T'was the night before Christmas...

...when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The house hippo was on the prowl though, and it looks like he fancied a bath in the dog's water bowl this time.

Coffee and a mince pie

A little bit of me-time. My local garden centre sent me a voucher for a cup of coffee and a mince pie. So I popped in and enjoyed my free snack while sketching.

Sadly I was having a ditzy morning, as I'd remembered to pack my sketchbook and watercolours... but sadly not my pencil case (which has my pen, waterpen and good pencils in). All I had in my handbag were a couple of biros and a very blunt HB pencil. I like this sketch, but really wish I'd had a proper pen with me! I'd have loved to add some colour to it too, as the restaurant in the garden centre was quite colourful. Never mind, there's always next time!

Please mind the gap

Some very quick sketches done on the way to the football this evening. You might be pleased to know that the legs with the heels don't belong to the guy with the beanie hat - it was just unfortunate placement on the page!

Biscotti

Today hell froze over. It must have done, because in a rare act of domestic goddessery I was in the kitchen baking. Scared yet?

Sketchcrawl #25

Well, today was more exciting than expected! I had to work this morning, and thus didn't sort out to go and join in the London sketchcrawl group. I was a bit grumpy about this as I've NEVER managed to make it to a crawl. So, finished work early and thought I'd drive down to Portobello instead and do a bit of sketching on my own, and then call into the supermarket for groceries on the way home.

Sketched a little, then started sketching the paella stall (which has always fascinated me, even though I've never tried paella - it always smells so good!). The men running the stall smiled and winked, then one of them asked if I was writing a book (my sketchbook is a revamped vintage book - looks like a proper book from the outside). Nope, I'm sketching. He then asked if I would scan it and e-mail it to him when I was done, and then offered me lunch!

I was polite and said no to the food at first, but by the time I had finished the smell had made me ravenous so I shyly accepted some chicken paella. It was DELICIOUS.

Clearly I didn't get anything else drawn after that, but what an exciting day!

The lovely paella stall is run by www.jamonjamon.co.uk

An afternoon in London

The Wellcome Collection