Urban Sketchers London: December 2015

Thursday, 31 December 2015

Let's Draw London - London Urban Sketchers in 2015

Tomorrow, I'll be posting about where we will be sketching in 2016, but today we'll look back at where we sketched in 2015.......

Below you can see a record of the "Let's Draw..." events in 2015 - plus photos of people who participated and sketches.

January 2015

In January, we got organised and drew up a schedule of places for every month in 2015 - starting in February. This helped enormously with making things happen. As a result - numbers attending the skethcrawls increased significantly over the year, both in terms of overall numbers and regular attenders.

7th February 2015: British Museum


London Urban Sketchers draw the British Museum in February 2015 sitting on the steps in the great Court

A large group came to the British Museum day which proved to be a very good place to go on a winter's day - although rather busy on a Saturday with lots of other people looking for things to see and do indoors!

Ramases at the British Museum by Shih Jih Ren

sketches at the end of the day

7th March 2015 - South Kensington and the Victoria and Albert Museum

We had a brilliant sunny day for the next sketchcrawl - and there was as much sketching of South Ken cafe culture as there was of the museum and objects within it.

South Kensington by James Hobbs

I spent a lot of time sketching people sat round the pool in the courtyard - soaking up the sun!

Sunny Afternoon at the V&A

25th April 2015 - St Paul's Cathedral to the Thames

We had a marvellous time in April with many people discovering the roof terrace views from One New Change for the very first time

Sketching London from a height!

A Few weeks ago I was lucky to be invited to join a group of artists to sketch from the comfort of an office on the 32nd floor in Moorgate. It was amazing experience to gradually see London light up as the sky darkened. The views were incredible. The iconic curved dome of St Paul's Cathedral caught my eye, standing out in contrast to the numerous

gridded lines surrounding it. There was so much going on that I thought the only way I could capture this was through mark making, layering and pattern. The second drawing is the view of Finsbury Square, which you can get a brief glimpse of in the bottom corner with the Gherkin peeking through in the background. I tried to capture the density of the scene. It was great to see everyone’s impression of a challenging view. Thanks to James and Carlos for arranging such a great afternoon.

Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Let's Draw The National Gallery and Trafalgar Square at Christmas - 12th December 2015

This December's "Let's Draw London" sketchcrawl on Saturday 12th December 2015, is based around Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. PLEASE NOTE THE LATE START.

The aim of starting later is to have time to sketch the tree in lights as dusk begins

This is the Event Link on Facebook.

The Christmas Tree on Friday 4th December 2015 at 4.40pm

In early December the Christmas Tree from Norway is erected in Trafalgar Square. You can see a photo of it that I took on Friday afternoon last week above.

For those wanting to sketch the Christmas Tree and the lights at the entrance to the Strand I recommend experimenting with some dark paper with you and media which works on top of dark paper! Otherwise you just end up filling in a lot of darks!

In case it's wet or for those of us who don't do to well in cold/damp weather (I shall be indoors!), the National Gallery offers lots of opportunities for keeping warm and dry and drawing people and paintings in art galleries. The trick with drawing people fast is to focus on the shape, size and posture and not the faces. There's also any amount of architecture and perspective in the very large interiors to keep the 'drawing buildings' fans happy!

The National gallery has sketching stools - but they're sometimes difficult to locate

PLEASE NOTE: The National Gallery does not allow wet media for sketching. You need to use pencils or coloured pencils. Pens that don't use wet ink seem to be OK i.e. no dip pens and no fountain pens.

This is what they have to say about Sketching in the Galleries

Guidelines

Sketching is not allowed in exhibitions

Use a hand-held pad of paper, pencil, graphite stick or felt-tipped pens

Avoid materials such as pastels, wax crayons, charcoal and fountain pens

Copyists
If you wish to use paint, or other oil/water-based media, request an application form from: information@ng-london.org.uk

The National Gallery also has 'facilities' - see the map of the interior (Level 0 in main building and Level 1 or -1 in the Sainsbury Wing)


Looking at the Turners in the National Gallery - sketched from the splendid red sofas! sketch in pencil and coloured pencils (11 x 16") by Katherine Tyrrell

A group of school children having a lesson about art - in the National Gallery
pen and ink and coloured pencil sketch in a Moleskine by Katherine Tyrrell

Information for Saturday 12th December

Times and Places

START venue/time: 12:00 (note later time)

wet - in the lobby area of the Ground floor entrance to the National Gallery (to right of external stairs)
dry - next to the 4th Plinth, National Gallery side

LUNCH: 2:00pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
FINISH: 4:30pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
AFTERWARDS: Buttery section of the National Dining Rooms - at the top of the stairs in the Sainsbury Wing for tea and cake!

MAP: Map of start/lunch/finish places
Websites: Trafalgar Square | National Gallery

Refreshments: Sandwiches - In the National Gallery (Grab and Go next to the National Cafe and Expresso Bar in the Basement), M&S @ Charing Cross, Boots at the Trafalgar end of The Strand, various coffee places around Trafalgar Square

Travel:

Nearest Tube Stations - Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Embankment - so far as I am aware there are no planned closures.
Nearest Rail Station: Charing Cross

In early December the Christmas Tree from Norway is erected in Trafalgar Square. Last year it was lit on 4th December.Plus the National Gallery offers lots of opportunities for keeping warm and dry and drawing people in art galleries.

The aim of starting later is to have time to sketch the tree in lights as dusk begins

Websites: Trafalgar Square | National Gallery
MAP: Map of start/lunch/finish places
START venue/time: 12:00 (note later time)

wet - in the lobby area of the Ground floor entrance to the National Hallery (to right of external stairs)
dry - next to the 4th Plinth, National Gallery side

LUNCH: 2:00pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
FINISH: 4:30pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
AFTERWARDS: Buttery at the top of the stairs in the Sainsbury Wing
Travel: Tube Stations - Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Embankment

- See more at: http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.co.uk/p/london-sketchcrawls.html#sthash.JsdrpzGS.dpuf

Sunday, 6 December 2015

More obscure movie locations...

I often walk past this spot outside Liverpool Street station and think to myself, "There's Tom Cruise's house..." Of course, it isn't really, but it was used as the location for the team's secret "safe house" in the 1996 film "Mission Impossible". I find it a clever choice, because it's an unusual building but quite iconic, situated directly above a tube entrance, jutting out into two streets, and that classic Victorian railway architecture. So the other day I decided to stop and draw it.
It must be 20 years since they filmed Tom here, but it hasn't changed at all. Below is a composite from the film, for comparison.

The latest Mission Impossible movie that came out this year saw Tom Cruise and co. in Kings Cross Station, so perhaps he's working his way around the Monopoly board.

Urban Sketchers London

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