This was drawn while I chatted to my mum – this bowl (one of a pair) goes with the mugs we were given by my friend @col_creates …all the way from the other side of the world in bonny Scotland. My mum lives in a nice retirement home in the UK but these days seems more and more confused about where she is…even telling me she had been out to watch “Magic Mike” in person, when in fact she had just watched it on TV.
Mon-23-Sep-2024
About a week ago I decided to start my day (very late) with a sketch of our new coffee cups (always a therapeutic exercise)…while drinking my coffee. These were made (and given to us) by my friend @col_creates …along with two lovely little bowls (I’ll add sketching those, to my prompt list). With great care these mugs made it, without breakage, all the way from Edinburgh to Manila, in my hand luggage.
Fri-13-Sep-2024
This sketch was done on our train ride up to Edinburgh, where we stayed with some friends (I forgot to post this one so this is long delayed!). On our first day we walked around the New Town area and marvelled at the huge Georgian Terraces, which reminded me very much of Bath where I used to live. New Town is not all that new – it was built in the late 1700’s to reduce congestion in the Old Town. I sketched this trying to use a very limited palette of ultramarine and raw umber.
Thu-8-Aug-2024
On our second day in Edinburgh, our friends gave us a tour round the older parts of Edinburgh and we stopped for a coffee in Princes Street Gardens, sitting on the grass with this view of the Scott Monument (I’ve delayed posting this because I wanted to do some more work on the sketch). The monument is to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott (famous for historical novels like Ivanhoe and Rob Roy). When he died in 1832 a competition was held to design a monument and a draughtsman and self-taught architect won, using the pseudonym of “John Morvo”. We were very lucky to have beautiful weather that day, and also visited the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Fri-19-Aug-2024
On our third day in Edinburgh (I have skipped some unfinished sketches) we visited a friend from our Cambodia days and started with a trip to the Rosslyn Chapel. Rosslyn Chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair. Relatively recently its role in the Da Vinci Code movie and book has attracted more visitors and raised more funds for restoration. This sketch was done while we listened to a guide giving a little talk about the history of the chapel including a famous story about the murder of an apprentice mason (the title is from the guides comment about what happened to the murdering master mason). Later that day we hiked up to Braid Hill near our friends house.
Sat-10-Aug-2024