A friend of mine recently bought himself a present – a fish shaped gurgle or glug glug or gluggle jug…so called because it makes an entertaining noise when liquid is poured out of it.
Wade first made these gurgle jugs in the 1870s and they’ve been popular ever since…how’s that for a design classic!
I loved the jug and saw its sweeping lines and surface detail as a fine drawing challenge, my friend’s partner took against it immediately he saw it.
Can’t please all the people…!
I drew this beautiful anthurium while I was staying with friends in London this month.
I love the contrast between the red of the flowers and the green of the leaves and the elegant sweep of the stems.
I started with a pencil outline which I went over in waterproof ink (below) before adding the watercolour layers.
I made this quick pen and watercolour sketch of cherry tomatoes on the vine as they were growing in my mum’s greenhouse.
As always…they were so sweet and delicious!
I was asked by José to make this pen and watercolour drawing as a wedding present for Blaise and Letitia, to celebrate their first ever meeting.
José wrote this poem to go with the drawing
It is said that someone fell in love that day
like so many other people at other times
but I’ve seen, I know this story
I can leave it written in these verses
I can say for sure
that it was worth it.
I had a lovely outing to Lassco salvage yard in Bermondsey the other day; not only do they have many interesting and beautiful objects which have been rescued from old buildings but there’s a splendid café there too.
I was particularly taken by the tap collection and immortalised this example over a nice pot of green tea.
My companion made a beautiful pencil drawing of another tap, both our drawings along with our models are shown below.
This gorgeous specimen from my mum and dad’s garden smells as good as it looks!
I’m delighted to have finally found a chumbera (prickly pear) with some lush new growth; the once ubiquitous and beautiful cactus is suffering an infestation of insects and slowly dying out here in Andalusia.
Moi from the gorgeous Ecléctica Deco shop in Vejer suggested that I sketch a chumbera a good while ago; he told me he’d seen a good one in La Breña national park so I set off for a hike on a really hot day search of it…needle in a haystack situation ensued. His next sighting was luckily closer to home and much easier to find.
I missed it in flower but hey-ho…the heart shaped leaf was a bonus…promise it was actually like that!
I have a collection of bones at home, a few of which are on display, including this sheep skull with its barbed wire crown.
I’ve been meaning to draw it for a while and this was the week…
The text translates as “…your poetic essence is still in the neighbourhood…” and is dedicated to a lovely chap from Vejer who lived just round the corner from me and who recently died.
I didn’t know he was ill.
If I had known that his presence was not a ‘for granted’ thing I would have made time to stop and chat over a coffee more often.
His observations were cheery, wise and gentle…his poetry is timelessly mysterious and beautiful.
Encantada de haberte conocido José Luis.
This is a tale of a wild goose chase!
Sadly all the prickly pears are in Andalusia are dying because of an infestation of insects but someone told me that there was one still alive on the coastal path which runs through the natural park known locally as La Breña, a pine forrest which covers the area between Barbate, San Ambrosio and Los Caños de Meca in the province of Cádiz.
So I set off to find it and draw it…
It was a needle in a haystack situation!
I did however enjoy the spectacular views from the cliff top and sat up there in a howling wind for an hour or so to sketch this view out over the Atlantic to Atlantera. That´s Morocco in the background.
I have a new tip off for a live prickly pear which is closer to home…fingers crossed!
To celebrate my 50th birthday on the 5th June I traveled to beautiful Andalusian town of Ronda in the province of Málaga.
I booked into the lovely Catalonia Reina Victoria Hotel and spa for a bit of luxury pampering…
….and it was lush. I think the anti-aging facial was a bit too little too late but it felt delightful!!
I painted this view of the Tajo de Ronda from the balcony of my room while I was sunbathing.