Author: Jane

Urban sketcher, coastal artist, swimmer.

Experiments on a journey

Here is another experiment with printed backgrounds. My first experiment was this drawing at Monument.

I thought the background was a bit bright, so I chose more muted colours for the next attempt.

Here are the cardboard cutouts I used for making the relief prints. I used a small square sketchbook made by “PrintUrchin” and pre-printed the pages using relief printing ink, diluted with extender and water so it wasn’t too bright (learning from last time). It still came out quite bright. Those printing inks are heavily pigmented.

  • Cardboard cutouts
  • Cutout – close-up
  • PrintUrchin sketchbook
  • Sketchbook pages

I printed the pages first, then took the sketchbook with me on my journey, and made sketches on top of the prints.

Here are some of the sketches. They are done on the train, hence the rather shaky lines. It’s amazing how the printing, done in advance, seems to fit the subject.

Here is the octagonal building at Pocra Quay, drawn while on a walk round Aberdeen waiting for the ferry.

Octagonal building at Pocra Quay, Aberdeen, 25th June 2021, printed background, 20th June 2021.

This octagonal building was a Navigation Control Centre, operating up until 1966. It was built in around 1797-8, according to the leaflet from the Aberdeen Heritage trail. I sketched it from the shelter of the doorway to the “Silver Herring” restaurant, on a cold, windy and rainy day.

Grain silos at North Allerton, 25th June 2021

This is a really fun technique. I shall use it again.

Shetland 2021 -scenes from a run

I came back from a run with my head full of images. I put them into pictures.

Scenes from a run, 27th June 2021, in Sketchbook P1

I enjoyed using a new colour: Lunar Blue from Daniel Smith. This is a highly granulating blue. You can see its effect here in the sky:

And here is Lunar Blue the sea:

Patch of light on the sea

A feature of the landscape round Littleure is the inland lakes, high up on the cliffs, as shown here on the right. On the sea, the sun shines through the clouds like a spotlight, which enchants me. In that picture you also see the granulating colour in the land: this is Green Apatite Genuine.

It was a misty day.

Over the brow of a hill, I see islands. It’s the end of the run. Time for a dip, and breakfast.

Running Route: maps from “cyclemeter” app

Shetland 2021 – Poppies

These poppies were in the vegetable garden.

Poppies, Burrastow. 1 July 2021 on watercolour paper

These poppies were so stunning that I had to try to draw them. There and then. They are also ephemeral.

In a few days the petals had dropped making splashes of scarlet on the grass.

I drew this on special paper: handmade watercolour paper from the Vintage Paper Company. It is very heavily sized and takes the colour well. It’s also stiff, and easy to use out-doors.

The red is Transparent Pyrrol Orange waercolour from Daniel Smith.

Shetland 2021 – Fish farm debris

On the coast near a place called Breiwick, The Quilse, there is a heap of strange tubes. These are from the local salmon farm.

Fish farm debris. 18th July 2021 in Sketchbook P1

They make huge loops in landscape.

These black tubes seem to be indestructible. People find all sorts of uses for them: fence posts, cattle grids, boat slipways. I imagine they would make rather fine musical instruments. I have never heard of anyone using them for this.

But their primary use is to create the salmon cages that float out on the shallow seas in the area.

Picture from “Scottish Salmon Think Tank” website. See how big the structures are!

I saw these tubes on a walk from the Historic Site. I’ve drawn in this location before. In this sketch, you see the black tubes as the small scratchy lines in the centre distance.

Fish farm debris, 13th August 2019

Shetland 2021 – Burrastow House

Here is Burrastow House near Walls on the West side of Shetland. It was built in 1759.

Burrastow House, from the garden. 20 July 2021. 10″ x 8 “

One of the delights of the house is that it has been adapted over the years. Here is a view from the vegetable garden. You see the different roof levels.

Burrastow House from the vegetable garden. 13th July 2021. 10″ x 8″

The white curved area on the left is a segment of the polytunnel. The grey circular item is the oil tank. Above that, the small circle is the satellite dish. I like the way you can see right through two windows, in the room on the top right of the picture.

Here is a view from the garden near the driveway.

Burrastow House, from the garden near the entrance. July 14th 2021

While I was drawing this, a Jaguar E-type throbbed up the drive. I put it in the picture. This was a misty day. I had to pause the work on the picture as the mist turned to rain, and then I resumed as the rain turned to mist again.

You see the front conservatory in the centre and the extension to the left. The extension dates from 1995, according to a small notice in the conservatory.

“This extension

was officially opened

by Canon Lewis Smith

Convener S.I.C

15th September 1995″

All these sketches are in PrintUrchin Sketchbook number 1, on Arches paper, 300gsm, Cold-pressed.

Here are pictures of work-in-progress:

I have sketched Burrastow House on previous visits:

Shetland: Burrastow House

“On the remote west side of Shetland you can find spectacular scenery, peace and the ideal refuge for the escapist. The guest house welcomes you with peat fires, a cosy library and all the marvellous food you could want after…

Shetland 2021 – Coastal rocks

The rocks on the Shetland west side cleave at a very specific angle.

Skerries of Easter Paill, 15th July 2021 on Amatruda paper.

