Walking in South Devon: Kingston on the South West Coast Path

Hope you've all had a fantastic Christmas, we've made it out the other side!

We've had a lovely few days with family and friends; eating too much, drinking too much and playing a whole year's worth of games!

Today I definitely needed to get a bit of fresh air so I went for a walk in the South Hams with Mum and Dad. I know that a lot of places have had snow, but down here in Devon it's been a beautiful crisp sunny day - not a snowflake in sight!

This is a map of our route, the only thing I've sketched all week.

Our walk started in a little village called Kingston near the River Erme, not far from Bigbury-on-sea. From the village we walked down across fields and through woodland to the Erme estuary where there were beautiful views over the river valley and out to sea.

The track led down to Wonwell beach before climbing up along the South West Coast Path.

The views more than made up for the ups and downs along the undulating cliff top path!

Just before we turned inland, the path went very steeply downwards to Westcombe beach. There's me, hanging on!

From there, a very muddy path followed a little stream and series of ponds all the way back to the village.

We're all going to sleep well tonight after that!

Mappy Halloween!

Nope, that's not a typo in the title! Halloween and the week before have been devoted to sketching out a rough draft of the illustrated map of the Thames which I've been commissioned to create.

I did have the night off last night though for a Halloween party with friends which involved eating of a lot of sweets, 'spider' pizzas and this ghostly cake!

I made the little ghosts out of grapes draped in icing, but the following morning one had a hole in its head where the grape had 'leaked' and dissolved the icing. Luckily it just made it a little creepier!

Anyway, back to the map which I've been working on all afternoon. This week has been all about deciding on the style of symbols to represent supermarkets, golf courses, shopping centres etc.

We've decided to go with illustrations for the shopping centres and anything that can be represented as a picture to limit the amount of symbols and make it more visually appealing.

I quite like this scroll but it's not really suitable for attractions such as theme parks, so I've come up with a slightly less historic looking sign instead. Below is a very geographically incorrect sample of a map with the symbols on, although a few ideas have changed since I did this.

I loved using my new Winsor & Newton watercolours and am so glad I chose the pans rather than tubes. They're lovely to paint with and the colour applies really smoothly.

Here are a few snippets from the scale draft of the map. Below is London, obviously I hope!

And Legoland!

If you'd like to keep up to date with the progress of my map, pop over to my Facebook page where I'll be sharing (hopefully) regular updates!

I'm sharing today's post over at Handmade Harbour.

Six second sketch

Sam had a brainwave recently and suggested I start doing a series of 'six second sketches' using the Vine mobile phone app which records six second videos.

Well, I tried numerous times to draw something (anything!) in six seconds and didn't get very far at all! So I decided that instead of doing the whole sketch in six seconds, I would make time lapse videos instead. I've set up a Twitter page @sixsecondsketch to share my videos and those of other artists/doodlers who'd like to get involved. Please do pop by and say hi if you're on Twitter! If you'd like me to share your little sketches and sketching videos too, just tag them with the hashtag #SixSecondSketch.

Here are the few which I've done this week.









The portraits of Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Murphy were the last pencil sketches I did and I had in mind that I'd do one every day. I hadn't really thought about how long they would take though, so I think I'll just have to do them when I've got time.

Speaking of small works of art, I've just come across the fantastic miniature watercolour paintings of Lorraine Loot, a South African artist. She's working on a project called Postcards for Ants, a sequel to her 2013 series Paintings for Ants, both of which consist of a tiny painting for every day of the year. Do go and have a look, I guarantee you'll be in awe of her amazing talent!

As well as this new Six Second Sketch venture, I've also been working on some festive paper cut templates (I daren't mention the c-word yet!). Once I've cut them all out and taken photos, they'll be available in my Etsy Shop, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested.

Apart from that, this doodle is still bumbling along slowly!

Thank you to those of you who commented on my Blogland Tour post, it was lovely to read your comments and I'm really happy to have discovered some new blogs!

Finally, I'd just like to urge you all to go and visit Manon at Lottie Designs & Illustrations. She's made this wonderful doll version of me after I sent her a photo! I can't wait to buy my own copy to download and assemble! I even come complete with a craft knife ready for paper cutting!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations and Tatertots and Jello.

