Recent Posts

Girl from How to Write a Travel Guide
Posted in Nomad

Jay’s Travel Guides and Books

Check out my travel guides and travel writing books available on Amazon.

Ink and Tombow sketches of people of One Week 100 People art challenge
Posted in Art Room

One Week 100 People 2024

This year’s One Week 100 People challenge was great for honing my style and getting me using my Tombow pens for shading instead of watercolour.

Ink and watercolour sketch of local Spar shop in Cabanas
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal Tavira

Day 16-20 of The 100 Day Project

20 days into my 100 day Project and I’m learning how to improve my 15-minute building sketches.

Ink and watercolour sketch of two people having dinner and drinking wine.
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Missing sketching people

So good to break my people-sketching drought. I much prefer capturing people to buildings.

Portuguese house with balcony and flowers Ink and Watercolour
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Day 11-15 of The 100 Day Project

15 days into my 100 day Project and I’m learning how to improve my 15-minute building sketches.

Self Portrait Continuous line Sketch
Posted in Art Room

Continuous Line Self-Portrait

Sometimes a continuous line sketch is all you need to free your creative spirit

House and Garden in Cabanas with Calla Lily 'Captain Ventura'
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Day 6-10 of The 100 Day Project

10 days into my 100 day Project and I’m learning how to improve my 15-minute building sketches.

Lavante Cabanas 15 minute ink and watercolour sketch
Posted in Art Room Cabanas de Tavira Europe Portugal

Day 1-5 of The 100 Day Project

5 days into my 100 day Project and I’m learning how to improve my 15-minute building sketches.

stack of handmade books with different bindings
Posted in Art Room

Experimenting with Different Bookbinding Styles

A productive January making hardbound books. Experimenting with different binding styles.

Logo for the 100 day project
Posted in Art Room

The 100 Day Project 2024

The 100 Day Project is starting on February 18th 2024. I’m taking part. Are you?

5 day kickstart collage workshop
Posted in Art Room

5 Day Collage Kickstart Workshop with Catherine Rains

Here’s the three most important lessons I learnt about delving into collage.

Handmade matchbook sized bound book
Posted in Art Room

Matchbook Sized Handmade Book

A prototype of a playful matchbook bookbinding style. For small sketches and watercolour.

Caricature based on EarthsWorld photo
Posted in Art Room

Caricature Portrait inspired by Earthsworld photo

Today’s Earthworld portrait challenge resplendent with bath teeth.

Loose portrait sketch inspired by Roz Stendahl
Posted in Art Room

Loose Style Portrait Inspiration

Exploring loose and vibrant portraits inspired by Roz Stendahl tutorials.

Nuno Caricature ink and watercolour
Posted in Art Room

2023 Caricatures

Being commissioned to create a birthday sketch inspired me to explore the art of caricature.

Urban sketch on Turkish Airlines flight home
Posted in Art Room Bodrum Peninsula Turkey

Urban Sketching Trip to Turkey

Taking time to sketch visual reminders of our 4 weeks in Turkey.

Posted in Art Room

Travel Painting Kit for Turkey

My very paired-down art kit for a 4 week trip to Turkey. Traveling Light!

G-Tec Pilot Pens
Posted in Art Room Europe

Needle Tip Pens for Urban Sketching

Have you thought about using Needle Tips pens for urban sketching? Read about the pros and cons here.

Life Drawing Ink and Watercolour
Posted in Art Room Europe Portugal Tavira

How to use Life Drawing as Practice for Urban Sketching

I’ve always thought Life Drawing was so different from urban sketching. But recently I’ve realised there is an overlap.

pen sketch portraits on a train ticket
Posted in Art Room Europe Loulé Portugal

Urban Sketching on the Train: Sketchbook vs. my Train Ticket

Sketching on different papers is an interesting way to experiment with different tools and techniques with great results.

Outside of Loule Market Algarve Portugal
Posted in Art Room Europe Loulé Portugal

Urban Sketching meet up at Loulé Mercado and Saturday Market

See what inspired me to draw during a day out at Loulé Market with the Urban Sketcher’s Algarve group.

Watercolour tutorial tips
Posted in Art Room

Quick Tip to make Art Tutorials Relevant to You

A couple of tips that I use to make art tutorials more engaging and relevant to me.

urban sketch cafe scene chairs and customers
Posted in Art Room

Loose Watercolour Technique for Urban Sketching

Sometimes you don’t go looking for your watercolour style choices, they’re just happy accidents.

My WN Travel Watercolour Palette
Posted in Art Room

Tonal Challenge with Watercolour

Discover how I’m approach June’s Tonal challenge with my current urban sketching watercolour kit.

Carrot People Tutorial by Andrey Shmatnik
Posted in Art Room

Tutorial: Urban Sketching Carrot People with Andrey Shmatnik

Find out what I learned from Andrey Shmatnik’s Urban Sketching Tutorial on Etchr.