Burnham Art Club – Winter 2022-23

Happy to present the remaining pen and wash paintings I made between December 2022 and February 2023.

sunset, trees, winter, silhouette, landscape, sky, clouds, essex, mayland, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

Above and below, a couple more attempts to capture the colourful sky as the winter sun sets behind our neighbours’ poplar trees.

sunset, trees, winter, silhouette, landscape, sky, clouds, essex, mayland, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

sunset, trees, winter, silhouette, landscape, sky, clouds, essex, ashedham, church, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

And since I’m partial to a silhouette, here’s Asheldham church backlit by a January sunset.

winter, leaves, maldon, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

While taking a short, time killing wander around Maldon one December evening I noticed these illuminated leaves still clinging to a tree behind the Blue Boar pub.

winter, pansy, pansies, flowers, botanical, purple, mayland, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

It never ceases to amaze me how winter pansies can continue to bloom after being repeatedly frozen, aparently solid. 

chickens, hens, birds, mayland, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

The two beauties above live in the neighbourhood.

singer, sewing machine, vintage,, mayland, essex, burnham art club, pen and wash, drawing, painting, illustration, watercolour, watercolor

My mum bought this beautiful Singer for £32, 12 shillings and thruppence in 1962 which is worth between £658 and £873 depending on your inflation calculator. 

Summer Flowers

botanical drawing, sweet peas, flowers, pen and wash, waterclour, painting, drawing, pink, sketchbook, illustration

Above and below, a couple of sketchbook pieces that I painted in the summer. I used the same colour palette for the orchids and the sweet peas, as you can see from my little paint tin in the photos.

orchid, flowers, botanical drawing, pen and wash, waterclour, painting, drawing, pink, sketchbook, illustration

Summer Sketches

bees, bumble bee, lavender, flowers, poppy, seed heads, insects, pollinators, pen and wash, watercolour, painting, drawing, sketch, sketching, sketchbook, illustration

Here are a couple of pen and wash sketches I made in a beautiful Essex country garden this summer, with the bees humming in and about the lavender.

farmhouse, essex, countryside, english, country garden, weatherboard, red brick, listed building, flowers, pen and wash, watercolour, drawing, painting, sketching, sketchbook, illustration

Hollyhock Bookmark

After many years admiring other people’s summer hollyhock displays I finally managed to grow some from seed this year. My Mum loves hollyhocks too, she had collected the seeds from some beautiful plants that were growing out of the concrete at the edge of a car park in town. I think the fact that such delicate but exuberant loveliness can thrive on apparently nothing adds to the wonder of the hollyhock. The name is also a bonus for a Hockey!

hollyhock, flowers, homegrown, homemade, pink, bookmark, gift, pen and wash, watercolour, painting, drawing, illustration

I noticed recently that my Mum’s bookmark had been well used into tattiness so I painted her a new hollyhock bookmark for her birthday.

Water resistant pen, watercolour paint, 300gsm watercolour paper.

Food, Glorious Food

I love food!

I love thinking about what I’m going to eat. I love looking at food; in shop windows – especially cake shops – but also on Instagram and the telly. Eating it is my absolute favourite thing (expanding middle years waistline attests to that) and painting food was, for a while, an irresistible urge. It’s like the super slow version of an Insta lunch snap.

I’ve collected my best watercolour food paintings and posted them here as a sort of portfolio. Some are simple representations of pretty edibles and others have more of a narrative. Some were quick sketches done on the spot while for others I worked more slowly from photos I took before eating the subject. 

These food illustrations also form a  travel journal of sorts so I’ve divided them by region – London, West Bengal, Cape Verde and Andalusia – and put them in loose reverse chronological order. 

