We drew Trafalgar Square - Saturday 12 November 2022

Midday throwdown and group photo
Photo by John Swanson

By John Swanson

It’s always a little risky arranging a sketchcrawl at this time of year. The problem is the weather: what to do if it rains? Or it’s foggy? Howling gales? So, we went with a backup plan to draw in the National Gallery, but it turned out we didn’t need it. Landseer’s lions basked in warm sunshine, and Nelson looked down benignly on the crowds idling about in shorts and t-shirts, eating ice-creams. Completely wrong for November of course, but in the circumstances the only thing to do was enjoy it.

Initial briefing
Photo by Jimmy Lu 

We gathered at 11 am. Some people had arrived earlier, and already had sketches to show. By the time the briefing began we had maybe 80 people, gathered under the rather splendid statue 'Antelope' on the Fourth Plinth.

Photo by John Webb

Then the work began. The square was already busy with tourists, but soon it was even busier with sketchers. They were everywhere. All the seats down one side of the square were taken by people squinting, measuring, sucking on pens, drawing and painting. Sketchers sat on the fountains, they inspected the lions, they set up portable easels.

Photo by Zane Karklina

Photo by Zane Karklina

Photo by Zane Karklina

At 1pm we gathered again to compare stories and sketches in the throwdown. This took place below the wall on the west side, out of the way of the crowds. However, it also meant the pictures could only be seen from one side -– or from the parapet above. With so many sketchers, this led to something of a scrum, not very satisfactory.

Seeing this, one of our number took charge: ‘Form a queue and walk past from the right! Then everyone can see!’ And after we recovered from astonishment at such a sensible idea, it all worked, brilliantly. In fact, I’d recommend future sketch organisers adopt the idea. As for the sketcher who initiated this, given the authoritative way she brought order to a disorderly bunch of independently minded citizens -– they were all artists, after all -– I’d guess she might be a teacher. Or ex-military. (I owe her both thanks and an apology, for although I did meet her, I’ve forgotten her name. Sorry, but I hope you return.)

Photo by John Swanson

The square became much livelier in the afternoon. First, there was a noisy gathering of Iranian protesters up in the north-east corner, with flags, loudspeakers and a drum.

Iranian demonstrators 
Sketch by John Swanson

Down in the square, in front of Nelson’s column, a stage had been built, and before long another demonstration arrived, this one in support of -– or possibly against — COP27. Suddenly there were more police to be seen, who, despite the hostility shown towards them by some of the speakers, treated the whole thing in a good-natured way. However, the combined racket was a bit too much for some of us, and a few sketchers drifted further afield to draw nearby scenes, like Whitehall and St James’ Palace.

The demonstration
Sketch by Katy Evans

St James's Palace
Sketch by Peggy Thistlethwaite

The afternoon throwdown was at 3.30, in the same place as before, with a perfectly operational and self-organised queueing system to view the work, all of it excellent. By the time we finished, the sun was getting low, and many of the buildings were bathed in a beautiful golden light. You might think the photographs have been photo-shopped, but they haven’t -- they really looked like that.

Afternoon throwdown and group photo
Photo by John Swanson

Trafalgar Square in golden evening light
Photo by Zane Karklina

Finally, many of us went for a cup of tea and a chat in The Crypt café at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, bringing to an end what I think was a very successful sketching day.

A selection of drawings from the day

Here are more sketches on the day -- out of very many -- chosen to represent the variety of scenes and topics we drew. The quality of work was excellent; there are many more to see on Urban Sketchers London social media accounts (see links at the end of this blog post). 

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped to make the day so much fun!

View of Trafalgar Square
Sketch by Paul Gadenne

The Fourth Plinth
Sketch by Sasala Wickramasinghe

Trafalgar Square
Sketch by Jimmy Lu

St Martin-in-the-Fields
Sketch by Bruce Bignold

View past the National Gallery towards St Martin-in-the-Fields
Sketch by James Walding

A lion of Trafalgar Square
Sketch by Cat Donne

 

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We drew Trafalgar Square - Saturday 12 November 2022