The Week in Watercolour #3

too many thoughts this week

Welcome,

Thank you for joining me and yet again I find myself with this title number 3, with lots of thoughts and things to discuss.

Cats

There is something about cats, I don’t have one but have fairly regular encounters with them either online, or when I see my son’s cat Toulouse (Toulie to his mates) or unfortunately in my garden where they will get ushered away politely with a loud ssshhhh. I actually do like cats apart from the pooping in my garden 💩. So this week I keep seeing posts and writings about cats on substack. The latest being

Amy Stewart

and her cat tour of the neighbourhood. Then there is of course

Adam Rockwell

, he’s always doing caturdays and catstackers cats. Did I already say - I do like cats 😸
Is the algorithm messing with my head I wonder?
Then to top it all this boy was sleeping away from the crowds of St Ives. It was a memorial garden in the shadow of St Ia’s parish church in St Ives. It is dedicated to Ia of Cornwall, a 5th- or 6th-century Irish saint, and is a Grade I listed building¹

Can you spot him?

St Ia’s Parish Church, St Ives

Here is Toulie just in case you needed more cats!

So enough with the cats and enough of St Ives.

Here is a little reminder in my home made sketch book from the day out with the tourists.

Sketching habits

You don’t need an excuse to get yourself sketching. Remember if you have a book and pen with you grab the opportunity whenever you can. Even if you can’t finish it completely, just get a picture, so you can finish it later. This little beauty presented itself during an e-bike ride to catch up on my exercise. I‘ve been neglecting the exercise a little bit so I need to get back on it. Come and join me on Strava if you are on the platform.

Cycle day out to Mylor Bridge

There are some stunning properties in this area with some great drawing opportunities for the future.

There are a few times that even I will lose my nerve in getting the sketchbook out. On this occasion I was catching a drink while waiting for a lift. I ended up just taking the photo and doing the rest in the comfort of my home. You’ll see there is always the artist’s licence to leave things out or put things in or change colours etc, never worry about it and use the ‘license’ with happy abandon!

Scene from the William IV pub in Truro

When it goes wrong

1. Victoria gardens, 2. in progress 3. 1st attempt 4. 2nd attempt

I wanted to show you these two from a live sketch session in the park last week. I wasn’t happy with the sketches but I wanted to discuss them here for your benefit.

Sometimes things don’t always go as planned and this subject was one of those times. Despite it being a glorious evening, I was adamant I wanted to try this scene as I love the care that goes into this park. It has an abundance of colour and in the sun it was glorious.
I feel this emotional connection was my downfall as landscape and flowers are not one of my strong points. The composition is somehow failing as well and although I can’t really explain why, it doesn’t feel like a good photo. In the 2nd attempt I tried to go looser with less colour and simpler lines. I prefer the 2nd attempt but, I still feel the composition lets these two sketches down. So my take away from this?
Well I’ve already moved on and almost didn’t put it in here as I’ve already parcelled it into its own box! I did wander around the park and there were probably better compositions to try, so I took some photos and left for the pub, then sketched it.

Other topics

• Thank you for the input last week on the three questions, it seems there is overwhelming interest in free live online sketching with just a few feeling you need help getting started with drawing or watercolour and the majority of you being fairly experienced or expert. I realise there was a diverse range of responses and will probably change as the post ages.
  If any of you who answered one of the questions feel you might need help please do not hesitate to message me directly. I’m happy to help on a one to one level completely free of charge. I have zoom links and camera set ups if there is anything you would like to know. We can work around time zones if you are not in the UK.

• Another topic for the future is perspective and how it can go wrong.

Prompts

This is a prompt #15 from the chat thread, feel free to join in and ask questions. see the chat topic below.

Garden Geek shop, Truro

Chat

If you’ve made it this far don’t forget I have an active chat thread which will have regular prompts should your artistic well run dry from time to time. It will be encouraging and should have some tips to keep you active. Come over as a subscriber and say hello. We are at #15 but you can join in any that are still open and I promise to read and view all content.

Ps don't forget the Gallery page².

Also…

Capture your World in a Sketchbook is a free newsletter. Your Coffee donations are greatly appreciated, they help to support & motivate me to carry on writing and sharing. Click the link below if you feel like donating a little to support my writing 💚
(Sometimes, I may not be able to trace you back to your Substack name from Kofi)

Thank you for reading, I’m always happy to hear from fellow enthusiasts in the comments👇 Anyway ‘till next time, happy sketching. CJ

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Ia's_Church,_St_Ives

2.