Porthgain

My sketch of Porthgain harbour where we sat and ate icecream and watched the boats come in.

The Shed in Porthgain

Here's a quick sketch of the inside of The Shed restaurant. I loved the scene of organised chaos, all the tea pots, glasses and bottles behind the counter and the curtain drawn back to reveal a bit of the kitchen.

Porthgain Harbour

Porthgain drew us back a few times. It's such a lovely place with it's sweeping curve of a harbour and fishing boats.

There's also an interesting gallery, a quaint old pub called the Sloop Inn and an award winning restaurant called The Shed. They're renowned for catching their own fish to cook in the evening. P and I had a nice meal there but I have to say the hightlight was the damp lemon cake I had when we popped back another day. It was deliciously light and moist! I was going to draw it but it wasn't on my plate for very long.

Camping in Pembrokeshire

Camping... Would we survive a week in a small 3 man tent?!!



This was the view when we opened the front of our tent in the morning. I was mesmirised by the changing moods of the sea.

I couldn't get over the amount of wildlife we encountered. It was brilliant!

The funniest thing that happened was each night there would be crashing and banging outside and then the sound of plastic bags being flung about in the porch of the tent. Every time it happened P would sit bolt upright and thinking it was seagulls (it was just getting light at about 4.30am) would start hitting the inner tent while trying to get the zip open. It had always got away before we could see the blighter. The barabrith that we bought had vanished and we never even got to try it.

On the 2nd night P was a bit faster with the zip but thought he might have been dreaming when he saw a badger stick it's head under the door. The next night was really windy, the badger didn't hear me open the zip and I got the best view ever. It was basically sniffing around, sticking it's dirty snout in P's sandals (very brave), and then scared itself by managing to get the lid off the cooler box. Why oh why didn't I have my camera? It really was incredible! On the penultimate night we got back to the tent to find something lying outside, and then we saw a few shadows disappear up the bank. On closer inspection there was hot chocolate powder EVERYWHERE and we could hear them laughing as they ran away.

We stayed just outside St David's (which is the smallest city in the UK - it really is a lovely village with a great big cathedral). It's a great place and there's a fabulous restaurant called Morgans. The food is top class and the owners are unpretentious and passionate about what they do.

In St David's Cathedral I drew these floor tiles. I'd spotted them on our first trip here a couple of months ago but didn't want to hold our friends up too much by sketching every 5 minutes. Yes, the birds really were like that - cute!! The patterns were very stylised and graphic in just 2 colours each. The tiles were in shades of terracotta, yellow ochre, dark grey and lemon yellow.

I made lots of drawings over the course of the week and when my camera battery ran flat I spent even more time than usual because I didn't want to forget anything! I'll post some more soon.

Sketching trips with my bike

A couple of weeks ago the weather improved (it's boiling hot today!) so I decided to set my bike up with the handlebar bag that P bought me for my birthday. It's roomy enough for my sketchbook, pens, ink, brushes, pencils etc, my camera, a cereal bar, a few coins for emergencies, my phone (also for emergencies), and a gazillion other pockets for bits and bobs. I was brimming with excitement as I set off on my adventure!

I found that when I wanted to sketch that if I stood with my legs either side of the bike it meant that I could lean my sketchbook on my bag. Perfect! It was all so convenient.


I have a bit of an obsession with the radiomast that sits on the hill above the forest. I'm thinking of sketching and painting it from lots of different places so the scene is always different but will have a common theme. I once knew somebody who rather than walking through the forest decided that he just had to climb the hill to reach it. I think that's what set me off.



This is the sketch I made before I took the photo. I'm looking forward to returning to this field when the barley (?) turns golden brown.

Wonderful Wales

These are from my sketchbook last month, done when we had a long weekend in Pembrokeshire with some friends (thanks C and B if you read this - we had a fabulous time!). One of the great things about looking back through drawings are the great memories they wash up. Just enough information and emotional triggers to make a painting I think.

That photo of my paintbox (from the last post) was taken on the beach whilst I was doing the bottom sketch. I brought the piece of driftwood it's sitting on home with me with the intention of painting onto it.

I also took a photo of the scene for reference and it's interesting to for me to see which shapes I focused on and made most prominent. I can see that I should have made the central rock darker and the sketch makes it easy for me to see where to crop it for the best composition.

It was my first real visit to Pembrokeshire and I loved it there so much. It's unlike anywhere else I've been in the UK. It reminds me of how Cornwall used to be when I was a child, much quieter than you would expect but all the more lovely for it. There are some really beautiful beaches and it's rich in wildlife. We went on a fantastic boat trip to see seals and sea birds. The puffins were a favourite and were a lot smaller than I thought they'd be.

The sun came out for us too. Just look at that gorgeous turquoise. I can't wait to return. It won't be long... we've planned a camping trip. Hurrah!!

I love my art supplies as much as painting itself. I think I'm addicted to all the tools that go with creating, and the possibilities that lie within them. I love the process more than the outcome. It pushes me to experiment and to try new things.