TODAY is "Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames"

Just a reminder that Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - SATURDAY 25th April 2015 has switched from Sunday 26th to today because of the London Marathon tomorrow.

The weather forecast is for light rain late in the afternoon but otherwise sunny intervals should prevail.

Tweet your sketches with the hashtag #usklondon and we'll try and retweet them via the Urban Sketchers London Twitter account.

St Paul's Cathedral
and the bronze statue to the firemen that saved it during the blitz in WW2

WHERE: St Paul's to the Thames

WHEN: Sunday 26th April 2015 CHANGED TO Saturday 25th April 2015 (due to the London Marathon) 

START: 11:00am at the top of the steps (right hand side) of the Main Entrance to St Paul's Cathedral

LUNCH: 1:30pm One New Change (shopping centre) - two options for where we meet depending on the weather

• Dry: on the Roof Terrace of One New Change - we want a group pic with the roof of St. Paul's in the background if possible!
• Wet: in the lobby area of One New Change near where the lift is to go to the roof terrace

Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge
from the Peter's Hill walkway down from St. Paul's
(near to the Salvation Army Cafe 101
 which is building on left)

END: 3:30pm 

• DRY: Paternoster Square - between St Paul's Cathedral Steps and St Paul's Tube Station
• WET: Salvation Army Cafe 101 (click the link to see the location in Peter's Hill (near Queen Victoria Street)

MAP: A map has been created in Google Maps/Drive of the area and key places 

TUBE: Stations:

• St Paul's (Central Line); 
• Blackfriars and Mansion House (District and Circle Lines) 

RAIL: Thameslink @ London Blackfriars and City Thameslink; Cannon Street

The North Bank of the Thames from the Millennium Bridge

Don't forget to look out for Shaun the Sheep!  He's everywhere - supporting children in hospitals - and as you might expect he has an app.

This is the https://www.flickr.com/groups/usklondon-grouppool/ where you can post your sketches of today:

1. after you have posted them to your own Flickr account
2. after your application for membership of the Urban Sketchers London Flickr Group has been approved. The review of your application for membership depends on the sketches on your own account. You don't have to be really good at sketching but your sketches do need to conform to our rules - see below

Rules for posting to the Urban Sketchers London Flickr Group

All drawings posted to the group were drawn on location IN LONDON, not from photos or memory. Your membership will be terminated if you repeatedly post sketches of places other than London.
• The location of the sketch IN LONDON is always included in the headline or caption or the image is located on your public Flickr map.
*The only photos which can be posted to the Group MUST relate to Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawls - on the date of the sketchcrawl
• No sketches from figure drawing sessions or posed models will be posted to the Group Pool
* No objects or figures without a location context which is a place in London will be posted to the Group Pool (ie sketches of people in locations are OK; sketches of people in isolation are not)

TODAY is "Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames"

Spring sun, tree shadow

 A few days of warm spring sun. Blossom on the fruit trees, and in London parks horse chestnut leaves are just opening to their full, while other trees are still budding.

It's actually too hot today to sit in the sun, so I sit in the shade, my back to a tree.

It's only at the end of the morning I realise that my subject has not been trees or parkscape, it's been shadow.

Clissold Park - charcoal, inks 42 x 29cm

Clissold Park - charcoal 42 x 29cm

Spring sun, tree shadow

The trees are not green (yet)

Walking around South bank with a friend on Monday we stopped a couple of times to draw - the first time was spurred by the many building cranes along the north bank. I noticed the great amount of trees along the north bank - still not green.

In doing the second view,  we were amidst the people enjoying a warm Monday afternoon after work, the buzz and activity is only possible in London. It was impossible to get anything but either water or pimms at the roof top bar we were sat at. Water it was. 
A great setting, Royal Festival Hall, London Eye, with Houses of Parliament beyond, Big Ben, Hungerford Bridge, the Thames

The trees are not green (yet)

Just one more ...

                                          St Mary Abchurch, Abchurch Lane EC4

This lovely little piece of Wren is tucked away in-between King William Street and Cannon Street. I can't believe I didn't want to draw it before. This church is also home to an outfit called Friends of the City Churches. Anyway, pretty it may not be but wacky it certainly is.

Just one more ...