Category: Sketch work

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Sketches from Whitsand Bay

Sketch of Rame Head

We have just enjoyed a superb holiday in an area of Cornwall – the Rame Peninsula. The Rame Peninsula is sometimes called “The Forgotten part of Cornwall’. I have certainly not forgotten in and here are my sketches from Whitsand Bay.

Tregonhawke Cliff

We stayed in a tiny chalet on Tregonhawke Cliff. Wow what a view! We arrived on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon. It was a trek from the car park to the Chalet – and with no shops or anywhere to eat in the evening, nearby – we had a lot of stuff! However the view made it all worthwhile as could look from Looe right around Whitsand Bay to Rame Head.

Sketch of the view from Seagulls nest

Sadly Saturday turned out to be rather cloudy. The rest of the week turned out to be very wet but that didn’t bother us as we had a first class view from our Chalet, called Seagull’s Nest. The chalet was equipped with so much stuff, including picnic bags and blankets, china tea service and a choice of coffee pots! The view around Whitsand Bay could be seen from the main bedroom, as well as the lounge/dining room area.

Sketch of the view of Rame Head from the beach

We did venture down the path to the beach at Tregonhawke, the walk is not for the faint hearted – it was very tricky in places and even harder to climb back up. A lively beach with lots of activities for the children.

St Germans

Sketch of St Germans viaduct

Tuesday morning turned out sunny so we ventured out in the car to explore. First stop was St Germans. If you have ever travelled to Plymouth St Germans has the most amazing viaduct and you can look down at this little village. It has been on my list of places to visit for a very long time and I wasn’t disappointed. I even had time to sketch and capture the scene.

Portwrinkle

Sketch of Portwrinkle Harbour

After St Germans we were lucky enough to find a parking spot at Porthwrinkle so we could explore here. The Harbour was very nice but the sun was still shining and it was lovely to sit and sketch the scene.

Mount Edgcumbe Park

Sketch of Royal William Yard

Thursday was another sunny morning, so this time we decided to get the local bus and visit Cremyll. Going via Kingsand, Cawsand and Millbrook, included a lot of windy, narrow roads but we were able to sit and enjoy the views. We had a good walk around Mount Edgcumbe before stopping for lunch at The Edgcumbe Arms, where I got my paints out to sketch the Royal William Yard across the water at Plymouth.

A lovely enjoyable holiday and I hope you enjoyed my sketches from Whitsand Bay. It was so peaceful and I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for peace and quiet in a stunning location.

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Painting at Portscatho

cliffs outside of Portscatho

The weather hasn’t been brilliant lately however on a glorious sunny day we decided to make the most of sunshine and go to the Roseland Peninsula, where I did some painting at Portscatho.

I had never visited Portscatho and it is a beautiful, quiet, little fishing village, where people where swimming, fishing and out on their boats. It was glorious.

We walked along the coastal footpath and found a lovely spot to sit and eat our pasty’s and of course my paints had to come out!

Going back via Portscatho, we then headed onto Porthcurnick beach, which was jam packed with families making the most of the sunshine. We didn’t venture onto the beach itself but I did do this little sketch.

Porthcurnick Beach

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Salzkammergut

View from St Gilgen

One happy holiday memory was when we visited the Salzkammergut area of Austria, staying in the peaceful lakeside resort of Fuschl. It was idyllic and despite going up and down mountains; crossing lakes; jumping on and off local buses I did manage to pause long enough to get my sketch pad out. Here we are.

  • Halstatt
  • Halstatt market square
  • Wolgangsee
  • view from our room
  • Fuschlsee
  • Fuschl mountain in rain
  • Houses in Fuschl

Fuschl is about 12 miles from Salzburg, set on a beautifully peaceful lake, that has the most amazing sunsets, lakeside promenade and a Castle. Being on the local bus route we were able to go out and visit lots of places. It

One of our trips included visiting Hallstatt, although this did include a long bus ride, then we hopped on to a train and finally a boat across the lake, but it is stunning and well worth it. This tiny village has alpine houses crammed into every available piece of land, surrounded by mountains, my sketches really don’t do it justice!

Another trip was to nearby St Gilgen, and riding the Zwolferhorn cablecar to give you a breathtaking view of the Wolfgangsee region.

We were mainly lucky with the weather but the weather broke near the end, however as our room had a covered balcony I tried to capture the rainy, misty mountains that surrouded Fuschl.

I also really enjoyed using my lovely new painting moleskin sketchbook that I got given for Christmas,  paper quality does make such a difference.

