Hmm, it has been a long time since I posted. Well, my excuse is that just as my broken ankle and damaged tendon was healing, and my walking improving, I broke my wrist and vertebrae in another accident,  at the gym, and was out of action again for  a few months.  Certainly  I was not motivated to post yet more sketches of limbs in plaster casts; after all this site  was meant, in part, to be about my progress as an artist! Despite that some good things have happened over the

As I did not go on the sketch crawl I tried out a watercolour sketch  of  a snowy, neighbour’s garden, as seen from my kitchen window. I am trying out using water colours straight, without  any pencil or pen drawing first. Perhaps it is a bit “chocolate- boxy”,  but  there it is. #art #contemporary #sketchers #illustration #diane #images #visualart

I finally made it to my new studio  last week  and set up for the first time.  It is small but perfectly formed for my needs. The light is very good and I have it all to myself – I shared my last studio. This  picture of  the empty room shows it  the way I will never see it again, until I have to leave it that is. It is very cold in the building as the weather now is very cold and it has snowed this week. I had  intended  to join  a Sketch Crawl at the Tate Modern this Saturd

I have had a particular relationship with this footware  over the last 3 months. The walking shoe is the only shoe that I  can get my still swollen foot into and I am so…  bored with it. The boots are  the main culprits, I was wearing the pair when I broke my ankle. #art #contemporary #sketchers #illustration #arts #diane #gerrard #images #visualart

I had my  temporary, slab plaster  cast replaced two weeks ago with this plastic, lightweight one. There was a choice of colours and  this bright green certainly helps to cheer me up. In the fracture clinic waiting room it was a case of “snap”,  as  I  sat next to  a young woman who had the same colour cast. It will be another four weeks  before I can put weight on this foot, so I still am unable to  get to my new studio! In the meantime it will be drawing and sketching with

We had much better weather for the  second weekend of our open studios, two dry and fairly sunny days.  Many more visitors passed through the site to look at the work of the 8 artists who have studios in the potting sheds. We were able to be outside all day and get a  barbecue going. Here are some of our furry visitors attracted by the  sausages. Some work by the other artists I made a few quick sketches of people who sat or stood about for a while. Sunday was my last day  wo

I have a share of a small studio. As a condition of our tenancies for two weekends  a year we have our studios open to the public. This photo is  of the studios last Sunday when it rained heavily almost all day and we did not have many visitors. I meant to do some drawings of the location but it was too wet and instead we all huddled together in one bigger studio and drank wine and ate nibbles. My fingers  will be crossed for a bit better weather next weekend. The studios are

I joined a sketch crawl in Greenwich, Saturday 15th September. The organisers were the Urbansketchers London, a group who are committed to  sketching on location  and  sharing the results. The weather was sunny  and hot, the day was perfect- really enjoyable. I needed just such an event to get me back sketching in an urban environment. I have drawn and sketched in secluded park land  locations but the last time I did this  in  a more urban  and public place was  as art studen