WHITTLESEY, Cambridgeshire. UK

A quick ink sketch of Whittlesey Church from the car park waiting for yesterday's life session to commence.

ST MATTHEWS CHURCH, Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire. UK

On Tuesday I took a trip over to Sutton Bridge to deliver some paintings to the annual art exhibition at St. Matthew's Church. I was lucky enough to find a parking place right outside the church and took full advantage of my position by sketching the entrance from my truck.

I was invited to exhibit three paintings in total so I chose three of the four pieces in my 'Precious Moments' collection. (top two and bottom right)

Clockwise:

1. God's Little Helper - Watercolour

2. Alone Time - Watercolour

3. New Frock - Soft pastel

4. Unconditional - Soft Pastel

DODDINGTON CHURCH, Cambridgeshire. UK

Lge moleskin sketchbook and 0.1 pigment liner.

The sun finally broke through yesterday and lasted the whole day. My eldest decided to make the most of the good weather by meeting friends for some cricket practice and I made use of my journey to deliver him there by creating a quick sketch of Doddington church. This view is quite a distance from the church and there is a huge field leading to the spot I sketched but time was limited and it was the church itself and the surrounding rooftops that caught my interest, so that is where I concentrated my time.

WIMPOLE ESTATE, Royston, Cambridgeshire. UK

I first visited Wimpole Estate while accompanying my son's class on a school trip several years ago, as we walked through some of the grounds I remember looking over at the hall and promising myself I would return to this magnificent place, on Saturday, I did just that!

Wimpole Estate is huge and it's impossible to expect to see everything on one visit. The property was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by the last owner, Elsie Bambridge. Therefore, like most of the NT properties, the hall opens at around 1pm making it impossible for me to visit during the week and still collect my children from school. The park and gardens open earlier which means I will be able to return to them with ease, so I chose to visit the house on Saturday.



I could easily spend a month at Wimpole and still find little corners of interest, architectural delights, unusual plants. There is also a farm so animals are also a subject here. The stables are no longer used for horses though, they contain shops now and this is where we sat to drink our last coffee of the day before leaving. I managed to make the sketch below while we drank and then coloured it from a photographic reference on my return home.

Sadly, I do not have any sketches from inside the hall to share with you which has made me re-think my National Trust sketching kit. I currently use an A4 Venezia sketchbook for all my NT properties, stately homes and churches. It is a beautiful book and although I am very happy with it's performance it is more than a tad clumsy to carry around these wonderful houses. No seating means standing to sketch and this is impossible with the A4 Venezia which results in me leaving without any sketches from the inside. Occasionally a steward has allowed me use of their chair and on one occasion I managed to stand and sketch on the right hand side of my large book but it is a problem and one I realised I would have to resolve this weekend after wanting desperately to record some of the rooms and realising I would have to leave with none of them.

I don't want to change books, I love the Venezia, so as a resolve I have decided to take an A6 wire-o sketchbook with me on future NT visits. While outside I shall work in my A4 and while inside I shall work in my A6, directly with pen which will help in my aim to cut the pencil guide out. I will then cut out the small sketches and mount them into my large book so everything is still together, which is important to me for a reason that is beyond me!

ST MARY'S CHURCH, Doddington, Cambridgeshire. UK

St Mary's Churchyard: Pigment liner and watercolour.

Friday night cricket practice has began, taking both of my boys with it!
It was such a fine evening I decided to take my sketchbook rather than come back home after dropping them off.

I drove into Doddington village and before long I was parked aside St Mary's church. Like a magnet, churches seem to pull me toward them, and the churchyard looked so pretty in the dappled sunlight I was not about to resist!

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, Long Melford, Suffolk. UK.

After leaving Melford Hall Joan and I stopped by The Holy Trinity Church in Long Melford on our way to Clarice House where we had booked a room for the night.

Holy Trinity boasts an abundance of gems and with it's numerous windows resembles a Cathedral more than a simple village church. With so much to browse upon protected within it's walls it was difficult to choose something to concentrate my sketches upon. That was until I read the piece on Sir William Clopton's tomb, such a fascinating story, I felt compelled to log it in my venezia sketchbook. (click on the image to read the story in larger print).

The Clopton chantry exhibited the Lily Crucifix window said to date from 1350 and two poems by John Lydgate, a well known Bury monk, scroll around the top of the chantry walls entitled 'Vine of Life'. The Lady chapel is adjoined to the church and unique in that it is only accessible from the outside entrance.

Artwork by Iain McKillop hang on the walls at the end of each pew, his studies for the altar piece paintings that now decorate Gloucester Cathedral. His work was probably my most exciting find of the day, his figures portrayed such emotion I could hardly wait to get home and research him on the internet. It was during this search that I came across his website and the totally amazing cathedral paintings in his collection, what an unexpected honour I had experienced in viewing his work first hand.

Visiting Holy Trinity had been the only part of our weekend we hadn't planned in advance and I am so grateful for our time there - What a memorable experience!

DODDINGTON VILLAGE, Cambridgeshire UK

On Friday morning my moleskin sketchbooks finally arrived and the sun burst through the clouds as if to greet them. After lunch, and the usual Friday house chores, I grabbed my sketch bag and travel chair, threw them into the back of my truck and headed into Doddington village.

The sun was deceiving, I absolutely froze and had to cut my trip short and return to the truck so I could feel my feet again!

Church of St. Mary- 2007 -

Sketchbook moleskin, coloured pencil & staedtler pigment liner.

Doddington clock tower -2007 -

Sketchbook moleskin, coloured pencil & staedtler pigment liner.

I visited the church of St. Mary briefly with my sketchbook last year too.

St Mary graveyard - 2006 - W&N heavyweight sketchbook, Sepia Pitt superfine.

Infield Memorial - 2006 - W&N heavyweight sketchbook, Black Pitt superfine.