Views
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Lily in the Valley
A doodle in the proper sense of the word, which started out in my head as another art deco panel, but which has turned out to be rather more of a cartoon. Still fun to draw though! Of course, this flower is not to be confused with “Lily of the valley”, which is another plant…
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View of London …
… from Reigate Hill. Hence quite a distant view, in which only the tallest buildings in the city feature. Some would say that London looks better from this distance, although I wouldn’t agree – there are some very nice sights right in the centre of town. However, I rather liked the way that the horizon…
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All Flat & Wide
These flat-crowned trees were a common sight during my recent safari experience. Other (to my eyes more normally proportioned) trees were more abundant, but because these flat trees tended to stand on their own they were much more noticeable. In pictures of the African bush these trees often appear as silhouettes, so it seemed natural…
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Room With A View
This view was a surprise! I had recently seen Robben Island from the top of Table Mountain, but it never occurred to me that the prison on Robben Island would be built to allow clear views of the mountain directly from any of the cells. Having recovered from my surprise, this view struck me as…
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Snow
It snowed here today, so I drew this little scene from my head before the inspiration faded along with our thawing snow …
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Arches – Bukhara
We saw many views through arches whilst in Uzbekistan – this one in the Kalan Mosque in Bukhara was probably the most dramatic. I was quite pleased in general with how the perspective works in this painting – to me it really gives the impression of a view through a tunnel. However, this effect is…
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Begijnhof
This peaceful courtyard is to be found in Bruges, a place I have visited, painted and drawn many times. This tranquil place originally housed a community of lay women called beguines, and still today it is home to a community of Benedictine nuns and other likeminded women. I’m not sure that my painting really captures…
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Madrasa
I had previously understood a madrasa to be a place that provided Islamic instruction, but in amongst the potted history of Uzbekistan that I picked up on a recent tour, I have come to realise that throughout much of their history madrasas taught quite a range of subjects, just like the old colleges here in…
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Hohenschwangau
There is a very pretty castle at Hohenschwangau (and of course another fairytale castle nearby called Neuschwanstein) – but this is the view from the castle, looking out over a swan (schwan to the locals) fountain – one of many swan motifs in the castle grounds. I had intended this to be just a pen…
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Alpine Meadow
The countryside around Füssen, near the southern edge of Germany, has much to recommend it. There are green rolling hills dotted with many picturesque lakes (mainly in Germany), there is the ever present backdrop of the mountains (mainly across the border in Austria), and of course there are the fairy tale castles of Neuschwanstein and…
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Surviving a Drought?
This image is a nonsense of course, not only because waterlilies would never survive these conditions nor “float” on the dried lakebed, but also because the composition was conceived during a long period of hot and dry weather (yes – even in England we have at times too much sun!) but drawn and painted as…
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Iron Gates
My art group made another visit to Ichi-Coo Park today – this time in glorious sunshine! Here is one of the sketches that I made there this afternoon – this one done on the iPad using the “charcoal” drawing tool. I hadn’t realised at the time that I had left the colour set to a…
Doodling ... 