Festive stuff

When visiting my favorite auntie over Christmas she fed me and the kids with pickled onions, cheese, chipolatas, and chedder biscuits. She also gave me a lovely mince pie. I managed to hold off eating it long enough to make a quick study of it. I also painted the mini sock monkey my cousin made me. Terry now travels in my art bag with me at all times. Thanks again, Amy.

I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year's night tonight.

A night in with my books

I like sitting in the corner of the living room, with a book on my knee, and my art bag at my feet. I flick through the pages until something catches my eye, then I dip into my bag to retrieve a pencil and my journal, and start to sketch. Sometimes I'll start with a clean page. Other times I'll flick back to find a space and make a small drawing in the gap.

New Journal

I treat myself to a lovely Moleskine book whilst in Vienna, but I don't like it. The pages aren't white, but a funny yellowish-creamy colour and there's no 'tooth' to the paper which makes it poor for sketching in. As a result, I've been using it more as a notebook for Christmassy lists, and not as a daily journal & sketchbook.

So, as of Boxing Day, I've started using the one hubby got me instead, and I've filled a dozen pages already. Here are the first two.

I've also added a new list to my blog of art suppliers I use. More about them later.

Sanctuary Knocker, Durham

On Saturday my cousin and I took the kids to Durham, and wandered round the most awe-inspiring cathedral in the world, and to get damp in the drizzle down by the river. I was disappointed by the postcards available, so decided to make some studies of my own - of windows viewed from the cloister and of the Sanctuary Knocker. I hope you like the latter drawing. My son (aged 7) says it looks like it was drawn by a real artist. I took that as a compliment.

Creative Journal

Since October this year I've been keeping a journal of ideas, sketches, images, quotes, ideas etc. Also, the odd shopping list if that's all the paper I have on me. I keep it with me at all times. Well, most of the time. While waiting for my husband at the bank I drew a scene across the river, while waiting at Durham train station last night I sketched the grand entrance. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for a children's story, and instead of lying there, worrying that I'd forget the idea, I got up and wrote it in the journal.

It's good to get things out of my head and down onto paper, and it's good to have them all in one place, where I know they are, instead of on scraps of paper all round the house. Keeping a journal has also helped cement the idea that my thoughts and ideas, sketches, observations, hopes, regrets, and all part of an ongoing creative process for me.