I picked up a pebble on the beach. Many of the pebbles show this pointed regular shape. It gave me great pleasure to find that the angle matched my drawing. It is approximately 70 degrees.

The rocks are at an angle of 70 degrees

The angle is visible even in the large cliffs.

Rocks at the entrance to the Seal Lagoon, 15th July 2021

Here is this sketch in progress:

Sketching at the entrance to the Seal Lagoon, on Arches Aquarelle 300gsm CP, in PrintUrchin Sketchbook 1

The strange object in the top right of the drawing is not a drone, a cormorant, a flying fish or a small airship. It is a mistake. When I closed the sketchbook to continue my walk, some wet paint transferred itself from the left hand page to the right.

Shetland 2021: Birds

Here is a herring gull. These are numerous and float on the sea as well as fly in the air. They also stand on cars and on chimneys. This one stands on a wall, waiting for someone to come out of the kitchen, ideally with a slice of bread.

Herring gull

Then there are the oystercatchers. They fly but don’t swim. They poke around in the seaweed, and, amazingly, also use those long beaks on the lawn, to dig up worms.

Oystercatcher

I started drawing the birds when I saw a wonderful picture in The Shetland Times. It showed a “Long tailed Skua”, described as a “rare passage migrant”. Here is my version, inspired by the photo in The Shetland Times by Jim Nicholson.

Long tailed Skua, rare passage migrant

All drawn in watercolour on Amatruda paper, size A5, using Daniel Smith watercolours.

Shetland 2021 – roads

Shetland roads sweep across the landscape. I enjoy the calligraphic sweep of their curves and the simplicity of the lines they make.

“Cattle Grid” July 2021
  • “Passing place”
Shetland Roads, July 2021

These pictures are sketched on A5 sheets of F Amatruda Amalfi paper from The Vintage Paper Company in Orkney. These are lovely soft sheets with 4 deckle edge. They take the watercolour well.

Amatruda paper, 4 deckle edges

Watercolours are Daniel Smith. Some of the white lines are achieved using a rubber resist, called “frisket”, panted on before the watercolour, and rubbed off afterwards.

Guild Church of St Benets, EC4

On a lovely sunny morning I walked to the Wren café for breakfast. The Wren is in Saint Nicholas Cole Abbey church on Queen Victoria Street. There is a terrace high above Queen Victoria Street. It commands an excellent view of St Paul’s Cathedral, but I chose to look along the busy road and sketch the Guild Church of St Benets.

Guild Church of Saint Benets, from St Nicholas Cole Abbey, Queen Victoria Street EC4. 16th June 2021, 08:30 – 10:45am, 10″ x 7″ in sketchbook 10.

The building in the background is Baynards House, a BT building. In front of the church is the City of London School for Boys. Here are maps:

The Guild Church of St Benets is an active church with services in Welsh. It is a Wren Church, listed Grade I. The listing on the Historic England site says that this is “one of the least altered of Wren’s churches”, since it was not damaged in the 1939-45 war.

Here are a few photos of work in progress on the drawing, and a portrait of a magpie who came to look at my croissant:

I’ve sketched the view of St Paul’s from the same location:

St Paul’s Cathedral from Wren Coffee

Wren Coffee has re-opened! This is a marvellous coffee shop in the Church of St Nicholas Cole Abbey, on Queen Victoria St. I went there and sat…

I also drew a picture of St Nicholas Cole Abbey, from the North side, in a rainstorm:

St Nicholas Cole Abbey EC4

St Nicholas Cole Abbey is at 114 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4BJ.  The City of London entry for this church tells me: The church is dedicated to the…

The Captain Kidd, Wapping, E1

After breakfast at the Turk’s Head ( see this post ) I went down to the river. The tide was out. I sat on the Thames foreshore and sketched The Captain Kidd.

The Captain Kidd, Wapping E1. 12.10pm 14 June 2021. 7″ x10″ in Sketchbook 10

The Captain Kidd is the building at the front. It’s a pub and restaurant. The larger building behind is “St John’s Wharf”, a warehouse now converted into flats.

The “Captain Kidd” is named after a “seventeenth century pirate William Kidd who was executed [in 1701] at the nearby Execution Dock” according to various websites e.g. The Londonist.

However there is no “nearby Execution Dock”. The carefully researched article on “London Inheritance” concludes that “King Henry’s Stairs” were formerly “Execution Dock” (see note 2). The name was changed in the early 19th century to be better in line with the burgeoning use of the area for trade. The London Inheritance author cannot discover a specific “King Henry” connection. He includes a list of some of the people who were executed here, for crimes at sea including piracy, fighting on board ship, murdering shipmates, and treason.

I note with interest that, these days, the headquarters of the Marine Police are just a few hundred yards upstream. This is a very ancient establishment, which started with a one-year trial in 1798 (note 1).

Here is work in progress on the drawing. See the wonderfully clean Thames foreshore.

I drew my picture in the shade under Wapping pier. Here is a map:

Walking back to the ladder, I collected a handful of porcelain pieces, blue and white. It was as though, years ago, someone threw a china bowl onto the foreshore, and the pieces somehow stayed in the same vicinity, through many tides. Or perhaps it is several bowls.

Note 1: There is a Wikipedia article on the River police: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_River_Police

Note 2. The London Inheritance article is here:

King Henry’s Stairs and Execution Dock