Essex Book Festival Lecture

Lecture notes. ©Sue Pownall

The Essex Book Festival is on throughout March in various locations across the county. Due to other commitments, so far I have only attended a lecture at the University of Essex last Monday. It was called "From Print to Pixels: The Many Futures of Reading Kodachrome Travels: How colour changed the way we see the world."  I went as I am interested in both colour and film, but have to confess I didn't get the connection to books. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture given by Professor Jeffery Geiger and realise I miss learning. Time to return  to study?

Three moments around the lecture. ©Sue Pownall

 Top image: In the sketch, I wanted to capture Prof. Geiger, but ended up getting so engrossed in what he was saying the page got covered in lecture notes. I did get the colour added at the same time. I'd forgotten, but when I studied at Essex my lecture notes often looked like this, as I strove to capture keywords and points.

Below:  I started on the right-hand page where the three people were stood on the stage chatting prior to the lecture. It seems as if they were friends of the professor and sat behind me when it started. Top left is the woman who introduced the lecture. Then the final sketch on the bottom-left was made during the Q&A session and I loved her twisted body image.

Where have you sketched this week?

Tiptree Sings at Christmas

First, an apology as the autoposting to this blog hasn't worked for the last few posts. You can check out the missing ones here: Blog posts.

I love going to see choirs sing at Christmas, so last night I went back to Tiptree to see a friend sing in the choir she belongs to. The setting was St Lukes church, which I have only drawn from the outside, so made sure I had coloured pencils alongside my sketchbook.

My first sketch was of some of the female choristers chatting before the concert. They were very animated and seemed quite excited which I hope I captured in the sketch. What do you think?

Listening to the lovely singing, I sketched the top drawing showing a section of the choir and the church.

I forgot to take the proof of on-location sketching shot until the choir was about to start singing in the second half of the concert, but hopefully gives a little idea of my view.




Other news: I was very flattered when Simone Ridyard asked me to contribute to her architectural sketching book, Archisketcher. Yesterday, I received my copy and the whole book is fabulous! I would thoroughly recommend buying it for your shelves because of the fabulous content, not because of my contribution :)

Finally, due to logistics the Essex&Suffolk Sketchers have renamed themselves Colchester Sketchers. 

The FB group is here: Colchester Sketchers

Have a good week everyone.

Freshers' Week

View from Square 4 ©Sue Pownall 2015

Due to a cash flow issue, I am currently temping at the University of Essex. I only have 30 minutes for lunch but have managed to do a few sketches so far.

Tai chi demo in Square 4 ©Sue Pownall 2015

This one I did the week before...

Ivor Crewe lecture hall. ©Sue Pownall 2015

 

With a couple more weeks there, I wonder what I can do next.

Drinkdraw Chappel

This is as far as my first sketch got. ©SuePownall2015

My assistant.

The railway viaduct at Chappel has been on my "to-sketch" list for many years, so on Friday I arranged for the Essex & Suffolk Sketchers to meet at the Swan pub. With quickly failing light and the temperature dropping, I sat on a bench in the Swan's car park and quickly tried to paint it. It was difficult to tell the colours I was applying as the light changed and dropped. Above is as far as my first sketch got.

Heading into the pub to warm up, I think the guys having bar snacks got drawn by everyone. As usual, I spent more time chatting than drawing, so these two were all I did. Plus, Degas got bored and decided when it was time to go home.

I was sketching in an A4 Monologue sketchbook with Winsor & Newton watercolours & Inktense pencils.

Bar snacks. ©SuePownall2015

Drinking and drawing

3rd Essex & Suffolk Sketchers DrinkDraw event.

 

...talking and playing.

Here I am sketching

On Friday night, I had arranged for the Essex and Suffolk sketchers to have a 3rd DrinkDraw evening. These evenings are proving to be very successful and we had a good turn out again.

We went to the Rose and Crown in Wivenhoe, which has this great quayside beer garden. The above photo shows us hard at work sketching the estuary, boats, pub and more.

I spent most of my time chatting and/or playing with my assistant, who likes the drinkdraw evenings out, than painting. oh well there's always next month. 

Here's my one sketch, direct watercolour in an A5 Daler sketchbook.

Lowtide on the River Colne.

More talking than sketching occurred last Saturday too. It was the #48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl day, so I arranged to join the Drawing London on Location group at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. Unfortunately, my sketching mojo didn't come too. I was ready to sketch on the train but... it was packed as the Norwich train had been offloaded onto the train I caught. I found a seat, got sketchbook and glasses out and... the man next to me proceeded to tell me all about his life as a cruise ship pianist. 

Arriving at the museum, it was one of those days that the scale of the building was intimidating and the gardens stunning but... nothing grabbed my attention. I decided a cup of tea was the solution, which it was as I loved the organic lamps and was lucky enough to have the people I was drawing stay as long as I sketched.

