St Paul's and the Thames - we've got to do it again!

The general consensus from yesterday's sketchcrawl by London Urban Sketchers was that there was absolutely masses to draw and we need to go back!

We were sketching in the area around St Paul's Cathedral and down to the north bank of the Thames - next to the Millennium Bridge - see TODAY is "Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames" and the map created in Google Maps/Drive of the area and key places

I think this location will become a regular feature of our sketchcrawls in future years!
This is a photograph of one venue which blew people away with the views!

Sketching after lunch from the Roof Terrace of One New Change

and here's a sketch of the same by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan.

Roof terrace at 1 New Change by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan

New people

Yet again we saw several new people join the group of London Urban Sketchers. Please note there is absolutely no requirement to live and work in London to join the group.

A warm welcome is extended anybody who likes drawing London - and this month we welcome:

From outside London

• Marissa Lee Swinghammer - living in Oxford since February, late of Boston, Massachusetts
• Chuck Stull from Kalamazoo Michigan, currently on sabbatical in Oxford.
• Sue Smith from Cambridge
• Laura Moore - from I'm not quite sure where but I think it might be the Herts/Essex borders! 
• Debbie Eyre from the Birmingham Urban Sketchers

From London

• Sue Thurlow - from London
• Homephoenix Wong - from London
• Chatelle Jeram, living in Hackney, East London. Just moved to the UK this month.
• Rosaline Darby from Long Ditton in Surrey (only just outside London!)
• John Swanson from Twickenham
• Jo Coombes from Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey

and we hope to see your sketches on Facebook or on Flickr very soon! :)

Do please let us know if you are new and where you come from - we're always pleased to see new faces and to link up with you.  You can leave a comment at the end of this post.....

Logistics

On a practical note, we've certainly noticed that emphasising that:

• the "Let's Draw" event is FREE; and
• there's no need to book

gets a very positive response from people! :) 

However it would be great to also get some feedback about the maps. The use of a map link embedded in the notice of the "Let's Draw" even seems to be working quite well - for all those with smartphones. I think maybe we need to think about creating a downloadable pdf for those with no phone but access to a printer.  This saves organisers from having to personally cut down trees to print off maps ;) - but more to the point means that when the organiser's printer has decided not to work(!!) we still have a way of getting the "where is everything" out to people.

Some photos from the day

I'm going to show you in this blog post how much easier it is for me to include your sketches if you tweet them!

Here's kickoff under cover at the top of the steps in front of St Paul's and that's me up on the little ledge so people could hear me more clearly over the noise of the traffic and the tourists.

London's urban sketchers gather at St Paul's. #urbansketchers #sketchcrawl pic.twitter.com/Gx21A03BJ5
— UrbanSketchersLondon (@UrbSketchLondon) April 25, 2015

Here we all are at lunchtime

London Urban Sketchers on the Roof Terrace of One New Change at lunchtime

and here are our sketches at that stage

St Paul's and the Thames - we've got to do it again!