thepembrokeshirecreative

I'm happy to say I have got back on track for now and been more productive lately - and with a bit more success. Success and satisfaction seem to come with more commitment and regularity I have found. First up, more boats in Lower Town in permanent ink fibre-tipped pen from a few days ago. Then there is this other small sketch in black biro of cottages and the quay - no apologies for being Lower Town again - my favourite and most convenient place to walk to. And yesterday I made this sketch of Aber Mawr beach and rocks with the fibre-tipped pen again. I often find that beach scenes with rocks and cliffs don't always come off as I would hope - they have a habit of looking better in reality, or to the mind's eye, than is easy to pull off with a drawing, or even a photo. That's perhaps another case of our binocular vision making things look better than in one dimension and the added senses of smell and hearing giving a much more rounded experience than a picture can someti...

Well, despite good intentions, I have inadvertently managed to leave a big gap again since I last posted here, despite my continued art activity. I have done a fair bit of drawing, though falling short of my minimum one piece a day target, which has sometimes slipped. Well, you know, I'm only human! Some days haven't presented obvious drawing or painting opportunities, due to being busy at home with work, decorating in the house, other odd jobs or just plain miserable days outdoors. I certainly need to rekindle my pursuit of doing more and improving my painting, though (here comes the excuse...) my one space for spreading out my materials and painting - the dining room table - has been occupied of late, while Sue has moved her work computer set-up from its usual spare room place, because it was being decorated in there. That's finished now and things should revert to their previous state and I should be able to get my sometime space back (when we're not eating at the ta...

Yup, I haven't been creating as much as I should have recently - something to do with old chestnuts like being too busy with other things (true) and some lousy weather for being outdoors drawing (also true). I did a bit of oil painting a couple of days ago, but it was just practise and barely worth an airing. I have been doing a few mediocre indoors-based sketches - also not really worthy. Anyway, this morning I went out to Lower Town with good intentions and created this one, which I have scanned at hi-res on the computer, because I drew it on watercolour paper and should my possible colour wash addition go pear-shaped, I'll still have a bare-bones b/w copy of it! Ah, such confidence? In truth I don't use colour washes much at all, so I'm lacking in practise in that area too.

...I'm trying to get back to a more regular habit of creating some sort of art every day, as the last few weeks have been a bit slack, due to the aforementioned 'other things' (cycling, decorating and jobs outdoors in the fine weather). I'd also created a few sketches which I considered a bit indifferent, on the days when I did manage to do something - efforts not meeting expectation! Anyway, this one was a bit better, which I made last night at Lower Town. No apologies for similar themes - it's such a nice spot there, hard to resist and with good views around (almost) every corner. Onwards! Buzz Knapp-Fisher's converted lifeboat and Quay Road cottages.

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.