Let's Draw London in 2016

This is the provisional list of sketchcrawls and dates in 2016. Below you'll find places that we plan to visit each month and the date of the sketchcrawl where this is now definite.


More about what's Involved in organised and leading an USK London event at the end of this post.

MONTH	LET'S DRAW LONDON: PROPOSED LOCATIONS IN 2016 These may change over the course of the year
16th January	Canary Wharf  This has lots of areas with interesting architecture under cover. Examples include: the Crossrail Sky Garden) and the showpiece Canary Wharf station designed by Sir Norma Foster Crossrail Sky Garden plus "the big dig in the dock" (cranes below the water level don't happen that often!) The big dig in the dock last month PLUS a skating rink and the installation of Winter Lights
20th February	The Wallace Collection and Manchester Square Sketching in the Wallace Collection by Katherine Tyrrell
19th March	St. Pancras and British Library (under cover) St Pancras Station by James Hobbs
16th April	The Galleries: Royal Academy,  White Cube, Christies (King Street) and St. James Royal Academy - courtyard of Burlington House, Piccadilly by Katherine Tyrrell
14th May	Parliament, the Bridges and Big Ben: Houses of Parliament+ Lambeth Bridge + Westminster Bridge PLUS additional option re. Loughton Festival
18th June	Richmond: Richmond Green to Richmond Bridge - a walk along the river  Plus an option to sketch from Richmond Hill - a view protected by an act of parliament Richmond Bridge and Terrace Gardens by Nathan Brenville
23rd July - pre Symposium (provisional)	Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace via The Mall, Horseguards and Green Park This is a repeat of last August's sketchcrawl which worked very well We'll be investigating what dates work best for those coming to the UK to attend the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester - who'd also like to come to a sketchcrawl in London. Admiralty Arch - at the end of The Mall - by Lis Watkins
20th August	Different perspectives on Greenwich- see Let's Draw Greenwich - details of where and when to meet and places to sketch Meet at 11.00am, 1pm and 3.30pm under the bows of the Cutty Sark. More details follow the link to the full blog post - http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/lets-draw-greenwich.html
17th September	Little Venice and Paddington Basin Little Venice and Paddington Basin from Ladbroke Grove by Nick Kobyluch
15th October	Exploring Smithfield.
12th November	MI6 Building, Vauxhall Bridge and Tate Britain  (under cover options available within Tate Britain) MI6 Building - Spy Central! Opposite Tate Britain and adjacent to Vauxhall Bridge
10th December	Christmas in Covent Garden:Covent Garden / London Transport Museum / Royal Opera House Terrace - views down on to Covent Garden (under arcade and other under cover options) The view of the Transport Museum and Covent Garden from the terrace of the Royal Opera House

What's Involved in organised and leading an USK London event

As indicated previously, Nathan Brenville has left London for a new life in Spain and we are now actively looking for new people to help out with the organisation and leading of the sketchcrawls.


Here's what's involved in organising and leading a "Let's Draw" event for London Urban Sketchers.

It's absolutely OK for more than one person to agree to take on responsibility for an event if two or three people would like to work together. We'd be happy to advice

What needs doing

• find the best places for a large group to assemble at the beginning, lunchtime and the end. It needs to be somewhere where we don't obstruct other people
• find the places to go if it rains!
• a blog post beforehand - to provide guidance on where and when. You can ask for help with images for the post.
• take photos of people and sketches on the day - at lunchtime and at the end - and upload them to the Urban Sketchers Flickr Group Pool afterwards
• a blog post afterwards - to record the event and show what happened

You need to be....

• a regular participant in the group i.e. somebody who sketches London regularly and has
• either posted work to the Facebook Group and
• or has regularly attended Let's Draw events in 2015
• somebody who knows and observes the Urban Sketchers Manifesto
• somebody who knows the area well - or is prepared to research it in advance - we all need to know the good places to sketch!
• OK about talking to people and answering lots of questions
• Punctual - and there to provide advice to people at the beginning 
• Willing to 
• research the location e.g. where are the public toilets / places to get sandwiches and hot drinks before, during and afterwards!
• sketch less and help out more on the day

If you think you'd be interested in helping out please contact us via a comment below or speak to Katherine Tyrrell or James Hobbs at any of the Let's Draw events.

Let's Draw London in 2016

Let's Draw Blackheath followup

I've been away on my holidays recently so I didn't get chance to scan my drawings from the last sketchcrawl until now. Thanks to all those who came to the Blackheath sketchcrawl - the weather wasn't too promising but it stayed dry, if a little chilly, and there was even some sunny spells. It was also nice to meet new people and get the chance to find out a bit about everyone, which can be difficult sometimes when it's a larger group.

