the back of pete floate's head

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink  in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

sunflower

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours, in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

mutant strawberry

Various fineliners and Winsor & Newton watercolours inA4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

orchids

Two drawings of an orchid drawn before and after (bottom and top respectively) our holiday in Thailand. The second drawing was much more accomplished than the first and it's not difficult to understand why. Apart from the fact that I did a lot of sketching in the period between drawings, I also bought a new watercolour half-pan (violet, I think) which allowed me to capture the colour of the petals more accurately than I had before. The colours in that first sketch are HORRIBLE – dark, muddy and nothing like those on the flower itself.

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours, in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

souvenirs

TWSBI Diamond 580 with Platinum Carbon ink and watercolours, in A4 Stillman and Birn Alpha Series sketchbook.

ellie sleeping

I hesitate to post this terribly unflattering portrait of my daughter which was hastily scribbled in ten minutes flat, just before the stroke of midnight as we prepared to scramble to our gate at the airport. She really is much prettier than this, I assure you. Despite the drawing's shortcomings, I like it a lot. I was tired and cranky when I did it and also aware that I had a limited time to draw and all of that is there in the drawing. But it also has a spontaneity to it and there's a lack of self-consciousness in the linework which I'm pleased with.

And this is the last drawing from the sketchbook I kept in Thailand.

UniPin fineliner in 190 x 250 mm Seawhite sketchbook.

bangers

The bugs – encased in resin – were bought from Chatuchak market in Bangkok, the Japanese figure was one of many statues in a large shopping mall (I would have liked to have drawn more) and the people, like us, were waiting for a lane to become available at the bowling alley.

Various fineliners and Winsor & Newton watercolours in 190 x 250 mm Seawhite sketchbook.