Anthurium

red, anthurium, plant, flower, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

 

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.

anthurium, plant, flower, pen, outline, line work, drawing, sketch, illustration

red, anthurium, plant, flower, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

Tomatoes

tomato, tomatoes, on the vine, greenhouse, summer, fruit, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, food, illustration

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!

Bar Día – A Love Story

bar dia, palma de mallorca, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration, wedding gift, love story, meeting place

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

Se dice que fue como un relámpago,
en cosa de un segundo,
segundo y medio a lo sumo,
un estallido de rosas cayendo de su pecho
al albur de unos ojos,
un traqueteo de piernas,
el suspiro de un miedo
y un miedo vencido con solo una palabra.
 
Se dice que alguien se enamoró aquel día
como tantas otras veces otras gentes
pero yo que he visto conozco esta historia
puedo dejarla escrita en estos versos
puedo decir seguro 
que mereció la pena.
 
Which translates as
 
It is said that it was like a lightning bolt, 
a matter of a second, 
a second and a half at most, 
an explosion of roses falling from his chest 
to the fate of eyes, 
a quiver of legs, 
the sigh of fear
and fear overcome with only one word. 
 

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.

 

It’s a beautifully romantic project for a very lovely couple, I wish them all the best for their wedding today (11th August 2017) in Taiwan and their long and happy future together. 
 
bar dia, palma de mallorca, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration, wedding gift, love story, meeting placebar dia, palma de mallorca, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration, wedding gift, love story, meeting place
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Obviously it was impractical for me to travel to Mallorca to draw the bar so I worked from a photo that José found on the internet, rendering the outline first in pencil then in pen (above left and right) before applying the watercolour (top).

Tap

salvage, tap, faucet, lassco, london, rope walk, maltby street, bermondsey,, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

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.

salvage, tap, faucet, lassco, london, rope walk, maltby street, bermondsey,, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

Chumbera!

chumbera, prickly pear, cactus, cadiz, vejer, vejer de la frontera, andalusia, andalucia, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, sketchbook, illustration

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! 

Skull and Flower

sheep, skull, barbed wire, flower, still life, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration, tribute, death

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.

View from a Cliff Top

barbate, atlantera, atlantic, ocean, andalusia, cliff, sea, landscape, la brena, national park, morocco, marruecos, blue, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, travel, illustration

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!

Tajo de Ronda

ronda, tajo de ronda, malaga, andalucia, catalonia reina victoria, hotel, spa, view, valley, tajo valley, landscape, pen and watercolour, sketch, watercolor, watercolour, sketchbook, travel, illustration, paisaje, acuarela

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.

 

Vichy Catalan

vichy catalan, agua con gas, sparkling water, vicen, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

My friend Vicen, who lived in Catalunya for many years inspired this pen and watercolour sketch. He, like me, loves a glass of Vichy Catalan a delicious mineral water with a sweetish salty taste and gentle bubbles.

The bottle is made of gorgeously textured turquoise glass and as I was looking at the label one day it occurred to me that I could dedicate the sketch to Vicen by slightly rejigging the text.

I called the sketch ‘agua con guasa’ which means water with humour, it’s a play on the words ‘agua con gas’ which means sparkling water in Spanish.

Detail below:

vichy catalan, agua con gas, sparkling water, vicen, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration

vichy catalan, agua con gas, sparkling water, vicen, pen and watercolour, watercolour, water color, acuarela, sketch, illustration