London

These first two illustrations are from my ‘Painted Snapshots of Bermondsey’ project, which aims to take the reader on a guided stroll through the streets of Bermondsey to see some of my favourite places.

illustration, brooklyn art library, the sketchbook project, sketchbook, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, urban landscape, urban sketching, corona virus lockdown 2020, bermondsey, london, se1, se16, independent trader, bermondsey street, comptoir gourmand, patisserie, cake, shop, bakery, food illustration, food, fruit,tart, boulangerie

As I said in the intro, cake shop windows are a magnet for me; Comptoir Gourmand have a stunner.

illustration, brooklyn art library, the sketchbook project, sketchbook, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, urban landscape, urban sketching, corona virus lockdown 2020, bermondsey, london, se1, se16,, casse croute, independent trader, bermondsey street, food illustration, restaurant, french food, wine, table, risotto, french cuisine, street sign

I had admired the view through the window of Casse Croûte many times before I ate there. Its double checked interior promised cosy continental conviviality amid steaming plates of deliciousness; the lure being greatest on dark, chilly nights. And it lived up to expectations in every way.

afternoon tea, goring hotel, cream tea, cakes, scones, jam, clotted cream, sandwiches, tea, tea pot, watercolour, painting, sketchbook art, sketchbook, food illustration, pen and wash, watercolor, drawing, sketching, london, tea strainer

The combination of the cake stand loaded with colourful, tasty morsels; the striped crockery and the reflective tea pots in the late winter sunshine was quite spectacular. Smitten, I took some photos in preparation for future painting sessions. Then I tucked right in. Afternoon tea at The Goring Hotel – a lovely way to celebrate a birthday with special friends.

Click here to see my original Afternoon Tea post.

yen burger, london, burger, chips, fries, stripes, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketch, sketchbook, food, food illustration, illustration, pen and wash

As soon as I saw this Yen Burger nestled in its little bamboo steamer lined with festive stripy paper my painter’s urge was tweaked. I was on my way to an appointment with no time to paint on the spot so I took a few quick snaps for reference and tucked right in. Yummy Japanese take on the fast food classic. 

Click here to see my original Yen Burger post.

mushrooms, watercolor, puntarelle, bermondsey, london, watercolour, painting, sketchbook, pen and wash, food illustration, illustration, drawing, paint it then eat it

These gorgeous mushrooms are from the Puntarelle & Co Saturday morning fruit and veg market under the Spa Road railway arches. All their produce is lush and carefully laid out in traditional wooden boxes – the antithesis of supermarket shopping. The fungi had a certain sinister drama about them and proved to be delicious.

Click here to see my original Mushrooms post.

Too Good To Go:

Returning to London after a long absence gave me a ‘kid in a sweet shop’ feeling. All those cultural and culinary delights on offer. But the foodie indulgence comes at more than a calorific price.

A friend told me about the Too Good To Go app. It lets you know which local outlets are offering discounts on good food which would otherwise be thrown away at the end of a shift.

It perfectly combines my ‘thinking about what I’m going to eat’ and ‘looking at food’ loves with the bonuses of getting delicious food at bargain prices and combating food waste.

There’s also the surprise element; you’re not sure what you’ll get in your magic bag of rescued goodies until you pitch up at collection time with your online receipt.

These next three are all ‘paint it then eat it’ exercises of Too Good To Go swag.

lolas cup cakes, cup cakes, cake, watercolor, too good to go, fight food waste, watercolour, painting, sketchbook, pen and wash, food illustration, illustration, drawing

Lola’s cupcakes…mmm…yes, I shared them, they were mini but mighty at the same time. Pretty, cheap and exceptionally tasty!

Click here to see my original Cupcake post.

sushi, sushi shop, healthy eating, too good to go, fight food waste, watercolour, painting, sketchbook, pen and wash, food illustration, illustration, drawing

Sushi Shop …well sushi is a work of art in every sense. The high fish and soy content of Japanese food also makes regular eaters less likely to suffer from some classic menopause symptoms. What’s not to like? My rescued sushi was actually one box (at less than half the retail price) but I liked the way it looked as a triptych and it made for an Insta friendly square image.