Blackheath is such a big, flat, open space that it can be quite challenging to capture on the page. Instead I tried to focus on details or look at the architecture. There's also still a nice village feel to Blackheath, but on a slightly grander scale.

During the course of the day we had about 25 sketchers - special thanks to those who came from outside of London! As ever, if you want to share your drawings from the day, you can find the London group pool over at Flickr.

Now that summer is over it's only going to get colder, so make sure you wrap up for the next one, in Chelsea, on the banks of the Thames. Personally I'm looking forward to sketching the Royal Chelsea Hospital, which is an amazing building, founded in 1682 no less.

Let's Draw Blackheath followup

Let's Draw Blackheath - Saturday 5th September

Hello everyone - here are the details for Saturday's coming sketchcrawl.

Blackheath in London

 The Start

Meet 11.30am - in the car park next to Blackheath Railway Station.

For most people, the train or car will be the best way to arrive into Blackheath, so this seems the easiest meeting spot - it's not normally too busy, but just look for the people clutching sketchbooks.
If you're coming from Central London then it will be immediately adjacent to the platform you alight from. If coming in from further South, then you'll have to go up the stairs to cross over.

What with the bank holiday weekend just gone, I'm sure I don't have to remind you to bring an umbrella, but still, this being England, it's good to expect the worst. It might be rainy, it'll probably be cold and a bit windy.

Blackheath tends to get lumped in with Greenwich because they're so close, but there's actually plenty to explore by itself. However, for those who haven't already seen it, it would be worth the walk over to Greenwich Park on the other side of the heath, for the city skyline view from the Royal Observatory, simply because it is magnificent, and if you're an animal lover, there's also the deer park.

If the weather proves too much, there's plenty of coffee shops, pubs and tea rooms to sit in and sketch some people or interiors.

Braving the elements there's the heath, with lots of interesting views, kite flying, and the dramatic solitary presence of All Saints Church. I also hope to show you some of the less obvious sights, including a few impressive vistas and intriguing architecture hidden down some of the side roads in the area.

Lunch

Lunchbreak will be at the Princess of Wales, overlooking the Heath, at 1.30pm. Family friendly and spacious, with a decent pub food menu, however don't feel obliged to eat lunch here; if you prefer you can find somewhere else or bring your own  to eat on the heath should it be sunny enough, this is merely a gathering point for those of you who want to, with outside and indoor options.

The End

We will end outside All Saints Church at 4pm,  for a chance to show sketches, catch up and take some photos.

As always, the event is FREE and open to all, don't forget your pencils!

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Let's Draw Blackheath - Saturday 5th September

Drawings Events Happening Soon

Hello everyone,

there are a couple of sketchcrawls/group drawing sessions both minor and major happening in the next few weeks - please feel free to come along to any or all of them!

Saturday June 28th - Brimmington Park Festival,  Peckham (near Old Kent Road)
In conjunction with the Drawing London on Location Group we'll be milling around the area making sketches of this small and vibrant community festival, and encouraging people to display their sketchbooks at our stall.
For more info, see http://www.meetup.com/Drawing-London-on-Location/events/189312502/
and http://www.brimmington-green.co.uk/

Monday, July 7th - Tour De France
It's likely to be very crowded so meeting up may prove difficult, so instead we're encouraging sketchers to find convenient spots along the route, all the way from the borders of Essex to Buckingham Palace and then share your drawings of the cyclists, the spectators etc on our Flickr group, or on Twitter with the hashtag: #drawdefrance
If you do want to try meeting up with our correspondents, Lis Watkins will be at the Fan Park not far from the finish line, in Green Park, central London for most of the afternoon, and Evelyn Rowland will be covering the Waterworks Roundabout in Waltham Forest around 2pm, whilst Katherine Tyrrell will be in the Westfield/Stratford area. Leave a comment or email the general email address for their contact details.
For more info see https://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tour-de-france-2014


Saturday 12th July - 44th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - Portobello Road
In conjunction with both the USK Oxford Workshop and the Drawing London on Location meetup.com group, we hope this will be a big one! Join us in the Notting Hill area for some outdoor summer sketching!
More details here: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=11882

We will be posting reminders nearer the time

See you soon!

Drawings Events Happening Soon

Spring at last!

After what seems like forever, the weather's finally getting warmer. My favourite time of year is when the blossom is out in full bloom; some trees are a little early this year but the rest are just starting to catch up. I couldn't resist getting outside today and drawing these trees near where I live, in Brockley - I meant to draw them last year but they blossom for such a brief period that I missed it last time around.

