Midnight Rose

Things can look very different in the middle of the night, the lack of light alters the colours and can sometimes create an almost ghostly feel.

It's important to remember that when the light returns everything will return to it's normal state.

Acrylics in sketchbook.

Facing the Challenge

Hurriedly sketched this one using for reference an illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith.


I just love children at this age when they're starting to get more mobile and inquisitive.

Mother Bear

Acrylic in small sketchbook

This is Mother Bear, just a very quick sketch of her in acrylics. I was getting ready for my stint as steward at a local exhibition when she called to me to paint her and I just couldn't resist.

I still managed to get there on time so no harm done, but it just goes to prove to me that the urge to paint can occur at the most inopportune times.

Two Trees

15 min sketch in sketchbook

On the drive home I noticed these strange tree shapes and just had to sketch them.

Forever reaching out yet unattainable.

Over the Gate

15 min quick sketch

The horse was determined to get through the gate, but he was just too big to fit through the gap.

Why do we always think life is better on the other side of the gate when all we need do is turn around and see the beauty in what we already have?

Tree Study

15 min study in watercolour pencils on postcard 6" x 4"

Trying to get to grips with what trees are all about. Solid, alive and wonderfully textured.

Wine & Cheese

15 mins

Wine and cheese... tantalise the tastebuds!

Teddy Girl

Oils on postcard

Quick sketch in fast drying oils using limited palette just to capture her character. I have since added a pale blue background which has helped and I think maybe she needs something to her left?

Time Out

15 min sketch with wc pencil

Everyone needs to take time out each day just to gather themselves together, take a break and get ready for the next challenge. Even 15 minutes can be enough to make a huge difference.

Same but Different

Orange Peel ink and watercolour wash in small sketchbook 15 min

I love that citrus smell of a freshly peeled orange.

The juice made from the orange ink and wash 15 min

Things have to be altered so we can enjoy them in another way. They are not lost, just different.

Cappuccino Moment

15 min wc pencil in sketchbook - Cappuccino

It would seem I spend an awful lot of time in Costa Coffee recently, but it is such a good way to relax and watch the shoppers whilst enjoying a real yummy hot drink!

Cappuccino Moments are what gets me through the day. :)

Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows!

15 min w/c pencil in sketchbook

How wonderful to enjoy a break in the chaos that is life just to drink in the surroundings and feel the tension melt away.

Flowers from the Heart

15 min watercolour on ink drawing

Painted the ink drawing I did earlier. Only 15 mins to spare so it was a bit of a rush job and I did not have one of the colours that I needed, but it looks ok nonetheless.

Sometimes a shortage of time can be a good thing, it means you do not have the luxury of thinking too much and what occurs is instinctive. Often that is the best way to go, just follow your heart.

Flowers on My Desk

15 minutes to spare lunchtime. Line drawing in ink. May add some colour to this one.

Simple things can make your heart soar. Flowers in a jamjar always make me feel nostalgic.

Coffee Break

15 min watercolour/ink in small sketchbook

The morning coffee break - there is nothing like the lift I get from my cup of coffee (unless of course it is afternoon when I drink tea!)

I am particular in that drinking coffee it must be in my Denby pottery cup. Whereas tea must be in fine bone china or porcelain but that's another story.

Strange the little idiosyncracies we accumulate in life.

Teddy Ty-rone

15 min Watercolour pencil in Moleskine sketchbook.

When stuck for a subject I peruse the Teddy collection. Ty-rone was my model for today! He is wearing his tie to the office.

Moving Target

Pencil in sketchbook
Watercolour pencil in sketchbook 15 min action shot!
Ralfi my dog in action. It's very difficult sketching a moving dog and Ralfi is never still very long - I think he's hyperactive!

Take A Leaf Out of His Book

15 min watersoluble pencil sketch on sketchpaper.

I have discovered that I rather like sketching open books. I like these quick sketches, they are opening my eyes to the things I like and the things I don't like.

When you think of taking a leaf out of someone else's book it's because you think they have got things right, so you want to emulate it. Trouble with me is I am very independent and stubborn which means I cannot take a leaf out of anybody else's book, because I'm too busy writing my own! I like the saying all the same.

Pinning on a Smile

15 min watersoluble pencil on sketchpaper.

This is something of a self portrait really... Pinning on a smile.

The British are particularly good at it and I am a past master.

I don't show my true feelings easily, always making out things are fine even when they are not. I would rather hear them laugh than see them sad and I don't want to make others unhappy by unburdening myself, what use is that. How are you they ask... I'm fine. Pin on the smile.

Discarded Bouquet

Not a good 15 min sketch, but I loved the story that the image told... a discarded bouquet in a rubbish bin in the park.

Makes you think, doesn't it? Who would discard a bouquet in such a way and why? Ah, it's the storyteller in me that was captured by this scene.



And at springtide, when the apple-blossoms brush the burnished bosom of the dove,
Two young lovers lying in an orchard would have read the story of our love;
Would have read the legend of my passion, known the bitter secret of my heart,
Kissed as we have kissed, but never parted as we two are fated now to part. (Oscar Wilde)