Click here to see my original Sushi post.

cake, konditor, too good to go, fight food waste, red velvet, chocolate, watercolour, painting, sketchbook, pen and wash, food illustration, illustration, drawing

At the end of the last century I worked for a few months at the Konditor branch near Borough Market. I knew from that experience that the magic bag (box in reality) contents would be divine. Inspired by the promise of eating I worked really fast when I painted these fat wedges of carrot, red velvet and chocolate cake – which I did share with my flatmates.

Click here to see my original Cake post.

West Bengal 

I was lucky enough to spend six months traveling in India. It was an amazing experience and a huge culture shock.

In West Bengal the atmosphere tended to be cooler and calmer and the food was fabulous.
banana, banana split, banana plant, ice-cream, watercolour, watercolor, pen and wash, watercolour portrait, portrait, painting, drawing, sketchbook, food illustration, illustration, travel blog, travel illustration

A banana split is not an inherently Indian dish, but to eat one in close proximity to actual banana trees is an exotic experience. I tried to capture my travel companion’s ‘joy through dessert’ moment in this portrait cum food cum botanical illustration.

portrait, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, food illustration, travel blog, illustration, watercolour, pen and wash, tattoos, tattooed man, true love, lassi, orchids, flowers, leaves, glasses, bald head, clouds, pink drink

Here I’ve used the repeated orchid motif to represent the horticulture of Kalimpong and the background is inspired by the glorious decoration in the many Buddhist Monasteries there.

thali, watercolor, watercolour, painting, pen and wash, drawing, sketchbook, travel blog, illustration, food illustration, darjeeling, west bengal, dal fry, papad, saag paneer, spinach, cottage cheese, eggplant fritters, beguni, patta gobhi sabji, sabji, aloo sabji, homestay, little singamari, eat like a local, indian food, vegetarian food, home cooking

We boarded in a few home-stays where we were fed delectable, hearty and healthy home-cooked meals several times a day for very little money. We could really taste the love in this food – it was phenomenally satisfying.

puri sabji, indian food, indian breakfast, vegetarian food, aloo gobi matar, potato, cauliflower, peas, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, food illustration, travel blog, travel illustration, eat like a local, food art, watercolour food, pen and wash

Darjeeling was bitterly cold and very damp for our first few days which made venturing outside quite an undertaking. Since I caught a cold as soon as we arrived I was happy to spend hours in front of the heater inside paying pen and watercolour homage to the culinary delights we were experiencing.

kunga restaurant darjeeling, tibetan food, wanton soup, momo, vegetarian food, vegetable spring roll, steamed momo, watercolor, watercolour, painting, drawing, sketchbook, food illustration, travel blog, travel illustration, watercolour food

When we did go out there was usually a visit to Kunga Restaurant involved. My interest in the wanton soup was verging on the hysterical. Momo (small steamed dumplings filled with chicken or vegetables) were ubiquitous in West Bengal and Sikkim – that made me very happy.

Click here to see my original West Bengal post.

Cape Verde

In 2017 I went to see a friend in Cape Verde. She was staying on Sal, the most touristic and least beautiful and interesting of the islands I visited. 

cape fruit, santa maria, sal, cape verde, cabo verde, breakfast, brunch, lunch, smoothies, natural bar, fresh fruit, healthy eating, smoothie, banana, strawberry, coconut, pen and watercolour, sketch, food, illustration, vegan

Cape Fruit restaurant was a great consolation – a beautiful oasis of rustic charm where an expert team of local women made and served healthy, tasty food and drinks. What a joy to order something lovely, paint it at leisure while sitting in the shade and then eat it.

cape fruit, santa maria, sal, cape verde, cabo verde, breakfast, brunch, lunch, smoothies, natural bar, fresh fruit, healthy eating, pancake, banana, grape, papaya, kiwi fruit, honey, water color. pen and watercolour, sketch, food, illustration, vegan

Click here to see my original Cape Verde blog.

