On a recent holiday we stayed for a few nights on the Lizard, Cornwall, and used that as a base to tour around. I am usually an early riser and from our B&B had a good view of the hundreds of c…

Abingdon is a town with a history – and quite a few old buildings to prove it. Personally, when it comes to sketching architecture, I like my buildings a bit askew, wonky, even. So when I cam…

After a day of rain the skies brightened, the clouds parted and it turned into a nice summer’s evening. So – time to get the bike out and go for a ride; this time over to Stonesfield which is about…

In the Oxford Central Library one of the larger windows makes a good spot to sketch from if it isn’t too busy. There is a view across to a local Weatherspoon’s pub and if the weather is…

A few weeks ago I went back to Bath Road in Abingdon to do some more sketching. I’d previously drawn a row of fast food places along this row and went back to finish off this view. Why do I l…

Last week I was visiting various Artweeks events in Southern Oxfordshire and stopped on the way to do a sketch of a passing pub! Here’s my view of The Crown Inn in Benson – and my sketc…

The old Bliss Tweed Mill at Chipping Norton is quite a landmark but one that you tend to just pass by on the way to somewhere else. So on a sunny Sunday afternoon I decided to make the trip out and…

Sometimes I visit Abingdon on a weekend as it makes a change from the bustle of Oxford, even if they do seem to have the same snarly traffic problems when busy. One of the reasons I like Abingdon i…

A couple of weekends ago I made a trip to South Oxfordshire, in search of country cottages to draw. In this part of the world, East Hagbourne is a favourite spot but on the way there I stopped off …

With the weather improving and a few days of sunshine coming our way, I’ve been tempted to go out more and do some sketching. So on a Sunday morning I made my way into Oxford and did a short …

In southern England the weather has been cold, grey and unexceptional for weeks now – and there has been hardly a glimmer of Sun. That means it is harder to go out and actually feel inspired …

Occasionally I will come across the odd sketcher around Oxford – but not very often. So it was a pleasant surprise to come across a whole group of Urban Sketchers in the Oxford Covered market…

After days of rain, the sun did come out again – and I decided to take advantage of this and try some sketching along the Ridgeway again. I headed for Wantage, then south-west on smaller road…

Winchester is a very old city. It was at one time a major Roman town (Venta) and later the capital of England. So if you like a bit of history, a walk around Winchester might be an option. If you k…

Catte Street runs from Broad Street, past the Radcliffe Camera to Oxford High Street and is arguably one of the most scenic roads in Oxford. Like a lot of Oxford, it’s somewhere I’ve sk…

With the seasons changing it is good to get out on the nicer, sunnier days. For me that meant a trip out to Northleach on the eastern fringes of Gloucestershire. Northleach is one of the old &#8216…

The Randolph Hotel in Oxford is one of the city’s older hotels. I’ve drawn The Randolph before and this can be a bit daunting as it is a large building and has lots of architectural det…

Back from the sunny climes of Kent - well it is that time of year, with the seasons changing again and the weather has definitely become more autumnal. Still, on a recent holiday exploring the cinque ...

In the summertime and particularly on a weekend, Oxford can be a busy place. Making the trip in on a Sunday and cycling along Broad Street it is really noticeable that the tourist season is upon us - ...

Earlier this week I managed an afternoon's sketching back in the village of East Hagbourne. This is somewhere that I've sketched several times before as well as it being a nice place to be. Passing th...

On a Sunday afternoon I took a trip out to the village of Bishopstone which lies just over the border from Oxfordshire into Wiltshire. This is one of a string of villages along the northern slopes of ...

East Hagbourne is a village just to the south of Didcot in southern Oxfordshire. It is a charming place with a whole array of old houses around its centre. Many of these are timber framed and some are...

Sometimes you just fancy a bit of sketching - and fairly local to me in North Oxford there is our Skoda car sales showroom. It is a building that an urban sketcher might take an interest in with its d...

It seems to have rained almost every day for three months now. As an urban sketcher- or pretty much any kind of outdoor sketcher - this kind of cramps your style and limits what you can or might want ...