Big Draw in Corby

Here are some of the brilliant drawings done by families in Corby, celebrating the Big Draw:

We had a great time, decorating the floor of the big hall at the Kingswood Children's Centre, which we covered in huge sheets of card:

Everyone mucked in together on some pictures:

Families worked together on others:

Or groups of friends, or siblings:

Some children worked on their own:

And so did some adults:


I'm not sure what this is, but it looked really interesting:


Working on the floor, we had some problems with footprints, as you can see, so after a while we put away the charcoal sticks!


A great time was had by all - you can read more about the day on my main blog.

Back on Trains Again:

I'm sure you will have read my tales of woe, regarding my last batch of school visits, done under the influence of a lingering cold, and finally ending in laryngital-imposed silence!


Well, the good news is that I at least didn't get a runny nose til later, so I still managed to get quite a few sketches under my belt.


These are a few of the ones that I couldn't fit onto the regular blog. Mmmm - I just realised that they are all men. I must admit, I like the craggy, hairy, boney nature of men's faces. We girls can be a bit fresh and gorgeous!

Edinburgh Festival with Julia Jarman

If you read my blog on the festival, you will remember that my camera died almost immediately, so I got very few pics. Fortunately, Tom Breslin, husband of author Theresa Breslin and a friend of Julia Jarman, took photos.


This is us on stage, as the audience are let into the theatre. Doesn't Julia make a dashing pirate?

When the event finishes, you are taken to the festival bookshop, where you do your signing. This is also a lovely opportunity to chat to people who enjoyed the show enough to buy a book.


You only hope you're not unlucky enough to be signing on the next table to someone like Julia Donaldson: every author/illustrator will at some time suffer the humiliation of sitting like a lemon, trying to look busy, while their more famous neighbour slogs through a queue stretching 3 times round the block!


As you can see though, Julia and I had a great time, as we always do when we perform together. We are both as giddy as each other.

Thanks Tom!

Wicked, Eh? That's Brill!

I just got a lovely parcel of feedback forms from Stockport Art Gallery, where I did a day of workshops recently, based on Dragon's Dinner.

I'd like to share some with you, as well as these great photos taken on the day by local amateur photographer Ian Benson. Thanks Ian - they're smashing!

"Wicked. I really enjoyed drawing the dragon and I have learnt how to draw character, and that you can express their emotions through the picture, not the use of speech bubbles. Very interesting art lesson."

"It was brill because I learnt a lot. It was the best!"

"I thought it was really good. The bit I enjoyed most was when Lynne gave away her pictures she drew. I also enjoyed when she let us try it ourselves. The whole if it was really good!!! Thank you."


"Utterly amazing!"

"I think it was really fun. I have always wondered how to draw a dragon, a SCARY dragon."

"Very very very very great. The best in the world."

Isn't that just lovely? Makes me feel all warm and squishy. Thank you to everyone who came and worked so hard. I'm so pleased you had fun.

Cancelled Train Drawings

I arrived at Sheffield Station, on my way to do a workshop in Stockport Art Gallery, to discover that all trains to Stockport were cancelled, due to a broken down freight train blocking the line.



The only way to get there was to travel all the way to Leeds, then pick up another train to Manchester, then a 3rd train to Stockport - a nightmare which made me an hour late!

The up side was that all that extra travelling meant more time to sketch. Every cloud...

A Sunny Weekend at Last!

At last, some sun! It was so nice to be able to potter about and just sit with my feet up in the garden late Saturday afternoon:



Then on Sunday we went for a lovely, long walk along Stanage Edge in Derbyshire.



John celebrated the good weather in his usual fashion, as you can see.

As we were resting thus, on the flat rock on the cliff edge, a head suddenly appeared just 12" from John's head: a climber coming up from the below!

Dancing the Night Away!

Regular visitors will know how much I like jiving. I did this pen & ink drawing of my favourite, 1950s dancing dress a few weeks ago, and have been waiting for an opportunity to add the colour.



It was hanging on the wardrobe door, because I was just about to get dressed up to go to a big ball in Stockport.

You can see what the dress looks like in action here.

Drawing Micheal

I did some lifedrawing last night. It's been a while - last time I went was back in April.



Luckily the group has moved from the cupboard-room, and is trying out a new space: my friend Tim's new studio in town, which sounds rather swish, but is actually very basic and still not exactly massive, but miles better.



