I'm Auctioning another Tree Painting

I wanted to let you know that I am auctioning off another of my tree paintings. This time it is a watercolour I painted on Briar Road in Sheffield, created on heavy quality, watercolour paper, measuring 28 x 37cm. The last one sold for £200 in the end, which was wonderful.

If you would like to own this painting, you can bid on the auction website or, if you are not on Facebook, you can email me your bid. There are lots of other lovely things for sale on the STAG auction site, so it's well worth a bit of a look.

All proceeds go to the legal fund to support the Sheffield Tree Action Group's protests against the council's intention of chopping down yet more healthy, mature trees in Sheffield. It's been a long, hard struggle and thousands of trees across the city have been destroyed, but we have had some success recently and the council have been forced to meet with protesters to discuss ways of managing the situation.

So, whether you are interested in helping to save Sheffield's dwindling numbers of mature street trees, or just like the idea of a lovely tree painting on your wall, get your bid in now! You just leave the bid as a comment on the post. Easy peasy.

Illustrations of 'A-Day-in-the-Life'

In my last post, I told you about the day of sketching I did in the offices of a team of architects. If you remember, it was slightly different to my usual work: this time, the client wanted the sketches as part of an illustration for a report. 

The original brief was to create a double-page spread of images, which communicated what an architect did all day. I did as many sketches as I could on my day out, with the idea that we could choose the best, say 5 or 6 images, which I would montage together later, using Photoshop, to create the final illustration.

But when the researchers saw the 13 sketches, they didn't want to use less than half of them. It seemed a waste. What to do? They went back and looked at their costings. They had the idea of an illustrated pull-out, which would give me six A4 pages to fill with illustrations, instead of just two. They spoke to their printer and asked for a quote. I waited with baited breath...

… and a couple of days later, I got the go-ahead! 

The researchers sent me a list of additional text and quotes that they wanted me to add to the images, taken from the research notes that were made on the day. I had to write each quote out by hand, so it would match the text I'd drawn originally, and then scan it all in. I used speech bubbles for a lot of the new text, to add visual variety and stop things getting fussy.

I spent all of Monday at my computer, laying the images out. In the end, we only had to lose one sketch, because 12 worked out so well: two images per page. 

With all that extra text, I decided the individual sketches needed boxes around them, so the pages looked less bitty. But I didn't want formal, computer-drawn boxes - they needed to be sketchy. I drew half a dozen with my rainbow pencil and scanned them in too. 

Here are the finished 6 illustrations, in order, through the architect's day. I think the effect with the boxes works rather well in the end. I am relieved that they are being used larger too, as I was concerned that the text might be a little hard to read, if I had to squeeze lots of images into a much smaller space. 

I have sent everything off to York University. I can't wait to see how it looks as a pull-out.

A Tree for the Trees!

It's been a bit of a nail-biting week...

Followers who live in Sheffield (and even some who don't) will know about the tree campaign that's raging here. We have been fighting the council for 5 years now, trying to prevent them from cutting down our street trees (many of them over 100 years old), simply to make it cheaper to maintain our roads and pavements. They have ravaged the city already and cut down 5,500 street trees, but campaigners have finally managed to bring it to a halt, for the moment. There have been injunctions, arrests and court cases, even though protesters have been peaceful, many of them pensioners, just standing under trees to hamper the felling. 

All of this has meant a lot of legal costs for people who don't have that kind of money. So we are continually fundraising. Which is where I come in, with my tree paintings.  

I have helped organise sketching events to get the message out there and, when I can, I go to street protests and stand under trees, often with my sketchbook, paints and my Inktense watercolour pencils. I have painted several beautiful trees, many of which we have saved from the chop (but which they still intend to come back for).

On Meersbrooke Park Road, there are a whole line of mature trees due to be chain-sawed out of existence. I put this watercolour of them up for auction last week, in aid of the tree campaign's legal fees.

It started off very slowly and for ages it looked like we would only get £70, which was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Despite spending ages posting it all over Facebook, things were deadly quiet for days. I grew despondent. Then suddenly, a couple of days before the deadline, two people got involved who bid against each other until we got to £200. Fantastic - that's more like it!

Thank you so much to F. J. for his generosity. It turns out that his mum and dad used to live on Meersbrook Park Road between 1965 and 1969. His dad was a minister at the local church and his mum taught in the local school. Guess who is getting a rather unusual wedding anniversary present on Saturday? 

If you want to help us little-people to fight our fight, by contributing to the campaign, we are currently crowdfunding and any donations at all would be very welcome.

Painting Punters in Costa Coffee House

I am still sketching away in Orchard Square and loving my studio space.

I enjoyed doing this painting outside Costa and it actually didn't rain - hurrah! As usual, several people stopped to say hello and I chatted for a while about what I was up to. It means each sketch takes a lot longer than normal, but engaging with people is a big part of the project, so I don't mind at all.

