Bilbao - Sketchbook

Apologies for the lack of blogging over the busy summer.
I'm just back from a brilliant trip to the Basque area of Spain - Here's a few sketchbook paintings.

Inspiration rack

This is a rack I've had for years. It's where I put bits of my work along with things I like. It's kind of a precursor to my blog, that slowly evolves as I add stuff. The top image must be from about 5 years ago, and the bottom image is as it is today.

Pick up sticks and a parcel.

Drawing of the coloured stripes on pick up sticks and a parcel of cards about to go to the Barbican gallery shop.

Istanbul sketchbook

Click to enlarge.

I've just returned from an inspiring trip to Istanbul.

My holiday read was Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk. There is a whole chapter devoted to Hüzün, the Turkish word for Melancholy. He writes- "hüzün, which denotes a melancholy that is communal rather than private. Offering no clarity; veiling reality instead, hüzün brings us comfort, softening the view like the condensation on a window when a tea kettle has been spouting steam on a winter's day."

London Eye

Sketches I made on the spot, recording the construction of the London Eye. I was intrigued by the graphic structure as it took shape. little did I know that ten years on it would have established itself as an iconic part of the London skyline. 

More here.

Monochrome Monday