Andalusia

At the end of 2014 I was invited to join the Vejer Sketchers, a small but enthusiastic group of artists who met on Saturday mornings in the southern Spanish town where I’d been living for a while. So that following year I finally undertook the regular sketch practice I’d been intending to start for ages.

There can be a ‘safety in numbers’ aspect to ‘urban sketching’ in a group. OK, so you still look like weirdos but you’re a band of weirdos and the inevitable attention of passersby is divided and therefore less intimidating. 

Sometimes we joined or were joined by groups of sketchers from other towns, like Cadiz and Jerez. There is always something new to learn from the methods and materials of other practitioners, and their passion for their craft is infectious. I also found that working in a sketchbook freed me up. There was no way I was going to tear a sheet out of that book so the paintings were for just for me. With no pressure to paint something saleable I started to draw and paint in a quicker, rougher, looser way than before, which made it more fun and more relaxing.

I didn’t often paint food with the group but I did apply my new, looser skills to my depictions of food.

green tea, té verde, book cover, portada, play, comedy, tragicomedy, marcel snyders, playwright, hospice, mother, daughter, illustration, cover design, art, drawing, watercolour, watercolor, acuarela, painting, pintura, ilustración, tea bag, cup, saucer

Marcel commissioned me to paint the cover for his play “Green Tea” (Té Verde) in the sketchy style he liked. He stipulated this complimentary colour combination and left the rest to me. There’s a sinister aspect to the play which is why some of those red splatters look like blood.

Click here to see my original Te Verde blog.

pen, watercolour, water color, drawing, painting, illustration, food, map, andalucia, andalusia, annie b, spanish kitchen, vejer, cadiz, jerez, sherry, cerdo iberico, queso de cabra, goats cheese, iberian pork, retinto, beef, tuna, atun, octopus, pulpo, flamenco, squid, calamari, lemon, limon, anchovies, anchoas, prawns, gambas, atlantic ocean, oceano atlantico, mediterranean sea, mar mediterraneo, solera, spices, vineyard, bodega, chorizo, olive oil, acete de oliva

Annie B is a force of good nature; her food and wine tours and cooking courses are ranked amongst the best on offer in Spain. I was delighted to complete these two commissions from her: to create an Andalusian food and drink map (above) and a food and drink themed Christmas card (below).

annie b, spanish kitchen, spanish cooking, andalucia, cooking courses, sherry, jerez, xerez, tours, lemon, pomegrante, orange, peppers, salmonete, red snapper, mussel, octopus, pulpo, pine, christmas, card, chorizo, pimenton, paprika, sketch, watercolour, pen and watercolour, pine cones, umbrella pine, paella pan, card, christmas card, drawing

Click here to see my original Food Map blog.

Click here to see my original Christmas Card blog.

One of the best aspects of living in a small rural town in southern Spain is the seasonality of the fruit and veg.The seasons for local produce may be very short but the produce itself is perfect while it’s in the green grocer’s.

asparagus, esparrago, spring, vegetables, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, food, illustration

The subtle combination of mauve and green on these tender asparagus stems was utterly beguiling. 

asparagus, esparrago, spring, vegetables, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, food, illustrationClick here to see my original Asparagus post.

strawberries, strawberry, fruit, fresa, fresas, conil, fruta, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, sketch, food, illustration, ilustracion, primavera, spring

Strawberries from Conil taste and smell like those from my pick-your-own childhood. They’re so perfectly ripe that you must eat them on the same day you buy them; resistance is futile.

Here’s my original Strawberries post.

fruit, food, drawing, water colour, sketch, pen and watercolour, juicy, cherries, cherry

I was never aware before Vejer that cherries were graded so fastidiously in Spain. The size of the fruit and presence or absence of a stalk will dictate how much you pay per kilo of these juicy explosions. I never learnt to tell the varieties apart by taste though.

Here’s my original Cherries post.

Tiny, sweet, tender and so, so pretty. I adore peas – and the additional meditative pleasure of popping the pods.

