I’m thrilled to be one of the tutors on the Lady of Avenel “Sketch and Sail” adventure. I have just returned from the May 2025 voyage in the Scottish western isles.
We travelled over 100 miles, much of it under sail. Fellow artist Alice Angus and I delivered sketching workshops to a companionable group of participants, and everyone made lots of sketches. Some people also steered the boat, managed the sails, swam on the sandy beaches, and a few brave participants went up the mast.
If you would like to join us on a future trip, there is another date in August – and two more voyages are planned for 2026. See this link for more information or contact me.
Here are a few of the many photographs from the May 2025 trip:
Here are some of my sketches from the trip.
I took an A5 sketchbook from JP Purcell, and sometimes sketched the landscape view across two pages:
The beach at Sandray was a great sketching location. Here is a photo of my sketching spot.
Here is one of the drawings I made here:
There was a stream running down the beach.
The other sketchbook I took was a small A6 toned watercolour book made by Hahnemühle.
On the way back to London I had a few hours walking and sketching in Glasgow – I’ll put those sketches in another post.
Meanwhile, here is a sketchbook flick-through so you can see the whole week in seven seconds of silent video. [videos might not play properly on mobiles or emails – please try the web-based version]
Materials:
My main sketchbook was 300gsm watercolour paper, A5, from JP Purcell in Southwark, London. The bird sticker on the front is my design, printed by Vistaprint.
I also used a small toned sketchbook from Hahnemühle.
Here is my colour palette, all traditional watercolours:
Here are the brushes I use. Mostly I used the large flat brush, which is from Rosemary Brushes. It is about an inch across.
Any other questions? If you’re interested in the Sketch and Sail adventure in August, or next year, do get in touch.
Jane Sketching 