Location
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Suur Toll & Piret
This statue of a mythical couple, who once upon a time helped the Saaremaa islanders of old, is just opposite the Kuressaare hotel we were staying in during our tour of Estonia. The legends of these two seem to major on saving the island from invaders and the husbandry of cabbages, although this sculpture clearly…
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Rundāles pils
On our recent visit to Rundale Palace in Latvia the sky was overcast but the flowers in the gardens still had plenty of blooms. This view is from the “French” (ie formal) garden. Taking a photo in which the foreground flowers properly frame the topiary required a certain amount of ungainly stooping, but I think…
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Street Music
There were a lot of open air street performances in Riga whilst we were visiting. This group were part of the Antonijas Street Festival – I think the lead singer is Chris Noah, and I have to say they were very good – in fact very much better than I have drawn them! Although the…
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Garden Café
Toome Hill Park is surrounded by buildings that belong to Tartu University. I’m not sure whether this cafe is also part of the university too – although my guess is probably not. We visited slightly out of season, so this place was closed when we saw it, but as a haven of peace in the…
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Windmill
Saaremaa Island in Estonia is pretty flat and surrounded by the Baltic Sea – as a result it had at one point many windmills! There aren’t so many left now, but this one is still there for tourists like me to gawp at. I had imagined that the pen would easily give me a wood…
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Tallinn’s Towers
Tallinn has many old towers, some of them round and some of them square. For the avoidance of doubt, the one I have drawn here is round, and goes by the name of Kiek In De Kök. Two things in particular caught my eye in this view. The first is that, having just arrived in…
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Work In Progress
We recently went to a wedding celebration in this handsome building on Wandsworth Common. As with many weddings that I have attended over the years, a very good time was had by all. However, I am always aware that any wedding day is only really the beginning of a (hopefully) life-long journey, building a life…
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Robot Mower
Another notable feature of Ichi-Coo Park is their fleet (or flock?) of robot mowers that crawl around the grounds keeping the grass cut short. I saw one of these machines pause in the shade of a tree, giving every impression that it was seeking relief from the hot sunshine that was beating down on us…
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Avenue of Trees II
We returned to Ichi-Coo Park today, this time in glorious sunshine! I decided to have another go at drawing this lovely avenue of trees, this time using coloured pencils – a medium which I am not that used to. The result is both colourful and “sketchy”, which is actually what I was hoping for. That…
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Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure where I was trying to go with this picture. However, I drew it anyway because: a – I very much like the window design, b – I thought the statute goes well below the window, c – I thought it might be fun to try out a halo…
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Meadow
The path along Hadrian’s Wall passes many meadows, which at this time of year are a riot of colour. Some meadows are mainly dominated by buttercups, and so are a vivid yellow. Others have a much redder hue, which my trusty AI app tells me is normally due to common sorrel, along with grasses such…
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Foxglove
For many years I have taken a walking holiday at this time of year, and every year without fail we have passed large numbers of these impressive flowers. This example is growing in the ruins of one of the earliest successful infrastructure projects in our country – Hadrian’s Wall. I was slightly concerned that with…
