One Sketch 339) (Wednesday 27th February) STockholm Gamla Stan

Island of spires
and narrow streets
Freezing wind
Aching Feet

The Gamla Stan is the island with the oldest part of Stockholm - Gamla Stan actually means old town, I think. Loads of very nice tall and narrow streets - which are fantastic to look at, but do act a little bit like wind tunnels, and on this particular day it clouded over early, and this lazy wind which went right through you because it couldn't be bothered to go round you began blowing.

One Sketch 324) Fisherman Statue

The thought alone
Sets tingling my lips
A freshly battered fish
On a bed of chips

This was today's Sketching Every Day prompt - every month one of the days the prompt offers us a choice of 4 or 5 photographs to use as the basis for a sketch - this statue of a fisherman was what took my fancy this month.

One Sketch 321) The Dulais Rock

There's little else
That's quite as sad, I'd say
As a pub that's left to mould
And rot away.

This is the Dulais Rock. It stands on what used to be the main road from Neath to Resolven and all points beyond. I don't know if it was the 'new' road opening (it's well over 20 years old now) but the Dulais Rock, in which I will admit I did once have a pint in my drinking days, closed for good over 10 years ago now. I don't know how much, if any, of the building is original, but I do know that the pub dates back to the 17th century.

Here's a curious thing. I'm teetotal. I never drank a great deal anyway, not having any kind of tolerance for alcohol and not wanting to put in enough practice to develop any. But quite a few years ago I found I was drinking so little anyway, because when you get right down to it I just don't like the taste of it, that I might just as well go the whole hog. But this is the curious thing. Considering I was never much of a drinker, and don't drink at all now, I do still really rather like pubs.

This probably has something to do with the fact that I've been a serious pub quizzer for over 30 years - although to be fair I think of myself as semi retired now. And it's a sobering thought to see just how many pubs that I've played at least one quiz in have shut their doors for good over this time.

One Sketch 318) (Weds 6th Feb) Bucket List Destination

Venice Venice Venice
Place not to forgetto
It's still on my bucket list
So is the cornetto.

Yes, prompt on weds was Bucket list destination, and this (the Rialto Bridge as much as Venice itself) was the first thing I could come up with. 90 mins start to finish in Art Group.

One Sketch 311) (Weds 30th January) Westminster Abbey

For a thousand years
My bells have tolled
For kings,
And their dust,
Is my buried treasure.

Not a lot to say, other than I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the good old Abbey in my home town.

One Sketch 307) York with the Minster

Grand Old Lady
Beams down benignly
One the city which gave her
Birth.

I like York. I first visited in 1977. I remember that was the year, because it was on the very same day that Red Rum won the Grand National for a record third time - there were notices up in a supermarket we went into. The purpose of our visit was to go to the National Railway Museum, and let's be honest, I still haven't outgrown my love of trains. Yet there's so much more in York. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't go into the Minster that day. In years to come I would visit the Minster, and because I was studying Old Norse literature I got to visit Jorvik Viking centre. Then there's the Castle Museum, and the Shambles . . . I could go on, but the simplest thing would be for you to go and see for yourself. Go on then, go. I'll wait until you get back.

One Sketch 306) Tintern Abbey

Dissolved, to satisfy
Old Henry's lust
- Yet still it stands,
While that fat git is dust.

Couldn't believe that the prompt today was Wales. Blimey, where did I start? Over the last 2 years I 've made literally hundreds of sketches of Wales. In the end I plumped for one of my favourite Welsh buildings, Tintern Abbey.

One Sketch 304) (Weds 23rd)Vietnamese Street

Dive in headfirst
To the sea of people

The rompt on Wednesday was Vietnam. Best I could come up with.

One Sketch 300 (THREE HUNDRED!) - Murcia Cathedral

We've come so far
Well, what d'you know?
300 down
And 65 to go.

The prompt on Sketching Every Day was - I was here -. Well, this is Murcia Cathedral, and I actually was here, back in August. You may even recall me posting pictures sketched on my day out in Murcia back at the time.

How about that then? 300 days! I'm really happy about it, especially since that second hundred, since that second hundred, between July and October, seemed to take forever, while this third hundred seems to have gone much more quickly. I'm tempted to start discussing now what Effect I think it's had on me that I've made at least one sketch of some kind every day for 300 days in a row, but that would be premature, and it can wait until the end of March when I will complete the challenge, providing that I can keep it up for 65 more days.

One Sketch 295) Amsterdam Tram

Why don't you be
like I am?
Go to Amsterdam
And ride the tram.

Gotta be honest, I'm getting closer to where I want to be and what I want to do with line and wash. That too on a sketchbook which is the largest I have - which is all to the good, but is so absorbent it's really difficult to paint on.

One Sketch 293) Prague Tram

Want to know why I'm happy
as I am?
Cos it's Spring
It's Prague
And I'm sketching a tram

Well, not now obviously, but I did while I was there, and that was the inspiration for today's sketch. Well, that and the fact that I was so pleased with yesterday's Budapest tram sketch. What, you want a comparison with sketches I made on the trip itself. Oh, go on then, ere you go:-

One Sketch 292) No. 2 Tram by the banks of the Danube in Budapest

By the banks of the Danube Blue
You can ride on a lovely tram too

Blimey, that's a terrible verse. Still, the picture isn't so bad. The scanner doesn't bring out all the colours perfectly, but at least I think you can see that I'm getting more confident in using watercolour in an urban sketching style.

