January Round-up

Sharing about a recent book cover commission and a chance to sketch the Lizard landscape

Feb 01, 2025

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my monthly catch-up.

This is where I give you an overview of what’s been going on this month and highlight any particular projects that I think will be of interest.

I will also include a favourite sketchbook spread, flowers that I see springing up on the Lizard, a comment on the weather and any thoughts on the season and at the end share with you what’s coming up for February.

We started the month walking and sketching the coastal paths which I shared with you at the end of last month’s round-up and also filmed a video about -if you’d like to see those sketches you can watch a short tour below, I also share some tips on sketching on location which may be helpful.

Now on to some of the other things that have been happening over the last month.

January Stats

Wildflowers spotted: Daffodils, Snowdrops, Winter Heliotrope, Hellebore.
Weather: Definitely have felt the temperatures drop and we have had a few storms past through as well as a lot of rain.
This month I have mostly been: sketching on location, illustrating maps and a book cover, filming and working on my own book project

Wisdom for the Workplace from a reluctant Gardener

This is the title of a recent book project that I have had the pleasure of working on with retired lawyer Sarah Parkhouse. Sarah got in touch late November last year to see if I’d be interested in illustrating her first book and from her brief I knew it sounded exactly like the type of book project I’d like to illustrate.

It involved creating a map of her garden with fountain pen illustrations featuring nature, birds, animals and flowers-everything I love to draw.

I was commissioned to design the cover artwork, including illustration and design, and hand lettering for the title. It was an immensely satisfying job to see all the the elements come together and produce the final book cover. I also enjoyed painting all the elements in my sketchbook and collaging them in photoshop to create the final hand painted look.

I’m looking forward to seeing a copy in the flesh once it has been printed sometime later in the year and will share more then.

366 Book Project

This year I’m determined to self-publish a book that I’ve been wanting to write since completing my daily Postcard Project in 2020.

At the beginning of 2020 I set myself a drawing challenge to sketch a postcard on location everyday. I gave myself a time limit of 15 minutes along with a material limit of just a water brush filled with black ink. The initial aim was to encourage me to draw on location whenever I was.

Little did I know the challenges/opportunities that would present themselves the rest of that year…but somehow 366 days later ( it was a leap year) I did manage to complete it.

The book would not only feature the 366 postcards but my thoughts and notes which I wrote each day accompanied with photos of the places I sketched.

I’ll also be writing about the challenges and opportunities that came up and share advice and tips on sketching on location, looking at the weather, kit, how to sketch in 15 minutes, and how I prepared for it. I also want to include the pros and cons and things that have come from doing this project that I think will be useful to others considering embarking on doing a similar thing.

I’ve started to collate all the postcard scans and notes together, and begun to set some time to write. I have also organised a designer to help manage the layout as it feels like quite a large amount of work to deal with on my own. The plan would be to raise the printing costs through crowdfunding and I am hoping by sharing these plans with you it will give me a push to get it done!

Join me for a special Lizard Landscape draw along

As some of you will know I’m running a creative art retreat at the end of April here on the Lizard Peninsula, working with Penmenner House and Tregullas Farm to provide a unique and luxurious stay.

I’ll be hosting a Live draw-along in February to share more about the retreat along with sharing images of the landscape to give you a taste of what we’ll be exploring and drawing.

The event will be free to join and will be an opportunity to draw this stunning landscape and find out more about it. The date and time is to be confirmed but I’ll be posting more about this opportunity soon and hope you can join live and draw along with me.

Watch the video below for more about the retreat itself.

January Favourite Sketchbook Pages

I definitely have to say the sketches I created whilst walking the coastal path at the beginning of the month were the most memorable to create.

This one in particular of the arch is a favourite. The materials I used were Viarco’s ArtGRAF Watersoluble graphite and Derwent’s XL graphitint and XL Tinted Charcoal blocks. I’ll be sharing more in this month’s sketchbook pages.