Fun in the sun in E3

[Evelyn Rowland]
Lovely afternoon near Bow flyover. I gravitated to the familiar sight of a clock tower rather than attack the algae and foliage. Tried a different method of working this time, more paint, less pencil. If I had got there earlier in the day, I probably could have managed another one.

Fun in the sun in E3

Bit late in the day, Imperial War Museum

[By Evenlyn Rowland] After wandering around looking at tanks and cars and warheads, I decided to go with the delightful handrail and newell post of the stairway. Good subject as not a lot of people wanted to crowd round and look at it and I could stand at a reasonably close distance to get enough of it on the page and still see the reflection details. I think I had lunch between start and finish. Anyway, a jolly good visit with the intrepid London USk-ers.

Bit late in the day, Imperial War Museum

The Pavilion, but not in a cricket sort of way.

The August Sketchcrawl with Jo and Nicky was in a brilliant location. I stayed close to base, found a fence to lean against, and spent the time before lunch studying Francis Kéré's addition to Kensington Gardens.

The Pavilion, but not in a cricket sort of way.

Brunel Road, Chigwell

Cute little road of Victorian terraced houses and atmospheric trees in the background. These sort of scenes just cry out for a bit of pencil; match made in heaven for me! 

Brunel Road, Chigwell

A little amusement in Woodford

By the Cross Road bus stop to be precise. A delightful picturesque setting with a duck pond, complete with ducks and Canadian Geese, a bench, and Weeping Willows (not all shown). I've often contemplated drawing this scene but never quite managed it, owing to the W14 turning up and blocking my view for 10 minutes.

A little amusement in Woodford

Good old fashioned fun

Down by the Cutty Sark, this looked fantastic against the cloudy sky and the tower blocks on the other side of the river. Not that I managed to get the watercolours out to record it's lovely paint work of course. No, I was too busy getting the all metal supports in.

Good old fashioned fun

The Bloom Bar

This is the prettier half of a pair of Georgian shop fronts in South Woodford High Road. The other one is a Financial Advisor's office. I see this place everyday and I always thought, "I'll do it another day." Which is the problem when something seems so accessible; there is always another chance. So, last Thursday, on my way home, I used up the last sheet of my Fabriano A5.

The Bloom Bar

Pizza Chicken Fry-up

Old skool restaurant in Mile End Road, just past the yellow bridge (forerunner of the Garden Bridge scheme). I just love the black and white tiles and the orange. And the fact that it's ordinary. The Happy Chippy round the corner in Grove Road is now a pizza place in dark matt grey paint. I never thought I'd get nostalgic about tacky photos on acrylic signage, but I have.

Pizza Chicken Fry-up

St Botolph without Aldersgate, Postman's Park

I've been itching to get out and draw something without freezing to the spot. On other attempts I've been thwarted by the trees, so today I gave up and let them in.

St Botolph without Aldersgate, Postman's Park

Wardour Street, W1

When I was in my teens, I thought this was the most exciting street on earth. Number 160 is now the Yamaha Music shop but still bears an acknowledgement to the company it was built for in 1906, Novello's Music Publishers. This was my second visit, I didn't get much done on the first visit because it was way too hot, and this afternoon it started raining. I'll be back ...

Wardour Street, W1

Bus Stop H

Not the most inspiring title I know but it is true. After two visits to Waitrose in South Woodford, I had justified two large blue milk lattes and a chocolate torsade. This is the little group of higgledy piggledy buildings on view from the new 'bar' area by the check outs. Much nicer to be able to set up shop, sitting down.

Bus Stop H

Urban Sketchers go to Silvertown

Lis Watkins, Millennium Mills

London's Urban Sketchers were recently invited to draw Silvertown, a major £3.5 billion regeneration project in east London that will turn the derelict post-industrial wasteland into what aims to be the city's "new creative capital", with 3,000 new homes and 21,000 new jobs. Named after its 19th-century founder Samuel Winkworth Silver, it handled much of the old Empire's exports and imports until the 1960s when containerisation and new docks downstream took over. What remains - monumental, crumbling, windswept, beautiful – is Millennium Mills, once home to Rank Hovis MacDougall and Spillers, and Silo D, a surviving grain silo. Set by the Thames in a wealth of concrete, graffiti, aircraft noise and wildlife-rich greenery, the site is an exciting and evocative place to draw.

