Sketcher Joey - Artist

Now that we're well into the New Year I can share some of the Christmas commissions I worked on towards the end of 2023. I absolutely LOVED drawing this pencil sketch of the lovely Belle and her horse, Freddie. Drawn in oil-based pencils, I spent a lot of time getting Freddie's anatomy right and his gorgeous dappled colour. I hope you love it, 🐴

This is Trixie, my Jack Russell Terrier, and Sparky my Staffy, on the left. I sketched them quickly in watercolour in my sketchbook one evening. Trixie is usually curled up on my lap while I paint or write. You might even see her in some of my timelapse videos!

A few weeks ago, Amy from Two Lost Birds and I completed this Venetian Plaster mural in a client's home. It's a beautiful, sprawling oak tree and measures sixteen feet in height! Each leaf has been either hand-stencilled or hand-moulded and positioned into place on the wall, the trunk, twigs and branches shaped also by hand. It's a huge project, the biggest we've done so far, and we absolutely loved working on it. I love the way the light from the nearby windows casts shadows on the surface of the wall giving a subtle but gorgeous effect! 🌳

The Big Day is getting closer! This was one of the Christmas cards I painted and sold at one of the markets this year. It definitely made me feel Christmassy painting it!

I'm often asked to paint buildings onto wood slice hangings, but I absolutely loved painting these for a lovely customer this year. Wood slice paintings of beloved pets, with their names painted on the back. Aren't they all gorgeous! 🐾 ❤

RAWWRRRRRR!! T-Rex Christmas bauble! A durable plastic bauble, with metallic alcohol ink background painted by artist Deborah Pryn. I've finished it off by painting the T-Rex on in acrylic paints and finished with a gold ribbon. If you're local to me I could paint you one, £10 each, collection or (very) local delivery only. Limited colours available, let me know which you'd like! 🦖🎄

Excited and proud to share that my watercolour of St Michael's church is on the front of their Christmas card this year! There's still time to send a bit of Tilehurst's history and one of its most beloved landmarks to your loved ones ❤
They come in packs of 10 for £5, and if you'd like to order some email [email protected]

If you're free tomorrow, come and see me at the Birch Copse Christmas Fair in Tilehurst! I'll be there with wood slice decorations, alcohol ink and acrylic hanging decs and also some of my originals and prints of local landmarks. There will be lots of other stalls, activities and refreshments too, so do come long and support the school :)

What are you doing tomorrow? I would LOVE it if you would come by Artisa in Caversham and say hello! I'll have paintings, drawings, hand-painted cards and wood slice decorations, giclée prints and other treats including the lovely one-off alcohol ink baubles I made with Deborah Pryn! We're just a 10-15-ish minute walk from Reading along the river and right near the Berry bus stops St Johns Rd and the Star Inn. There's food, drink, crafts and an appearance from Santa too! I'll have arty stocking fillers and gifts from £5 and cards from £3. If you see me do say hello, I love meeting you all in person.

PS I also have a super-limited batch of test prints which are A5, mounted, signed and printed with good quality ink on professional matt photographic paper for just £15, of local scenes. Pubs, churches, shops, restaurants etc. Perfect for a gift idea but when they're gone they're gone ❤️ Hopefully see you there!

Marsack Street, 10-3.30, Sunday 19th November 2023.

A sneak preview of some more of the baubles I've been working on in collaboration with Deborah Pryn. Debs is an amazing alcohol ink artist and here she's used some beautiful purplish berry coloured inks finished with a swirl of gold. ✨ I then painted on some deer silhouettes and some little stars in the sky. It reminded me of that beautiful coloured, misty sunset you often get at this time of year. These are hand-painted, and there are very limited numbers available. They'll be at our stall at Artisa, Marsack Street, Caversham on 19 November 2023. Do come and see us!

I've been busy making these hand-painted cards for my stall at Artisa this year, and among them are these: the cat looks a bit less happy though to have a Christmas hat on! 😁 All originals, painted in watercolour and finished in fineliner ink. Perfect for sending to a special someone this festive season 💜 Limited numbers available ✨

Artisa Christmas Market, Marsack Street, Caversham RG4 5AF
19 November 2023

As well as being one of my very favourite places to enjoy a cocktail (a zingy Daquiri's my tipple of choice, what's yours?) Milk Reading have been super lovely about my artwork and currently have some of my local prints of Reading up on the walls ✨ You'll be able to see them in the daytime too, if you go to Shed cafe which is on the ground floor ☕. I sketched the building in Promarkers and fineliner pens the other night.