What I did mind was losing my favourite Leaf Green watercolour pencil. I couldn't understand where it had gone. I'd used it on the Costa painting, so I knew I had it but, even when I stood up and looked all round, it was nowhere to be seen. Mystery.

Until I noticed the very slight camber of the floor and the small drain grating a few feet behind me. I peered down through it and, low and behold, there was my pencil, bobbing in the water several inches down, well beyond finger reach. 

I phoned up the local art shop. They sold Inktense pencils. They even sold them individually, not just in sets. But guess which colour just happened to be out of stock? Yep.

Never mind, the good news is that John has made a couple of A2 poster boards for outside the studio, to let people know they can come in and chat to me. I realised that, through the window, it looks like a private workspace rather than an exhibition so, unless people already know, I'm guessing they don't feel they can come in and look.

I've been out and about a lot, with other work commitments up to now, but the next 2 weeks I'll be at Orchard Square every day, so it'll feel good to be able to really concentrate on the project and not be dashing all over the place instead. I'm there from around 9.00 - 5.30, so do drop by.

There are also still a few places left on the Urban Sketching for Beginners workshop this coming Saturday morning at 10.30, so drop me an email if you want to come along. Or, if you can't make this time round, but are interested in other workshops or events, sign up to my mailing list, so you're kept updated on what's happening.

Residency: Sketching in Orchard Square

I am still working away in Orchard Square. The studio is great. I'm loving it.

I'm having a bit of trouble with it raining every time I decide to sit out sketching though. This was outside the main window of Schuh yesterday afternoon. Converse are just so sketchable.

I had to do this sketch in two sittings and I was literally just finishing as the rain started yet again (hence the slight splats on the text).

Want to Own My Painting?

THIS WEEKEND ONLY, I am auctioning off my watercolour of the threatened Chelsea Elm tree, which stands in Nether Edge, near to where I live, proud and defiant.

All proceeds go to Sheffield Trees Action Group, as we are raising funds to fight off the council, who want to chop down this rare and special tree, along with many, many others in my area, most of which are over 100 years old. It's all about cheaper road surfacing, which makes my blood boil. But that's another story...

The painting is approximately A3, on heavy watercolour paper. If you want to buy it, you need to type your bid on this Facebook post. Bidding ends at 1pm GMT on Monday 21st August.

This is unfortunately only open to people who are on Facebook (and you will need to temporarily join the STAG Facebook group to be able to post your bid - sorry it's a bit complicated).

Please be generous and help me save this gorgeous tree!

I Sold a Painting at Auction!

Okay, I'm hoping you have visions of Sotherby's: an oak-panelled room stuffed with very rich collectors and a man with a gavel? Well, no, not quite like that. In fact, not actually like that at all. Hey ho - one day. Mine was a Facebook auction and I was raising money for the tree campaign in Sheffield.

If you don't know about it, there's is a battle going on in my home city of Sheffield, between protesters and the council. They have signed a very ill advised contract with a massive company called Amey, to maintain our streets over the next 25 years. Unfortunately for the poor residents of Sheffield, that involves cutting down thousands and thousands of our beautiful street trees, many of which are 100 years old. Why? Well, they tell us it's because the trees are causing too much damage to pavements and roads, but the damage is ridiculously small - a kerb stone nudged out as little as half an inch for instance. It's actually about MONEY. Of course. It's cheaper to chop them down than to work round them.

So, people have been fighting. Rushing out and standing under the trees when the cutting crews arrive. The trickiest bit is keeping an eye out, so someone can raise the alarm. We patrol the streets! They chop quite a few before we find out. They have taken thousands already.

Anyway, we had a small awareness-raising event recently, very close to where I live, to celebrate a glorious avenue of huge lime trees, which the Amey want to destroy. People decorated the trees, sang protest songs, baked cake - you get the idea. I decided to paint the trees, to try and capture the beauty of what we were attempting to save. I squatted on my little stool, in the road, tucked in behind a parked car and got out my watercolours.

I knew that I wanted to sell the painting in aid of the cause, so I worked on an A4 watercolour block, rather than in a sketchbook. We need money, because the council keep trying to find ways to arrest protesters, so we need to pay barristers to defend ourselves. The last batch of arrests (including 3 old ladies!) was thrown out of court, but they have a new plan and are now handing out injunctions, to stop us standing within barriers they erect around the trees. Thing is, if we don't, they just chop them down immediately!

While I was painting, lots of people came to see what I was up to. One very positive side-effect of this horrible business is that neighbours are getting to know one another. We generally have to stand under trees for anything from an hour to 3 hours before the crew finally give up, so it's very chatty. Locals bring us tea, make us toast - it would be lovely if it wasn't so serious.

