sardinia inspired

For almost a month we've been keeping winter at bay a little on the beautiful island of Sardinia. It's our 4th visit to this little piece of paradise and so we've been revisiting some of our favourite places.

For sketching on location, there's so much to be inspired by here - the historic coastal towers, the sea, the animals that roam freely everywhere, and the mountains. On previous trips I've focussed on these things. But this trip, it's the rocks at the coast that have been getting most of my attention.

Many of our days are spent scrambling along the coast looking for secret rocky bays to go snorkelling. Because our bags are full of lunch, water, warm clothes and of course the snorkels, I've opted to keep my sketching gear to an absolute minimum - a tiny sketchbook and some coloured pencil leads with one mechanical pencil.

I haven't done this much drawing in coloured pencils for years and I'm thoroughly enjoying the change. I'm not on auto-pilot! I've slowed down a lot to explore what the pencils can do, the colour choices that are possible and all the different marks I can make. But isn't that what holidays are all about? Slowing down and taking in all the details.