EDM 127, 128 - Skyscape, Doorway

I have sketched this view from the terrace before - in gouache
It's not far to walk!

One more sketch to catch up and then two to go after that to the end of May. I haven't made it yet but I'd give you odds on that I will.

P.S. I forgot one!

EDM #125 - Draw a Bird

It's taken a while but the collared doves are now happily at home in our garden, competing with the sparrows and pigeons for the food and bath. This one sits peering into the bedroom at me while I peer back through my binoculars. They are so dainty, I love them.

Still dragging the chain with my Every Day in May Challenge. You can see everyone's drawings on the flickr group: http://flickr.com/groups/edmeverydayinmay2011

I need to catch up by the end of the month so I can post #131 on May 31 and pretend I kept up the discipline of painting every day.

Postcard for Charlene & EDM 120 Flashlight

postcard 6 x 4"
Val di Chio from Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany

This is the postcard I painted for Charlene Brown - 1150 Words - in Canada as part of our Sketchercise postcard exchange A Postcard from My Walk.


And of course, I have another EDiM sketch for you. Believe it or not I'm getting faster with these, which is one of the reasons the challenge is worth doing.

EDM 111 - Draw a Bowl

What is it about blue and white china that is so pleasing?

EDM 108 & 109 - Dog Clock and Light Bulbs

EDM #109 - DRAW A CLOCK YOU HAVE AROUND YOUR HOUSE

Who needs a clock when you have a dog. You can set your watch by Dermott.

EDM #108 DRAW A LIGHT BULB

This is part of the Everyday in May challenge - drawing something every day in May.

Visit our flickr group to see all the sketches or even join in.

EDiM - Something Sour - Lemon Tree

The lemon tree is an icon of the Italian garden. In the south they are huge and dripping with giant, juicy fruit. Further north they are coddled like babies, tucked warmly away inside during the winter months and then in the Spring, wheeled out proudly to enjoy the sun.

We only have one ourselves and each year it struggles back to life. We watch anxiously until we see the first tiny leaf buds. It then goes into a frenzy of putting on beautiful white scented blossom. Soon it is covered in tiny baby fruit - but I think only one has ever developed and ripened. Every time The Gardener shakes his head and mutters about its lack of a proper trunk and root system, I leap to its defence. Over my dead body!!

Gouache sketch, plus...

Neighbours' Washing
Gouache on Clairefontaine brown kraft paper

If you visit on Sunday night you are probably going to be offered leftovers. That's what this post is ... leftovers from a few days of experimenting.

That's a new Clairefontaine sketchbook above - I like the colour but it is very thin and the paint is inclined to collect on the ridges of the paper.

Another experiment - Pigma Micron 005 pen with watercolour wash on rough CP paper. It's a corner of my favourite Piazza in Florence, where I'm going to stay next weekend. So you could call this one Practice.

Hydrangea - Monotype
- Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble pastels on Japanese Ho Sho paper

Monotype - oil paint on Fabriano white paper

So, who said I have too many art supplies?!

Kaki Pen Sketch and Gouache

Lami Safari Pen and Gouache

What I most love about winter in Tuscany - and I'm keeping count on one hand - is all the Kaki (Persimmon) trees dangling their golden fruit like Christmas trees.

I picked up a couple of fallen fruit on my walk the other morning and by the time I'd sketched them we were off to buy our own Kaki tree.

Apple Sliced Watercolour

Watercolour Arches CP paper

Apple & Sliced Apple across HP & CP paper

An additional contribution to Jeanette's Apple Challenge. These watercolours are in a lovely 6" x 8.75" hand-bound sketchbook made for me by Marta in a combination of Fabriano HP and Arches CP paper. The inside cover is a map of Florence. She gave it to me when we met there. It's become a favourite.

Apricot Tree in Watercolour

Moleskine watercolour sketchbook

After yesterday's morning walk I headed out to the farm to pick some apricots. Apricot picking is accomplished by vigorous shaking of the tree and then scrabbling around on the ground trying to gather up the fruit before the ponies steal it all. In my next life, I think I'll come back as one of Jean's ponies - living in the orchard, making an endless feast of cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, and plums.

Ponies in the orchard

Me in my next life.

Anyway before we shook the tree I made a little watercolour sketch as my 4th contribution to Vivien's Tree Challenge.

Sketching Weather

View from my desk

Finally we have sketching weather!

Moleskine watercolour sketchbook

Cheap Moleskine copy

These cheap bo0ks are available at the supermarket, and while the paper is the same colour as the Moleskine sketchbook it is very thin and dulls down the watercolour. Its major advantage is that I sketch in it with great freedom because it isn't a 'good' sketchbook.

Both sketches were done en plein air with watercolours, Lamy fountain pen & water brush. I really will attempt something more ambitious soon but at least I'm getting out there at last.

Lucignano Sketches Pen & Watercolour

Pen & watercolour - Moleskine watercolour sketchbook

Yesterday was a perfect day - warm sunshine chasing away the winter chill, lunch with delightful friends at a great restaurant in Lucignano, one of the prettiest little Tuscan hill-top towns, and I managed two sketches!

Pen & watercolour - Moleskine WC sketchbook

Flying Pictures Takes Off

Sketchbook Cover

Flying Pictures is a sketchbook exchange with a difference. Initiated by Lindsay Olson and inspired in part by the current wonderful Moleskine exchanges, Flying Pictures sketchbooks will be constructed as they fly around the world.

Mine left for Casey Toussaint in France today. It consists of a front cover and four pages of HP watercolour paper. It also has two and a half pages of my art. When it gets to Casey she will take the paper of her choice and hinge her pages of art into the book before sending it off to Nina Johansson in Sweden. When it finally flies back to me, I will attach the back cover and treasure it for the rest of my life.