The Blogland Tour

Today's post is a bit different from my normal style, but I'm excited to be taking part in my first Blogland Tour. I've been nominated by the lovely Julie from Sum of their Stories.

Julie is a true creative, her blog features everything from baking to crochet. She not only does a lot of different crafts but excels at them all and shares her wonderful creations and techniques.

I love her cute crochet items like this little owl brooch...

...and this gorgeous crochet blanket which she made for her cousin's baby.

Do stop by and visit her blog, you'll find yourself getting carried away browsing through! Julie's Blogland Tour post can be found here.

The Questions

It's not often that I actually talk about me on my blog, it's mostly focused on art and crafts so I suppose although some of you know a lot about what I do, you don't know a lot about me! So before I start answering the Blogland Tour questions, here's a little introduction.

I live and work in North Devon and art is something I do in my spare time. Although I haven't had any formal tuition, it has always been a favourite hobby and I can't imagine life without a project on the go. I studied French, Spanish and Russian at university, so drawing and painting kept me sane!

I live with my boyfriend Sam and our pet fish. Apart from art, I enjoy walking, picnics, cake, tea, travelling, eating out and life's simple pleasures. We've also just taken up sailing which is proving to be a great weekend activity!

Ok, on to the questions...

#1 - What am I working on?

As usual, I'm working on a lot of different projects, which, to my boyfriend's despair, results in a lot of different bits and pieces strewn around the living room. The thing is, whatever I'm working on, another idea always pops into my head, asking to be started! I often end up with lots of things on the go, many of which never get finished. Since I began writing this blog, however, I've been a lot more motivated to see things through to the end; there's nothing like the deadline of a blog post to inspire you to finish!

Here are a few bits I'm working on at the moment.

#2 - How does my work differ from others of my genre?

I'm not sure my work even fits into a genre! I get bored doing one thing all the time so like to dip in and out of different crafts - a bit of drawing here, a bit of paper cutting there.

I know a lot of artists find their niche, or a certain style which they like working in, but apart from loving anything ultra detailed I've never really stuck to one thing!

Here are some of the things I've created recently and over the years.

#3 - Why do I write/create what I do?

I started this blog in Malaysia when Sam and I were travelling as a way to record our adventures and the sketches and drawings I did along the way. I really enjoy blogging because of the feedback and comments I receive on each post and also on a personal level as a kind of diary to look back on what I've done. I don't have a huge following or a broad reach, but I've 'virtually' met some lovely people and continue to discover inspiring blogs of artists and craftspeople on an almost daily basis!

#4 - How does my writing/creative process work?

I think it's probably best to split this into two. My writing process is fairly simple. I sit down at my laptop each Sunday evening, have a little think about what I've done that week, take photos of my projects and explain what I've been up to!

My creative process depends on what I'm making but broadly follows the same pattern each time. A little idea pops into my head, inspired by something I've seen on Pinterest, other artists' work or a suggestion from friends or family. I then sit down and make/draw/paint whatever the idea is, usually over many sittings because the nine 'til five job gets in the way! I take lots of photos to use on the blog, and hopefully, after hours of beavering away, I have something lovely to show for my efforts.

That's it from me, now it's time to nominate a couple of my favourite blogs to continue the Blogland tour next Monday.

Firstly there's my Mum, Alison of Fiddly Fingers. Mum is an inspiration for many reasons, not least because of her crafting skills. Her main love is crochet, but she's dabbled in embroidery, jewellery, dress-making, polymer clay and many different arts and crafts as my sister and I were growing up. One of her most 'famous' creations is Chester, a crochet cat which is very much larger than life...bigger than a fully grown man in fact!

Chester gets up to a lot of mischief, some of his escapades, like this trip out in Dad's car, have featured in Mum's blog.

Mum hasn't written a blog post for a while, but I think with a little encouragement from you lovely peeps it won't be long before Chester or his little friend Taffy make another appearance!

The next blog I'd like to nominate is Desserts and Decoupage, written by my friend Emma.

