28 Drawings Later - Entrances in London by Thomas Corrie

This is a guest post by Thomas Corrie, an "Architect and aspiring flâneur"  who is an active participant in the Flickr Group for Urban Sketchers London

He also manages to demonstrate how to keep sketching every day despite lots of rain and a tube strike in London this week!

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For the past two years I have participated in 28 Drawings Later, a challenge to draw something every day during February and post it online.

• In 2012 I had no particular theme or format. 
• In 2013 I decided to use a square sketchbook and draw with ink washes. 

In both cases I often just drew something from wherever I was going on that day, more often than not it involved casting around in the evening for something interesting to draw in my house.

This year I was determined to pick a theme for the month to have a more focused approach. I have set myself the challenge of drawing all of my sketches en plein air (whatever the weather!) and to cycle to every location. My theme is entrances which gives me sufficient flexibility as there are doors and gates everywhere.

I started at Fenton House in Hampstead having first bought some new pens and a 200mm square sketchbook...

Day 1: Fenton House copyright Thomas Corrie

The following day I cycled along the Grand Union Canal (suffering one puncture) to Osterley Park to draw Robert Adam’s fantastic open portico...

Day 2: Osterley Park - the Robert Adam Portico
copyright Thomas Corrie

Then I was into weekdays and although the light is improving in the evening it is still too dark after six o’clock so I have decided to draw before work which means I have to get up rather earlier than I am used to. On Monday I went to Kensal Green Cemetery to draw the stern Doric gatehouse…

Day 3: Kensal Green Cemetery - copyright Thomas Corrie

On Tuesday I was cut short by rain but managed a few lines of the elegant terraces in Little Venice…

Day 4: Clarendon Gardens - Little Venice
copyright Thomas Corrie

Wednesday was the first full day of the tube strike and I had to fight my way through the London traffic to get to St James’ to draw an extravagant curved entrance to a Nash terrace...

Day 5: Carlton House Terrace
copyright Thomas Corrie

I had an early meeting on Thursday so I found an Art Deco entrance near to my workplace in Marylebone…

Day 6: Ivor Court
copyright Thomas Corrie

It was raining on Friday morning and my original plan to sketch a modernist house on Frognal was scuppered. Instead I cycled down the hill to Swiss Cottage and sheltered beneath the library to draw the back of the Odeon Cinema…

Day 7: Swiss Cottage Odeon
copyright Thomas Corrie

More bad weather threatened Saturday and several attempts to draw the elaborate front of John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor House were stymied by showers. Instead I took advantage of a break in the clouds to quickly draw a brick and flint gate he designed to enter the estate…

Day 8: Pitzhanger
copyright Thomas Corrie

I am surprised and pleased that I have managed so far to stick to my plan. I am looking forward to the next three weeks and seeking out parts of London that I don’t know very well and elaborating on my usually straightforward commute.

Thomas Corrie's kit comprises:

• Seawhite of Brighton 200mm square 140gsm cartridge paper sketchbook
• Staedtler pigment liners 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8mm
• Brompton M3L folding bike
• Ortlieb Mini-O Bag

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You can continue to view Thomas Corrie's 28 Drawings Later 2014 Set on Flickr and/or see his posts as they come up in the Urban Sketchers London Group Pool

28 Drawings Later - Entrances in London by Thomas Corrie