Martens Ate My Car

This drawing depicts a family of beech martens, Martes foina, eating our car, a Skoda Felicia. Few people back home in Scotland believe me, but this is a genuine and frequently ocurring hazard encountered here in Vienna, and apparently in much of Europe - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beech_Marten Beech martens are actually only the size of large cats, and normally chew brake cables or spark plugs rather than dismantling the entire thing. Our car, named Crapbag, fell prey after only three weeks of living here, and unfortunately my third party insurance did not cover the car for being eaten.
I drew the sketch in pencil and added the colour in Photoshop.

I drew this on a base of leftover oil and acrylic paint. I hate wasting paint so whenever I still have some on my brushes at the end of the day I paint it onto a random page in my sketchbook. I like drawing on top of paint, it adds some texture, and I also prefer drawing on non-white surfaces.
Ashby is feeling a bit wobbit at the moment (Scots for poorly/off-colour) as he cut his paw on some ice three days ago and it's taking a while to heal. He can only go out for short lead walks wearing a sock to keep it clean. He really doesn't appreciate the socks:

Frozen Alte Donau

In winter the Alte Donau is covered with flocks of birds - black headed gulls, mute swans, coot, crows and Canada geese. Its really quite stunning, particularly when the lake is frozen and back-lit by the afternoon sun. I go there to walk Ashby and to photograph the birds - for quite some time I've been working (intermittently) on a series of paintings called Flocks and Shoals, and am always on the lookout for photo opportunities. I'm interested not so much in details of individual birds, but rather the shapes created by the winter sunlight and stark shadows, the reflections in the ice, and the swooping, crowding birds. Extreme hunger brought about about by the prolonged cold weather means that the birds literally fight to get to the bread and even without a very good zoom lens I can get really close up shots. I hope that the birds can last through the winter.

I made a quick drawing, sketching out in the cold and adding some tone back home. I personally prefer the photos but you can judge for yourself.

A fishy tale: Common carp, Cyprinus carpio.

I made this sketch at Haus des Meeres, Vienna's aquarium, which oddly enough is situated within a WW2 flak tower (anti-air-raid tower).
In the summer you can see wild carp in the Donau-Auen National Park. This forest/wetland area is my favourite place in Vienna - part of it extends within the city limits. The first time I visited I cycled, alone, got utterly lost and couldn't believe all the amazing wildlife I found - as well as the carp there's beaver, lots of lizards, snakes, rare birds, turtles, amazing plants... I'll certainly be writing more about the Donau Auen and its inhabitants. The carp are massive and you can get very close to them, but for drawing them the aquarium is a lot easier.
In Vienna (also in Slovakia and Hungary) carp are the traditional food on Christmas Eve. In some places people buy them live from the market and keep them in their baths until it's time to dispatch them. A Slovakian friend told me that when she was young she liked having a pet carp in the bath and would cry when it had to be eaten.

Rooks

Winter in Vienna is normally grey and freezing, but its pretty good if you like birds. In around mid October large flocks of rooks arrive from Russia, to overwinter in the (warmer!) climate. I find this interesting because in the UK rooks are to be seen in large numbers all year round. We live near the lake Alte Donau, an old arm of the river Danube, and the winter flocks of rooks in this area are sometimes really spectacularly large. The rooks spend much of the day foraging on the fields of the market gardens and around the parks, until about an hour before dusk. Then all the flocks head to Donaupark on the other side of the lake where they roost. Annoyingly, they seem to congregate just above a kiddy play park, where I don't really want to be found with a long lens camera and a large dog. However, whenever I get the chance I've been watching and photographing them, and I've done a few sketches.

The weather is very cold now and the rooks have been really noisy and active the last couple of days. This watercolour sketch is extremely simple, but I like its spontaneity, and it captures the fact that in this freezing weather, the rooks just appear as silhouettes against the white sky.

My first post - Happy 2010

Hi! Welcome to my online sketchbook. I have no huge ambitions here - I plan simply to upload my latest drawings/paintings and maybe talk a bit about them and what inspired me whilst making them. I've been drawing as long as I can remember, working as a freelance artist for five years now. I couldn't help feeling it was a bit of a waste that the drawings inside my accruing stacks of sketchbooks may never again see the light of day - especially as, if I'm honest, I prefer drawing in my sketchbook to any other type of artistic activity. (Except carving Halloween lanterns). I draw quickly, and usually just in plain 2B pencil.

Ashby, my golden retriever cross labrador, along with my boyfriend Johnny, are the lucky people most often found gracing the pages. This is because they are aesthetically pleasing ; ) and found sitting around for long periods of time in our flat. Here is the first Ashby sketch of 2010:
Happy New Year!