strictly autumn ballroom at the Royal Festival Hall

1st Birthday!

I’m celebrating a year of my online sketchbook!  From Paris to Penge, a lot of ink has flowed onto these pages.  I’ve got through pens, pencils and watercolour, have amassed quite a pile of sketch books, and have had lots of encouraging and helpful comments along the way.

I started lineandwash at the end of September 2011 because I felt I needed to do more ‘real’ drawing.  I’d been telling myself this for quite a while and it was only after meeting up with some old art college friends, that I finally took the plunge.  I decided I was going to try and put a drawing or sketch on every day for a year.

I started off by putting some sketches that I had made whilst on holiday, to give myself a bit of a head start.  It didn’t take long to get into a routine of making regular drawings.  Having said that, the blog is very much a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly!  Posting daily, often means that I’ve posted sketches which would never normally see the light of day – but I think that is part of the process. 

To give a flavour of the sketchbook year, here are the most viewed images, in traditional reverse order...

TOP TEN POSTS

Bromley Business Expo

10

waiting to catch sight of the Queen

9

the space under the Eiffel Tower

8

playing x-box in 3D

7

'Secret London' poster

6

lippy in a hurry

5

a morning on the London sketchcrawl

4

The Shard

3

custard cream

2

the queue for Khoo

1

Having now completed my target of 12 months of drawing, what now?

I’m already thinking about people and places I can draw in the future.  It’s been a very useful and exciting project to do.  I’ve definitely achieved the aim of drawing more!  

she stoops to conkers

trees at the Geffrye Museum

(urban sketch)

(added colour)

Summer's over

custard cream

The Ebacca

The Ebacca

This scary little creature is thought to be a descendant of the Ewok and the Wookiee.  The species are on the increase and are set to benefit from the demise of the Geesee-Essey on Planet Gove.

For Roald Dahl Day.

Apologies to George Lucas

The Gherkin

Whilst drawing the ‘Gherkin’ in the heart of the financial area of London, I managed to get the edge of the Lloyd’s Building in the picture too.  The ‘Gherkin’ (officially titled 30 St Mary Axe) was designed by Norman Foster, the Lloyd’s Building by Richard Rogers.

Allders 1862 - 2012

The sun sets on Allders of Croydon after 150 years of trading in the town.

ivy

Mayor's Question Time

Yesterday I spent the morning sketching at London’s City Hall, during the Mayor’s Question Time.  The building, which sits near Tower Bridge, looks like a giant crash helmet and is the home to the Mayor and the Greater London Assembly.  

A walkway spirals round inside the building leading you from the entrance to the Chamber where Question Time takes place.  The assembly members are arranged in a horseshoe shape on the purple carpet with 

the Mayor, Boris Johnson in the centre.  

Boris is regarded as one of Britain’s more eccentric politicians with his trademark floppy hair, a penchant for speaking Latin and a passion for Wiff-Waff - that’s table tennis to you and me.  As he was quite a way away  and sitting behind a little desk, I just tried to just capture some of his gestures.

It was a very civilised affair – quite different from the boisterous atmosphere I expected after watching debates from the House of Commons.  There was quite a lot of laughter from the public gallery at various points as the Mayor answered questions in his own inimitable style.

The next Mayor’s Question Time is at 10.00am on Wednesday 17 October 2012 in the Chamber,

 City Hall, London.

Horniman Gardens

Badgers on Instagram

flowerpot

Greenwich

love it... or hate it?

at the meeting

lunchtime sketches

garlic

reading the catalogue

Fly the flag!

last of the summer vine

Illustration Friday - Imagination

You can do anything with Lego!

the opening of the exhibition

jaffa cake

oranges

SE20 Art Exhibition

I'm exhibiting some of my sketchbooks at the SE20 Art Exhibition this weekend.

There should be a good range of paintings, prints and photographs to see.

All welcome!

(poster by John Valentine Marshall)

tomatoes

park life

(urban sketch)

There’s a big screen on the water at the Olympic Park where you can watch events through the reeds, whilst sitting on wooden benches.

(added colour)

a word from our sponsors...

Looking like a pile of over-sized patio doors, the Coca-Cola stand at the Olympic Park does its best to engage and entertain, whilst plugging the fizzy drink.

The panels make sounds – recorded from a variety of athletes and sports - when touched with the palm of the hand.