From left: Sue Pownall, Evelyn Rowland, Lis Watkins, James Hobbs,
Julie Bolus, Isabelle Laliberté, Olha Pryymak and Nathan Brenville

Because work is underway at the 62-acre site numbers were limited to eight. We will be returning as it develops over the years so other regular urban sketchers in London may get a chance to visit it to draw. This post includes the work of four of us from the first visit: Lis Watkins, Julie Bolus, Evelyn Rowland and me, James Hobbs. The work of the other four – Nathan Brenville, Isabelle Laliberté, Sue Pownall and Olha Pryymak – will follow in Nathan's post.

Julie Bolus, Millennium Mills

The site is a forbidding place. It is reached from a high footbridge over the Thames near the Excel Centre, where planes for City Airport fly low overhead. Security is tight, and there are dogs on the site. The area inside is huge and bleak, but strangely appealing to draw. Within minutes we were scattered across the site. Our high visability jackets – bearing the logo of the asbestos removal specialists working in Millennium Mills – meant it was possible to pick each other out on the other side of the wilderness at what seemed miles away.

Evelyn Rowland, Silo D

What is planned for all this? Millennium Mills and Silo D will be home to businesses and restaurants, the Crossrail link will connect it to the rest of the city and beyond, there will be new amenities for people already living there, such as schools and health services, a piazza the size of Covent Garden, new bridges and walkways... but this is all a long way off.

James Hobbs, looking west

Silvertown has been a popular backdrop for films and music videos. Yet quite why something grim in so many ways is so moving I'm struggling to understand. What is so alluring about urban desolation? London's sights are visible in the distance: Gherkin, Cheesegrater, Dome, Canary Wharf and the cable car. But Silvertown is still a twinkle in the developer's eye. Whatever it becomes, it can never be more lovely than it is now.

Lis Watkins, Millennium Mills

Julie Bolus, Millennium Mills

Evelyn Rowland, Fire escape

James Hobbs, Millennium Mills

Our thanks to the Silvertown Partnership for inviting us. There are more images by the other artists on Nathan's blog, which follows this one.

Urban Sketchers go to Silvertown

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 ...

A bit of the ordinary with a pretty name

                          Daisy Road, South Woodford, E18

I was in search of new chimney pots to draw and there was a lovely hazy blue distance, with pylons, to go with them! There aren't many good distance views round here but fortunately there is a road bridge over the Central Line. Pretty nippy at this time of year though.

A bit of the ordinary with a pretty name

Odd shop in Burdett Road, Mile End

Sandwiched between a couple of food shops is Telrose Carpets. It's windows are somewhat distressed but they still have the original coloured lights and painted metal frames. The properties on either side have exactly the same brickwork but four windows of the same proportions us the top floor ones here.  Good to see something pleasantly out of place once in a while.

Odd shop in Burdett Road, Mile End

Down the High Road, South Woodford

at the junction with Glebelands Avenue, is this little terrace. I drew them from somewhere near the bus stop opposite the Odeon. I liked the evening shadows and the chimney pots of course. As a pencil drawing, it had been hanging around since the end of the summer, rattling on at me, "go on, get out the paint, you know you need to." Which was true, so I felt the fear, and did it anyway. 

Down the High Road, South Woodford

Saturday night down the O2

Before Madness

I was fortunate to be given a free VIP box ticket for Madness' last night of their world tour. So while waiting for the support act to begin, I drew the very ordinary view of all the trappings of a world stage before the stars and the pretty lights come on.

Saturday night down the O2

Trinity Buoy Wharf, well, almost

From East India Dock, E14

Having chosen to take the scenic route, which meant my walk was twice as long, I was rewarded by a lovely misty view of the cable cars. Things are so much more magical when you can't see them properly. I'm glad I got this done before joining the rest of the Urban Sketchers and Campaign for Drawing-ers as I didn't pick my pencil up again for the rest of the day. Rain dampens my spirits.

Trinity Buoy Wharf, well, almost

"... away above the chimney pots ..."

Mile End Road, E2

Grove Road, E2

Perhaps it is all down to Judy Garland, I mean, can any of us look at chimneys without thinking of her? I can't stand it when the stacks are capped off or the originals are replaced with an apology of  ghastly short stumps. Anyway, Mile End has quite a good outcrop and I enjoyed getting a few more in, and their shops which are fortunate enough to own them.

"... away above the chimney pots ..."

"In a street where you live"

 Grove Hill, South Woodford E18

High Road, South Woodford E18

Well, almost. I thought I'd go local again, with my first love, the 0.5 HB clutch. I remember listening to Ken Howard a while ago saying, "You don't have to go to Venice." Yes I know he did, and he has a studio there but mine is my living room, in South Woodford.

"In a street where you live"