Sunday 4 March 2012

Nuns and Sandcastles...


I couldn't resist this lovely old nun. She was sitting across the aisle in the row behind me, on my train coming back towards Sheffield last week, after a couple of nights away from home, working firstly with Reading's Educational Library Service and then at St Nicholas Primary School in Twyford.


Yes, I'm still travelling all over the place at the moment, clocking up the rail-miles and filling up the sketchbooks. I've had two stints of staying away overnight: I was only in my own bed for one night between the Reading trip and a couple of days up in Huddersfield area, doing mostly lectures.


Do you recognise the man above? By strange coincidence, I found myself opposite him the week previous and posted a close up of his face last time. Given I'm doing one-off journeys at random times, it was odd to not just be on the same train, but in the same carriage and only a few seats away! I couldn't decide if he was watching me draw him or just staring in my direction.



Luckily the last few days this week have been nearer to home, so not such early starts, and on Monday I'm at Darton Primary in Barnsley, which also neighbours Sheffield. Next week it's long-distance again though: I start by abandoning poor John yet again and heading down to the Shrewsbury Bookfest for a couple of days, then it's Hull on Thursday, followed by Leicester on Friday.



I was at my local Holt House Infants School on World Book Day itself and was in the hall, drawing for a couple of Y1 classes on the flipchart. I had a bear on the beach and was getting the children to suggest various additional details (shark in the sea, lighthouse on the horizon...). I thought a sandcastle might finish it off, so asked, 'What can you make with sand?'. The answer came from a little girl at the back: 'Glass!'. What clever children we have in our schools...


3 comments:

Serena Lewis said...

Your sketches are so inspiring! Wonderful!

Julie Clay Illustration said...

Lynne, your train sketches are brilliant. You could sell them surely, you should have a little sign on a hat on your head, 'Skething in progress' and hand out cards with your email address, if people saw how good you draw, thay would surely want one? Like that chap that was interested the other week. They are so good!

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thank you both!

I love the idea of a 'Mad Hatter style tag on my hat!! Unfortunately that would rather blow my cover and I try to keep a low profile. It's not the same once people know they are being drawn - I don't want them to pose. I'm not keen on doing real 'portraits' as there is so much more pressure to do something brilliant, plus getting a likeness as well - yikes!