thepembrokeshirecreative

Despite a fairly busy day (decorating mostly), I put my mind to getting out and doing some more drawing this morning. I stopped short of getting the 'colours' out, because of limited time available (lousy excuse?), but I drew these two different views at Lower Town - the first in charcoal and the second in pencil. Both were on an A3 pad, which I had a bit of a scuffle with the wind over, as it was trying to wrest the pages from me as I drew - par for the course around here...

Hands up - I have done a few sketches recently, but not too many that I was happy with, including one I started on Sunday at Lower Town of some boats in the harbour. It seemed to start promisingly and then resorted to indifference, so it's not about to get an airing here! I have been very busy working, cycling, decorating and generally doing other stuff, so the art has suffered a bit in the last couple of weeks - something I need to have a stern word with myself about and redress the balance. And get back to the oil painting - sadly lacking recently. So much for goals, but I'll get back into the groove, worry not. I have also run out of my favourite portable sized sketchbooks - A5 spiral bound, so I have been caught between A6 - a bit small for some ambitions, and A4 or A3 - sometimes a bit more than I feel I can commit to and justify when time is short. A bit of a rubbish excuse but I DO need more sketchbooks of the right size - not an easy thing to get during lockdown. Me...

...go? I mean, obviously I have been intending to draw/paint/sketch more, but some days it just proves to be easier said than done. The last couple of days have been a bit slack, so today, being pretty busy, I managed to squeeze in a quick sketch in town, while out getting my exercise (walking) to do another essential (shopping). I think I tied those together quite nicely didn't I? Now I'm running low of the oh-so-convenient A5-sized spiral-bound sketchbooks that I like and which I normally get when I'm in Haverfordwest and the shops are open, of course. Who thought I'd have to stockpile sketchbooks for the lockdown? Nope, nor me.

Well, I don't have a lot more to say here, other than: here's the sketch I did a couple of days ago, while out for a short walk on the bridle path between Scleddau (Cefn Road) and Pendre, Fishguard. It was a lovely day with bright sun, but with a haar - cool sea fog - rolling in and out of Goodwick, Lower Town and the Gwaun Valley all day long. The chilly breeze though, didn't spoil our sunny panoramic countryside views on a walk punctuated by exchanges with other walkers and friends, also seeing and hearing skylarks and stonechats, among others.

I have managed to get distracted a bit recently and fallen short of my own 'at least one a day' art exercise. A few sketches have been made, some a bit so-so, resulting in them not making it here, but I have missed a few days at it too. Mental kick for me. Plus I haven't yet returned to the cows painting to finish it. It takes some time to set up and pack it all away again, as well as cleaning-up afterwards, because I have to use the dining table - not really having the space elsewhere, that's why painting frequency can bit a bit hit-and-miss for me. Not a great excuse I know. In the meantime, here's another sketch. This one is from a long walk I took last weekend and is a scene near the railway overbridge, Jordanston Hill, near Fishguard, if you happen to know it. More soon, I hope!

A couple of days ago we took a short walk along the delightful path from Lower Town, Fishguard, along the south side of the banks of the river Gwaun. Garlic and its perfume pervaded, wood anemones, bluebells and celandines were everywhere. Ferns and bracken stretched upwards into curled tips like ammonites and there was lots of birdsong to be heard. I have found that woods and their environs don't often translate well into sketches and can come out looking jumbled and indistinct. How our bifocal vision, ears and olfactory senses deceive sometimes, making you think you can transcribe it all onto paper and capture all that you sense. Anyhow, I have done some paths and woody places in sketches recently, some which worked out and some which didn't. After this walk we took a quick look at the harbour and I went for 'safe territory' with this sketch of boats and cottages. Recently a friend asked for a copy of the TS Skirmisher sketch I did a little while back at Lower To...

I've neglected this space recently, but I have still been busy 'knocking out' some sketches, so in reverse order and firstly, this one from today done on a walk from Fishguard via Plas y Fron to the St Mary's cemetry and looking back to Fishguard and Goodwick. I then carried on along the road and took the bridlepath past Trebover, and took the footpath towards Cefn y Dre - a delightful miniature gorge with lots of rocky outcrops and loose broken rock,  rampant undergrowth and overhanging trees, including one fallen one that you need to almost limbo beneath to pass. Along here I made this sketch looking up the path. By the way, I don't recommend this path much beyond now and through the summer months - it gets very overgrown, isn't well-kept, it will have big stands of nettles (I just got away with it today in shorts, but in a week's time - probably no), it is loose and rocky underfoot and the upper stretch of the path towards Cefn y Dre turns ...