't be bored, the beach was busy with bank holiday visitors, who constantly walked in front of me, moved, put up windbreaks or tents or took them down just as I was going to sketch them ..... not ideal ! So I only got this quick sketch done ... not good, a very bad composition as I just sketched people when they held a position long enough and they are both looking out to the left. I didn't have time to consider properly and even though I had my back to the seawall, people came to look, which is distracting. (excuses excuses!) I thought I'd post it just to prove that I did manage to get a bit of sketching done. :) I...

Cats really are extremely uncooperative models - and all that chicken I feed her - you'd think she'd be more grateful. She doesn't like cat food except for the dry cat biscuits and insists on chicken. These first 2 are of the little madame indulging in her favourite hobby - ornithology, it's accompanied by a lot of little yattering noises and twitching whiskers :>) These are very very fast sketches of a moving model who wouldn't keep still at all. The glare on the top left of the second page of images is her telling me to stop staring at her and leave her to wash in peace - not that she'll necessarily return the compliment. It's a lousy drawing because she of course ... moved. This is the dictatorial little madame that the sweet, if sharp fanged kitten. of a few posts back, grew up to be. She's a tortoiseshell tabby and beautifully marked (well I thinks so :>) ) with a beautiful cream and apricot tummy, deep beige socks and dark tabby stripes on...