Tag Archives: edinburgh

Daily Sketch

The Lion of Scotland, in St Andrews Square Edinburgh

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StAndrewsSq_LionThe sculpted lion of St Andrews Square looks splendid in the Edinburgh sunshine.

I love this beautiful sculpture by Ronald Rae which lies in the city centre grassland. Carved with hand tools only from Aberdeenshire pink Corrennie granite, the charming animal is a firm favourite of visitors and residents of Edinburgh. I remember first seeing the mighty piece of art outside the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, near Arthur’s Seat, which itself looks a lot like a crouching lion. The ‘Lion of Scotland’ sculpture moved to St Andrews Square in 2010.

 

Until now I was unaware that the lion is for sale, currently on loan to Essential Edinburgh and not a permanent feature of Edinburgh. Let’s hope this can change at some point as to me, and many others it is an Edinburgh landmark.

 

Ronald Rae website

 

 

StAndrewsSq_Lion_crop

Competition

The WhereArtI Quiz, 16th June

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WAI_160614_1Morning Edinburgh, and what a beautiful day it. If in town today lookout for this wee fella in the buggy!! Can you name the street he lives on?

 

There are leader board points on offer for the first three correct answers. Keep an eye on the facebook and twitter throughout the day for clues if they are needed. Answers to come later in the week.

 

If you would like to donate a prize for the quiz or indeed feature in the quiz, then get in touch HERE.

Daily Sketch

The Festival Theatre, Edinburgh

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FestivalTheatreCurrently celebrating it’s 20th birthday, this impressive glass building on Edinburgh’s Nicolson Street is home to wonderful performance art; opera, ballet and musicals are regularly on the bill at The Festival Theatre.

 

I was invited recently to watch the Nederlands Dans Theatre 2 company and it struck me how diverse the range of shows on offer were. My previous visit was to watch the lovely Snowman. Take a look at their website, link below, to see their upcoming shows.

 

My sketch is in black ink, with a water colour wash. A limited number of mounted prints are now for sale from my online shop HERE, along with my recent sketch of the King’s Theatre, below.

 

Edinburgh Theatres website

 

Kings_Theatre_Colour

 

 

Daily Sketch

From the New Town to Fife

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HoweStreet_viewThe view from the New Town in Edinburgh down Howe Street and over the Firth of Forth into Fife is one of my favourites in Edinburgh.

I’m lucky enough to see this view most days, in all seasons. But this week, on a sunny spring day I had to stop the car and sketch it. The Church in the foreground is St Stephens Church and if you follow the road to the left you drop into Stockbridge, a beautiful part of the city full of eateries and charity shops.

The sketch is in fast drying black ink with a watercolour wash over the top. The original is still for sale and prints are available from my shop, starting at £18.

Daily Sketch

Nederlands Dans Theatre 2 at the Festival Theatre

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NDT2_FestivalTheatreThis afternoon I was one of a lucky few to preview the Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, a contemporary dance company visiting the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh.

 

After receiving rave reviews and standing ovations across the globe the dance company bring their mix of spectacular movement and flamboyant theatre to the Festival for just two nights, their only UK appearance.

 

I loved the great music and completely new dance moves. If there are tickets left I thoroughly recommend seeing the show, the website link is below.

 

The sketch is a montage of different parts of the show, scribbled in black ink and then coloured digitally later.

 

Festival Theatre website

Competition

The WhereArtI Quiz, 26th May

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WAI_260514WhereArtI time, and I hope you enjoy your bank holiday Monday. But can you name this week’s sketchy location?

 

There are leader board points on offer for the first three correct answers. Keep an eye on the facebook and twitter throughout the day for clues if they are needed. Answers to come later in the week. If you would like to donate a prize for the quiz or indeed feature in the quiz, then get in touch HERE.

Daily Sketch

Fly along to North Berwick for Puffin Fest

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PuffinFest_2014This week the sketcher family and I had a fantastic time at Puffin Fest at the Scottish  Seabird Centre in North Berwick.

Until the 26th May if you visit the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick you can celebrate in all things puffin. Promising fun, games, activities and events for the whole family the Sketcher family headed along the East coast full off excitement.

 

North Berwick beach is a favourite short trip of ours already, the beautiful beach, interesting wee shops and coffee houses to explore and  only 25 miles out of the city. Add to all that the cuteness of wee puffins and we were sold!

 

The Puffin Fest runs until 26th May so head there quickly to take part in all the puffin activities, we had lessons on how to draw a puffin, watched  birds on Bass Rock on huge screens and even took a boat out to Craigleith Island to see the wee darlings up close.

 

The twins loved it, almost as much as the ice cream on the beach afterwards! To find out more about the Puffin Fest activities and the seabird centre click on the link below.

 

The Scottish Seabird Centre website

 

 

PuffinFest_2014_2

Daily Sketch

Tattoo arrives at Edinburgh’s Castle Wynd Steps

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CastleWyndStepsThere is a iron structure growing out of the Edinburgh Castle ramparts.

If you look up towards Castle Rock just now no doubt you will see a number of cranes reaching up to the sky. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is coming to Edinburgh once again and with it the mighty structure of metal work which will play host to a 1000+ cast as the 65th tattoo celebrates Homecoming.

 

This view shows the start of the seating going up in the castle esplanade from the Castle Wynd Steps. Over 200,000 people will attend the tattoo this August and I am particularly excited as for the first time I will be amongst them.

 

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo website

Daily Sketch

One of three Leith cranes

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LeithCraneYesterday I visited Leith and the three cranes that sit on Ocean Drive next to a casino.

I finally made time to sketch one of these three cranes which are home to many pigeons and seagulls. The three stand together and one day I will return to sketch all three, but for now this will do.

 

Below is a photo which shows my sketch with the three cranes. If anyone knows a little about their history then please let me know below.

 

LeithCrane_photo

 

Competition

The WhereArtI Quiz, 12th May

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WAI120514WhereArtI Monday, and after last week’s giveaway we are back to spotting the location. This one however is a real toughy so well done if you get it right.

 

No clues just yet but I’ll back later if you are having trouble.

 

There are leader board points on offer for the first three correct answers. Keep an eye on the facebook and twitter throughout the day for clues if they are needed. Answers to come later in the week. If you would like to donate a prize for the quiz or indeed feature in the quiz, then get in touch HERE.