14th WW Sketchcrawl - Ely

Saturday the 19th marked the date for the 14th worldwide sketchcrawl.
Diane and I decided to take part and chose Ely, Cambridgeshire as our location, we were met by Emma-Jane on our arrival.

After a browse in Tindalls at the delicious art materials where I purchased a bottle of black ink, our first stop was a chair opposite Starbucks.

We then moved onto the green outside the cathedral where The Chantry caught my eye.

From the same spot on the grass I turned to sketch the entrance to the cathedral while E-J finished her sketch of the yummy chocolate cake I had purchased in the market.

It was a most enjoyable day spent in great company, I'm so pleased Emma-Jane managed to come along. As always, I wish I had sketched more but the afternoon wind, good conversation and hot coffee shared our day.

I hope to go back to Ely with my sketchbooks in the not too distant future, such a fabulous town scattered with fantastic architecture and then of course there is the cathedral itself, I visited last year, such brilliant workmanship surely deserves another entry in my sketchbooks!

MEPAL OUTDOOR CENTRE, Cambridgeshire. UK

Yesterday was spent at Mepal Outdoor Centre sketching with some fellow members of The Fenland Visual Arts Collective.

It's a fantastic venue with a lake full of little boats, trees, shrubs and a children's play park and it's free for adults to visit. Diane, Joan and I were joined by Richard and Yvonne and despite all our chatting some of us actually managed a little work in our sketchbooks.

You can view more sketches and photographs from our day on the FenVAC NOW! blog.

NORFOLK COAST, 1 April 2007

DAY 2

On Sunday we drove to the North beach and sketched there for a while before Joan and Diane had to prepare for their journey home.

NORFOLK COAST, 31 March 2007

I'm Back!

I had a very relaxing 5 days, 4 nights at Park Resorts holiday park and am happy to report that my friends Joan and Diane were able to join me on Saturday and Sunday, even with the short notice I gave them. We shared a great girlie weekend together and Diane's Son, Aiden, was just the company my youngest, Harry needed while waiting for his Brother's arrival on Sunday evening.

After much agonising, I finally decided to use an A5 Winsor & Newton, heavyweight, casebound sketchbook. I love this paper and have used it many times in the wire-o format, I enjoyed having the ability to spread the two pages with the casebound.

...More to follow...

OLD HUNSTANTON, Norfolk. UK

Old Hunstanton-28 March '07 - large watercolour moleskin

...By afternoon the sun was dancing over the beach at Old Hunstanton, creating small clouds of mist as it dried the sand. Diane, Joan and Myself finished up our chips and, once again, grabbed our sketchbooks.

I love Old Hunstanton beach, the sand is plentiful and so soft, the atmosphere quieter and more peaceful than the Town beach. I wrote of a BBQ my family had at Old Hunstanton beach in my blog last year entitled "Bangers on the Beach".

The beach hut in my sketch was displaying a 'For Sale' sign and all three of us spent a while discussing how fabulous it would be to own it and spend our days sketching along the Norfolk coastline...Ah dreams!

I managed another quick sketch in my new watercolour moleskin before leaving, happy in the knowledge I would return many times again throughout the summer!

Old Hunstanton-28 March '07 - large moleskin

HEACHAM BEACH, Norfolk. UK

Heacham Beach Huts - 28 March '07 - large watercolour moleskin

On Wednesday, our good friend Diane was able to join Joan and I for our weekly sketch day and, with the promise of good weather, I knew just where to take them...The seaside!

We drove towards the Norfolk coast through dense fog, mist and eventually sunshine, arriving at Heacham just before 11am.

Our first stop, Heacham beach, was spent sipping on the contents of our flasks and shivering from the chilly sea breeze while trying to sketch. The fog hung over the sea and turned the beach into a curtain of grey, so I turned to sketch a few of the many beach huts.
This was my first time using the watercolour moleskin, I used pen and watercolour pencils.

Around midday we headed off to pick up some much needed fish and chips from Hunstanton Town before moving on to Old Hunstanton to sketch some more...

PARSON DROVE, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. UK

Today I met with my good friend Joan and we set off to Parson Land, Wisbech to sketch 'The Cage'.
The Cage was built in 1829 by John Peck as an overnight lock up for local criminals and animals as well as housing a fire pump for 95 years. It has now been restored by the Parish Council and is operating as a visitors centre.

Lge moleskin, watercolour & sepia pitt pen

Oddly, the jailhouse had a clock tower added to it to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, just like the clock tower in my previous post about Doddington Village.

Joan and I suffered the cold and battled through our sketches, turning a few degrees to our left to capture the quaint little cottage attached to the Swan Inn, which I have nicknamed 'Swan Cottage'.

Joan and I sketching in Parson Drove with Swan Cottage just behind me.

The Cage - Parson Drove, Wisbech

At around 1pm we could brave the cold no longer and drove just up the road to 'The Butchers Arms' public house to grab a hot coffee and something to eat. You can imagine how pleased we were to find a real log fire burning on our arrival. Our good friend Diane joined us and while we chatted I managed a quick sketch of the fireplace.

Lge Moleskin, coloured pencil & pigment liner

We returned to the little cottage next to the Swan Inn briefly so Joan could finish her sketch but decided to sit in the comfort of the truck this time!