Fleet Street and Temple Church

Fleet Street and the Law Courts
9" x 12", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are my sketches from the First Sketchcrawl by Urban Sketchers London on 26th May 2012.

My first sketch was done while sat at the rear of St Clement Danes Church at the point where Aldwych becomes Fleet Street.  The very impressive buildings which are the Royal Courts of Justice were on my left.  I tried pen and ink so as to avoid too much rubbing out of pencil and then added coloured pencils.  I strengthened the latter when I got home.

In the foreground you can see of two other sketches from that day's sketchcrawl.

Below is a map of the area of the Sketchcrawl.  This is a link to a Google Map I've started of the locations of where I sat to draw these views - Urban Sketches London

View Larger Map

My second sketch was done not far in the Inner Temple - not from where we had the lunchtime get-together to look at the morning sketches.

I sat on the steps next to the cloister and looking across to the oldest and round part of Temple Church.  The Church was built by the Knights Templar (crusading monks) and was designed to remind them of the circular Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which was the holiest place in the Crusaders’ world.  Today it is better know to some as one of the locations in The Da Vinci Code.

This is the church of Inner and Middle Temple, two of England’s four ancient societies of lawyers, the Inns of Court
Temple Church website

Temple Church
12" x 9", pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The perspective was a bit of a challenge so I decided to go with pencil in the first instance and created a tonal sketch before adding in some colour.  I then strengthened the colour when I got home

This is how to find your way to the Temple Chuch Access for pedestrians after 20.30 on weekdays and all weekend is via Tudor Street only.

Dr Johnson's House and Hodge the cat
Gough Square
pen ans sepia ink

My third sketch was a very fast one, done in a few minutes, at the end of the Sketchcrawl in Gough Square.  I sat on the bench and drew the house of Dr Johnson the famous writer and the statue of Hodge his cat.

This is what Boswell had to say about Hodge in his account of Dr Johnson

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, 'Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;' and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'

Fleet Street and Temple Church

Around Temple Church

Middle Temple Lane, London

Pete Scully's Let's Draw London was a great sketchcrawl, and the first one I've been on, which is odd, because it immediately seemed a natural thing to do. We went as a family (Naomi, my wife, and our daughters aged 13 and 10), and I realise now that of course I have been on family-only sketchcrawls before. An occasion springs to mind when all four of us sat outside a cafe on a Swiss mountain and drew together like some visual arts version of the Von Trapp family, taking a break on our escape to safety.

The Temple Church, London

The London sketchcrawl was great fun, and an opportunity to meet people I'd only communicated with online. I also bumped into some people who had come to the launch of The Art of Urban Sketching at Cass Art, and some who I'd told about the sketchcrawl after seeing them drawing in the streets of London in the weeks gone by. But somehow I didn't meet Pete. Next time, Pete.

For more, see www.james-hobbs.blogspot.com.

Around Temple Church

London sketchcrawl

Saturday saw the first London sketchcrawl - so many people! All excited about drawing on location in London on a hot sunny day. I met lots of people, some very experienced, and some new to location drawing. When we met up at the end of the day the range and quality of the work on show was very exciting.

I was set up to draw at A3/A2 size - when I'm spending the day drawing I like to work quite big, and an A3 sketchbook is a good compromise between portability and size -it can open up to give an A2 size spreads. My drawing materials, as usual, were quite mixed. Each drawing is a bit of an exploration of media for me, I'm never content with using the same materials or approach in my drawings.

I started down on the Embankment, looking downriver at the hazy light off the water, and  the strong shadows. This drawing used chinagraph, charcoal pencil, brushpens filled with diluted ink, and pigment powder. I think it would have been a better drawing if I had ignored the ship's stern on the right. I should remember that drawing is as much about lying as telling the truth!

Then, finally finding my way into Middle Temple I made a quick drawing before lunch using charcoal. The midday sun was very hot, and the contrast of light and shade down the lane dominated my view. The site of my drawing  is apparently the location used in the TV drama series, 'Silk'. I was informed of this by a couple who were there with the sole aim of tracking down all the locations used in the series...

For my last drawing of the day I sat in the shade by St Bride's Institute and drew the old tree that grows in the churchyard of St Bride's Church. This drawing is A2, on a double spread of the sketchbook, and I threw everything at it, trying to represent the light/shade and the intriguing space of the stair well and the view through to Fleet Street. Media included ink, charcoal, black pigment, white correction pen, white wax crayon, pen, fingers, and eventually knife!

I look forward to the next sketchcrawl!

London sketchcrawl