Micheal is a great model who keeps very still, and is wonderfully long and bony, with a really dramatic profile. We started with some 10 minute poses, like the two above, mashed some tea, then did an hour long pose: the drawing at the top.

Compost Bins

Before it got all foul and wet (like it is right now!) I grabbed half an hour at the end of the day to sit in the sun and draw.



John said 'Why on earth would you choose to draw the bins?' I don't know, I thought they were rather nice squatting there in the corner of the garden, minding their own business!

Just Time to Whip Out the Sketchbook!

This is a sketch I did sitting on the grass in on the edge of the playground during my visit to Lound Infant School. If you are a regular visitor, you'll know I've got rather into playing with tinting my drawings, either in Photoshop or with watercolour, and this was no exception. You can see the tinted version on my main blog.

When I got home from the school, I had time to sit in the garden for a while and so did this sketch, looking back towards the house. I love these incredibly tall poplars and the way the sway in the breeze. Again, the tinted version is on the main blog.

Beg, Borrow and Steal

Well luckily I didn't have to steal, but I did beg and borrow. I thought you might like to see the miraculous outfit I cobbled together for my friends' Czech wedding.

I was a bit of a disaster zone... Not only did I very nearly set fire to myself during the groom's speech, but I managed to leave my dress hanging on my wardrobe door, back in England! I didn't discover it until the day before, and only had combat trousers and t-shirts.

Instead of being freaked out, I saw the funny side. Fortunately people rallied round, rummaged in their cases and gave me lots of bits and pieces to try on. Incredibly I managed to look fairly acceptable in the end. Phew!

I touched up the sketch I did of the bride and groom, with the aid of the wedding photos, and made it into a post-wedding congratulations card:

Red House Award Prize

Here are some more of the lovely drawings from my lovely Red House Children's Book Award presentation book for Lark in the Ark. Peter Bently and I got one each for being shortlisted this year.

You can read more about the book and our nomination for the award on the main blog, but in the meantime, here are some more of my voters' illustrations:


Good eh? Thanks to everyone who voted, and an especially big thanks to everyone who did me or Peter a drawing, or wrote a review for our book.


Such a shame I didn't get to meet those of you who were lucky enough to be at the ceremony. I'm sure you all had a good time!

Rainbow Class

As part of Birmingham's Young Reader's Festival recently, I got to meet some of the children from Blakenhale Infant School who, as you can see, love to paint and draw!

They had been reading some of my books and gave me a selection of lovely paintings, drawings and pieces of writing, based on When Your Not Looking! and Giddy Goat.

I thought I'd share a selection of them with you. Aren't they great?

So, a big THANK YOU to all the children at Blakenhale Infants, especially Rainbow Class - I had a lovely afternoon with you!

I will be writing about the visit on my main blog later today, where you can read a little more about the storytelling afternoon we shared.

Views in Pen & Ink

These are sketches drawn on Friday, from the windows of my current studio, in the attic.

If you've been reading my daily blog, you'll know that I am trying my hand at pen and ink. I'm experimenting with various different approaches to it, both with the linear mark-making and the possibilities for adding colour.

The sketch above was drawn while standing on a stool to look out of the velux window. I spent quite a lot of time next day experimenting with colours and textures in Corel Painter until it looked like this:

This next one is from the same window, but hanging out and looking to the right. I had to do the sketch in several short spurts as it was mad weather: every few minutes it would pour with rain, really hammering down, then clear, then do it again!



I fiddled around with the sketch in Photoshop, using different light settings with several layers. Not as successful as the last I don't think, but fairly interesting.

The sketch below is looking out of a side window in the studio, towards the front road where they are building a new house. In an attempt to return to the casual sketchbook spirit, this time I tried simply picking out areas with limited tints, again in Photoshop:

Views From the Window

I have always been a little fascinated by the way a window pre-selects a picture. Over the years, I have done many drawings of the views from the various windows in my life.

These were all done from my studio window (not the one I work in now, but the previous one, on the first floor). I looked out over the neighbours' back gardens, receding down the hill - a perfect viewpoint.

I was interested in the patterns created by the dappled sunlight on the branches, and the shadows on the different shaped foliage. I was trying to get the energy of new growth into the drawings.

I particularly liked the fingers of the hedge in the one above, feeling their way up towards the sun, so I translated it into colour, using oil pastels for a change. I wanted it to feel whimsical, rather then be a realistic representation:

Here is another oil pastel ones. It's still the same view, just focusing on a more distant section, rather than the immediate neighbour:

Believe it or not, the sketchbook I used for all these, an A4 bound book, nearly an inch thick, with pages of buff sugar-paper (perfect for oil pastels, it turns out) was one I bought during a student trip to the USSR, over 25 years ago! It's been sitting on a top shelf, forgotten until now!

Not sure why, but I like stuff like that!

Roy Orbison's Secret Twin

Nearly forgot to show you this - a portrait of me (pencil in hand!) done by a Reception child at Yew Tree Primary School.

Do my arms really look like that I wonder..? I like the waspy waistline though.

Yew Tree Primary Pictures

I recently did a day of storytellings at Yew Tree Primary School in Dukinfield, near Manchester.


They were a keen school, who had been reading my books in advance of the visit so, at the end of the day, I was presented with a lovely book of some drawings the Reception children had done, based on my various picture book characters.


These are some highlights. Aren't they good, given that Reception children are only 4/5 yrs old? Well done Yew Tree Primary and thank you!

Costa Rica

I promised to show you some more pictures from Costa Rica. Sorry it's taken so long, but I've hardly been home since I got back to England.

Most of the paintings are on the main blog (see I'm Back!), but there are still a few left to show, including this one. This was my first watercolour attempt in Costa Rica, and the first page of my brand new moleskin, so rather daunting all round. I painted it sitting on a big, flat rock, beside a river. It had taken me ages to choose a subject, as the forest is so intense that I was struggling to isolate a detail from the tangled mass of green stuff!

I also took my A6 sketchbook for pencil sketches. As you can see, the beaches were horrible:


The drawing below, also done on the beach, was one of those spur-of-the-moment ones, where I only had a few minutes to spare:


This next one was even more so. We were in a minibus, travelling down from the mountains, when the traffic was suddenly stopped: high winds had blow large trees onto the road and men with chain-saws were busy clearing the way.


On a whim, I jumped out of the bus and ran as close as I could get away with. I only just managed to get it done, as they were incredibly efficient and cleared the way in under 10 minutes.

I had a bit longer for this one. We were waiting to be picked up, near a little aerodrome on the south coast. There happened to be a little plane on the tarmac:

By chance, this turned out to be the very same plane we flew out on a few days later. On that second occasion, I decided to sketch the ticket office, as it was so wonderfully laid back, compared to New York, where we'd come through:

It was lovely too, spending only about 45 minutes hanging around, compared to the hours you get stuck in a regular airport. This one was done waiting for our flight out, at Manchester Airport:

We had a 4 hour delay, on top of the 3 hour check-in, which is why John is looking so cheesed off here:

I didn't get to draw the animals in Costa Rica, though we saw loads of monkeys, sloths, turtles, crocodiles - all sorts. But they were all too fleeting. So, here is a photo of me holding an iguana, rescued from under a car outside our hotel in La Fortuna. I have no idea why I'm looking so anxious - I love iguanas!

Archive 5: Czech in Colour!

I also took my coloured pencils and A3 drawing pad to Czechoslovakia.

I mainly used them in a rather elegant town called Bardajov, where many of the buildings where painted in lovely colours, and some were also prettily decorated.

The day I visited was bright, sunny and hot, which provided perfect contrasts and shadows.

It is such a long time since I have done this style of drawing, but I imagine each of the sketches would have taken perhaps 30 -40 minutes.

One of the reasons I prefer to work smaller these days, is that simply standing and supporting an A3 pad on your arm for that long is hard.

Doing it in bright sun only makes it more exhausting and I do remember getting rather tetchy doing the one on the right.

I know a lot of Urban Sketchers use travelling stools to get over this problem, and I did toy with one once, but you already have so much to carry, what with the tin of pencils, the pad and all your normal day-trip stuff, that I found carrying a stool too was just a thing too far!

This last is from another small, historic town in the same area, called Tabor. I seem to recall only having a couple of hours there, so only managed the single drawing. That's the one drawback to sketching - it sucks up all your time and if you're not careful, you don't get to do much else!!

Archive 4: Czechoslovakia in Black & White

I travelled in what was then Czechoslovakia, immediately before Poland (see Archive 3). I like to get off the main tourist routes if possible. It was sometimes tricky: neither my friend nor I could drive, so it was all done on trains and buses.

That in itself can be an experience though. This sketch was done on a bus between villages. Many older woman still wore traditional dress.

Liptovska Teplicka, where the bus was headed, turned out to fabulous for drawing. It was a little, farming community, set amongst pine-clad hills, and apparently uncontaminated by the uglier side of modern life.





The buildings were traditional and mainly wooden. Big white ducks waddled the streets and yards were stacked with woodpiles and farming paraphernalia.

I spent a couple of very happy hours wandering about with my friend, sketching this and that. There were not all that many people around, but those we bumped into seemed surprisingly unsurprised to see us, although I felt as though we stood out almost like time travellers.

Another, even tinier village I'll never forget, is Sumiac. There was nobody about, so my frined and I were standing sketching outside a really interesting old wooden house. I had nearly finished, when I spotted the owner in the doorway. He was an old man. Although I worried he might be upset at us, he just smiled and sat on the porch to watch.

When we had finished, we showed him our drawings and we got into one of those peculiar, mainly mimed conversations. We told him we were from England, and he told us that he was born in the year 1900.

He had such a brilliant face, I asked if I could draw him. While I was drawing this portrait, another very old man came shuffling down the hill, dressed in what I thought was a much-faded military uniform, but turned out to be his old tram-drivers uniform.

In part mime, part Czech, he was obviously telling us we shouldn't bother with the first man and his grotty old house, we should be drawing his place instead! He then grabbed my arm and dragged me up the hill. He made us wait while he set up wooden stools in the dirt road, then 'told' us to get on with it!

I am very sad that I can't show you the drawing, as he was obviously desperate to keep it, so I had to give it up. One funny thing - he had a 'page 3' pin-up in his front window. I tactfully left it out, but he would not accept the drawing until I had drawn it in!!

Sketching in Public

It can be nerve-racking, plucking up the courage to whip out your sketchbook for the first time in a public place. It's best to just get it over with: once you've started, it's fine.

Any attention you get is generally very positive. Remember: most people don't draw at all, so however worried you are about your efforts, most on-lookers are likely to be impressed. And you do get used to being observed. I now really enjoy the opportunity to share the moment with strangers, particularly if we don't share language, so wouldn't otherwise 'meet'.

These photos were all taken in Vietnam. The first time I found the nerve to draw people close-up, the lady above came and watched, with a huge grin. When I'd finished, she seemed to be asking me to draw her, so I did, then I broke my usual rule and gave the drawing to her.

Here, I'm sketching some roadside poultry traders: the baskets on the backs of the scooters were full of live chickens. Some hung from their feet from pushbikes, like panniers. Women crouched on the floor, weighing tethered chickens with hand-held, metal scales. I started on the periphery, but quickly got drawn in by people’s attention. There was much giggling about those I had drawn.

I sat beside a river in Hoi An, to draw some squatting women working on a jetty (eclipsed here by my onlookers). It must have been the school’s lunch hour, as I quickly attracted a handful of little boys in uniform, who talked animatedly to one another, obviously about me. I wished I could understand and talk to them.

This photo was taken a couple of minutes later...

I showed them the rest of my sketches, then tried to draw one boy, although he seemed to have no idea that he should keep still!

This last is in the Mekong Delta. I'm the one in the conical hat. I'm looking through the dark opening bottom right. More than fifty people were sitting in the shade of a palm-thatched roof, surrounded by flat, woven trays. These were 2-3 feet across and contained round things, the size of marbles, which they were shelling with paring knives.


I soon had an audience, as you can see, peering over each others' shoulders to watch me draw. Somebody indicated that the marbles were ‘longan' (he wrote this carefully in the corner of my sketch) and gave me one to taste. It looked like a tiny, discoloured lychee, with less flesh but a more concentrated flavour.

To see some of the sketches I was doing, and more photos, see Illustrator Eaten by Python!!! or go to the Vietnam sketchbook on my website.

Archive 3: Poland 1991

These drawings are once again from the period when I used to carry a big A3, spiral-bound pad and a huge tray of coloured pencils around with me. I wish I had the dedication to do it now, as I do like the way the colours add depth to these older sketches.

This one was drawn in a cobbled street of the beautiful city of Gdansk. This was such a surprise to me: those who were around in the early 1980s like me, probably still associate Gdansk with the TV images of the austere, concrete shipyards (and huge moustaches) from the Solidarnosc uprising. But the city itself is full of old, very ornate buildings that reminded me of Amsterdam.

Just after I finished this drawing in the tiny village of Wodzitki, a stork arrived and circled the spire of the lovely wooden church. I think he was eyeing it up as a possible nesting spot: we spotted several massive nests, always perched precariously atop tiny pinnacles.

I don't remember fully appreciating it at the time, but I was in Poland during a very interesting period - immediately after the Warsaw Pact was dissolved, in the summer of 1991. I was travelling around by train and do recall noticing many people on the move.

I stood in the street in Krakow to sketch this - fortunately devoid of traffic. I was drawn to all the subtle colours in the shadows and the over-stuffed notice board.

I also took my A6 sketchbook for quicker work. This is also Krakow: one of the flower sellers under her market awning in the main square.

I particularly enjoyed getting off the beaten track too, taking local buses out into some of the villages, where time seemed to have largely stood still:

I was also struck by the number of massive churches, even in fairly small towns.

One place that sticks in my mind is Prezmysl, where there were so many huge churches on top of one another, it was astonishing that they still required loudspeakers outside, to relay services to those who couldn't fit inside!

By the way: the name Prezmysl is pronounced something like 'P-shemish'. No wonder locals looks non-plussed when I was asking for the right platform for trains to 'Prez-mizzle'!

Walking at Chatsworth

There is a big stately home called Chatsworth House just outside Sheffield, belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. I've never been much taken with the house itself, but we often walk in the massive grounds, where there's a lovely wide river and you can watch deer and sheep grazing.

There's also a rather unusual hunting lodge, high on a hill. We stopped for a breather beside it, and I drew this rather smart cannon:

Changing the Telegraph Pole

A while ago, I heard lots of noise outside the house, so I stopped what I was doing and ran to find out what was going on. There was a massive lorry parked up right outside, and several men in hard hats milling about. They were replacing the telegraph pole directly in front of our house!

Now, I'm always partial to bits of machinery in action, and men at work, well, you've got to watch haven't you?

It was a sufficiently unusual occurrence, that I thought it warranted documenting, so I rushed back upstairs and got my little sketchbook. I was so glad I did.

It went on for ages, so I was able to do sketch after sketch, peering out at them from our front bedroom window, the perfect vantage point. Everything was continually moving, so I had to be pretty snappy, which is always excellent practice.

And the proof of that, is that I think you can see from the sketches (which I've put in order) that I'm getting better as I go along. These final two are much the strongest of the series - I definitely warmed up!

This last is them finally lowering the new pole into position:

Archive 2: On to Inner Mongolia

As an extension of my time in China (see Archive 1), I took a long-distance bus into Inner Mongolia, to stay in the lamasery village of Taersi. I was a little apprehensive about how the monks would take to being drawn. Would they consider it an insult?

The streets were mud but the temples were all very impressive: high walls broken by huge, decorative gateways with great, studded doors, through which you passed into a series of painted, wooden buildings and stone courtyards. The spaces were full of monks and pilgrims praying and prostrating themselves to the accompaniment of much chanting and banging of gongs.

To my delight, nobody seemed to mind me sketching, not even when I drew them. In fact I was occasionally offered brief smiles between prostrations, and those who came to watch gave me the 'thumbs-up' sign: very odd coming from a robed monk!


These monks were in the middle of a ceremony, wearing bright yellow, woollen caps with high mohicans on top. I was sitting just off the courtyard, sketching them, when another monk came over, smiled a greeting and gave me a single walnut. Later on, a different monk also made me the gift of a small pear. I felt honoured and rather thrilled to be accepted.

In another courtyard, I found lines of brightly decorated, red barrels suspended from a beam with axles through their centres. These were prayer-wheels, sending up a prayer each time someone gave them a spin.


This long, low building was set apart from the others up a hill. Inside was a single long hall containing the monastery's yak-butter sculptures. They were intricately carved and brightly painted, making it difficult to tell they were made of butter, were it not for the uncomfortably clammy, sweet smell that filled the place, making it difficult to stay for very long. Hence no sketch!

Venice Sketchbook

This time last year I was in Venice. It was my first time and we spent a whole week just wandering the streets.

It was of course perfect for sketching, although I was a bit intimidated by the fact that everything had been drawn so many times before, and so very beautifully!

I think this one of my favourites from the trip, drawn from Ponte S. Polo. Just a simple detail: sometimes that's easier to tackle than anything too grand.

We found a tiny local bar, called Ai Artisti, where we spent several early evenings, before finding a restaurant for a meal. We liked the fact the locals obviously used it.

This is my hubby John, well half of John anyway.

One night we messed up and couldn't get a meal, so just stayed and had a very decent pasta in the bar as well: simple fare, simply served, but in many ways much nicer than something more fancy.

We took the obligatory ferry trip out to the islands. Most people know Murano, because of the glass, but there is also Burano, with a fascinating lace museum. I loved the modern, very illustrative lace samples, as much as the traditional styles.

There was so much to see, but I was drawn to three elderly ladies hunched in the window, actually making lace in the traditional way, over a bolster. I signed 'is it ok?' and then drew this portrait.

They were bowled over. They fetched the security guard to take a photocopy of the sketch to keep, that they asked me to sign. It was one of those lovely bonding moments that you sometimes get with sketching, all the more poignant when you don't share language.

This was the water-bus driver, on the run from to Burano to Murano. It was freezing and took ages! My favourite things on Murano were the glass chandeliers. They were bonkers - very colourful and completely over the top! We chanced upon some men blowing the glass and watched then through an open workshop door for a few minutes, trying to guess what they were making.

Of course, no sketchbook would be complete without at least one gondolier! They were dreadfully tricky though, as they never seemed to stand still. The call was: 'Gondola, gondola, gondola!', so fast it was one word.

There are a few more Venice sketches on my Flickr page

Archive 1: Colour Sketches in China

Nowadays it is rare for me to work in colour when I am out and about, but there was a time when I used to take a big tray of coloured pencils and an A3, spiralbound sketchbook out with me. It meant I could do gloriously rich drawings, compared to the simple pencil sketches I do currently, but it did involve being loaded down, so ruled out drawing on a whim, or surreptitiously.

These are drawings done on site during a trip to China in 1987. The top is of course a gate in The Forbidden City in Beijing. The one above was a butchers shop in the city of Chengdu.

It was a very interesting place to draw, not just because it was so colourful and so visually different, but also because the Chinese people were absolutely fascinated and crowded round to watch. This proved to be one of the most challenging aspects though: within seconds, whatever I was trying to sketch was always obliterated by onlookers!

For this reason, I was pleased that I took my little A6 book too. This was a street cleaner in Wuhan. Again though, I was lucky to get the secret viewpoint of a hotel window, which had a handy view down onto a main street.

This last was in the city of Xi'an. I was looking down on a lunch restaurant, from a vantage point on top of the Drum Tower. I got several minutes of peaceful concentration before somebody looked up and spotted me.

I would very much like to go back to China 30 years on, as I know many things will have changed beyond recognition. It would be interesting to see if more contact with the West has diluted bystander interest at all!

If you would like to see more of my drawings of China, click here.

Stockport Schools Book Award

I just got sent this lovely photo, taken by one of the Stockport SLS librarians, of myself and Julia Jarman with the book that won. It was taken after the award ceremony, relaxing in the bar (hence the wine!).

If you want to read more about the award ceremony, see I Have Won An Award!!!

Experimental Style

When you are trying to draw in poor light, you often can't make out detail. I was experimenting here with a slightly different, looser technique, looking more at light and shade, and general shapes, than at lines, edges and detail.



The result is more impressionistic than my usual approach and the more extreme markmaking adds a certain drama I think.

Sketchbook Work

If you've been reading my main blog lately, you'll know that I was excited to discover Urban Sketchers recently. If you haven't seen their site already, do take a look.

Seeing their work has inspired me to post some more of my sketchbook drawings here. It does seem a shame to have them all trapped in closed books on my shelf. I will scan a few in from time to time, when I have a moment.

These 3 are from a visit to Riveaux Abbey in North Yorkshire. Riveaux is a roofless ruin, but with enough interesting stonework and walls still standing, to make it really atmospheric and fun to draw.

I sketch in a 3B pencil. I don't add anything to them later, though now I've seen some of the interesting colour work on the Urban Sketchers site, I might experiment...

Unlike some of the Urban Sketchers, I am insufficiently committed these days to sketch in the rain, or in seriously cold conditions, so these were done in the summer!