As the name suggests, Emma blogs about everything from cooking to crafts, interspersed with tips which cover every topic, from advice for first-time buyers to healthy lifestyles.

She's had a few problems with her blog design and settings recently, because of transferring to a new hosting, but do pop by and follow her blog and she'll hopefully have it all sorted and full of inspirational images and content very soon!

I know I'm meant to nominate three blogs, but due completely to myself leaving it to the last minute, I can't nominate anyone else without springing it on them and causing a mad panic! There are many many blogs which I love to read, so I thought instead of nominating some more in the Blogland Tour, I'll list a few of my favourites below.

Lottie Designs and Illustrations - Manon is a true inspiration, she makes art with varied media featuring her fantastic quirky characters, one of which, Lottie, is the blog's namesake. She is an extremely versatile artist and always surprises me with her amazing original designs.

Andrea Joseph - I'm always in awe of Andrea's art, particularly her biro drawings. She has a fun and interesting style

Quirky Artist - I love this artist's beautiful sketches and paintings.

Nina Johansson - I only recently discovered Nina's work and I'm so glad I did. She paints gorgeous pen and watercolour scenes.

That's it from me! Have fun on the rest of your journey through the Blogland Tour!

Cycling, doodles and paper cuts!

Just a quick one today because I really haven't done a lot this week!

We've been staying down in South Devon this weekend to see friends and family. I've got a new (second-hand) bike so we went out for a bike ride yesterday from Topsham to Exmouth, stopping for a drink on the seafront before heading back. It's a beautiful route to cycle along the river and quite flat which suited me perfectly! The photo below was taken on my first outing on the Tarka Trail in North Devon.

On Saturday evening we went to our friends' housewarming party, making the most of the weather with a barbecue.

Today we headed home via a visit to a couple of the studios taking part in Devon Open Studios. Heather Jansch's fantastic driftwood sculptures were set out in some beautiful grounds and included the large horse which has been exhibited at the Eden Project. The second stop was in a little village called Luton, where we enjoyed a slice of coffee and walnut cake in the sunshine before browsing the artwork of Angie Carter-Woodwark and ceramic artist Janet Street.

If you live nearby, Devon Open Studios will continue until 21 September and it's definitely worth getting out to visit some local artists.

In response to some people mentioning that they would like to colour the doodle below, I've listed a PDF version in my Etsy shop which you can download and print for £1.50. If you do, I would love to see what you do with it!

I've started another doodle, but haven't got very far, as you can see!

Finally, I've designed a paper cutting template to sell in my Etsy shop, which I've been cutting out this week. It features the Earth surrounded by various modes of transport and is split into a day half and a night half.

It's based on a previous paper cut which I blogged about here. It should hopefully be available to download and print later this week, so watch this space!

Just a little nudge for those who are new to my blog, if you've enjoyed what you've seen and would like to see more, there are several ways you can keep up to date with my artistic endeavours!

'Like' my Facebook page.
Follow me on Twitter @ClareWillcocks.
Follow my blog on Bloglovin.
Or use one of the options on the right.

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

A couple of beginnings and no ends

Just a quick one today as we've had a busy day today with a barbecue and are off to a wedding tomorrow - love bank holidays!

I haven't got a lot to show this week and certainly nothing finished! To be honest, I've been a bit lazy after finishing a couple of commissions and it's been nice to work on a few projects of my own.

I've started a new doodle, drawn everything out and am working on the fun bit of filling in all the details.

You can still see the pencil lines I've used as a guide.

In this photo I was in the process of going over the outlines of the individual elements to make the lines bolder.

I've also been working on a realistic drawing of an interesting old tap this week. I've actually made more progress than this but haven't got around to taking photos yet.

I'm not going to reveal exactly what I've got planned for the rest of this piece, just in case it doesn't turn out quite right!

I had a bit of fun in the early stages by posting the following picture on my Facebook page and asking people to guess what they thought it was. Guesses ranged from duck-billed platypus to the underside of a big coat hanger!

That's all for today! Back next week :)

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Coloured pencil drawing tutorial - Molly the cat

It's Sunday afternoon (again! How does it come around so fast?), I'm armed with a cup of tea and ready to share what I've been up to this week.