The Geffrey café

After another wander around looking at the exhibits, I chatted to a few other sketchers, then decided to head off to look for my sketching mojo elsewhere.  As my lack of results on Friday show, it hadn't come back by then. Fingers crossed I relocate it this week.

Jimmy

Jimmy drawing. Pencil in moleskin sketchbook.

On a cold, grey, drizzly Thursday, Jimmy had his lunch at Sanctus then sat in my art class. Jimmy was refered to by the others as being a "Diddycoy", which is an old, often derogatory term, for someone who's parentage is not full gypsy. He is a lovely, cheerful, uneducated, old man speaking a dialect that I only understood one in three words. I gave him some paper and a pencil and he drew me drawings of the wagons (horse drawn carts and gypsy caravans) his dad used to make. He's had a hard life, if I understood half of the stories he told, and it is compounded now by his love of drink (he was sober) and health problems. He is very trusting, asking me to check his perscriptions for him, and loves talking. I don't know if I'm allowed to have him sit in with us, but I hope he comes back at least to stay out of the cold.

A proud man with his drawing. Photo taken/used with his permission.

 You can help people like Jimmy get a meal by donating to Sanctus here: sanctus-home.com

Down but not out

Dave. Pencil in moleskin.

 I have been taken on as an art tutor for the charity WEA (wea.org.uk). My first course started on Thursday and I'm working at the charity Sanctus (sanctus-home.com) in their cafe. All the participants are  homeless, destitute or have fallen on hard times. As Sanctus say, "We are not here to judge, but to help and act as a resource for the community" and my course is both a gentle way into education and also, hopefully, aids the participants' health and wellbeing (confidence building, social engagement etc).

From Class 1: working on contour portraits.

On Thursday, I have to confess, apart from nerves of running a new course for a new employer AND it was the first time the WEA and Sanctus have worked together, I was nervous as I have only interacted with this community in a limited way (buying The Big Issue) and stereotypes were running around my head. After just 2 sessions, I am so pleased the stereotypes are wrong. I feel I am learning more than the guys.

Sweep joins the 2nd class.

There's not much time to draw when you are the class tutor, but above top is a incomplete sketch of Dave, who's very sweet and also a good drawer.

Waiting

Café at National Gallery. Ink in Moleskin sketchbook

On Saturday, I went to London to see some of the exhibitions. Whilst waiting for my friend to arrive, I sketched in the National Gallery's café.

 I didn't have any more time to sketch as my friend and I saw
three exhibitions starting with Rembrandt: The Late Works at the National. Then it was round the corner to the NPG to see Grayson Perry's, Who Are You? and finally the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2014. All worth seeing!
I'm a total Grayson Perry convert after seeing his exhibition and then watching the backstory documentaries.

What exhibitions have you seen recently?

Dubai doodles

Burj Al Arab from Costa's - Friday.Water colour & ink A5 sketchbook.

Two weekends ago I went to Dubai as I'd received a invite to the opening day of Art Dubai. Having never attended this event I thought it would be an interesting opportunity, especially as the Global Art Forum is run in conjunction with it. Naturally I took my sketchbook and camera, and these are the pictures from the 3 days I was there.

Lemon mint juice in Dome - Wednesday after arrival.Watercolour on pencil A5 sketchbook.

 After checking into my hotel, I had some lunch which was served with a beautiful acid green lemonmint drink, which cried out to be painted. I grabbed a pencil from my bag and then used watercolours to try to capture the colours, whilst eating a scrummy sandwich and chips. It looks better in the original, my scanner's washed it out a bit.

Rough seas on Jumeriah Beach Thursday.

Global Art Forum - Thursday Ink A5 sketchbook.

The next day we had a dust storm in the morning and afterwards was a lovely refreshing wind. Although it was a bit overcast, I went to the beach near the Art Dubai site and after sitting watching the waves for awhile I tried to paint them. (My scanner couldn't cope with this, so it was lucky I took a photo). From the beach I went to the Global Art Forum where there were really interesting discussions and talks.

Global Art Forum - Friday. Ink A5 sketchbook

 I returned to the forum on Friday, after I checked out and left my bag for the afternoon, I was a little early so investigated Souq Madinate Jumeriah. Sitting in Costas for their free wifi, I painted the stunning view of the iconic Burj Al Arab. Finishing off the weekend, I sketched a couple of pages at the forum before heading to collect my bag on route to the airport.

Persian plums.

The Aloo Tree,  ink © Sue Pownall 2013

 I'm really enjoying being an illustrator for the short story site, The Story Shack. Not only do I get different subject matter to illustrate, but I get the opportunity to use different styles. Above is this month's illustration, The Aloo Tree, whilst below is February's, How to Fail at Telemarketing. 

