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It was a surprise when this beautiful handmade sketchbook
arrived in the post yesterday. It just seems to say 'Norfolk' to
me . . . which is where we're setting off to today. It's cover suggests
how I feel about the place: relaxed and rural.
Many thanks to Roz Stendahl who made it and who
has asked me to let her know how I get on with it: 'The paper is
Gutenberg (180 gsm) which is a printing/printmaking paper letterpress
folks use,' she tells me, 'but I learned long ago
that the sizing will support some nice watercolor wash effects over
pen sketches.'
We shall see. Thanks Roz.
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  Clumber
Park
As usual on these Norfolk jaunts we stop after an hour at Clumber
Park for a coffee. A jackdaw perches on the
gutter of the old stable block and flies down to a tray on a table below.
The waitress soon removes the tray.
A colony of house martins nests under the eaves, chaffinches
hop around the tables and two mallards waddle across
the lawn.
I stick the National Trust ticket in the front of the book. Such ephemera
was always a part of the holiday journals I kept as a schoolboy.
 The
A17 near Sleaford
I like the paper: the oatmeal look, the torn edges and the way the page
ripples slightly. Like the landscape of Norfolk: homely with a patina
of history; gently undulating but wild and ragged around the edges.
We're soon heading through Lincolnshire towards East Anglia. Barbara
is driving this stretch and I must be feeling more clear-headed than usual
because, once I've navigated us off the A1 and onto the A17 near Sleaford,
I find I'm able to draw the view ahead of us. I had plenty of time to
draw the red van which we followed for 5 or 10 miles but the landscape
is a compilation, pieced together bush by bush as we drive along.
Little Chef
  The
ephemera at the Little Chef doesn't have the cachet of
the National Trust ticket, but it's part of the holiday, so I stick it
in my book.
I don't feel comfortable drawing the diners so I draw the jug (I drew
the teapot when we were here last year) as we wait for our meal.
When we arrive at North Walsham and call in Sainsbury's
I draw my hand as I wait for Barbara and her mum to go through the check-out,
rather than the people in the queue. I like drawing people but I'm happier
drawing them at street markets. Supermarkets rarely have that same buzz
and feeling of celebration about them.
Pen on Paper
These were drawn with my favourite pen, the Staedtler mars professional
0.7 mm, but I might have come across a limitation of the paper
here. The line seems to be skating over the surface. Perhaps this is because
of the woven texture or the sizing applied to the paper. But it might
be because the cartridge in the pen is beginning to run down. I'll try
another pen.
 Nuttery
Cottage
I get into the mood for drawing by drawing a bit here and a bit there
- even when there's nothing especially inspiring. When we unpack at the
cottage it's getting a bit late to go out into the garden so I cast around
for something to draw and decide on the coal bucket.
Getting a Handle on Things
I started this drawing in the top left with the handles of the tongs
but, as often happens, by the time I'd got down to the rest of the drawing
I found myself drawing on a slightly different scale and the handles have
ended up a tad small.
But not to worry; I am on holiday, and there's always the next drawing.
When I e-mailed these drawings to Roz she wrote back and said she likes
what I'm doing with the Gutenberg: 'The color of the paper adds a little
age or something to the drawings.' 
Related Link
Roz Stendahl
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
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