I've got to admit, that when I started writing this blog, I had no idea how time consuming it would be! I find I have to be really disciplined to get the post written and shared each Sunday. It does force me to find time for art though, as without the deadline of a blog post I think a lot of things I've done would have ended up unfinished. This is one of them: a coloured pencil drawing of our gorgeous, dearly departed family cat Molly.

For those of you who are interested, I thought I'd make this post into a mini tutorial on drawing animals with coloured pencil.

You can draw the outline freehand to start with, but if you want to get the proportions exactly right, using a grid technique to translate the photo into a drawing is the easiest method.

On the computer, overlay your photo with a grid of squares. Measure out and draw the grid onto your blank drawing paper. Working methodically, transfer all the outlines you can see square by square. Think about where the lines intersect the grid, for example in this drawing, the bridge of Molly's nose intersects the horizontal line of the square about two thirds of the way across.

When you've got the outline down on paper, decide on where you're going to start adding colour. In the above photo, I began with the eye. In my case, starting with the eye is risky as it's my favourite bit and once it's done, I'm tempted just to put it to one side and never pick it up again!

I posted a progress photo on my Facebook page though, to try and motivate me to carry on - it worked!

Keep your pencils nice and sharp to make sure that detail is crisp. Begin by lightly shading and building it up, rather than laying down colour heavily to start with which can damage the surface of the paper. Drawing on coloured paper is good because highlights show up beautifully and the dark base gives depth to the finished piece. Pick out the shiny parts of your subject's eyes, and make sure that the dark sections are dark enough to contrast with, and bring out, pale areas.

When you come to adding the fur, look carefully at which direction the hairs are growing in, whether they're long or short and how densely packed they are. Around Molly's eye and her nose for example, the hairs are very short and fuzzy, so require tiny strokes of the pencil.

Build up the hairs, one colour at a time. Again, work methodically out from one place, this will help keep your drawing uniform.

Take your time and make sure you're happy with each area before you move onto the next.

When you've finished, you can add extra highlights with pastel pencils or even acrylic paint as I have done in this drawing to bring out Molly's whiskers.

This is another drawing I've just started. I'll put progress photos up on my Facebook page, so please do pop by if you're interested!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

All good things come to an end...

...so the saying goes, and holidays are no exception! We arrived home at 3am this morning after a week in beautiful, sunny Praia da Luz in Portugal. True to good old English form, it rained as we drove home.

The tan is already fading and it's back to work tomorrow; it's beginning to feel like the last week was just a lovely dream!

We stayed with friends in an incredible villa on a hill overlooking the beach at Praia da Luz. I would definitely recommend James Villas, the villa was extremely clean, service was excellent and there was always someone on hand to help (if, like us, you're silly enough to lock yourself out for example).

I painted this watercolour from the balcony. I wanted to capture the subtle colours of the terracotta rooves and cool white buildings against the backdrop of lush green trees and gorgeous blue sea.

Just to prove it did happen and it isn't just a figment of my imagination, here I am, painting.

Here's the painting and view for comparison. I tried to be accurate but used a little artistic license!

I didn't quite get round to finishing this one, a painting of the contents of my suitcase.

I have to admit there were a few more clothes than pictured here!

This little drawing contains all our memories from our holiday. I thought it might look nice with a bit of colour and framed, but I expect I'll get too caught up in new projects to finish this one!

Today I finished sketching out a paper cut which I hope to start next weekend as I need to borrow my Mum and Dad's scanner to transfer it to the cutting paper!

It'll be the most intricate one I've done yet but I'm really excited about getting started.

I designed it for the Papercutting Workshop 'transportation' challenge on Facebook. The following photos show a bit more of the detail.

The pencil gives a bit of perspective to show how teeny it is!

I'll leave you with a few more of my holiday snaps, hope you've all had a lovely week! Don't forget you can also find me on Facebook and Twitter which I update in between blogs :)

PS. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you're interested in commissioning a paper cut; I've finished a couple for other people now and really enjoy them!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs: Manon Popje's Illustrations, Be Different Act Normal, Handmade Harbour and Sunny Simple Life.