Last week they were re surfacing part of the A35 in Bournemouth. Theses road rollers were parked in a side road overnight so I walked past them every morning when out walking the dogs. I painted this from a photo as I can’t make the dogs wait while I sketch on site, at least not by the roadside.

This was done using some photos I took on the beach yesterday. I wanted to explore the shapes the joggers made and it’s easier to do it from a photo than from life. The fountain I used had water soluble ink which darkens the colours as it runs.

I cycled down to the beach this morning and spent an hour sat on the prom sketching the joggers, walkers and cyclists enjoying a mild sunny morning. I sketched in pen and added watercolour when I couldn’t fit any more figures in. It’s difficult to get the sense of movement in joggers even though they are past and gone in a flash.

Kimmeridge is one of my favourite places on Dorset’s Jurassic coast. This is from a photo I took last month when I was painting there with some of the art group. The tower on the headland is Clavell tower which had to be moved a few years ago when it was in danger of falling over the cliff. It featured in Agatha Christie’s novel “The Black Tower” which like lots of her stories was set in Dorset.

Nuala with two of her training buddies Bramble and Lexie. We haven’t been able to do much training this year and I don’t expect we will do any until Easter at the earliest. I do train her at home with Fletcher but it’s not the same as being in a field with lots of other dogs.

I don’t watch a lot of tv, I would generally rather paint, read or play music but there are a few programs I enjoy like The Repair Shop, Escape to the Chateau and Bake off. Last night was the final of Bake off so I have painted the three finalists here. I won’t say who won in case any of you haven’t seen it yet. Apologies if you don’t live in the UK and have no idea what these programs are about!

A post from one year ago came up on Facebook this morning, it was a watercolour of a cellist. I thought I would try a similar theme to see if I have made any improvement. I think my watercolour technique has improved but I need to get more accuracy in the initial drawing. Back to the drawing board!

Yesterday there was a virtual meeting of the Poole and Bournemouth urban sketchers group, the theme was Victorian architecture which Bournemouth has in abundance. I couldn’t join in yesterday as I was doing the Sky arts portrait artist of the week so I had a go today. This is Westbourne arcade, one of my favourite places because it has a wonderful old music shop called Don Strikes.

Painting Russell Tovey in the Sky Arts portrait artist of the week.. once again there was a fascinating interaction between the artist and sitter. I chose watercolour this week.