Here’s my original Peas post.

berenjena, aubergine, eggplant, vegetable, food, drawing, water colour, sketch, pen and watercolour, watercolor, illustration

To be honest I’m rarely up for the faff involved in making aubergines edible but that jewel-like burgundy-mauve shade is beguiling.

Here’s my original Aubergine post.

pear, pera, pears, fruit, food, drawing, water colour, sketch, pen and watercolour, juicy

The pear – emblem of feminine strength and creativity, sweet of the autumn. That lichen-like mottling on a pear skin really is splendid.

Here’s my original Pears post.

lemon, ginger, cold cure, fruit, food, drawing, water colour, sketch, pen and watercolour, juicy

And so on to winter, here’s an actual cold cure that I used to treat an actual cold.

Here’s my original Lemon and Ginger post.

A massive and famous advantage of living in Spain is the culture of tapas. A bite or two of a tasty something – usually home-made, with a glass or two of a tasty something – usually alcoholic. 

tapas, ruta de tapas, tapas por vejer, vejer, vejer de la frontera, vejer sketchers, pen and wash, pen and watercolour, watercolor, sketch, illustration, food, 4 estaciones, restaurant, pueblos mas bonitos de espana, drawing, painting, sketchbook, beef tartar

In Vejer (as in other places) there are a couple of special weekends a year when tapas competitions are staged. Maps of the Tapas Trail or ‘Ruta de Tapas’ show the locations of the establishments taking part and what they’re serving. Those restaurants work flat out to put their best tapas forward for the delectation of the hundreds of people who work their way around the trail before voting for their favourite dish. 

tapas, ruta de tapas, tapas por vejer, vejer, vejer de la frontera, vejer sketchers, pen and wash, pen and watercolour, watercolor, sketch, illustration, food, pueblos mas bonitos de espana, drawing, painting, sketchbook, pasta, ricotta, spinach, red onion sauce, la posta, italian restaurant

This particular weekend I decided to record as many Ruta de Tapas dishes as I could in a ‘paint it then eat it’ way. So I had to work fast and loose…

tapas, ruta de tapas, tapas por vejer, vejer, vejer de la frontera, vejer sketchers, pen and wash, pen and watercolour, watercolor, sketch, illustration, food, pueblos mas bonitos de espana, drawing, painting, sketchbook, gamba, langostino, mercado de abastos, market, street food, fish, roe, mercado de san francisco

Three turned out to be my limit. My best advice for making the most of a Ruta de Tapas? Skip breakfast and start early to beat the crowds.

Here’s my original Tapas post.

corredera 55, restaurant, califa vejer, vejer de la frontera, andalusia, pen and watercolour, pen and wash, pen and watercolor, sketch, drawing, painting, facade, comer amar vivir, life without cake, vitamins abc

This painting of the facade of Vejer’s Corredera 55 Restaurant is a lovely one to end on. It features food in the bike basket, food in the orange trees, food on the facade and drink on the inside. Ellie the owner commissioned me to make this piece; the original is hanging in the restaurant alongside mini reproductions on the business cards. As it says on the flipside: Eat – Love – Live

business card, corredera 55, restaurant, califa vejer, vejer de la frontera, andalusia, pen and watercolour, pen and wash, pen and watercolor, sketch, drawing, painting, facade, comer amar vivir, life without cake, vitamins abc

Here’s my original Corredera 55 post.

A note on method and materials:

My sketchbook is a Moleskine Watercolour Album, with 200g/sqm paper – that’s the minimum weight of paper that will take good watercolour washes without too much buckling. It’s 21x13cm; small enough to be portable but the double page length of 42cm allows for a nice big span. If I’m working on a pen and wash commission I’ll use 300g/sqm paper and cut it to size myself.

I always start with a 2B pencil drawing; when I’m happy with the layout I go over the outline with water resistant pens. Adding squiggly lines to the main outline makes it more lively.