When the event was done, I posted a scan of the painting onto Facebook and announced the auction, with a starting price of £40. It quickly rose to £80, then it stopped for ages, but there was another flurry the next morning. I gave  a cut-off time of midday and by then we had reached £125. Hurrah!

We are also making Fine Art Prints of the painting to sell, plus a local shop has agreed to stock them for us, free of charge, because they too think what the council and Amey are doing is awful.

I am doing prints of this painting too, which I captured of the cutting crew, while I was sitting under a tree on a previous occasion.

If you would like to buy a print to help us fight the tree-murderers, you have the option of two sizes. The prices are:
A4: £15 (plus P&P)
A3: £25 (plus P&P)
Both are Giclee prints on 300gsm watercolour paper. Please let me know ASAP, so we can pick everything up together when we go to the printers. Orders need to be in by July 17th.

If you want to give money to the fund, or want to find out more about what we will be spending the money on, here's the Crowdfunder page.

Right, better go and get some work done, because any minute the alarm could be raised and I'll be rushing from the house and running to get under a tree before the chainsaws begin. Wish us luck!

York Minster - Sunny SketchCrawl

It's five years since Urban Sketchers Yorkshire last visited York Minster. I can't quite believe that: it feels like two or three.

We chose an absolutely perfect day for it this time, purely by chance. I expected to be sketching inside the Minster, but the weather was so glorious on Saturday, I spent my day slowly working my way around the outside of the building, drawing it from different perspectives and recording bits of the life around it. This was my first painting of the day, looking at the side entrance:

I used my usual technique of laying in roughly placed watercolour first, looking at the main shapes and the principle darks, before going in with a green Koh-i-Noor pencil to capture the essence of the twiddly detail.  When I got home, I discovered that this is a view I have painted before, on my earliest sketch-visit:

I used watercolour and a Koh-i-Noor pencil on this one too as it happens, but the effect is quite different.

For my 2nd painting, I walked round to the back of the building. The Minster is so huge, you have to find a way to get back from it. Luckily, a road provided a vantage point, giving me the distance I needed. I experimented by painting the sky first, looking at it as a negative space, then the building's shadows, then the line in my Inktense pencils. The paper texture creates a perfect impression of the window leading, though that was a lucky chance. The tiny railings were very helpful for adding scale:

We got together on the grass outside the Minster for a picnic at lunchtime and looked at the work so far. Unfortunately, by the time we asked a passer-by to take this photo, quite a few people had wandered off to buy coffee - there were about 30 of us altogether. We had quite a few first timers too, which is always good:

There is a spot, just off to the side of the main entrance, where busking is allowed. When we first arrived, a man was singing, really belting it out. By lunchtime, he had been replaced by a singer/songwriter with a guitar. As you know, I love sketching musicians, so I planted my little stool on the pavement in front of her and started to paint. This was watercolour first, then Inktense pencils:

She was really good and it was a treat to have live music while I worked. I showed her when I was done and she was thrilled to bits and took my photo with the sketch. I didn't know at the time, but one of our group spotted me in action and also took this photo. I had a nice chat with the man to my right, who watched me from beginning to end. He was covered in tattoos and so looked a little intimidating, but was actually really gentle-mannered:

York is very busy and, by mid afternoon, there were people everywhere, but I discovered a wonderful haven right alongside the Minster, which I'd never come across previously. The Treasurer's House has a walled garden, with a croquet lawn, a little fountain and a few statues. I was struck by this statue's profile, with the Minster's windows looming behind. Because it was a fairly complex view, I drew the line-work first, using a blue and a red Koh-i-Noor pencil, then painted the colour on top:

By the time I was done, I had an odd 20 minutes left, before it was time to re-meet up with everyone at the pub. The sun was still shining and I wanted to make use of every minute of it, so I quickly returned to the park where we had picnicked and did my best to capture this lovely tree against the ruins:

The upstairs room of The Eagle and Child was already full when I got there. People were sitting around 3 big tables, passing round the various sketchbooks. I threw mine into the mix and got stuck in, looking at all the work. The standard was really high and, as always, it was inspiring to see how other people had tackled things. You can look at other people's work from the day here.

A huge thank you to Joe and Michael for helping out by organising of the day (and booking the sunshine). A great success.

Travels in Lanzarote Day 15: Soaked to my Knickers

We both had such a great time in Lanzarote, neither of us really wanted to leave. I was especially sad to leave behind such great painting inspiration. Fortunately, because our flight home wasn't until 7pm, we were able to get ourselves all packed and out of the Haria house with still lots of time to enjoy our final day.

We drove back up to the area near Maguez where we were the day before, for me to do a bit more painting while John pottered and took photos. We couldn't do a proper walk, as we didn't want to get all sweaty before flying. Spot little me in the landscape above.

