Monday 16 January 2012

Inside my Sketchbook





Tuesday was one of those gloomy grey days but I thought I'd try and sketch  the sea and perhaps the coastline but I found that all the little fishing boats were pulled up high, nearly on the road.  Their colours are always cheerful even on gloomy days but as I finished off the sketch the sky cleared and the sky became a lovely apricot colour as the sun started to dip.
The black lamp thing attached to the boat is used at night to attract the poor little fishes to the net, by shining the light on the surface of the sea.




This is a nearby town sketched from my daughter's bedroom window at the weekend.  The very steep road is hardly ever used as you have to ford through a river at the bottom, most people prefer the longer route by the main road and bridge!


This is the other end of the same town and another hill, sketched from my front terrace on a nice sunny afternoon.

15 comments:

kazumiwannabe said...

The two last drawings look very peaceful, I love the atmosphere you created there! (and it must be lovely places to begin with). I love little fishing boats, they're always beautifully colored! The lamp, where I live (south of France) is called a lamparo, and it's absolutely forbidden to use it for fishing at night!

Anonymous said...

Hello Cathy,
Don't know if you will get this as I seem to be having a lot of trouble with comments on Blogger at the moment.
Well you are off to a great start for 2012!
It looks wonderful where you live and your paintings make it even better.
Stew.

Anonymous said...

Yay...it did it!
Stew.

Peachtreeart said...

The boats do look cheerful!

bettyfromtexas said...

These lovely sketches are a wonderful beginning to your new "habit" of sketching more in your book! And you have such a delightful world of beauty to "draw from!!" LOVELY work!

Anonymous said...

We watched a programme last week about Sicily - it made me want to jump on a plane and visit!!

Barbara B said...

The colors of the boats are really captivating and I was interested to learn about the lamp for night fishing. I love the delicate style of the last two.

Cathy Holtom said...

Kazumi - I can't say if they are legal here or not, but they certainly use them, you can see the boats out at night near to the coast. I will have to find out!

Shelly McC said...

Wow! Gorgeous!

debra morris said...

Lovely work

Carin Winkelman said...

Beautiful. I especially love the first one of the boats. So calm and peaceful.

Dan Kent said...

Wow, I have heard that Sicily is the most beautiful place, but these really show it! I love the picture of the front of the town and unused road the best. Great story about the boats and the apricot sky - I think the drawing is great. Your last picture reminds me of Cezanne! Stunning - all of them!

Gillian Mowbray said...

It's heartening to know that you get dull days too. LOL
What beautiful sketches - they really give a sense of place. x

Elizabeth Rose Stanton said...

Very nice sketches!! I LOVE the boats!

Barbara B said...

Cathy, Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving the great tip. What a chuckle. I'll glue some pages together if I run out of time.
Barbara