I erase most of the the pencil before layering watercolour washes; when I’m happy with the intensity of the colours I’ll add shadows. The finishing touch is a bit of coloured splatter which unifies the image and adds a bit more energy.

By preference I’ll scan the finished painting at a fairly high resolution and slightly tweak the image in Photoshop with a soft light filter before posting a lower resolution version  to my ‘Latest Work’ blog.

For Instagram – @kathrynhockey – I just post photos of the work.

Scanning generally gives ‘truer’ colour reproduction and there’s less distortion of the image.

While I was traveling I didn’t have easy access to a scanner so the original ‘Latest Work’ posts of some sketches feature the same Instagrammed photos.

I recently scanned all of the food travel sketches to improve the quality of the images for this blog. I have added links to the original posts.

Apple Blossom – Essex

apple blossom, flowers, springtime, essex, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, illustration, leaves

Back on home turf, quite literally, I was moved to try and capture the springtime beauty of the apple blossom on the tree in my mum and dad’s back garden.

apple blossom, flowers, springtime, essex, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, illustration, leaves

apple blossom, flowers, springtime, essex, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, illustration, leaves

Artwork in India (12) – Himachal Pradesh

tirthan valley, himachal pradesh, india, collage, airmail, pen and wash, watercolour, landscape, travel blog, travel illustration, river, mountains, rocks, watercolor, sketchbook

Himachal Pradesh was on my wishlist from February but the weather was just too cold to make the trip pleasurable until spring finally arrived halfway through April. 

I kept seeing gorgeous photos on Instagram and eventually booked two sets of accommodation in the Tirthan Valley. It was still damp and rainy when we arrived but we had a wood burner and electric blankets in our room to turn the chill into cosy.

To reach Himachal Pradesh from West Bengal we took a taxi from Siliguri to Bagdogra, flew to Delhi then on to Chandigarh (both steaming hot), then hired a car and driver to drop us in the Tirthan Valley.

Flights from Delhi to Kullu Manali (Himachal Pradesh’s airport)  are extremely expensive and unreliable due to the weather conditions, and while night buses from Delhi to Kullu are cheap, they take about 10 hours and don’t have proper sleeper berths (just reclining seats).

So that’s why we opted for the car and driver; door to door convenience, comfort and a reasonable price. Salman the driver loved the trip too, it was his first visit to Tirthan and he was mightily impressed by the phenomenal landscape.

A landscape which I found impossible to capture well in watercolour. I made one attempt which ended in frustration so I covered the mess with a collage and did a simple sketch on top. Life is too short to labour over landscapes when you can simply admire them.

tirthan valley, himachal pradesh, himalayas, mountains, india, travel photography, wanderlust, travel blog, springtime

Still with an eye on the weather in desirable destinations like Manali and Mcleodganj (the Dalai Lama’s base in India) at higher altitudes we decided to stay put in the Banjar region until we had to return to Delhi and then to London. Comfort won out over curiosity; a sign of age perhaps.

Himachal Pradesh is a fantastic place to finish my trip. The weather is gentle as are our generous hosts here in the Tirthan Valley. 

I also found this epic book in our guesthouse and was immediately hooked.

India had been a profoundly wonderful and confusing experience, there were many points when I felt like I’d had enough but then something amazing would happen and I’d bounce back. 

Arundhati Roy, perhaps as only an Indian woman can, weaves a beautiful tale entwining the tragic, seemingly eternal (and universally human) threads of sexism, racism, classism, religion, corruption, exploitation and violence in ‘The Ministry of Utmost Happiness’. The book is mostly set in Kashmir and Delhi but encompasses the whole of India.

“They aren’t very good at other people’s pain. But then who is? … What we have on our hands is a species problem. None of us is exempt.”

A sad but funny and fascinating read and a great Indian history lesson.

Europe will undoubtedly seem pale after India but I will be happy to dress and express myself as I wish again without worrying that I’m offending anyone.

