I haven’t posted in a while because I was travelling and dealing with jet lag. This sketch goes back to our visit to Leamington Spa where we strolled around the town and parks. The park was developed in 1846 and are actually called Jephson Gardens – named in honour of Dr Henry Jephson, a doctor who’s promoted Leamington as a spa.
Sun-16-Jul-2023
Here is the second sketch I did in Viharamahadevi park on my last full day in Sri Lanka. The park is full of enormous old trees, but not many benches! Eventually I found a spot in a small gazebo but the trees in my view were relatively small.
Sat-27-Aug-2022
I spend far too long in front of a computer screen during the day (for work), so if I can, I like to go out before it gets dark and sketch some greenery and take in some fresh air. It’s been raining a lot during my normal sketching time, so I sat under a gazebo (which they call a cabana here) to draw and paint this.
Mon-8-Aug-2022
Here is the last sketch I did with #UskQuezonCity at Philippine General Hospital last Sunday. This tree is on a bit of traffic island…surrounded by hard paving and roadways. Somehow it is doing well – I think it might be a banyan tree?
Sun-24-Jul-2022
Here is another quick sketch done outside after several hours of staring at a screen and needing a change of scene. It started gently raining as I was doing this (I was sitting in a small gazebo) – which is lovely and refreshing in this hot weather. These trees are mostly traveller palms – although I think they are not actually palms at all and are related to bananas.
Wed-20-Jul-2022
A long time ago and old friend of mine told me that the best way to paint shrubs and trees was to paint the spaces between the leaves, and not the leaves themselves. I have always remembered that and tried to take that approach…though not always successfully. I sketched this huge mango tree (which I have drawn before) while chatting on line with my friend @TheArtofBeingPresent while we visited the memorial park to pay a visit to my wife’s parents.
Fri-15-April-2022
I sketched this one in the common garden of the development where we live, sitting under a different tree and chatting to my sketching friend @TheArtofBeingPresent. I’ve sketched this tree before, but it is rather nice to sit out in the garden and enjoy the greenery.
Wed-13-April-2022
Here is the sketch I did yesterday while chatting with my sketching friend @TheArtofBeingPresent. In this sketch I set things up more carefully than I usually do, using the framework approach I learnt with the #UrbanSketchersPhilippines the day before – so that I could be sure to fit in the full height of the trees. The building in the background is the common clubhouse at the development where we live. I had to sketch this quickly as it was getting dark.
Sun-3-April-2022
We have had this talisay tree growing in a big pot on our balcony for a long time. We didn’t plant it, a shoot just appeared one day and then grew into this. My wife has given it the bonsai treatment to keep it smaller but it just keeps on growing.
Sun-12-Sep-2021