Finished the sketchbook (and started the next)

 Yes, gentle reader, I have filled the sketchbook Pip and Ollie bought me for Christmas. Pip is my oldest child, while her sister, Jess, is the youngest of the five. She and her husband, my son in law Dan, took a week off from work last week. They decided to visit Castell Coch, Caerphilly Castle and St. Fagan's Open Air Museum of Welsh Life last Monday. Being as I was 1) off on the sick from work, ad 2) at a loose end they invited me. I've made sketches in St. Fagan's before, but never sketched the reconstructed Gwalia general store before. So here it is.

So that's the book complete. If you'd like to look at all of the fifty sketches in the one place there's a link to them in my links section - it's Christmas 2023 Sketchbook. Look, I'll make it easier for you - here's the link - Christmas 2023 Sketchbook 

The sketchbook itself is a hardbacked book, by Mont Marte, landscape format, consisting of fifty pages. I've thoroughly enjoyed drawing in it, although I will say that the paper is a wee bit absorbent, and the lines you make do come out a wee bit thicker than in other books I've used. It's meant that I really have avoided sketching in anything thicker than a 0.1mm fineliner.

So on Friday I prepared the car for a trip away with the family. I was pleased with this burst of industry and so decided to buy myself a new sketchbook as a reward. I might well have gone for Mont Marte again, but none of my usual suppliers could supply me. So instead I bought a forty six page hardback sketchbook by Seawhite of Brighton, portrait format. I made three sketches over the weekend but have only scanned the third of them so far. Here it is:-

Yes, it's back to my perennial favourite, 19th century London. This is Holborn (pronounced Ho'burn). Some of these timber framed buildings are still standing, although it's fair to say that they have been tidied up a bit. Old Holborn, the title, is a reference to a brand of tobacco available in the UK. My father was a dedicated smoker all of his life - which is one of the reasons why this life was a short one- and he rolled his own. (Dirty sod.) Old Holborn was his tobacco of choice, and many was the time he would send me across the road to Mr. East's corner shop to ask for half an ounce of Old Holborn and a packet of green rizlas. What can I say? I was pretty young - under 10 IIRC - and the authorities were a lot less fussy about kids buying smoking paraphernalia than they are now. I can reassure you that I have never smoked a cigarette in my life - Dad's example was more than enough to put me off. The packet of Old Holborn had a picture of the same buildings on it, although not as detailed or aesthetically pleasing as my one, I'd like to think. 

As for the Seawhite sketchbook, I do find that the paper is a little bit less absorbent than the Mont Marte. I've been able to achieve some fine lines and shading with mostly a 0.03mm fineliner.