That’s a huge luxury, as is white privilege – being born in a relatively rich, secular and democratic country.

tirthan valley, himachal pradesh, himalayan foothills, kullu, india, springtime, countryside, flowers, mountains, cactus, slate roof

Himachal Pradesh is so beautiful in the springtime and the people of the Tirthan Valley are so warm, kind and hospitable. We climbed up a really big hill today; up a dirt track, stone steps, through flowery meadows full of butterflies, we passed a waterfall, a few slate roofed cottages and a tiny school. Near the top a dog started barking at us quite enthusiastically; his lovely family gave us a glass of cold cordial and invited us in to see the temple in their new wooden house. We had very few words in common but they worked.

bidi, beedi, leaf cigarette, indian cigarette, bundi, rajasthan, india, travel illustration, illustration, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, collage, packaging

Little sketchbook homage to the humble bidi (or beedi) a cheap but tasty Indian smoke. Basically it’s a leaf rolled around a tiny bit of tobacco, secured with a string. There was a bidi factory in Bundi, a beautiful town in Rajasthan that I visited in January. The bidies in the image above are painted, the rest is a collage of beautiful bidi packaging.

Artwork in India (10) – West Bengal

kolkata, calcutta, city, west bengal, india, travel blog, travel photography, anti-war protest, wanderlust

Next stop Kolkata, West Bengal (3 hour taxi from Khajuraho to Satna then 20 hours on the train to Howrah Station), which we approached with some trepidation.

For a huge city it was, however, a revelation: friendly, fairly relaxed, fairly clean, really beautiful and easy to negotiate on foot.

kolkata, calcutta, city, west bengal, india, travel blog, travel photography, street food, taxi, howrah station, eden gardens, hooghly river, wanderlust

With cheap, delicious street food to boot; Kolkata is famous for kati rolls – egg dipped flat breads which are fried and rolled around the tasty filling of your choice.

We passed a few fun days wandering around the Park Street neighbourhood, exploring the city’s green spaces and crossing the Hooghly River by ferry.

Our next target destination was Darjeeling the famous tea town. I had a romantic idea of Darjeeling – quaint and charming, nestling up there in the Himalayan foothills and the opportunity to arrive there in the heritage ‘toy train’ was irresistible.

darjeeling himalayan railway, heritage train, indian railway, himalayan foothills, narrow gauge, break down

We flew to Bagdogra, spent the night in Siliguri and the next morning promptly arrived at New Jalpaiguri Station for the advertised 8:30am departure of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway service from the narrow gauge platform.

At least an hour late, the tiny engine pulled up with three little carriages in tow. It took at least another half hour for the engineers to prepare the train for the trip up the mountain.

darjeeling himalayan railway, toy train, heritage railway, indian railway, route map

The journey (scheduled to take seven hours in total) was indeed picturesque; the little train pluckily chugged upwards taking several fascinating ‘z reverses’ to accommodate the incline. 

Then, 15km short of Darjeeling a piece of the engine fell off, the train stopped and it became apparent that we would have to make our own arrangements to finish the journey by road.

hitchhikers, darjeeling, west bengal, india, travel blog

Luckily, at dusk, after an hour or so of flagging down vehicles with little or no space for hitchers the lovely man (second right) in the photo above pulled over. He breezily packed us and our new German friends and all our luggage into his warm, comfy car and expertly drove us the hour to town.

himalayas, mountains, kangchenjunga, darjeeling, west bengal, india, travel blog, travel photography, wanderlust

The first first thing that struck me was the cold. A see your breath in the house cold. A wear all your clothes in layers, in bed, cold. Luckily our homestay host provided a heater and hot water bottles and the view of Kangchenjunga from the balcony (at 6am before the clouds rose) was stunning.

puri sabji, indian food, indian breakfast, vegetarian food, aloo gobi matar, potato, cauliflower, peas, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, sketchbook, food illustration, travel blog, travel illustration, eat like a local, food art, watercolour food, pen and wash

The food was fabulous too, inspiring me to immortalise this delicious and typical Indian breakfast of puri sabji. The puri are fried flat breads which puff up and are chewy and crispy at the same time. Sabji or sabzi is the generic word for cooked vegetables, usually in some sort of gravy.

