Introducing Vivien Blackburn

sunset, Penwith, oil in sketchbook

I'm really looking forward to this postcard exchange with such a great group. Thank you for the invitation :>)

About me: I can't remember a time when I didn't draw - one of my earliest memories is, aged one, posting drawings (scribbles) to my father when he was in Gibraltar, looking for accomodation so that my mother and I could go out to join him.

In my youth I lived in some beautiful places including Cornwall, Malta and on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland, so, though it may have scrambled my education a little, it almost certainly led to an early feeling for light and landscape.

I went to art college on leaving school, completed my Foundation Year, didn't continue on to the Diploma years - did a few different things - art was on a back burner - then married, had 2 daughters and didn't go back until they were at senior school. I then did my BA in Fine Art as a mature student. It's never too late :>)

This is some of my sketching, the first few are all Cornwall

Sam, evening, silver sea, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Moorland Farm, Penwith, watercolour/mixed media in sketchbook

Lanyons Quoit, charcoal, in sketchbook

Someone commented earlier on about the clean neatness of Albrecht's sketchbook - mine are, I'm afraid, messy ones! I work in all sorts of media - oils, watercolours, lots of mixed media, charcoal, pastel, pencil, acrylic ..... etc etc etc- so loose oils may follow a detailed close up study of something in pencil in my books, followed by watercolour, mixed media, charcoal ,ink - anything goes.

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, oil


Approaching Rain, Mawgan Porth, charcoal and coloured pencil, in sketchbook

Charlestown, Cornwall, watercolour/mixed media, in sketchbook

I particularly like to paint or draw water - the Cornish coast has to be top of the list but canals, streams, rivers tool

Wild Day, Sennen Cove, pencil, in sketchbook analysing the movement of the waves

The Old Packhorse Bridge (very old), Aylestone Meadows, charcoal, in sketchbook

Frog Island, Leicester, in large A3 landscape sketchbook

I don't often do industrial landscapes. This is part of a series of sketches of local waterways that I intend to revisit.

Cardoon seedheads, in sketchbook, pencil

And .... sometimes it's nice to change scale and observe something closely. I found the spiky dry scales vs the fluffy insides of these cardoons fascinating to draw.

I unfortunately have arthritis and asthma. so my walking distance is limited but it is essential to keep moving so sketchercise is great as it will encourage me out walking, sketching and sharing the results :>)

I like to work plein air soaking up the atmosphere, feeling the wind. smelling the vegetation, getting the mood of the day and seeing the colours as the light changes - it is so much better than a photograph, fixing all this in my visual memory, the feelings, smells and memories come back when I look through old sketch books.

Well - my first postcard went out at the end of January so hopefully it's winging its way to Martin. And I'm really looking forward to the first one dropping through my door :>) and following the progress through the months.