Category Archives: Reportage

Naples Feb 2019

I’ve just come back from a 2/3 day sketching trip to Naples. My mum’s friend visited Naples and described it as ‘a shit hole’. I can see her point. Naples is busy, polluted, dirty and smelly. Yet – there’s something incredible about it. It feels very foreign for a European city. It’s not particularly touristy.Continue reading “Naples Feb 2019”

People from the Window 2

So I did some more sketching from my comfortable, safe window. With coffee (and maybe cake). I added a little colour here and there. I used Tombow bush pens again, which are fabulous (because not all brush pens are created equal), and pencil which (perhaps surprisingly) isn’t the quickest of drawing mediums. There are moreContinue reading “People from the Window 2”

People from the Window

As usual, it’s hard to find the time to draw. With kids, single-parenthood and a teaching job… but today I treated myself to a coffee in a large-windowed cafe with a view onto a popular street. People were walking up and down this little street, affording me a few seconds to try and capture them.Continue reading “People from the Window”

The Decline of White Plastic Chairs

During my MA Conceived of a project I called the ‘White Plastic Chair Project‘. It was about drawing in the kind of places and spaces that you might find white plastic chairs. Interestingly they are rather more difficult to find these days. Most seem to have been replaced by aluminium chairs: much stronger, less mucky-lookingContinue reading “The Decline of White Plastic Chairs”

Gentleman on Train

I drew this on the crowded Braintree train, on my way home with my eldest son, on January 21. We’d spent the day mudlarking under the millennium bridge and lying on the floor under blankets at the Tate Modern. It was a good day.

Sketchbook: Summer People Sketches

So – a few sketches of people here and there from this summer. Some at Brighton Pride, some on a train journey through London and some on the beach at Mersea, Essex. I’d quite happily draw all year long, but mostly you have to talk to people – (of which, I’ve done a lot over summer). WhilstContinue reading “Sketchbook: Summer People Sketches”

Sketchbook: Waiting for the flight from Dubai

Above are the figures as drawn in my sketchbook. I have been meaning to try drawing people in a slightly exaggerated way, and an airport appears to be a good place to do this. It’s only a mild exaggeration, a gentle characterisation…although here some are more exaggerated than others. In the image above I’ve extracted theContinue reading “Sketchbook: Waiting for the flight from Dubai”

Sketchbook: Café Drawing Again

So today I took some time out (I had to go to the bank) to draw in a cafe again. I tried out a new medium I came across in an art shop in Bologna – a lovely pastel stuff that comes in a flat palette and can be applied very smoothly if you wish. IContinue reading “Sketchbook: Café Drawing Again”

The Warm & Toasty Club

Back in May, I last drew at the Warm & Toasty club, at Colchester Arts Centre. The artists drawn here are Anna Pancaldi, Alex Highton and The Essex Chordsmen. It’s a great afternoon’s entertainment with brilliant new music being performed live. The organiser is Johnno Casson and it really is worth a visit – the next date is AugustContinue reading “The Warm & Toasty Club”