Sunday 27 April 2014

Drawings London on Location - Sketching Soho exhibition - Cinnamon Soho

I recently drew a picture for inclusion in a new exhibition at Cinnamon Soho, a modern and popular Indian restaurant near Carnaby Street. The exhibition, curated by Cristiana Bottigella, is a showcase of members of the 'Drawing London on Location' Meetup.com group. There's a lot of overlap between the Drawing London on Location group and Urban Sketchers, and it's worth signing up if you're hungry for more sketchcrawls, as their focus is on regular meet-ups (hence Meetup.com!).



I chose this viewpoint mainly for my vested interests as an animator; I was fascinated by the green building, which used to be Richard Williams' studio for many years, a pinnacle of the British animation industry. On the other side is just visible the red brick of St Patrick's Catholic church, which I also wanted to include for its attractive architecture. In the middle of the square is a statue of Charles II, carved when he was alive, and placed there when the area was first built (and originally named after him as King Square). However, I've still no idea what the odd Tudor-looking hut is for.

The Drawing London on Location exhibition is up from 27th April until 6th September, and takes 'Sketching Soho' as its theme, and features the work of over 20 different artists. You can find Cinnamon Soho at 5 Kingly Street.
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Wednesday 23 April 2014

Jamie Oliver's Union Jacks, Covent Garden

   
Pencil 149 x 210 mm

An unexpected cool place to draw in Covent Garden. There is usually a limit on how much movement I can cope with when it comes to live sketching but I considered it a point of honour to get these guys down. This is one of three which earned me a scrummy pizza, made by the delightful larger than life chef, Pascale. The others are on www.evelynrowland.co.uk/cafe-society
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Thursday 10 April 2014

The hidden river


Now that the weather's getting milder, it feels like time to get out of the studio and do some outdoor drawing. That's the impulse I felt yesterday. But where? Selecting a location to draw when you have so much choice is difficult. I ended up deciding to explore a bit of North London's history that I hadn't yet visited - the New River Path in Islington.

The New River, if you don't know it yet, is fascinating. A man-made river, opened 401 years ago to bring fresh water from Hertfordshire to the rapidly expanding city, it winds its course through north London  suburbs into the heart of Islington, from where it was piped into the city itself. Much of the river's course from Haringey inwards is now covered over and the river is piped below busy streets and housing estates. But there are stretches still running at the surface, and in Islington one such stretch has become a delightful local amenity, the New River Path. I had a pleasant afternoon sitting by the riverside, listening to ducks, answering schoolchildren's questions, and drawing...




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Timberyard Private View Tonight - for London Urban Sketchers Exhibition

The venue for the 3rd exhibition - Timberyard Old Street
You are invited to join London Urban Sketchers this evening!

AT: PRIVATE VIEW of works for the 3rd exhibition of London Urban Sketchers 

VENUE: Timberyard, 61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW

BETWEEN: 6-8pm

Exhibitors include:
  • Architects Thomas Corrie and Isabelle Laliberté
  • James Hobbs, freelance editor and author of Sketch Your World
  • Katherine Tyrrell, who has a book about drawing published later this year
  • Digital designer Zhenia Vasiliev
  • Graphic designer Jhih-Ren Shih
This is a video of part of the exhibition being hung.

The show continues until 30 June and follows the second exhibition by different members of London's Urban Sketchers at the Seven Dials brand of Timberyard branch earlier this year.  
61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW
61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW
61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW
61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW
61-67 Old Street, London EC1V 9HW

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Wednesday 2 April 2014

Savoy ... fried chicken and curry



Started drawing this decrepit (yet full of original features) corner of Great Eastern Street this afternoon, after intending to draw the TEA building past the crossroads. After much thought, I still managed to get the paper the wrong way round, and spill water over it.

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