When I taught a workshop in the Cotswolds in the summer of 2024, I never thought it would take me till now to finish my travel journal from that two-week long trip. But you know how it goes…life got busy and there were more workshops to prepare for and new sketchbooks to fill. So it’s taken me a while to wrap this one up. (Doesn’t that make you feel better? You’re not the only one who has unfinished travel journals lying around!)
If you’ve always wanted to visit the Cotswolds, click the button below to check out my 2027 workshop which is now open for registrations.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing sketches from my England sketchbook. I hope you enjoy them!
The journal I used for this trip was a 4.7″ square hardbound Lightwish watercolor journal with 140 lb. 100% cotton paper. It’s one I like and recommend. It’s reasonably priced, and the size makes it easy to tuck into a bag or pocket. Because the sketches are fairly small, the pages are quicker to complete. Overall, I prefer a sketchbook that is slightly larger, but this one is so darn cute and fun to work in that I will be ordering more of them.
One of my favorite towns to visit in the Cotswolds is Broadway. It’s a picture-perfect village with great shops, hotels, and restaurants. Perched on a hilltop just outside of town sits the iconic Broadway Tower, an architectural folly that was built in the late 18th century.
It was a brisk, blustery day when my workshop group tour sketched the tower, but we hung in there and did our plein air thing before retreating to a toasty warm cafe just down the hill for a warm cappuccino.
I decided to try something different that day on the hill. Instead of doing a line drawing with a pencil and then carefully inking it, this time I did a rough pencil block-in of the largest shapes then grabbed my fountain pen and did a continuous line drawing of the scene. I left room in the upper left part of the page to do some journaling about the history of the tower later on.
I began drawing on the left side of the distant hills and continued across the page, drawing trees and bushes until I reached the tower. Without lifting my pen, I let the line travel around the base of the tower and up over the top, adding doorways, windows, balconies, and crenellations where I encountered them. I retraced lines when I needed to move from one area to another. Continuing on toward the right, I drew the hill, tree, and stone wall to complete the drawing.
The text box was finalized later at home, but I had planned the design of it when I was onsite. The corner details on the box were inspired by a circular design on the pretty white mullioned window frames on the tower.
This didn’t turn out to be a page I love, but it was fun having the experience (and challenge) of drawing with one continuous line.
I really enjoy trying new techniques and materials in my sketchbooks. It’s good to mix things up and break out of my usual routine – I never know when I might find something that sparks a new direction in my work.
How about you? Are you a creature of routine or do you like having a wide-reaching creative practice with lots of experimentation and play?