I visited Budapest back in the tail end of 2017. I liked what I saw, but I just wasn't there long enough to really do anything more than think about scratching the surface. I did ride on some trams though! And sketch them too - here's the 2 line sketches I made during the trip: -

One Sketch 291) Tower Bridge

Maybe it's because
I'm a Londoner.
- No maybe about it.

Okay, so, the prompt on Sketching Every Day today was - famous or not so famous landmark. Well, I'm very sorry , but whenever I hear the word landmark, my first thought is normally of my hometown of London. Yeah, I haven't lived in London for over 30 years, but I was born there, I grew up there, and I went to London University. You can take me out of London, but you can't take London out of me. I quite like to compare this to a sketch I made of Tower Bridge last year -

Now, this isn't a bad sketch. I quite like the sky. But I'd like to think I'm now using colour more effectively.

One Sketch 290) (Wednesday 9th January) Cathays Cemetery

While all around
The dear departed sleep
Carved in stone above them
Angels weep

I rather like cemeteries. Didn't used to, but then that's hardly surprising is it? Cathays cemetery in Cardiff is a very good place to go if you're looking for a bit of peace and solitude, and some fine statuary to sketch as well.

One Sketch 285) Eltz Castle

The stuff of fairytales
Made flesh
and bones
In stones
And slate.

This is Eltz Castle, a real place, rising above the River Moselle between Trier and Koblenz in Germany. Now, today's prompt in Sketching Every Day is castles. Well, one thing we're not short of in wales is castles. However I've sketched and painted several Welsh castles before, so out of perversity I decded to say stuff it, and go for something from a bit further afield. When I found a couple of photos of Eltz Castle I knew that this was what I wanted to go for.

Right, I'm a firm believer in being honest about your own work. Without being destructive, it's important to be able to look critically at aspects of your work you'd like to improve, and to admit it to yourself. The other side of the coin is to allow yourself to admit it when you've produced something you're happy with. And I have to say that I'm really happy with this. I exaggerated the perspective of the castle buildings, leaning inwards to point up at the sky, and that's given me an effect that I like. More than that, though, is the use of colour on the buildings. As usual my scanner hasn't really quite done the original justice, but it's a good enough scan that you can see what I did with the brown and violet merging on the buildings, and the blue and violet merging on the mountains. This is approaching how I'd really like to be able to use colour on urban sketches and is much closer to what I admire in some other urban sketchers. Yay!

One Sketch 284) The Secret Life of Butterflies Zine

The Secret Life of Butterflies

Each is a MASTER of disguise

each is a Ninja Glider

and loves to drink rough CIDER

They love to go to Discos

and fly to San Francisco

They knock on People's doors

- and when they sleep, they SNORES!

Basically, if you fold a piece of paper into 8, and cut it in the right place, you get a wee booklet of 8 pages which we can call a zine - from magazine, I'm guessing. I didn't come up with the idea. The nonsense rhyme on it, and the pictures, now, they're mine. I've loved butterflies since my youngest children were very little - about 20 years now - and so this was what occurred to me. The butterfly in the pages is based on the Peacock (Inachis Io) which is my favourite species.

One Sketch 283) Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl

Grand Pavilion Porthcawl
Home to the Porthcawl panto
Oh no it isn't
Oh yes it is
Oh no

Yes, another urban sketch from Porthcawl. This is certainly one of Porthcawl's most notable buildings. It was opened in 1932, and built in ferroconcrete, like the original Wembley Stadium, and details of its art deco styling do remind me to a certain extent of the old place. I grew up just a few miles from Wembley and used to go there to Wembley market every Sunday morning.

One Sketch 281) Sidoli's, Porthcawl

You scream
I scream
We all scream
For Ice cream.
(Not when it's so flippin' cold though.)

Yes, dearly beloved, on the last day of the calendar year it seemed only fitting for me to make another urban sketch, since that's really where we started, isn't it? The building on the left is Sidoli's café n Porthcawl. Sidoli's have been famous for several generations for making what has a claim to be the finest ice cream in South Wales.

Yes, I'm sure that you can see the influence of Ian Fennelly - I'd have been doing something wrong if you couldn't.

One Sketch 279) (Saturday 29th December) St. Mungo's Cathedral Glasgow

An oasis of calm and peace
In a city
of
energy

I hope that you can see the influence of Ian Fennelly in this one. I'm not sure that I really like the façade in this one. If you look at Ian Fennelly's work you'll see that although he is playing with form, he does still manage to keep elements of his buildings in proportion with each other, whereas the façade in this just isn't. Live and learn - it's all part of the learning curve. Not totally unhappy with the colours though, although it might have been more effective just to have the colours bleeding and washing out towards the bottom of the façade.

One Sketch 278) Urban sketch Swansea Marina and Dylan Thomas Statue

Do not go gentle into that good night
- if the grim reaper wants you,
Then make the bugger fight.

Apologies to Dylan Thomas, there. Making the Ian Fennelly copy yesterday inspired me to get today and have another go at line and wash for myself. I mean, you'd never mistake this for the work of the great man himself, but I can at least point out a couple of things which show the influence at least. If you look at the buildings on the right, I've been playing with the geometric forms a bit, which is something I've noticed in Ian Fennelly's work. I've also been freer with the colour - and this really works on the statue, in as much as I'm actually happy with the way that I've used colour on it. Also I've accepted that I don't need to fill every inch of white space with colour - although I've still got a long way to go on this one, I think.