Sketches from the garden

I've been so busy lately that I've fallen behind with my Every Day in May posting, though I have been keeping up with doing some art every day...honest! Today, I'm catching up a little bit by posting some sketches of things growing in our garden. One is of dandelions; unfortunately, I don't know what the others are called (my DW is the gardener in this family), though I've a feeling one of them might be called aquilegia.



One of the things I'm busy with is getting ready for the Oxford ArtWeeks exhibition that I'm taking part in next week. Here's an invitation, for anyone who happens to be in the Oxford area. You can find directions to the club here: http://www.medleysailingclub.co.uk/maps.html

Winsor & Newton Artists Journal

It's a bit difficult to find time to keep up with the Every Day in May challenge at the moment! Work is busy with exams just around the corner and I'm still getting ready for the 10k race, now only 11 days away (eek!), which means going out running most nights. So, here is a very quick sketch of my Winsor & Newton artists journal, a present from my DW and a very nice thing to carry about and sketch in. Just for a change, this is done using Noodlers ink and graphitint pencils.

Manequin

Today is a public holiday in England (not sure about Scotland), but not for the hard-working staff of the University of Oxford. :( Never mind, it rained so much I wasn't really missing much. Unfortunately, that also meant I was confined to indoor sketching, so turned to the trusty manequin. I also wanted to try using my Noodlers ink with water, having been alerted to the fact that it isn't waterproof by Anita, who uses this medium (as so many others) so beautifully.

Ink sketches

It's been over a week since I posted. Life's been hectic, mainly because it's the start of a new academic year, with it's seemingly endless number of welcome receptions, induction briefings, and dinners. The college Freshers Dinner can be slightly excruciating, but this year's bunch were fun to chat to. I just wish they would vary the menu; this was my 14th Freshers Dinner, and every year they serve chicken Kiev and profiteroles!



Anyway, mainly inspired by Anita, I've got me a bottle of Noodler's red/black ink. It's a great colour. Are any others worth checking out? These are some sketches from my bedroom. Yes, OK I admit that I sometimes sketch in bed...I'm not sure whether that makes me a very keen sketcher or a very, very lazy one!