These are the pencils and crayons I bought from Fred Aldous (the fantastic art shop in Manchester, which we said goodbye to, for now, because our daughter is moving). Of course I tried them out immediately afterwards.
Tue-25-Aug-2026
Here is a sketch I did when my wife and I had breakfast in the local coffee shop after a morning walk.
Sun-23-Aug-2026
Here is a sketch of the new paper I bought from my favourite shops in the UK. I’ve already started using the Cass art paper (300gsm cold press not)…but so far I don’t think I’ll be trying it again.
Sat-22-Aug-2026
These are the paints that I bought in the UK from Jackson’s in Hove and Cass Art in Brighton. The colours (from the left) are Aureoline (Rosa), Sap Green (Cass), undersea green (Daniel Smith), Opera pink (DS) and Lemon Yellow (Cass). From the label I thought the Aureoline was going to be browner…turns out it is just another yellow. I should have googled it beforehand.
Fri-21-Aug-2026
Finally I have finished posting all my sketches from our holiday. This is the first sketch I did when we got back home and spent a good long week adjusting to the different time zone… in more ways than one. Having busted my watch in Kotor I am back to using my old analogue Pulsar watch!
Thu-20-Aug-2026
After wandering around the old town and eating a nice felafel sandwich from Amigos Gyros, we wandered along the marina and sat down to sketch. After I did the ink work for this, another boat offering tours pulled up in front, blocking my view. I tried to continue but did most of the colour work from a photo.
Mon-17-Aug-2026
After we made another trip to the airport in Tivat to drop off our youngest daughter we decided to chill in Budva before going to Podgorica and our flight home. The day before this before we did boat ride (which turned out to be a bit disappointing and expensive), followed by some souvenir shopping and overheating in the old town. We enjoyed the old town in Budva more than in Kotor (less crowded and less touristy) and we sat in a little square listening to a busker while I sketched this. According to one website this church was built in the 7th century.
Mon-17-Aug-2026
On this busy day, after dropping our daughter at the airport, we visited the Njegoš Mausoleum – which is in the top part of this sketch. To get there we had to drive up 23 hairpin bends to the plateaux and mountains. Afterwards we went to the village of Njeguši (the birthplace of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš), where we visited the small museum and had a fantastic cheese platter for lunch at the Restaurant Bastadur. After all that went to beach in Kotor – where I unfortunately broke my Apple Watch (it was too old to be waterproof) and then when I started the lower part of this sketch, I found the bench was contaminated with a small amount of smelly cat shit …which kind of spoilt the day!
Sat-15-Aug-2026
On this day we walked into Kotor Old City centre, while my wife caught up on some work. Our first stop in the city was the Cat Museum! Later we all met up at the cat park (where volunteers provide food and water for the cats of the city) and where I sketched this. Apparently there are many cats in Kotor because historically, they served as the city’s primary line of defence against vermin.
Fri-14-Aug-2026