May is National Walking Month so this is a short taster of a spring walk and draw I did earlier this week.

I've loved using mark-making tools ever since I was first introduced to them as a 16 year old on my art foundation course.

A 46-second taster of an extensive video from March's Silver and Gold monthly subscription.

Grab a cuppa and enjoy this guided look through some of my Drawing Diaries!

Learn how you can use the effective technique of hatching and crosshatching to add tone to your drawing, to help it look more three-dimensional.

This is short taster of my Silver and Gold subscription only 'how-to' video for January 2024.

This short film is a snap shot of how energising an afternoon's drawing can be! My good friend and I spent a sunny afternoon drawing at the Neolithic Longbarrow of Wayland's Smithy on the Ridgeway National Trail. The site is not far from Uffington White Horse in south Oxfordshire and is a very atmospheric place. I've walked there many times, so was very happy to be able to spend time drawing from observation. I worked in graphite paying attention to the different tones and textures I could see. Thank you for watching! In 2021 I'll be running some art journaling workshops on the Ridgeway National Trail. If you'd like to find out more please visit https://www.jobeal.net/the-ridgeway-national-trail

Following on from my 2016 Drawing Diary, I kept one in 2017 too, this time working in a slightly larger format, capturing day to day activities, moments and thoughts. This 'week to two pages' diary is now a visual record of that year. As I look at it I can remember not only the actual moments and events, but also the drawing of them. I had a very busy summer that year, so look out for the three or so blank weeks that I skip through! In 2018 I made daily drawings of the plants and flowers in my neighbourhood and on my travels, capturing the changing seasons. Now in 2020 I am half way through this year's diary. It's a great way to take some time out of the day to reflect on it and do a little drawing. I hope you enjoy this short video. Thanks for watching!

In 2016 I did a daily drawing in a small A5 diary, capturing day to day activities, moments and thoughts. This 'week to two pages' diary is now a visual record of that year. As I look at it I can remember not only the actual moments and events, but also the drawing of them. As the diary developed I indulged my love of colour and pattern adding elements in to create an overall composition for each weekly spread. I kept a similar style of Drawing Diary in 2017, and in 2018 made daily drawings of the plants and flowers in my neighbourhood and on my travels, capturing the changing seasons. Now in 2020 I am half way through this year's diary. It's a great way to take some time out of the day to reflect on it and do a little drawing. I hope you enjoy this short video. Thanks for watching!

This 4-ish minute video demonstrates the continuous line drawing technique which I used to establish the main shapes and elements of the drawing. Continuous (or one line) drawing is a great for helping to develop observation skills. I like to draw really slowly and make sure that I keep looking at the subject very carefully. It's amazing the detail that I can see when I do this. Then I added more definition to some of the lines along with more detail, fine lines and hatching strokes. I love to use fineliner pens and for this drawing I used three - the 0.05, 0.3 and 0.5. Hope you enjoy this video! Please let me know what you think!

I like to draw things that I find interesting and have an emotional response to. This may be to do with the colour, shape and texture of the subject or the connections I have to it (or them, if I'm drawing people). On a very rainy day I took some time to draw a small collection of favourite mementos that I bought on a textile travel holiday in Vietnam in 2019 with Creative Arts Safaris. To get myself focussed I used the continuous line drawing technique to draw in the main shapes of the three embroidered birds. This took about 30 minutes as I drew very slowly, looking very carefully at the subject. Then I added in some of the lovely stitch detail and pattens in the fabrics. I added to the page with a drawing of two more related objects from the holiday, to tell a bit more of a story, before adding colour with coloured pencils and a few spontaneous thoughts in writing. Now when I look at this drawing I remember the process of doing it AND the memories attached the objects themselves. I love to use fine-liner pens and for this drawing I used three - the 0.05, 0.3 and 0.5. Hope you enjoy this video! Please let me know what you think!