New year's resolutions

It's the time for making resolutions again, and this year I am yet again planning to draw and paint more regularly! It's not going to be easy, though, as my wife is about to start a new job that will involve her having to stay away from home three or four nights every week. But I will do my best. Just to set the ball rolling, here are a couple of quick drawings I did recently. The first is an Icelandic sheepdog puppy and the second is a misty river, which I did in about 20 minutes.

Happy New Year everyone!

Woods

This week we were painting trees. I managed to do four studies in a couple of hours; here is one of them. It was a fun evening!

I've started watercolour classes again. Here is a recent effort. The idea was to experiment with wet-on-wet techniques. Some work better than others!

Art news

For anyone living or visiting the UK, this site is great for listing what's showing in art galleries and museums. I'm very keen to get to the exhibition of drawings by Michaelangelo that's showing at the British Museum until 25 June.

Read more at www.artuk.com/art_news....

New Forest Oak

Here is a quick sketch I did on a recent trip to the New Forest. It's pen and ink, washed over with water. I like the way the colours separate out when you do this.

Magdalen Tower, Oxford

Here is another watercolour, this time showing a well-known scene in Oxford: the tower of Magdalen College. It's a lovely spot, especially on May Morning, when the college choiresters sing from the top of the tower at dawn. One year I might actually get out of bed in time to hear them!

Lake District watercolour

I've not posted anything for ages...I hope that's going to change, as there are at least a few weeks when I'm not expecting to be quite as busy with work as I have been.

Anyway, I've been continuing to try to get a bit better with watercolours. Here's a recent effort. The scene is in the English Lake District.

Eton College Chapel finished

Here's the finished painting. Lots wrong with it, but my best yet, so I'm quite pleased. Fiddled too much with some parts of it, but other bits work OK.

Eton College chapel WIP

I've started watercolour classes recently, and here is a beginning of an attempt to paint Eton College chapel. This watercolour malarky isn't easy!

InkFinger: Blind Contour Friday

I really like the drawings at InkFinger. The Blind Contour Friday is a great idea; here is a link to the latest one: InkFinger: Blind Contour FRIday 24.

Here's a simple blind contour drawing of my own.

I haven't been getting much artwork done recently, but I have started going to watercolour classes again. With any luck I'll have a painting to post on Monday!