I started with the A3 watercolour of the hill at the top. Here it is with the view:

Then I had a go at the volcano to the left (the same one I drew in my Intense pencils the previous morning). As usual, my second painting is looser and more impressionistic than my first:

By the time I had finished, we were ready for a café con leche and wanted the opportunity to say goodbye to the lovely turquoise sea at Punta Mujeres.

We sat on the wall, watching the sea slowly coming in. I started an Inktense pencil drawing of the view to my left. It was very relaxing, basking in the sunshine, listening to the sounds of the sea on the rocks...

Both John and I registered the larger wave arriving. While John got up, turned to me and said, 'Lynne, watch out for...', my blasé brain told me 'It'll probably be fine.' 

A moment later, the wave crashed onto the rocks at our feet. I was quick enough to lift my sketchbook out at arms length, but not quick enough to move my body off the wall. It was as if somebody had emptied a bucket over my head. So much for not getting sweaty before the flight! At least it was a warm, sunny day.

The wave incident happened just as we needed to leave for the airport anyway. Luckily, I had finished my drawing, near enough, and the concertina didn't get damaged, but I had to sit in the car, wet to my underwear (who'd have thought my undies would get such repeated mentions?). At the airport, I wrestled a change of clothes from the suitcase, so it all worked out. Actually, wrestling my A3 sketchbook into the case was the biggest challenge of the day!

Bye bye Lanzarote. We will be back. I hope you, gentle readers, have enjoyed following my fun and games, as well as my artistic challenges.

Travels in Lanzarote Day 14: Three Volcano Views

We drove north of where we were staying, to the beautiful hills above the tiny village of Maguez. This end of the island is much more lush. We walked through a field of brilliant, yellow flowers and ate lunch on a rocky outcrop overlooking this valley, with its gorgeous volcano view:

I am always most excited by the shapes and textures, so I had to draw the hillside large enough to express all that with my Inktense watercolour pencils. I just kept unfolding page after page, until I had filled 6 facets of my concertina book.

We walked on out of that valley, around the base of La Corona, the volcano I have painted a few times now, from different vantage points.

We were much closer that I had got before and, as we walked round, this great profile view of the spiky-topped caldera started to appear, which I had to capture in watercolour before we moved on. John's very patient and is always happy to loiter for anything from 5 minutes to an hour. I think this was about 10-15 minutes. Just an impression really, although often they are my favourites:

I love the way the green shrubs create a spotty pattern.

We walked the rest of the day, before rewarding ourselves with a beer at a little bar in Maguez. It took no time at all to drive the short distance back to Haria, so I was just in time to capture the sun going down over the hills by the house:

There is always something a little special about the way the late sun intensifies the colours and makes everything glow.

A good and fruitful day.

To see the rest of the painting from this trip (I painted almost every day), click here and scroll down past my piece of textiles based on this trip.

Travels in Lanzarote Day 13: the Volcano Park

We were driving through the volcano park in the south west of the island. This is a stunning place, where every turn in the road reveals yet more shapes, colours and textures. 

I was desperate to get out and paint, so John pulled up and I sat beside the car on my little stool, with my A3 sketchbook on my lap:

I spent most of my time on the one above. The sun was going down fast, so I was about to call it a day when I changed my mind, did an about-face, and painted another, really quick, instinctive sketch of the view behind me:

I was really pleased with the gestural, abstracted way the lava in the foreground worked. Hope you agree!

Travels in Lanzarote: Day 12. Volcanos and Cacti

Another long walk: again from the hills above Haria down to the sea, but down a valley which brought us a little further down the coast. It was a steep valley, so we were pleased to be walking downhill:

We pootled along the coast, via our favourite little café at Punta Mujeres, had a quick paddle to cool our feet, then walked back up to Haria by a different route in the afternoon. The return journey took us past a good view of the volcano, La Corona, the same one a painted on Day 6. We had time for me to sit and have another go. I perched up on a lava-wall to get a good vantage point:

This time I was faced with the challenge of painting a field of cacti in the foreground. Not ideal. Walls made of lava-boulders are a bit of a challenge too!

I did my best with watercolour first, then worked into it with my Inktense pencils, being VERY careful not to drop any through the gaps between the rocks of my wall. I've done that more than once in the past. I also dropped my pencil into a pig-pen once, when I was sketching in a city farm. An enormous, ugly pig rushed up and promptly crunched it up. Pigs, it seems, really will eat anything. but I digress...

Again, my concertina book was the perfect thing for sketching something long like this, without it having to be draw really quite small, to fit in a regular book.

As you can see, I extended the sketch at the last minute, with my watercolour pencils alone, as I didn't like the way the composition worked with the section I had done in watercolour - another thing that you can only do with a concertina book. There wasn't time to go back and paint that new section, as we had to get going, to get back before dark.