Over the weekend I spent a lot of my time replacing the door handles on our kitchen cupboards. The developer installed the cheapest they could no doubt and the handles have now started to corrode and tarnish. We are replacing them with nice shiny new stainless steel handles – and I thought putting the two together would make a good subject for an evening sketch. It’s difficult to get that shiny metal feel though.
Sat-29-May-2021
Late Friday afternoon I sat in our car for half an hour letting it tick over so the battery doesn’t go flat again. While waiting I sketched this view from the side window. Although the sketch doesn’t look that dark it got really gloomy down there (the car park is a half basement) after a while, so I added the rest of the colour from a photo. Everyone except us seems to be driving a huge 4-wheel drive boat.
Fri-28-May-2021
We have a collection of these little ceramic candlesticks that we used to use in Cambodia in the days when it was more unusual for the power to be on than to be cut. I like to draw them as they have such a lovely deep blue glaze.
Thu-27-May-2021
Here is a quick evening time doodle. I couldn’t really concentrate on doing this as next to me our new kitten was spinning around chasing his own tail and occasionally sinking his teeth into my trousers.
Wed-26-May-2021
This hat is a beautiful piece of handicraft work that we were given when we hiked to Laya in Bhutan (about 20 years ago). Laya is an area in the Northwest of Bhutan on the Tibetan border inhabited by the indigenous Layap people. If you Google Laya you can see them wearing these hats. Our trip there was the first big hike we did in Bhutan – it was exhausting but fantastic.
Tue-25-May-2021
This little gas hob is something my wife bought in Cambodia many years ago. However it still works perfectly well – we use it when the LPG runs out at an inopportune moment. However my eyesight wasn’t working perfectly well when I drew this – somehow the burner in the middle ended up wonky and as usual I couldn’t fit the whole thing on the page. It was tricky to draw as well because it’s just black and grey…hey ho better luck next time!
Sun-23-May-2021
On Sunday I had my usual Zoom sketching session with my friend @TheArtofBeingPresent and sat in the little cafe in our common ‘clubhouse’ to sketch this. To sit there we had to buy a drink of course…and we eventually ended up having lunch (noodle soup) which was surprisingly good. However the ‘good food‘ of the title comes from the sign on the wall at the top left which said…well I think you can guess.
Sun-23-May-2021
Here is a sketch of my shelf in the bathroom with various pots of jollop that I use in the morning. I like drawing things like this as there are interesting shapes and lots of colour.
Sat-22-May-2021
I am still battling away with my new paper, but gradually getting used to it. Here is a sketch of our leftover dinner from last Friday – a lovely baked dish of pinto beans cooked with lashings of cheese, onions, green apples, tomatoes and chilli. Yum yum.
Fri-21-May-2021
This is my first sketch in a newly made sketchbook – this time I am trying out the very expensive Hahnemühle Britannia 300 gsm hot pressed paper. So far I am finding it a bit tricky – it’s not as immediately absorbent as the paper I used last, so the paint washes around the surface for a while. It’s going to take a while to get used to that. Anyway we bought some Guimaras mangoes from a friend on Thursday, so to avoid having to think too hard, I chose them as my subject to sketch.
Thu-20-May-2021