I've not had the opportunity to do much sketching outside lately, so it was nice to make the time, doubly so for being able to sit in the sun without worrying about taking a jacket!

I'll be trying to catch a few more blossom trees before it all gets blown away. Although he was referring to hawthorn blossom, which arrives slightly later, David Hockney's term 'Action Week' applies equally well to the cherry blossom; it doesn't last long, so it's worth making the time for a sketch!

Spring at last!

Down By The River - Greenwich Sketchcrawl

Sketchers at the start point on Saturday morning

If you passed through the Cutty Sark DLR station at 11a.m. on Saturday, you would have been hard pressed to miss the large group of sketchers gathered there for the start of the 2nd Urban Sketchers London sketchcrawl. All in all, over 50 people showed up to draw Greenwich on a beautiful sunny day. I should say thanks to the Drawing London on Location group on Meetup.com for helping spread the word. It was very inspiring meeting so many talented artists with so many diverse styles and approaches, and I'm only sorry I didn't get to see more of other people's work and watch everyone in action. 

Although I love Greenwich Park, and am excited to see it open again (at least, most of it is) after the Olympics, I knew I'd be spending most of my time around the waterfront - with both the Greenwich Foot Tunnel and the Cutty Sark ship recently being unveiled from beneath the scaffolding and boards they've been shrouded in for the past year or two, this area feels quite fresh and new to me, and I was keen to get acquainted with it.
I managed the above and started on a view of the Foot Tunnel before lunch came - fortunately I didn't have far to go, our midway point was right where I was sitting!

Sketchers gather for lunch and to see each other's work

By the time I finished this drawing I realised I was running out of time, so I hurriedly made my way past Greenwich Pier and into the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, where the sight of this tree attracted me. Because I felt I had to be quicker with this one, I deliberately cropped my sketch to this narrow column, which actually proved fun - I think I may experiment with more oddly shaped compositions in future rather than the usual 'picture frame' shape.



The last picture I did was a quick sketch of Goddard's Pie & Mash shop. I was fond of the original, which I have also sketched in the past, although the site is now Gourmet Burger Kitchen; earlier this year they reopened in a different location, and I felt I should try and draw this new establishment too.

For lunch I bought a takeaway single pie and mash here, however I didn't get to enjoy it as it was pilfered by an ambitious pigeon when my back was turned. 

 
There was just time to get to the end point for 4pm at the park gates where we had a group photo taken by Osman, a photographer for local paper the News Shopper.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a good look at everyone's artwork when it was laid out, as it was pretty crowded, so I hope I get to see more on the Flickr group for those who feel like posting their work (there's already a lot of great stuff up there!). I always find it hugely inspiring to see the different ways in which people tackle the same or similar subjects.

Thank you to everyone who came along for making it a success, I look forward to meeting you all again on future crawls!

Down By The River - Greenwich Sketchcrawl

Drawing on (film) Location

Earlier this week I watched the film "Blow-Up", by Michelangelo Antonioni, filmed on location in London in 1966, and I was startled to recognise within the first five minutes a road in Peckham that I cycle down nearly every day.

Antonioni's 'Blow-Up' (1966)

As you can see, very little has changed. I also learned some interesting local history as a result of sketching here - it was the site of a workhouse built in 1878, which from the 1930s became Camberwell Reception Centre, one of London's largest "dosshouses", which is how it's shown in the film. It's now a block of flats.

One thing I liked about the film was the choice of locations, especially coming from a foreign director; it's often held up as capturing the "Swinging London" of the Sixties, yet Antonioni deliberately avoids the iconic city shots - no Waterloo Bridge, no Trafalgar Square, no Houses of Parliament etc. Instead, most of the exterior shots are of nondescript backstreets and grimy alleyways. The exceptions are Regent Street and Picadilly, both of which feature as barely more than gateways to more narrow backstreets, and the park, which is similarly small, unassuming and anonymous: Maryon Park, in Charlton.

Another scene from Blow-Up, the protagonist dashes from tree to tree to secretly photograph a couple

Some clever photography made this area of the park seem larger than it actually is, but it's still recognisable - only the fence has gone. One thing that stood out to me when I watched the movie was how empty the park was - it didn't seem plausible that there'd be so few people wandering around, but in actual fact, when I went up the hill to draw the above, there was no one around. Ironically, the whole time I was there, the only people who came past were a couple - I should have got them to recreate the poses of the photographs in the movie, but... they would've thought I was crazy.

