Category Archives: sketching

Tomb, hydrant, B+B

A final group of sketches from Portugal before I  get to grips with scanning all the Istanbul pictures… The tomb of Luis Vaz de Camoes, Portugal’s greatest poet, in Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon. Fountain pen with Carbon ink, water-brush with Lexington … Continue reading

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Steep street

Looking up a street near the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, next to the entrance to the seventeenth century Valide Han or caravanserai on the right. It was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed, with shutters down. The Han … Continue reading

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Londoners

19 of the thousands of people I saw yesterday in a very hot London. Sketched in cafes, train stations and the passport office where I was getting my passport renewed at extremely short notice ready for a return trip to Istanbul … Continue reading

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Brock Street

Late afternoon, looking down Brock Street while sat under one of the huge plane trees in the centre of the King’s Circus, Bath. There’s a red sight-seeing bus heading towards towards the Royal  Crescent, and a delivery van parked up … Continue reading

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Toy museum

A couple of sketches from the wonderful and surprisingly large Toy Museum in Sintra, Portugal. The museum houses the personal collection of João Arbués Moreira, who was there on the day we visited,  keen to chat about his favourite exhibits and … Continue reading

Posted in airplane, collections, exhibitions, from life, grisaille, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, objects, Portugal, sketching | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

‘Fail better’ #2

Another repeated subject, with 4 versions of a familiar view where I regularly have to wait. The cars change, a notice is tied onto the lamp-post, a badly drawn traffic cone appears, and a bird flies over. But the basic … Continue reading

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Castelo dos Mouros

Looking up at the ‘Castle of the Moors’ on the crest of the hill above Sintra in Portugal. The 8th century castle was restored in 1840, at the same time that the nearby Pena Palace was being built, and its … Continue reading

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Scarlet tiger moth

A silent visitor to our garden on a very hot afternoon, a Scarlet Tiger moth. There’s a tiny glimpse of the moth’s glorious scarlet inner wings just visible at the base of the centre line. Its Latin name, Callimorpha Dominula, could … Continue reading

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Lisbon views

Fountain pen with Carbon ink, water-colour, A5 Marker pen with Carbon ink, watercolour, A5 Two views of Lisbon from the apartment we stayed in, with two different approaches to line. I loved looking across at a neighbouring roof-top and its eclectic collection … Continue reading

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Strangeness abounding

3 more sketches from the wonderful and mysterious gardens of the Quinta Da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal. Looking up from the bottom of the 27 metre deep “Initiation Well” or “Initiatic Well”. It has a secret entrance at the top and … Continue reading

Posted in animals, from life, garden, gouache, Lexington grey, Portugal, sketching, sky, travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments