Chewton Mendip Primary School

Here of some more samples of the illustrated stories the children did as a result of my visit in January.

I really like the sense of space in this first pair of illustrations, by Scout Whittaker, and the exciting way the village has been drawn, curving round the waterhole. Beautifully done:

In case the words are too small to read, the story reads: 'Once there was a tall, gangly giraffe called Rufus. He wore worn, blue dungarees. He lived in the scorching hot Savanna, his village surrounded a sparkling, clear water-hole.'

This next one, by Jack Doman, reads: 'The little lion had no roar, so he tried and tried.'

I love the big sky and the way the pencil colours are applied, allowing your eye to mix the shades together, just like the way I showed the children I often work with my pastels. Well remembered Jack!

Orlando Fraser's Dance Duo reads: 'And they danced and they danced until the sun went down. When they didn't dance, they talked about being famous.' Fabulous colour, again cleverly blended for the sky, and what a wonderfully striking composition, with the animals drawn against the huge, setting sun!

This next one, Sports Day by Anna Hester, is written in such beautiful clear handwriting, I'm sure you can read it yourself. Poor Tony - he sounds about as good as me at games! I'm so curious to know the rest of the story, to find out why he is smiling, despite his troubles...

This last one is called 'The Work-out Bunny' and is by Isabel Lee. Great facial expression! Love the design of the bug character too:


'In the dry, dusty Savanna there was a lazy, boring rabbit. One day he was looking for food and found a small bug. Just as the rabbit was about to eat the bug it then talked: "Don't eat me, I can help you." "How?" "I'll be your coach and help you get fit and sporty," said the bug. "Okay." "Stay right there, shouted the bug as he ran behind the tree. He came out holding a headband and water bottle. "Put this on, hold this and follow me," said the bug.

Really lovely stuff, don't you agree? Well done guys, I'm really proud if you!

Sketching People on the Nottingham Train...

Yes, I'm back on trains again. If you read my main blog, you'll know that I've been doing quite a few trips back and forth to Nottingham.


Here are some of the sketches that I couldn't fit into that post.


This woman above was strangely intense looking, mostly I think because of her quite harsh makeup.


I spent some time playing in Photoshop with this next one: yes, the seats really are that red!


Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to play with colouring most of them yet. Maybe later. I always enjoy that bit and find it rather therapeutic. Actually, the whole 'sketching-on-trains things is rather Zen: such intense focus concentration, it's almost meditation!

If you are trying to draw people in public places, you might be interested in this post with all my best hot tips!

Drawing People on Trains Again...

I've been playing around in Photoshop again! You can see the original, unsullied, black and white pencil drawing on my main blog here.


There is an article with loads of hot tips on how to draw people in public places on the main blog here.

Colouring Drawings in Photoshop

Had a go at colouring the last train sketch I showed you, tinting it in Photoshop as I often do. I'm rather pleased with it. I like to choose just a couple of colours and leave a lot of white 'negative' space, rather then colour everything.


If you want hot tips on drawing people on trains, read this.

Train Portraits in Pencil

These are a couple of train portraits I did on my way home from Bristol this week.


If you'd like to see the ones I did on the way there, pop in on the post about my trip to Chewton Mendip Primary School.


If you want to try sketching people in public places, take a look at this post full of hot tips!

Ice Sculptures

Here are some ice sculpture photos I took at the Festival of Angels in York at the weekend:

The sculptures were a complete surprise, and so even more of a delight to discover.

They made the first batch for Saturday lunchtime, but their features had melted by the end of the day, so they brought out new ones on Sunday.

Gala Day pics

Though I took my camera to the NCBF Gala Day, I forgot to get it out, so I've had to wait for other people's pictures.

This is a nice one of Julia Jarman and I, signing after our event. Love the face painting, especially that cute tiger!

"D'ya know what it is yet..?"

Here is Julia, leading the pirate singing, during our Class Three all at Sea storytelling:

While she was doing that, I was unfortunately looking like this:

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.

Drawing Train Portraits 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!

If you want some hot tips on drawing people in public, check out this post.

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.

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.