Petworth

"Realise that a drawing is not a copy. It is a construction in very different materials. A drawing is an invention."

(Robert Henri) 

"Sketching is a continuing source of learning rather than a string of performances."

(Paul Larseau)

The Glasgow School of Art

"one of the greatest achievements of all time, comparable in scale and majesty to Michelangelo."

(Robert Venturi)

The Glasgow School of Art is the only art school in the world where the building is worthy of the subject."

(Professor Christopher Frayling)

A field in Hampshire

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers,"grow, grow."

(The Talmud)

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."

(Zen Proverb)

South Wales Burial Chambers

"Increasingly I find myself drawing not necessarily exactly what I see, but what I want to see"

(Ian Sidaway)

"One must always draw, draw with the eyes, when one cannot draw with a pencil."

(Balthus)

Spring

"Spring drew on...and a greeness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps."

(Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre)

"But now it was spring again, and spring was almost unbearable for sensitive hearts. It drove creation to its utmost limits, it wafted its spice-laden breath even into the nostrils of the innocent."

(Knut Hamson. Dreamers)

Venice

"The surface of Venice is constantly metamorphosing (and) painting Venice is almost like being a restorer, peeling off the layers to find the picture underneath."

(Arbit Blatas)

"The mere use of ones eyes in Venice is happiness enough and generous observers find it hard to keep an account of their profits in this line."

(Henry James)

Ian Sidaway Studio Blog

I have started a new blog that will run alongside Fine Line. It documents on a monthly basis the Strawberry Hill studio and some of the work that is made there. It can be found at. www.iansidawaystudio.blogspot.co.uk 

Venice

"It is held by some that this word VENETIA signifies VENII ETIAM, that is, come again and again for however oft you come, you will always see new things, and new beauties."

(Jacopo Sansovino)

Venice...."A splendour of miscellaneous spirits."

(John Ruskin)