My Instagram followers top nine vs my top nine…

It’s that time of year again when a lot of people on Instagram post their top nine images for the year. It’s solely based on likes and I know that I’m not the only person who was amused by the results. Last year I was pleased that a few of my favourite urban sketches made the cut. but this year not one urban sketch was included.

Even though I had lots of grand adventures travelling the world, people like art supplies most of all – in fact they are obsessed with materials! They also like coffee and tea.

On the other hand my top nine (taken from the top 20 or so images on Instagram) are all about special sketching experiences:
– the first day of my big trip in Rome,
– the overwhelming (in a good way) amount of memories in my 13 sketchbooks from my big 14 week Europe trip,
– all my fun work sessions this year at Goodfields Eatery which helped me get through my crazy workload,
– incredible time teaching in Umbra and the Veneto as part of the Palladian Odyssey tours (and even more in love with Palladio than ever thanks  to Monica),
– memories of sketching with friends in Amsterdam in the intense heat,
– finally working out a strategy for quickly sketching the Amsterdam buildings on my last relaxing day from the comfort of a cafe and meeting IRL, a longtime Flickr friend

And the last two:
– my biggest sketching day of the year – a day trip to Venice,
– contrasted with my slowest sketch of the year, sitting next to and chatting with Esther in St Giles Edinburgh.

Note: My top nine doesn’t include a teacup sketch as teacup sketching hasn’t been a big part of my life this year. I bought some new cups but haven’t really done a serious sketch of them yet. Something to do in 2020, hey?

It’s been an amazing year – thanks for coming along and being part of it! I feel very thankful for such an incredible bunch of friends and followers.