Remembering Polperro

I was looking through an old album and found this - a sketch I did on holiday in Polperro, Cornwall in 1992.

I don't do a lot of sketching but every now and then when the mood takes me I can enjoy sitting - or standing - with a pad and a pencil. I didn't much like art at school because, to be blunt, our teacher was crap. He put me off trying for almost twenty years, but then in 1990 I started having a go again.

It can be quite therapeutic, setting the camera aside for a change and watching an image build up bit by bit. Fascinates other people though. It used to bother me until I got confident enough to know I wasn't going to make a complete fool of myself. Now I quite enjoy chatting to folks whilst I sketch.

I don't kid myself that I'm an expert, or that the sketches I produce will ever be worth anything. I have a few hanging in other folk's houses and that's a good feeling, because no one is forced to do that!

I only do a handful a year, mostly when I'm on holiday and even then not always.

That year in Polperro I was on crutches, having fallen downstairs and ripped all the tendons in the back of my leg. I spent a lot of time sitting on harbour walls and people watching, whilst doodling a bit. It's always an HB pencil - I've only ever done 3 or 4 watercolours and would certainly not attempt that out in the great outdoors! A pencil is fine for me! Something like this takes about half an hour on an A5 pad.

There's a few more on this page. I don't do enough of them...