Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

Out doing a bit of sketching near the Oldenburger Yacht Club! 

This is the boathouse of the canoe club, nothing really spectacular but I love the fact that the doors have paddles as handles (unfortunately, you can’t see them in sketch! 

The sketch is done in fineliner and watercolour (my old set, not the new Sennelier!)! Rowing always brings back childhood memories, my family paid a trip to Lytham St. Annes where I spotted a boating pond with loads of different types of boats and canoes. Never having been fond of the “normal” I set my heart on a Pocahontas style Indian canoe, it was chucking it down and my mum and dad really weren’t up for it. Persistence paid off ( and a lot of wheedling) and my dad and I set out, it was at this point that I discovered my talent for canoeing was non-existent. 

Before my minds eye, I saw myself whistling down tree seamed waterways, adorned with war paint and buckskin fringes! The truth was I could only go in circles, so dad (who also had no canoe experience) and I sat freezing in the pouring rain turning endless circles while my mum watched us from the safety of our car. 

Since those days I've only been in a canoe twice, my talent (or complete lack of it) has remained the same, sometimes you have to face the truth ....... not everyone can be Pocahontas!