Clerkenwell Concertina Sketchbook

Posted on 2nd July 2026 by kathrynhockey

I spent a bit of time in London last summer, staying with lovely friends on Clerkenwell Green. I took to meandering within and around Clerkenwell’s borders, taking photos of interesting, inspiring and quirky scenes, buildings and objects with an eye to making drawings of them later. (You can click on the images to make them larger).

In anticipation, I had made a concertina sketchbook by carefully folding and tearing an A2 sheet of gorgeous Arches watercolour paper. I bought the paper from Stuart R Stevenson on Clerkenwell Road – my favourite art supplies store – a veritable treasure trove of arts and crafts materials. I always have to enter with a carefully thought out shopping list to avoid being bedazzled into over spending. The shop is depicted on the right below.

Wesley the Wheaten terrier can be seen loitering outside the Crown Tavern on the left (above)…he’s always up for a pub visit when he’s out for walkies, much like his people!

Above are some mainly animal related details I came across in St Barts the Great Church (just over the Clerkenwell border in Spitalfields), the Charterhouse Chapel (Barbican) where the greyhound, wood carved pew ends are the symbol of the man who financed the building, and Eagle Street (Clerkenwell, close to Cowcross Yards).

Click to see a video of me leafing through the whole book here.

The sketchbook is mostly pen and wash with some coloured pencil, marker pen and collaged elements.

Below is Wesley’s best dog friend Henry, a very charming and vocal little chap, hence the big collaged Bow Wow Wow!

Huge thanks to Wesley and Henry for their wonderful hospitality, and that goes double for their delightful people too.

Burnham Art Trail 2026

Posted on 17th June 2026 by kathrynhockey

2026 is my fourth Burnham Art Trail and I’m delighted to be returning to the Garden Studio at 4 Fernlea Road, which is Venue 3. You can check out the map, venues, other artists and events on the Art Trail website.

I’ve had fun making monoprints with a gel plate and acrylic paints for this year’s Trail.

Each monoprint is a unique and unrepeatable print, made up of thin layers of acrylic paint which are rolled out onto the gel plate (it’s like a slab of silcone) and lifted with paper.

I added texture to the wet paint layers by pressing in materials such as corrugated card board (to make stripes), toilet rolls (to make circles), bubble wrap (to make little circles), fabric (to make a woven pattern), plastic containers (to get more complex repeating patterns) as well as leaves and flowers.

You can achieve interesting colour variations by changing the colours of each paint layer. I sometimes used metallic paints for extra interest. Stencils are a great way to create shapes – I cut and applied circles, rectangles and numbers.

The results are unpredictable which can sometimes be exciting and sometimes frustrating!

I’ve also experimented with image transfer: using photocopies of my drawings to lift some of the wet paint leaving the design on the plate. It’s tricky and only worked for me about 30% of the time.

When you do achieve a successful transfer of your image to the gel plate you can ‘reverse paint’ it. That means applying different colours to different sections of the plate with a brush or roller and allowing each colour plenty of time to dry. Once all the colours are on the plate you roll out a thin layer of paint over the whole lot and lay the paper down while it’s still wet. Pop some books on the top to press it down for several hours before carefully peeling back the paper to see the result.

I used a Gelli Arts gel plate, Amsterdam acrylic paint and Seawhite black paper. I liked the way the black paper made the colours pop!

Burnham Art Trail 2025 – Venue 3

Posted on 14th July 2025 by kathrynhockey

For Burnham Art Trail 2025 I was delighted to return to the garden shed at Venue 3, 4 Fernlea Road, Burnham-on-Crouch.

I stuck with a nature theme and made small mixed media paintings inspired by the flowers that were blooming in some of the artists’ studio gardens during Art Trail week 2024.

Hanging out with the other artists – Frances Frankin (our host), Sue Jones and Joscelyn McInnes – in the beautiful garden there as we all painted, chatted and welcomed visitors most days of the Trail was really fun and inspiring.

Here’s one of the pen and watercolour sketches I made in the garden during the Trail:

And here’s a montage of the mixed media flower paintings I displayed in the shed:

And here’s a little video of me talking about the creative process.

