SketchCrawl in Derbyshire

We had fabulous weather for Saturday's Sketchcrawl. It was so relaxing, sitting in the sunshine, drawing with my sketch-chums. We started at New Mills in the morning, drawing from the Millennium Walkway, which winds along one side of a deep gorge, opposite a crumbly old mill:

At the bottom, in the trees, is a river. I spent quite a while trying to capture the light and shade with my watercolours although, typically, I think the quick sketches above are far more successful: 

After lunch, we moved on to Whaley Bridge, where there was the Water Weekend festival. It was brilliant for drawing - so much to choose from, I hardly knew where to begin. I had a go at these morris dancers: 

...then a massive steam engine arrived and parked up, so I spent a while drawing that:

I got really overheated, as I was in full sun the whole time. I had suncream on, so I didn't burn, but I was concentrating so hard on the drawing, I didn't notice I was sweltering until I finished.

Two fellow SketchCrawlers were nearby, drawing in the shade of a tree, so I hurried to join them, to cool down a bit. We all sat in a row and sketched this man. He looked like he would be pretty still, but he turned out to be a bit of a wriggler!

He kept asking us what the time was. It turned out that he was the Punch and Judy man and his next show was about to start, so we stayed and drew that. I think this is my favourite sketch from the day. I was in the perfect position to get the puppets and the children:

It was nearly time to do the sketchbook sharing. I just had 5 minutes to sketch some meercats, who were on display with various other small animals. They don't keep still either! 

We gathered at 4 o'clock for a well-earned coffee at a lovely art-cafe, where we passed all the books around the table. 

We started the day with 13 people, 4 of whom were new-comers, which was lovely. Some people had to leave us after the sharing, but more than half the group travelled back New Mills together, for one last, 15 minute sketch-opportunity, before heading home.

We had to sit in a patch of nettles for this view - dedication or what?! I sploshed about with some watercolours. There was only time to capture an impression, but that was probably a good thing:

Then it was time for the train back to Shefffield. I enjoyed the journey both ways too. It took 45 minutes, which gave us a chance for a good chat - generally we are too busy drawing to talk for long!

What a brilliant day. Thank goodness for sunshine. And thank you to Derbyshire members Lynne and Andrea for their help with the planning.

You can see more photos and other people's sketches here. Everyone is welcome to come along to our SketchCrawls any time they like. If you would like to join us, just drop me an email.

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