These huge 30 metre high sculpture of the Kelpies near Falkirk have just been finished recently. Kelpies are Celtic water horses, that are able to shape shift into different forms.

When I went to see them last weekend, it was a beautiful clear autumn day when the light suddenly gets golden just before sunset because these sculptures are metallic they beautifully reflected the colour of the light really well.

I’ve been really enjoying doing these small studies that I’ve been including with my books. As the season have been changed there been less leaves to draw so I’ve moved onto berries that I still see on the bushes and shells found on the beach.

My book is still available www.etsy.com/listing/166486393/a-sketchbook-a-selection-o…

One from Gourock with a view of the Clyde and the other in Glasgow city centre of a shopping centre.

One Cove Road, Gourock

Tinderbox, St Princes Square, Glasgow

I couldn’t resist and have started doing small drawings/paintings to go with book/print orders again. I started doing leaves as they were a bit quicker than the last series and I could experiment with colour and watercolour techniques.

So, I’m still doing them, so if you fancy a small original artwork head on over to my Etsy store.

www.etsy.com/listing/166486393/a-sketchbook-a-selection-o…

Please note, they are quite simple studies.

I was lucky to have 2 paintings in this years RGI exhibition at the MacLellan gallery. It was great to see the gallery used again, its been years since there have been exhibitions there, and what a size as well, 5 or 6 large rooms filled with art.

The exhibition runs to the 8th December 2013.

This is the first time I’ve tried out the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks, and took it out to Edinburgh on bright autumn day for a test run.

Coming from using moleskine sketchbooks for so long, I’ve been meaning to try something new. I’ve been working around the waxy texture of the paper for so long I’ve got used to it but at the back of mind I’ve been wanting to use watercolour a bit more freely. So I was keen to give the Stillman & Birn books a go as I heard they were especially geared to using watercolour. I tried one from their Zeta series, its a really heavy duty sketchbook specifically designed for colour washes.

The first thing I noticed was the book opens up flat so you can do double pages, there are so many books that don’t do this it’s a really nice surprise they got right.

The paper itself is a really thick 180lb, I threw quite a bit of paint at it, it really holds up well. It was a new experience not having the paper buckling with each wash I did. In fact I could do washes in one go was new in itself, usually I scrub the paint into the page, taking a few goes to get right. I’m not too keen on the surface of the paper, its very smooth almost like Bristol board paper so there isn’t as much character as I’d like. Because there is no texture to speak of paint does tend to glide over the surface. I don’t really like the bright white of the paper. It might be worth trying out a different series as they have textures and different shades to the paper.

The smoothness of the paper can also cause the paint to sit on the surface, so it does take a bit longer to dry.

I also wished the sketchbook had more character. Its a solid black book but could do with more personality, reading about them coming from Europe to New York sounded like a really interesting story but doesn’t really come across at all. It was as if they designed a book to address artists and illustrators wish list on what they wanted from a sketchbook on a purely practical level. There’s also an aesthetic aspect that seems to be missing, it could do with a few nice details to appreciate.

I think I’ll persevere and try and keep drawing and finish the book, sometimes it could just take awhile to get used to a new book.

For most of the initial book orders I made a small original artwork to go with each one.

Each drawing/painting was about 14 x 9cm. (mini moleskine pages)

You can still get my book at my Etsy store

It was a good fun experiment and in some way a small thank you for the support and encouragement over the years. I’m still selling the book but for the moment I won’t be including a drawing like these, after more than 30 mini pantings I think that’s enough for a while! :)

A selection of some of them that I liked..

MacKenzie

Glasgow Underground people study

Edinburgh view, from Dean Bridge

Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan

A recent painting that I had on show during my open studio a couple of weeks ago. I hadn’t expected to sell it so it was unframed and still had a few paint colour samples on the left side.

So it was a genuine surprise it got sold so I was happy to have it framed and delivered to its new owners late last week.

A new book of drawings from the last 2 years around Scotland. The original drawings were done in a moleskine sketchbook.

It has 44 pages in full colour and is 21x15cm.

It’s available now on my Etsy page.