Inspired isn't it? I believe Lindsay came up with that great name as well.

I couldn't settle on a theme for my book so I've called it Different Strokes because by the time it returns to me it will be full of beautiful, different strokes by Nina, Glen, Vivien, Ronell, Lindsay and Casey.

In all, there will be seven handmade books taking to the air. You can learn about the rest of the Fliers and follow the adventures of the books on the Flying Pictures blog HERE.

Painting Cherries - It Must Be May.

Watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook

Our artist friend Sarah came to lunch yesterday and I made my first Salade Niçoise of the year. Apart from Baked Beans on Toast with Perfectly Poached Eggs, it's about the only dish HWEM concedes I do better than he. For dessert we bought the first perfect cherries of the season. Sarah was on to me immediately, I wanted to paint them! And I did.

I received a postcard today from Lindsay Non-Linear-Arts and I'm posting photos of it by way of a teaser. If you haven't heard of Flying Pictures yet, you will very soon and that's all I'm saying until Monday.

Lindsay Olson's hand printed postcard

And the message on the back

The leaf I coyly placed myself.

Sketch & Some Tuscan Sun Photos

Watercolour & Lamy Pen with Sepia Ink - Moleskine WC Sketchbook

I packed my kit and head outside to sketch today. I'm a bit rusty and have a lot of trouble juggling a tin of watercolours outside and everything gets a bit wishy washy, using a water brush. Anyway Sketching Season has only just begun, there's always room for improvement. For the first time today I noticed that this little street is called Vicolo Buio - Dark Alley!

After I finished sketching, I took the long way home. Here are some photos for those of you who'd like to share my walk.

Castiglion Fiorentino is currently marking the anniversary of the passage of the liberating army that fought its way though the town during WWII. This photograph is hanging in the main square (above). Can you see the bomb crater in the road on the right side of the photo? That's the town , on the hill ahead.


And this last one is for Joan, who noted recently just how dead these little Italian villages are when all the shops shut and everyone goes home for a long lunch.

Brush Sketch Challenge

Large Moleskine sketchbook - 2B mechanical pencil

This is my Raphael No9 Petit Gris Pur watercolour brush. I bought it (and a couple more) when I had more money than time. Now I have more time than money, I find it's not a brush I use very often. I also wonder what I, who won't eat anything with big brown eyes, is actually doing with this brush!

It came out of the cupboard today to pose for a portrait in the Vivien Blackburn Brush Sketch Challenge. You can read about it on her blog Painting, Prints and Stuff. I was so excited to have the opportunity to be in the running for one of Vivien's sketches, I launched into this without reading the instructions properly. I used to lose marks for that in examinations. How tough a teacher is Vivien, I wonder? She actually stipulated a sketch of 'your brushes'.

A Day in My Life - Cartoon Strip

I was charmed by a recent post by British artist, Vivien Blackburn on her blog Painting, Prints & Stuff.

Vivien had been inspired by illustrator Liz Minichiello to try a cartoon strip based on a day in her life.

Vivien's beautifully rendered effort inspired me to come up with this rather slapdash effort. But I had fun.

Strange Fruit

Watercolour on gessoed A5 watercolour paper

Ever since Casey rue Manuel bis blogged about painting watercolour on gesso I've been keen to try it. This was just a little experiment so I didn't take too much care with the sketch. As a result it's quite loose and I quite like it! I love the rich glossy look of the colours on the acrylic gesso and it is wonderful being able to lift out highlights so easily. I will be trying some more of these. It's a great way to use up paper one doesn't like or to paint over failed watercolours. Thanks Casey! :)

The strange fruit was a gift from Jean and I have no idea what it is called. They are like little apples and have a sweet nutty taste. They start out green and are ready to eat when they are completely brown. Anyone know what they are?

Coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

This clever little gift box was folded for me by Marta. I'm afraid if I take it apart I'll never get it back together again. It has joined the collection of lovely little objects I'm gathering on my desk.

Watercolour 18 x 26cm

The landscape is my effort from last week's watercolour class. These Vincaia trees used to grow all over this part of Tuscany apparently, often supporting grape vines. You don't see so many now.

Images from a Tuscan Landscape

Haystacks - Large Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook

You can still sometimes see old fashioned haystacks in the Tuscan countryside though it is more likely to be big machine-made rolls of hay. My watercolour teacher, Gabriele is very fond of the old style and has painted them many times. So this is a scan of my watercolour after his watercolour which is actually after one of his oil paintings of haystacks in the snow. Monet I am not!

Gabriele also decided I should learn to sketch the beautiful white Chianina cattle. When he was boy they pulled the plough and the wagon. Today, sadly, they are bred for their famous beef.

Caran d'Ache Technalo water-soluble pencil

If you are lucky there's still an opportunity to get close to these beautiful animals during Medieval parades. These two passed right by my front door. Which reminds me that I must one day post about all the strange and wonderful sights that pass by my front door.

Watercolour Class Update

Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook

My watercolour teacher does a demonstration for me at the beginning of each class and then I attempt my version of the picture. Gabriele paints most of his own pictures en plein air. Once painted he is able to recall it, so his demonstrations are all from memory/imagination.

There are thousands of little shrines dotted all over Italy and you come across them in the most remote and unexpected places. Almost always, someone has recently left an offering of flowers. Gabriele chose this one to give me some practice painting stone walls.

I am hopeless at painting in class, stage-fright I think, so I usually have a second attempt at the subject once I get home. The little painting above is from my memory/imagination of Gabriele's memory/imagination.

Gabriele almost always puts a figure or more into his compositions. I'd never noticed that I don't. I didn't even include them when there were dozens leaning over a bridge I was trying to sketch in Venice! So now I'm learning to paint little people as well.