One Sketch #74) Queen Victoria (Thursday 7th)

Our least amused monarch
Since Edward the Confessor
Was Victoria Regina et Imperatrix
God Bless 'Er!

On Wednesday night I watched a channel 5 documentary which did a real hatchet job on poor old Vicky - basically saying that she hated her children. Now, alright, she certainly wasn't the world's most hand on mum, but come on!

I quite like this one, it's based on a photograph of course - she doesn't pose for many life classes these days, does our Vick - but it looks like the kind of engraved illustration you might have got in a contemporary Illustrated London News.

One Sketch #73) New Hitachi built Intercity Express train (Wednesday 6th)

The future is arriving,
Although it's rather hard if
You live out in Port Talbot
- Electricity ends in Cardiff

This is one of the brand new Hitachi Intercity Express trains which have been running on the main line from London to Swansea for the last couple of months. They run on electricity - with the only problem being that there is no electrification between Cardiff and Swansea, and there is going to be no electrification between Cardiff and Swansea. It also has a diesel engine though - dashed clever. I never thought I'd say this, though, but I'll be sorry once the old 125s are completely out of service.

One Sketch #72) 30x30DirectWatercolor2018 Merdian Tower Swansea Bay

From the top
of the tower
If you squint carefully
You can just about see
the sea
you see.

I was really trying to work as quickly and impressionistically as possible with this one. It's okay. The Meridian Tower is the tallest building in Swansea . . . and . . . that's about it, really.

One Sketch #71) Penguin (Monday 4th June)

Antarctic bird
You're quite a sight
And that's a fact
In black and white.

I wasn't very well yesterday at all - I had throwing up bouts every two hours. For all that, though, I forced myself to go into work, and did made it through to the end of the day. I was so tired when I got home, though, that I knew I was only going to want to make a very simple sketch. So this is what I came up with.

One Sketch #70) Sir Anthony Hopkins - Emma Thompson #30x30DirectWatercolor2018 6 and 7

It had something
Which other movies lacked
- 2 Oscar winners
Who could also act.

Although to be fair I haven't ever actually watched the film! If you've been following the blog you'll know that I'm doing the 30x30 Direct Watercolour challenge, and I though that being as it's day 3, I ought to stretch myself, and do a couple of portraits, and having recently seen a still from the film I thought that this would be a good subject to start with.

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018 Caerphilly Castle

Yes, sorry, I know that I've already posted today. But I can't help it - I feel so useless at watercolor that I just couldn't help posting having produced a direct watercolor that I think isn't actually at all bad. I went to Caerphilly today to paint the largest castle in Wales. This is what I came up with:-

Considering that the only thing I used to draw lines was the paintbrush itself I'm really quite pleased with this.

One Sketch #69) #30x30watercolordirect2018 Margam Park Stag

I stand before you,
When all is done and said
Defiant, proud and tall
Don't you think my head
Looks far, far better
On me, than on a wall?

Yes, I'm afraid that I see myself using my watercolor direct sketches as my daily sketches for the time being. Let's look on the bright side, though. This specific challenge ends at the end of this month, and at the rate I'm going, there are going to be days when I'll make more than one watercolour - yesterday for example - and days when I won't make any, so there will be some ink sketches coming this month, I'm sure.

As for this choice, well, while I was in Kaunas in April I visited the Zoological Museum - where I sketched a coelacanth - and one thing I didn't like about it was a room literally full of mounted deer heads and antlers. As the verse says - I think they look far better still attached to the living animal.