[by Javier de Blas in Majorca, Spain] Retrotourism has a particular charm. Traveling in this relic that replaced the stagecoaches at the beginning of the last century, costs three times more than by bus, but the steep and fertile landscape of the Tramuntana mountains is best enjoyed in wooden wagons, in the company of a […]
Drawing on the train again, this time coming back from a school visit in Selby: On the way there first thing, my train was cancelled and the train company put me in a replacement taxi instead. I didn’t dare draw the other 5 people crammed in with me – a bit too obvious even for […]
We are blessed with a car so we drove everyday to work instead of taking the public transport. But it would be nice to break the routine and take the train for once. So my wife and myself did just that this weekend on Saturday. It was hot and the sun was beating down on […]
Yes, I have been off on my travels again. It was World Book Day last week, so all the schools invite authors and illustrators in, to do talks and work with the children. I have been in schools every day for a fortnight and have had a lot of fun. I tried to take a […]
When I first spotted this man on the train last week, I thought he was a fellow sketcher. But no – when I looked more closely, he was just doing some boring paperwork and what I took to be him looking down the carraige at his subject, was in fact just him gazing into space […]
Just got back from a flying visit to London: a couple of days of hitting the galleries, for John’s birthday treat. This was on the train going down:
I was off to Nottingham and back on the train today. It takes about an hour each way. On the way there, I waited for it to get properly light, which took the first 45 minutes of the journey, then I quickly drew the sunrise skies through the window: On the way home it was […]
On Friday night, while drawing this sunset from the window of the train, an elderly Asian lady leaned across the aisle to talk to me. I got into a lengthy conversation with her about my drawing, the festival I was on my way to and her grandchildren, who live in Newcastle. Afterwards, I discovered a lovely […]
Things are a bit mad here and just to make a busy period even more fun, towards the end of last week, my computer decided to take its ball home and refused to start. We got it sorted eventually, but by then I was away to Leeds, to start a week of storytelling and drawing events with […]
I was trying to be sneaky, but he spotted me, as it was hard not to notice from directly across the aisle! Luckily he loved it and took a photo on his phone. This guy never noticed, though he was only 3 feet away.
Yes – it’s school visit season once more and I am back on the train with my watercolour pencils.
On my way to do some workshops in a library in Derbyshire. Only a 15 minute trip, so just one sketch there… …and one sketch back:
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