Sasa's Sketchbook 3

I also did a sketch in V&A cafe. I was fascinated by the patterns on the walls. The side room where I was sitting was very dark so I didn't really see the colors I used, but they turned out very vibrant (but not exactly life like). Which reminds me of this colorful letter that arrived this week. I was lucky enough to win Sybille 's amazing New Year's card. I don't think I will send it to anyone, it is too pretty...

  I was sketching yesterday in Victoria & Albert Museum . Here is the view from 1st floor to the museum entrance (with that cool yellow light information desk).

London Eye Some quick watercolor work I made on the same drawing trips than those black and white pen sketches I posted last week. (And more London stuff coming, next weekend drawing in Tate Britain.) National Portrait Gallery

Just recovered from superflu that left me with no energy for more than two weeks. Now eager to go back to my ink and paper and all that other wonderful stuff you use to make pictures.... But before I'll get something new to post, here are some pen sketches I did before I got ill: Big Ben Westminster Abbey Trafalgar Square

Back. Missing my blog friends. So much to catch up...

Had fun with watercolors (and white gouache).

A scene from Notting Hill Carneval Can you find a policeman talking on a mobile in this picture?

  I was drawing this week in Kensington Roof Gardens, which is an amazing hidden oasis in busy Kensington. It is hard to belief you are actually in a roof of a building. There are trees and flowers, ponds and bridges, a waterfall, a Spanish style villa, ducks - and even flamingos! I would have liked to sketch one but unfortunately didn't have time . As you can see, I wasn't alone, we had a quite big group of sketchers there, which meant I spent most of the time chatting about anything between toilet habits around the world to fostering children, and not that much drawing.   (Maybe I shouldn't have added that fence to the sketch, I think it looked better before.)

Went to Camden Beach yesterday with a bunch of artist friends. It is a rooftop with fine sand, deckchairs, beach huts and expensive drinks. It was a cold and windy day but at least it didn't start raining.

  I had some time this afternoon so visited the Kensal Green cemetery again. I am still fascinated by the wild chaotic feel of the place. Very different from the graveyards in Finland where the stones are straight and organized according to a grid plan and the vegetation is kept under control - so boring...

Found a bunch of pens and grey markers (in different shades) I had brought from China but had forgotten and never really used. So had to test them and drew another corner of our kitchen . (Markers are really difficult to use.)

Went back to Kensal Green cemetery to sketch today. I wanted to sketch one of the big old tombs or memorials there and was drawn to this one. It belongs to a military man from Bengal army, the weird stuff on  top of the coffin seems to be a cloak, a helmet, and maybe a shield. I guess there must be a sword somewhere there too.

Early June there was a demonstration in London against the mass slaughter of badgers. The dairy farmers claim that badgers spread bovine tuberculosis whereas the largest study of tuberculosis suggests that the industry's own practices are the real reason behind the crisis and killing badgers wouldn't help in any meaningful way.

  Drew the kitchen. Actually I have been drawing quite a lot lately but have been too lazy to scan & post anything. I blame the hay fever... ...which reminds me of this amazing installation Roger Dautais kindly dedicated to me, thank you Roger! :-)  

Yesterday I went to Kensal Green Cemetery to draw with a location sketching group. It was an interesting place with ancient looking mausoleums, huge trees and varied views from serenely beautiful to messy and deserted. We were there for less than an hour, so I managed to draw only this one page but I am definitely going to go there later to draw more.

Watched football practice in Queen's Park. The coach tried to teach the kids to keep moving and passing the ball to each other. But most of the time they forgot and just stood there staring.

Sketching and keeping rain in a cafe in Kensal Rise.

Because I am lazy, I am using a sketch I did last weekend in Richmond. This is Richmond Bridge that crosses the Thames = the liquid highway. I was getting quite cold when drawing the river scene, so afterwards went to this boat cafe to get a cup of warm liquid = Earl Grey.

Spent a great day in Richmond today sketching with a group of very talented artists. I have always wanted to draw this tree (I was informed it is a horse chestnut) because of its size and amazing flowers.

  When I was at school we were discussing what human evolution might mean. Maybe we would have larger heads to house enormous brain, huge lungs to cope with pollution, big nose with plenty of nose hair to filter that horrible air, and tiny thin legs that come with the sedentary lifestyle... And maybe we will be bright orange thanks to thinning ozone layer and increased UV radiation (or maybe it is just fake tan). Spring Look 3013

This is my version of one of the paintings of Qi Baish i, my favorite Chinese painter. The original can be found from here .

I have three paintings hanging in a group exhibition in London. At least color wise they go quite well with that exciting work on the left.

Another boring flower sketch, sorry...

I can see train tracks from my window so decided to try to capture a passing train at night.

Roberto has been sweet enough to send me this beautiful little painting for my birthday: I am so happy he gave me the opportunity to experience his fine work in real life, every bit as amazing as in the internet! And knowing Roberto, there was also a thought provoking wisdom behind the painting: Life is a metaphor but still I do not know what it is about. I have no clue what life is about except that right now it is great :-) Thank you, Roberto!

Flowers gone wild... I was testing how watercolor paper would work with my ink painting. Unfortunately ink always looks quite dull on it when compared to 'rice paper', which shows magnificent shades and nuances. But the problem with rice paper is that painting gets crinkled and needs to be mounted on a stiffer backing paper, which is a very difficult process. Currently I am sending my work to China to be mounted but that is time consuming. There must be soneone in London who has mastered the traditional Asian wet mounting technique?

What could be more urban than graffiti. I can see this from my window. It is far away though so it might no look exactly like this... but similar... eh...

I still have one chocolate egg left from Easter. ink and oil pastel

   Ice swimming is popular in Finland. People who do it regularly claim that they are in superb health and never catch colds. I tried it once but my feet started cramping immediately. But afterwards I did feel divine.   The water is ink on plastic, the swimmer ink on paper.

Friday was Red Nose Day, a UK-wide charity fundraising event. One the 'red noses' was T-Specs (above) though my favorite was Dinomate (below).

I was yesterday out sketching with a location drawing group. It was great fun. This one was done in Peter Jones cafe, which has a gorgeous view.

A whisper of Spring.

Here are some more 'red envelopes' for Roberto and Zyzanna . I picked a traditional Chinese motif as a starting point but made changes to it while painting. Especially the round ones in the bottom were difficult, I didn't do a pencil sketch first so had to change the plan quite a lot to fit the image inside the circle. Also, I did those last and started to have hard time concentrating and made a lot of mistakes. Peony Bird & plum tree   Phoenix & sea Phoenix & peony Also a bit closer look of my Chinese ink painting brushes - and my feline art buddy Nunu. (I am so embarrassed about the quality of the photos, I wish I had patience to learn to take photos like Paula .)