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A sketching walk around west Penwith

Sennen sketch

Today I am going to take you on a journey, just a short journey – a sketching walk around west Penwith. In order to be factually accurate I didn’t do all these sketches in one day, but you could, providing you had a car and plenty of time.

Where is west Penwith you might ask? Does it start in Penzance or Mousehole? Well I am going to start my sketching walk in Lamorna!

Lamorna

Lamorna

Lamorna is a pretty cove, just along from Mousehole but actually not that easy to get to. You need to navigate the windy lanes that prevail around this area, but there is a small car park, albeit with high parking charges. But it was cheap enough for me to pop out and do a quick sketch before moving on.

Porthcurno bay

Porthcurno

Next stop is Porthcurno, where you can visit the spectacular Minack Theatre or walk along the beautiful beach, whilst all the time looking at Logan Rock. I love this area, especially the colour of the sea and sand.

Longships April 2015

Land’s End

Next stop is Land’s End – but I do have a top tip for this area. Many, many years ago, when I was a young girl Land’s End was a beautiful, unspoilt part of our country. Sadly it is now a major tourist attraction, with all the trappings that go with it. My top tip therefore is to go park up in Sennen Cove and walk along the coastline to Land’s End – then you can experience the unspoilt scenery from my youth.

Looking down on Sennen beach

Sennen

On the way back from your walk to Land’s End, you get a marvellous view of Sennen Cove and Whitesand Bay.

The Bay, with its beautiful white sandy beach that stretches around to my next stop.

Boats at Cape Cornwall

Cape Cornwall

Cape Cornwall – a lovely little, quiet spot where fishermand still venture out in their small boats. There is a National Trust car park and a perfect spot in on a sunny day all year round.

Sketch of The Crowns

Ancient Cornwall

Along the coast a little further is The Crowns at Botallack Mines. I do love this spot, with the mines clinging precariously to the cliffs. You can walk down and explore the higher engine house mine, which is easily accessible, but I wouldn’t try and venture to the lower engine house as the path has eroded, making it quite dangerous.

Lanyon Quoit

Lanyon Quoit

Now whilst you could carry on along the coast to St Ives, I am going to go back to Penzance on the Madron road so that I can pass Lanyon Quoit. These ancient stones dot the landscape in West Penwith but Lanyon Quoit is the most accessible from the road. These truly is Cornwall’s historic past dating back many, many centuries and well worth a visit.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip around West Penwith, and its beautiful, unspoilt landscape that I just love to paint.

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Using Pen and Ink in Watercolour Paintings

Drawing of Willoughby Shaft

As you look through my website you will see that I enjoy using Pen and Ink in Watercolour Paintings.

sleeping beauty drawing

This started when I was at school where I created drawings using a very slow technique of drawing little dots in pen to draw my image.

menorca door

I had never really thought about using pen and ink in my watercolours but my art tutor held several classes to teach us this technique. I enjoyed getting out my old nibs and ink but rather than using my dotted technique she encouraged me to draw in one movement, as this gives a looser feel.


Initially you sketch in pencil, before then drawing in the lines in a freehand style.

Once all the drawing is complete, the pencil is erased and you can start painting. The painting then doesn’t need to fall within the lines, this keeps the loose feeling and to me gives it a greater vibrancy.

Wheal Coates drawing

I do love this technique and I now use it when I am painting architecture, it enables me to ensure I have the accuracy for the buildings. I also use it for sketching whilst out and about, although then I use drawing pens. When I am out and about quite often time is limited and doing a quick drawing can capture the scene, and then I can quickly add colour to give it life.

Venice drawing
However I have also gone back to drawing with dots!

venice drawing

I found it very relaxing to draw using this dotted technique and find it works very well for tiny images that I then convert into greeting cards.

venice gets some colour

Generally I tend to be sat watching TV and I can do these little drawings, put them to one side8 and then later on, I can sit and relax in my studio and add the colour!

Storm clouds over Venice
Venice

They seem popular and I hope you like them.

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West Pentire

Pentire Headland

Last Saturday the weather was glorious in Cornwall, so off we set with freshly made pasties looking for a stunning location to eat them, and we found West Pentire.

We headed off towards Cubert, branched off towards Crantock and drove up towards West Pentire. With our National Trust membership we were able to park for free and it had the most amazing view across to Pentire Headland.

Painting of Pentire Headland

Once my scummy home-made pasty was eaten out came the paints!

A lovely spot, and with the Bowgie offering tables outside that will be a nice spot to sit and have a drink or lunch.

Another sketch

We love the spot so much I have visited again and of course did another sketch! It was low tide again, so does look quite similar to my first sketch.