We met up with our new German friends in a local Tibetan style restaurant to reminisce about our toy train misadventure and feast on momo and wanton (both dumplings)…a meal so delicious I was again inspired to capture it in paint.

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Of course we drank some excellent tea in Darjeeling too and took the obligatory tour around the Happy Valley tea factory. But Darjeeling is not the charming hill station town of my imagination; it has a few pretty parts but is generally damp and dank, congested with traffic which makes the air foul with fumes and suffers from cascades of rubbish dumped down its sprawling labyrinth of terraces.

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We spent our last Darjeeling days at another homestay, the beautiful Little Singamari and were treated to yet more fantastic home cooking.

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This is a fantasy amalgamation of my favourite dishes cooked by Ramila, our hostess.  

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We set off for a few days in Kolbong and stayed on an idyllic organic farm. The two hour jeep ride to reach the farm was a bit of a roller coaster ride, one local lady promptly threw up as soon as she exited the jeep at her stop.

Luckily the driver made a slight detour for us so that we didn’t have to drag our luggage up the last kilometre of track to the farm.

The weather was warmer, the air cleaner, all our food was home cooked, mostly homegrown and organic. Our hosts were delightful but could only accommodate us for a few days as they were busy with another project. It was hard to leave.

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We decided to head for Kalimpong, a chilled out town with a similar climate to Kolbong where we could wait for the weather to warm up before we set off to explore higher altitudes without freezing.

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We both succumbed to bugs, one respiratory and one gastrointestinal, nothing major but enough to make us grind to a halt. Luckily we were in safe, comfy accommodation with a nice view…a good place for rest and recuperation.

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I was inspired by the gorgeously bright colours used to paint the murals in the prayer rooms at two of Kalimpong’s Buddhist monasteries when I made this portrait of Rob. I also love the way they include the cloud and flower motifs. Kalimpong is well known for its orchid nurseries hence my choice of flower.

Amalia’s Arch Mural

My lovely friend Amalia (herself a talented watercolourist) asked me to design and paint a mural for the back room in her Vejer pharmacy which she is renovating.

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The room has an impressive archway and will be used as a venue for workshops on health related matters such as diabetes, pre- and post-natal care and managing stress through yoga and meditation.

Amalia’s brief for the mural was that it should include plants and impart a sense of harmony and tranquility.

I selected various plants with tranquililising properties during a web search, printed photos and set about developing drawings in my sketchbook.

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I came up with two options for the mural; one using the arch as a frame for a botanical drawing of an entire valerian plant 

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the other embelleshing the arch itself with a more stylised arrangement of kava, valerian, passionflower and chamomile.

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Amalia selected the second option which I then developed into a more detailed drawing (below). 

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I drew just the left half of the design in detail. I then photographed it and used Photoshop to duplicate and flip it to create a mirror image. I printed out the drawing and packed it in my suitcase in readiness for my trip to Vejer.

Being faced with the actual wall was quite daunting at first, I had to be up and down a ladder to gain proper perspective as I worked which took its toll on my neck and ankles! 

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I drew the left side of the mural onto the wall in pencil. When I was happy with the layout I traced it in sections, flipping each one over so that I could copy the mirror image to the right side of the arch.

I painted the white parts first; then came the colour…I made a chart as a mixing guide.

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Using the grey-green wall colour as a base I added tiny amounts of acrylic paint to get all the subtle shades required to colour the mural.

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The mural is certainly subtle and elegant and has been received very generously.

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The pale colours do make it difficult to photograph the entire mural well however, so here are some details:

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Blossom Sketch

Inspired by the beautiful spring blossom which floats like confetti in the London breeze and a collection of gorgeous printed papers (right) gifted to me by a friend recently returned from Japan, I made this little pen a watercolour sketch.
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