Tag Archives: Family

Run free

Family fun on the beach

Inspired by a friends timeline photo of their son on the beach, I just loved the composition and feeling of fun and freedom in the image.

Ink pen on a watercolour pad with a little colour added for the sky. Simple. I loved the photo, it took me back to playing on the beach, balancing along a log and running free! 

I put the sketch in a mount and sent it to the parent. I love looking back at sketches like this of my two when they were little, I find sketches hold more of a memory than a photo in some ways. More of a rounded experience memory.

If you would like one of you photos sketched like this then get in touch at contact@edinburghsketcher.com

Escaped to the sunshine

A family break in beautiful and very hot Mallorca.

Our second time on Mallorca as a family and the friendly relaxed vibe hit us as soon as we arrived on the island.

We have friends there and in the past family and so know the island well and I recommend it for a family destination with something for all ages and tastes. We hired a car for a few days, stayed in Port De Pollenca and here are a few of my sketches from the trip.

Port De Pollensa Square, nice and quite here before the weekly market took over with fresh flowers, fruit and leather fashions.

Sketching from the sun lounger and shadows on the hotel

Another one by the pool, this time in ink and this started with the parasol and just stretched out from there.

This church ‘Esglesia Del Calvari’ was at the top of a 365 stone staircase in the old town of Pollenca. A stunning place with views to match, I can hear the cicadas or tree crickets just looking at this sketch.

And here is one of James on the beach building castles. I did go and help once I had finished my sketch!

And finally a lovely palm tree 🙂

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, from the Sketcher home to yours!

That’s me taking a well earned break now until Monday 9th January. Some festive family time awaits starting with a trip to see Matilda this afternoon. Have a lovely time over the holidays and join me for more sketching the city fun in 2023.

Oh and don’t forget to buy The Scotsman newspaper on Saturday to see my look back at the year in ten sketches.

Christmas creations

Enjoying some well needed family relaxation this week after a busy December.

The weeks leading up to the 25th were very busy for me with commissions, deliveries and keeping my wonderful retailers fully stocked. And although I am very grateful to be so busy I am now extremely thankful for my down time with my family, relaxing and enjoying not doing too much.

We have been very creative though, enjoying baking, lego building and fimo moulding to name a few. Also my son James received some lovely pastels from Santa and I couldn’t resist borrowing them to make this drawing of our Christmas tree.

I have a hard time doing nothing!

Camping in the Borders

A last minute stay in the Scottish Borders proved to be the perfect escape before school starts.

At the weekend the Sketcher Clan took a camping break to a favourite campsite; Ruberslaw in the Scottish Borders. Just an hour and a half away in the car, the stunning location sits between Hawick and Jedburgh in the heart of the rolling border hills.

Although we had meant to be there for three nights we stayed for two and a wonderful three days in the country, disconnected from our gadgets. The above sketch is of their beautiful glass house which sits within a walled garden.

James and Zoe had a great time playing into the dark with children on the campsite, including what looked like a toasted marshmallow eating tent crawl !

It was my mistake about the length of stay, I had mistakenly thought the schools in Edinburgh went back a day later than they actual did. The error did mean however that we could take our time packing up on the Tuesday morning and also fit in another walk up the hill to see the sheep and the ‘truly wild’ camping pitches (and safari tents) up in the woods.

Perhaps next time we will venture further from the comforts of the walled garden and communal hub!

Take a look at this family friendly campsite via their website HERE

We have visited Ruberlaw Wild Woods Camping before, back in 2016 and HERE is my post and sketches from then.

Board game lock down

As we enter our 5th week of lock down I think we may need some new board games to play.

Today it was Monopoly in the Sketcher household and recently we have been playing lots of board games. Snakes and ladders, drafts and ludo have been battled over this week.

I do love a family board game and its nice for us all to spend some time together without looking at a screen.

I may need some more to get us through the lock down. What’s your favourite family board game?

This sketch was drawn with a brush and ink which is why it is a little darker than usual, a tricky medium but one I will persevere with 🙂

Christmas doodles from two weeks with the family

Christmas Tree detail 2016Christmas is my favourite time of the year and this time I enjoyed two full weeks away from the computer.

Although I couldn’t stop myself from sketching occasionally I did take the fortnight off to spend with family and friends and enjoyed the lack of screen time, returning in the second week of January refreshed and ready to plan my 2017.

Here are my sketchings from the time off, now scanned in and cleaned up for you to see.

I know Christmas already feels a long time ago but these are very happy memories for me, and only 10 months until we do it all again 😉

All the best for 2017 everyone!

Christmas Fireplace 2016Stargazer 2016Quality Street Fudge

Merry Christmas everyone, from my home to yours!

xmasfireplaceFilled with Christmas cards, family photos and happy memories. Our festive fireplace makes me happy 🙂

This is the Sketcher family fireplace, and looking at it makes me feel all Christmassy. I hope you are all having a lovely relaxed time with family and friends, or just enjoying some peace and quiet over the festive period and recharging the batteries for the new year to come.

Merry Christmas everyone!