Pen & watercolour wash illustration.© Sue Pownall 2013

Finally, here is January's illustration.

Coffee. Pen & coffee © Sue Pownall 2013

You can see more of my illustrations for The Story Shack by following this link: StoryShack illustrations.

Also, you can read the stories How to fail at Telemarketing  and Coffee by clicking the titles, whilst you'll have to wait to read The Aloo Tree until it's published on the 18th.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I always appreciate the comments left.

Sue

Sundry Spanish sketches

La Sagrada Familia  A5 sketchbook

My penultimate Sunday in Barcelona, I met with a friend to go to the Picasso museum. Whilst waiting for her to arrive at the meeting point, I sketched the tourists around me in their various hats. Unfortunately, when we got to the museum the queue was about 3 days long, so we decided to go to the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella and then onto the Palau dela Música Catalana.

Hats, hats, hats A5 sketchbook.

Parc de la Ciutadella © Sue Pownall 2012

At the Palau de la Música, we had to join a tour to view the beautiful building - next time I'd like to go to a concert there. First we watched a short film on its history in the new auditorium, which is when I sketched the lady on the left of my sketchbook. Then, walking around the old auditorium I tried to quickly capture some of the flowing sculptural elements.

Palau de la Musica A5 sketchbook.

My last sketching outing in Barcelona was on 7th August when I met the animator Dave Coogan in Rambla de Catalunya. We met at the La girafa coqueta so I tried to capture its lines as my warmup, but my proportions are out. Then, we sat in the shade to sketch the various people.

On Rambla de Catalunya  A5 sketchbook.

From the Rambla, we went to join some of the Barcelona sketchers who were at La Sagrada Familia drawing with Nina Johansson who was over from Sweden. La Sagrada is dauntingly large. My view was chosen for me, as Dave and I sat on the only available empty bench, and I had this view through the trees (top and below).

Sketching at La Sagrada Familia

The best day. 36º SketchCrawl Mundial, Barcelona

Plaza del Pi

I had the best day sketching with the Barcelona sketchers on Saturday. I'd like to thank everyone for making me feel welcome, speaking English on my behalf, and putting up with my bad Spanish, especially Cesar and Dave. Also, Sagar, Antonio, Saki, Silvie... EVERYONE was so nice!!!

Muchas gracias a todos!!!!

I wanted to join the Barcelona sketchers partially because I've seen their amazing drawings online, but mainly because I've only done small SketchCrawls that I have arranged. Small - well Saturday was anything but small as the SketchCrawl coincided with the 1st urban drawing contest in sketchbooks. (1er Concurso de dibujo urbano en libreta). 274 people participated in the contest plus there were us non-participants. Incredible!!! I have never seen so many people drawing at the same time, not even in college.

Sketchers in doorways & by walls...

...and in the shade & cafe...

... on the floor, against a tree...

...on stools, in the flowers...

...EVERYWHERE THERE WERE SKETCHERS!

The SketchCrawl started at Plaça Catalunya, where Cesar, Dave & I, along with lots of others, headed up to the café at the top of El Corte Inglés. My eye was caught by a yellow & orange tower, so I had to draw it.

 Next it was on to the church of Santa Ana, where I chose to draw the  flower stall. I was going to add colour but liked the lines as they were.

 Moving on to Plaza de la Catedral, I had an unsuccessful time due to rain stopping the watercolour I was trying to do, twice, so I gave up and drew some gargoyles instead.

 

It was suggested that I finish the watercolour by memory, but I think I will just return one afternoon and continue where I left off.

Then, it was finally lunchtime and I was invited to join Cesar & friends. At the restaurant, sketchbooks were shared and drawing continued whilst we waited for our food.

Got to love paper place mats!

After a scrummy lunch, it was onto Plaza de San Felip Neri, which is where I sketched all the sketchers above. Then on to the last site on the crawl map, Plaza del Pi (top sketch). I was sitting on the floor with some Spanish girls, when we all decided we just couldn't draw any more. I had an invitation for an art exhibition so headed off there. 

 

 I had passed invites onto the others, so after contacting them to say it wasn't worth going, I joined them for a drink. Two & a half hours after I stopped sketching, I ended up doing 2 more... it's compulsive if those around you are drawing, honestly. More sketchbooks were shared and materials too.

6.30pm Plaza del Pi / 9pm George & Dragon pub

 

Saturday's SketchCrawl was the longest day I have ever spent sketching, the furthest I have walked on a Crawl, and the most fun with the nicest people. All in all the best day!

 

Thank you again Barcelona sketchers.

******

If you want to know more about SketchCrawl, please visit the site SketchCrawl.com

The site of the Barcelona sketchers is here.

Please forgive the quality of sketch photos, I haven't located anywhere to scan drawings yet.