Landscapes and Flowers
The following are various pictures I've drawn from 2002 to 2010. Unfortunately I haven't drawn anything since. Possibly when I retire and I'm not still playing games 24/7, I may pick up my art book and fill out the remaining blank pages.
It was a nice hot sunny summer. It was time to pick up a pencil again. Armed with a new nice ring bonded art pad and a set of new pencils, I found a nice spot at the back of Christchurch Park away from the path. I picked this as it provided a mixture of nature and civilisation.
I was surprised how well I did, although I had forgotten quite a lot since it's been at least 8 years. I drew this with little regards to perspective and didn't even think that trying to draw every detail of the trees was a bad idea. |
I'm unsure if I drew this the same day as the first piece, but there may have been a renewed urge to draw. This is on the river side at a small popular village called Waldringfield. There weren't many places I could sit to draw and eventually convinced myself to stay here. I was in front of a path were people were walking behind me so I was not at ease.
I picked this scene because of the dead tree directly opposite (in the middle of the drawing), the dry river side in front of me and the hills in the horizon. I deliberately didn't draw the details of the trees after learning my mistake in my first drawing. |
It was a very sunny day. The Gladiolus I planted in the garden had bloomed fabulously. So I decided to draw some. Lovely orange and purple ones. The first time these have bloomed.
Unfortunately I didn't have a digital camera at the time, as after the second year, they stopped growing. Time to plant some new ones. |
While a group of my friends went to Felixstowe to play Crazy Golf inside one of the Amusement Parks after work, I decided to sit outside. It was a nice sunny day and so I sat on the beach drawing this.
This was quite a small thin drawing on my A4 drawing pad because I wanted to capture both the large buildings on the horizon as well as the end of the promenade. The pier is out of commission, but still currently intact. I finished this just in time as the last bit of daylight disappeared. |
I rode my sister's bicycle from one end of town to the other edge of town and then onto the beach to get to this little place. There is a small stretch of land that extends out to sea and this is where I was sat. It partitions this small section of beach from the main beach before it joins the industrial sector.
This was quite an easy piece as a lot of the detail is vague and perspective didn't matter too much. It was a calm day so the sea was still, reducing the amount of detail I could try to draw. The beach is the small section on the right that curves in and back out on the bottom right. The beach ended at a crude stone wall that stretched out to where the two tall cranes stood. |
One very early morning in a small town called Rugley. The day of a friend's wedding.
There is actually a pond at the bottom of this picture. I chose this because it was the first time I was in this town and didn't know the place. Also I wanted to capture the lone park bench amongst the trees. I think I still need practice at drawing trees... and the pond... pretty much the whole of this drawing except the park bench. |
I was out in France on business so I took the opportunity to try and draw something during my stay.
This was a very small centre piece in the middle of my drawing pad. It was a chilly afternoon and I had very little sun-light left. Also I had a tiring day at work so I kept this small and simple. I also didn't fancy drawing all the road and cars driving underneath this scene. |
I didn't date this, probably because I was cold. I think I was fed up and decided to go out for a drive. It was in the middle of the night and no-one was about. I found that I had my Art stuff in a back-pack with me, so I sat and decided to draw this scene. It was a cold night.
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I don't know what happened in 2003. Probably a lazy year. It was a nice day despite the time of the year and I decided I had to get out. So I grabbed some stuff and went out on my bicycle.
I was at the bottom of the hill and a climb up another hill awaited me. But this was not the reason why I decided to stop. It was because the road weaved between some trees that made a good scene to draw, but I opted for something different. To the left of the road was this scene that I decided to draw. I chose this because of the three different layers in this scene. The picture was taken in the summer later that year (when I had a digital camera) so the trees had grown. |
I stopped in Godmanchester some years ago and been meaning to visit the place again. I finally got around to it.
I was sat on an extremely small pier by this river section. I'm not sure if it was in use. Behind this scene was the canal lock. The river bends to the left and I tried to capture this. |
I went out for a drive before going to a friend's BBQ. I got slightly lost and decided to follow the sign for Fairlington Castle. This is a scene opposite the castle.
By this time, I had purchased a book to help me learn to draw landscapes. After studying the tips on drawing trees, I started on this piece. I enjoy scenes where buildings are partially obscured by trees. Luckily I learnt a bit from the book and this piece turned out quite well. |
I'm pretty sure I got the date wrong as this was the first day at the Ski Holiday in Tignes.
I chose this scene because of the frozen lake that people walk across at the bottom of this picture. Also it was mainly because of the bridge in the field of snow. I pretty much counted the pillars of the ski lifts and tried to keep each one in line with the mountain where it was suppose to run. I rushed the mountains a bit because I still need to learn how to draw them, as well as the rapidly setting sun. |
While on the frozen lake waiting for a friend to snowboard off the cliff (para-gliding) I spotted this scene. Taking the afternoon off from skiing, I decided to draw this scene.
Once again the buildings obscured by the landscape is what captured my interest... or in this scene the snow. This is the first scenic drawing that I did not draw in the landscape style. I drew this in portrait style because I needed to capture the top of the mountains and the ski slopes. |
I had purchased a set of coloured pencils for quite some time and always pictured a heavily woodland scene drawn in shades of grey. And in the middle of this scene would be a cottage drawn in colour. I still have yet to find this scene to draw.
Instead for the first sunny Saturday of this summer I drew this. I originally wanted to draw all the mansion in colour but decided only have a hint of orange (the bright bricks and roof tiles) and green (colour of the domes). |
One thing I hate about buildings are windows. Draw these incorrectly and it throws the scale of the drawing out, but my mistake wasn't too noticeable.
When I finished the building, the sea was a lovely calm blue and I wanted to capture this, hence the reason for the solid section of blue colour. I did not colour the whole sea in blue as I thought this would spoil the effect I intended. Unfortunately due to lack of planning, the building was too big and not far left enough to fit the rest of the beach, so I shrunk the horizon of trees so it ends just to the right of my paper.
When I finished the building, the sea was a lovely calm blue and I wanted to capture this, hence the reason for the solid section of blue colour. I did not colour the whole sea in blue as I thought this would spoil the effect I intended. Unfortunately due to lack of planning, the building was too big and not far left enough to fit the rest of the beach, so I shrunk the horizon of trees so it ends just to the right of my paper.
I can't believe its exactly a year that I find myself in this same place drawing a similar piece but further up the river. The main difference is that my wife was here with me trying to draw me drawing this piece.
Even though I haven't drawn anything over the year, I had been doodling and started to pay less attention to detail and hence I was able to spend less time trying to capture the details of the trees. |
It seemed like I was going to pick up drawing again, but maybe not. I liked this view once again because of the vast trees with only one flat rising above the tree top. However I still don't think I can get used to drawing trees. I didn't spend too much time as my little one was running round and round the tree shouting and distracting me.
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