Like so many of us, I was devastated to learn about the closure of The Grumpy Goat in Union Street, Reading. It was such a friendly place and the staff were always so knowledgable when I went in for some nice cheese for a treat. I will certainly miss them and really hope that they can continue either online or set up shop in another building in the town. Here's to the Grumpy Goat, hope to see you back again soon 🍻🥪🧀

I'm still taking House Portrait Commissions in the lead up to the end of the year, if you'd like to give a one-off, bespoke and thoughtful gift, have a chat to me about creating a sketch for you. I get asked to do houses mostly, but also churches, wedding venues and pubs! We all have a treasured building, and I'd be happy to paint yours for you or a loved one 💜

Send me a DM or email me for more details!

I love painting murals with Two Lost Birds and this is part of one we recently did before the weather turned colder. The wisteria hangs over the top of a window and we added in a couple of butterflies, too! The flowers were really fun to paint, adding in the colours, the highlights and then the shadows 💜

We're taking bookings for outdoor murals from spring next year now, but we're still doing indoor ones over the winter period. Get in touch if you'd like to talk about having your own piece of art painted directly onto your wall (although we've also done stairs, garage doors and large paintings on a moveable board)!

Mental health is such an important thing for all of us and I was delighted to create this mindfulness colouring page for Lavender Bee Holistic Wellbeing . It will be one of the things in one of their mindfulness boxes, aimed at helping younger children with their wellbeing. The box also contains items such as a crystal, an activity and an essential oil. Such a great idea! I thought that the image of a cat, all curled up half stretched out and half snoozing, was perfect to promote a feeling of calm!

I posted about this last week, but the powers that be only showed it to about 4 people, so here's another try 😆

This is my sketch of one of the lion statues that guard the outside of Southampton's Bargate, the Medieval entrance to the old port town. I've been fascinated with the Bargate (and the lions!) since I was really little, I remember being about 5 years old and eyeing one of them continuously as I walked under the stone arch thinking it might move!

I sketched a number of landscapes and objects that were important to me in a journal as part of the The Brooklyn Sketchbook Project in late 2020-early 2021. They sent me a sketchbook, I filled it with sketches along the theme Cityscape Escape and sent it off, to be kept in the archives of the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library forever. It was lovely to imagine that my little humble book of sketches of things dear to me would live on, thousands of miles away for others to hold and look at.

Sadly, while some of the books were moved to another storage location, one of the vans carrying them was involved in a fire, resulting in many of them being damaged or destroyed completely. I learnt recently that my sketchbook was one of those that could not be found after the fire, presumed destroyed. In a way, it's a fitting end to my sketchbook: kind of mysterious with a little lesson about accepting loss and change 💜 Luckily I recorded a flick-through of the sketchbook before I sent it off, and this was one of the sketches inside: one of my beloved lions protecting Southampton's Bargate 🕍

Excited to share a collaboration I've been working on with alcohol ink artist Deborah Pryn. Dreamed up especially for the Artisa Market on 19th November in Marsack Street, Caversham, we've been working on these hand-painted baubles. What do you think?

Debs has covered them with a beautiful swirly alcohol ink base and added some beautiful metallics, in this case silver, but there are others we've done in other colours worked with gold.💛 Then I've gone ahead and painted scenes, pictures and silhouettes - for these the blue base made me think of a winter sky and a snowy foresty cabin (with cosy lights on showing through the windows!) below. The baubles themselves are clear plastic, and give off a lovely otherworldly glow in front of your Christmas lights! They're finished with a black satin hanging ribbon and an organza silver decorative ribbon 💙🤍💙🤍

We have other colours and illustrations to share, but what would you like to see? There's still time for us to make a few more, so let me know what themes and colour combos you'd like to see us try out, in the comments below!

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

So looking forward to the Artisa pop up market in a few weeks’ time! I’ve been busy creating lots of new pieces, hand painted decorations and new prints 🩷 I hope you can make it, I’d love to see you there (I’ll be teasing you soon with all the new paintings 😆✨) xx

In 2021 I took part in the Brooklyn Sketchbook Project, an organisation that sent out a sketchbook to you, you filled it in and then sent it back, and it was to live in their sketchbook library forever for people to look at, in New York. Sadly, I found out that my sketchbook was one of those that was destroyed in a road fire when the books were being transported to a different location for storage. A kind of prophetic end for my little sketchbook filled with places I've visited and loved! However the good news is that I photographed the sketchbook before I sent it and published it to YouTube! Feel free to have a little look at it here...

Brooklyn Sketchbook Project - My Heritage and History Themed Sketchbook A look inside my sketchbook submitted for the Brooklyn Sketchbook Project, with the Cityscape Escape theme. I've chosen to fill up the sketchbook with remind...

Today's theme of is PALACE. This is Hampton Court Palace, and as I love the Tudors, it's one of my favourite places. I loved walking around the alleys and corridors of the building and imagining all the deals and secret whispers that went on there back in the day! Henry VIII acquired it from Cardinal Wolsey, who was hard at work trying to secure the king an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, so he could marry Anne Boleyn. It was also the site of the arrest of Henry's fifth queen, Catherine Howard, on suspicion of adultery. Have you been there? What did you think?