Category / landscape

by Leonie Andrews

Stitch Journal

I have started a new stitch journal, something to occupy my hands when I need to stitch, or just need a distraction. I have made a video showing the journal on my YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/OUVZ0ZZBoBA

Most importantly it is with me as I travel through Spain and the UK. While I have not been able to stitch on it as much as I would like, some additions have been made.

What happens on one side is reflected on the other side.

Most recently I spent time at the archaeological site of Castro de Castromaior, an Iron age Fort and one of the most significant historical sites in the Northern Iberian region. Here I sat and stitched while admiring the stone walls of the ancient buildings, a technique which is still being used in local village houses.

My video at Castro de Castromaior,
Galicia, Spain
30 June 2023
by Leonie Andrews

All quiet …

You might be wondering why everything is so quiet on the blog front. It’s simple really. I am currently walking the Camino di Santiago across Spain with my partner. I am posting to other social media channels and I have run out of steam for the blog. Sorry!

We are sketching as we are walking. We walk up to about lunchtime, find our accommodation and then go out sketching in the afternoon .

The church at San Juan de Ortega
Looking from our hostel to the church tower in Villafranca Montes de Ocas
Abandoned buildings in Redecilla del Camino.
The entrance to Burgos Cathedral

If you are interested in following our journey we are both sharing our sketches on a dedicated Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092387762574

I am also sharing, a more or less daily dump of photos on my Instagram page (at) leonieandrewsart.

by Leonie Andrews

Walks, Cafes etc

We have been doing a lot of walking since the pandemic started, originally prompted by restricted exercise periods for months at a time. Now walking is a regular activity and each week we try and do a slightly longer walk. We often break this up with a coffee, in our Thermos, or at one of the pop-up coffee carts that seem to be proliferating along popular walking tracks around the city.

Covered with a nice paperbag from a local bookshop

I hate carrying too much on these walks so I now carry this home made 10×14 cm sketchbook made of paper offcuts. Here are some of my recent sketches.

The sketches are adding up!
Late afternoon around Lake Tuggeranong
Coffee at the pop-up coffee cart Mt Taylor. In reality the Golden Retreiver wasn’t quite that long in the body!😄
A Thermos of coffee when we walked around the base of Mt Taylor
Patrons at the local coffee shop, a stop on our walk around Lake Tuggeranong
Bonus Black Swans with an almost fully grown cygnet.
by Leonie Andrews

Dunes

I told you about my video exploits in a recent post so, when we had our first visit to the coast in over 18 months, I couldn’t resist taking my filming gear (my smartphone that is) as well as my sketchbooks.

Southern mahogany (Eucalyptus botryoides with and understorey of Burrawangs (cycads – Macrozamia communis). Drawn with aquarelles on hot press paper.

It is a lovely landscape to explore. We even did some kayaking on Lake Durras, which might also make it into a video yet.

From the kayak on Lake Durras.
An early morning sketch of the bridge over Durras Creek.

My latest film shows you some of the lovely scenery on the dunes and adjacent coastal forest at South Durras Beach, on the coast of South-Eastern Australia.

https://youtu.be/jDyAxzDIcss