Two Months in Crete : Sketch - Nea Chora Beach

Nea Chora Beach

(Markers and coloured pencils in small square sketchbook)

Last year, Pat and I decided to carry out a plan we'd thought about for quite some: we'd find an apartment abroad and spend as long as possible there, me painting and drawing, Pat reading and sitting in the sun.

We settled on an apartment in Chania, just outside the old town. We've grown to love Chania over the years and it has a very special place in our hearts. The apartment gave us easy access to the Old Town and Venetian Harbour, had a kitchen and bathroom, a patio and garden to sit out in and a good big table to work on indoors.  Just round the corner was a very good supermarket and, of course, there are more restaurants than you can shake a stick at (should that be your favoured method of counting restaurants). We were there from the end of August to the end of October, the weather was great and it wasn't long before we felt perfectly at home. 

Walking out right at the beginning of our stay, we had lunch in a taverna overlooking the beach at Nea Chora, the new harbour. Determined to make a success of this working holiday, I got out my little square sketchbook and made a start.

Karen Stamper and the Concertina Sketchbook

It takes a lot to get me out of bed, dressed and breakfasted and onto a train by 8.43 am these days, but that's what happened last Saturday. I was on my way to York with fellow Sketch Crawler Richard to take part in a workshop led by Karen Stamper.

I've been looking at Karen's work for quite a while and wondering how she achieved the effects in her concertina sketchbooks, so when the opportunity to find out came up, I jumped at the chance.

And it was well worth the effort! I won't give away Karen's secrets - she has lots more workshops to give, I'm sure - but will say that she started us off slowly to get us over the natural trepidation most of us felt. Dribbling ink and squirting it with water while it runs down five or six pages of  the concertina must be a proven ice-breaker. After that it was just one bit of fun after another, involving PVA, gesso, frottage, markers, collage and some hard thinking.

I ended up with six pages of an abstracted townscape full of references to Crete. One of the fascinations of the concertina sketchbook is that as it's folded, new compositions come into view.

It was clear everyone enjoyed themselves and seeing the sketchbooks laid out together showed how individual the end results were. 

Pat and I have a long holiday in Chania planned for later this year and I can certainly see me using some of these techniques while I'm there. And I'll be watching out for the chance to take another of Karen's workshops!

#KarenStamperArt

Wedding Bells

Perhaps this photograph will give some idea of the reason for the lack of posts on my blog. Here, Pat and I arrive for our marriage on 17th October at Gateshead Register Office.

Here's a family group, taken by my good friend Roy, who was my best man:

After that we had a week in Lisbon. There will be photographs from that trip soon.