Day 6 of the Sktchy 30 faces in 30 days. I am only four days behind but I expect it will be the end of May before I finish!

Day 5 of 30 faces in 30 days with artist David Tenorio. My favourite medium is pen and wash but I think I used too much wash and made this too dark.

Simon Merry did a wonderful demo on using grids to create paintings during today’s session at Poole Art society . We all had a go and managed to create some interesting work. Sadly there weren’t many members to enjoy it.

I am doing another 30 faces in 30 days challenge from Sktchy. I wasn’t intending to do another one as April is a busy month but this one is all watercolour so I couldn’t resist it. These are days 1 & 2, I am not totally happy with them but there are still another 28 days to get it right so I won’t worry too much!

Our tutor was absent from our watercolour class today but she had left us some skies to paint. We used lining paper which is designed to get wet and actually works rather well. It’s also a lot cheaper than watercolour paper!

I did a talk on urban sketching at the art society today. Afterwards I got everyone drawing from photos, I was really pleased that they all had a go and produced some amazing work. I hope a few of them were inspired enough to go out and draw on the streets.

Susan sat for a portrait at Broadstone Art Society this morning.

I spent an hour sitting in the sunshine on Poole Quay sketching the old Customs House this morning. I remember when it was still in use by HM Customs, it’s now a restaurant and actually looks much nicer than it used to. It was busy this morning with customers sat outside with late breakfast.

Here are a couple of drawings following the urban sketching at the zoo course by Ian Fennelly. Ian uses fine liners watercolours and Tombo brush pens to create amazing animals. Mine just look a bit muddy!

I had a day in London yesterday visiting the British Museum and the National Gallery. I had planned to go to the V&A but it was closed. The British Museum has some wonderful collections from around the world and the entrance hall with its’ domed glass roof is spectacular. I sketched some Roman sculptures and some interesting Egyptian statues. The National Gallery houses some of my favourite paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Degas, Constable and many of the great artists. It’s a bit daunting to sketch in there with so many great works on display so I stopped in Trafalgar Square for 15 minutes on the way back to Waterloo Station.