 The last scene in the film was a memorable one - a mimed tennis match in which everyone playing and watching treats as real. Again, nothing has changed in 46 years, only the addition of a hedge.

I rather enjoy revisiting places like this, that on the face of it have no real aesthetic appeal, that seem very ordinary and unexciting, but have a secret significance below the surface, accessible to anyone - all you have to do is look - and you find these places have been photographed, filmed or painted many years ago. Going back to sketch them is a way of engaging with this forgotten history.

Last year I did the same with Pissarro's London paintings, when I discovered he had lived just a few miles away. I searched for the places he had painted in the local area and drew them as they are today. A lot had changed, but it was fun to walk in the footsteps of a great artist.
London is so rich in visual history, I'd be interested to know if other people have done the same, and if so, of what?

Drawing on (film) Location

Next London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl !

Hi everyone. Following on from the great success of our first sketchcrawl organised by Pete Scully a couple months ago, I'm pleased to announce the second USk London sketchcrawl in Royal Greenwich, on Saturday September 15th. 

There's a huge variety of things to draw in a relatively small space - the Thames, a 19th century ship, bustling markets, the Royal Naval College, the park, churches, pubs, the observatory, deer, parakeets, the London city skyline, and many more things I've probably forgotten. 

There will still be some Olympic structures in the process of coming down/grass areas being reseeded for the next few months, but I've been assured by the tourist info that the park will be largely accessible by the 15th. 

I started this drawing from atop the hill almost a year ago, so I may have to go back and finish it off!

There should hopefully be a mailout soon to everyone who gave their details last time. In the meantime, if you have any questions please get in touch via email or leave a comment below.

Look forward to seeing you all in a months time outside the Cutty Sark DLR station, 11am!

Next London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl !

Meet the correspondents: Nathan Brenville

I first came to London as a student in 2001, and I fell in love with the city immediately. Although I grew up in the North West of England, I think of London as my home. Apart from a brief sojourn in Baker St, NW1, I've lived the best part of ten years in South East London, in various places between Camberwell and Lewisham (as the drunken crow flies), and consequently the places that are dearest to me are mostly scattered around the South East.

It wasn't until around two years ago that it occurred to me to draw any of these places however, but once I discovered location drawing, I couldn't stop. The excitement of capturing places - their architecture, their atmosphere, the colours, the shadows, the people flowing in and out, having on paper your own emotional response to being somewhere at a certain point in time, when that happened there was no going back. The camera and I didn't speak for quite some time, I was pretty angry that it had kept me dependent on it for so long.

The first few sketchbooks I kept of location drawing were mostly all of trips abroad, I found it a wonderful way of engaging with your environment intensely, to soak up as much as you can before having to leave it behind.

But after nearly ten years of living, working and commuting in London I was looking to reconnect with my home environment too, and I decided the best way would be to go back to all of my favourite places around the city and begin to sketch them. I soon discovered there were far more than I'd realised, and sitting there, really looking at places I thought I knew well opened my eyes to much more. I began to investigate the history of the locations, to find connections between sites, to discover just how intertwined all of London is, in its personalities, its fashions, its parks and streets.

The Horniman Museum, Forest Hill

Even better, with living here, I was in no rush to finish my sketches but had the luxury of coming back, of finishing drawings at a later date or drawing it again in a different season, weather, or time of day. I'm three quarters of the way through my London sketchbook (or more accurately, 'My London' sketchbook), slowed down mostly by being back at university, but I feel more excited than ever to be living here; it's fuelled my desire to draw and it's helped me rediscover the city afresh. On top of that, and perhaps best of all, through drawing London I discovered there are other people out there drawing London, or England, Europe, Asia, America, all over the world, one drawing at a time - being part of the Urban Sketchers community continually provides invaluable inspiration and encouragement, so contributing to this blog is really exciting for me.

I will share some of the drawings of my favourite places and their stories, but also other sketchbooks of the new places I find or familiar, unassuming spots that suddenly leap out at me and demand to be drawn. The more you draw, the more you find to draw.

Dulwich Park in summer

I like to sketch the places that don't normally get a lot of attention, the places people pass by without giving a second glance. I usually prefer the everyday London to the tourist London, and delight in drawing (literally) out the hidden histories of ordinary looking buildings, trees and spaces.

You can find a lot of my location drawings on Flickr.

I also have a blog in which I post more general artwork, from comics to animations and various other pieces, at www.tinmouse.com.

I'm currently studying for an MA in Animation at Central Saint Martins.

I'm looking forward to meeting all the other London artists out there on our future sketchcrawls.

Meet the correspondents: Nathan Brenville