Mixed Media Pieces – Burnham Art Trail 2025

Posted on 16th June 2025 by kathrynhockey

I’m sticking with the nature theme for Burnham Art Trail 2025. I’ve made small mixed media paintings inspired by the flowers that were blooming in some of the artists’ studio gardens during Art Trail week last year.

Come and visit 4 Fernlea Road, Burnham-on-Crouch, CM0 8EJ 11am-5pm from Saturday 21st until Sunday 29th June 2025

You an check out the info for all the venues and artists on the Burnham Art Trail website.

These eryngiums were shining in the sunshine in the garden of Studio 4A in Witney Road.

Also known as giant sea holly – they are spitefully sharp – and Miss Willmott’s ghost after a legendary nineteenth century gardener who would secretly sow the seeds in other people’s gardens.

I started painting these while hanging out in the Franklins’ beautiful garden at 4 Fernlea Road (my own venue). I finished them off with a crackle glaze and glitter gel as I felt that they reflected the shiny, spininess off the plant.

I was really drawn to these blousy giant scabious flowers which were blooming in the Frankins’ garden.

I started with permanent marker and watercolour paint and then deepened the greens of the centre of the flowers with coloured pencil and felt tip pen.

I accentuated the shape of the circular centre by transferring gold ink with the rim of a glass and added the contrast of the collaged text.

The next three paintings were inspired by the gorgeous water lilies in the Franklins’ pond.

And I chose to depict the daisies in the three paintings below:

I apllied little blobs of acrylic paint to add texture and intense colour to the yellow centres.

And then I painted three versions of the verbena / vervain:

And these pansies were blooming on the patio at home during Art Trail week, rather than in the Franklins’ garden:

Burnham Art Trail 2024

Posted on 4th July 2024 by kathrynhockey

Welcome to the garden shed at venue 4 for Burnham Art Trail 2024!I was really fortunate to have a wonderful haven of a venue for Burnham Art Trail 2024: the shed in the Franklins’ lush back garden in Fernlea Road, venue number 4 on the map. Also really fortunate to be able to enjoy the lovely company of Andrew and Frances Franklin as well as Sue Jones, who I know through Burnham Art Club. Frances, Sue and I developed our works in progress at a very relaxed pace and Andrew took charge of showing visitors around our respective exhibition spaces and the garden.

The shed was a perfect match for my artwork which has a nature theme this year, including mixed media paintings of seeds, seedheads, flowers and bark. I displayed the larger paintings on this beautiful old work bench among the art materials I used to make them and the subject matter that inspired them.

All photos above courtesy of the Art Trail publicity team member Donata, @pastaandpurses on Instagram

Sticking to the garden theme, I also sold printed greetings cards sets of my Mayland Garden series of pen and wash paintings.

And sticking with the Burnham theme I sold printed greetings cards sets featuring my two series of Burnham-on-Crouch pen and wash paintings.

Click here to see a video of my artwork installed in the garden shed.

I made the smaller paintings into greetings cards and hung them like bunting from the beams using garden twine and little pegs.

Here I am, below, painting my poppy cards. Photo courtesy of the Art Trail publicity team member James @burnhamarttrail on Instagram.

… inspired by a tenacious little plant that fought its way up through the gaps in the paving slabs of the patio at home.

Click here to see these and my other Art Trail mixed media paintings in more detail.

And here’s a little video showing my may blossom mixed media, original artwork greetings cards.

I made a temporary chalk sign pointing down from the High Street to the musuem (below). I adapted the Art Trail logo and cut stencils of the larger letters for ease on site. Once the Trail was over the sign washed off really easily.

In total there were 43 artists showing diverse and beautiful work across 35 venues, with workshops throughout the week at various locations and Art on the Quay at weekends. I’m very grateful to be part of such a friendly and creative community.

Please contact me if you’d like to purchase any of my original artwork or sets of printed greetings cards featured in this post.

And don’t miss Burnham Art Trail 2025 – always the last week in June!

Kathryn Hockey

Artist Illustrator

Tag Archives: artwork

Clerkenwell Concertina Sketchbook

Click to see a video of me leafing through the whole book here.

Mixed Media Pieces – Burnham Art Trail 2025

Click to see a video of me leafing through the whole book here.

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