Hertford Union Canal - City High Rise and Canal Boats

View of the City of London and the Hertford Union Canal from Three Colts Bridge
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook | © Katherine Tyrrell

Here in East London, we have an awful lot of very colourful canal boats tied up along the sides of the Hertford Union and Regent Canals.

If I sit at Three Colts Bridge - between Gunmaker Lane and Victoria Park - I can also see the 'Gherkin' and 'Cheese Grater' in the City of London

However I'm practising drawing water at the moment.......

.....and Canada Geese in perspective!

Hertford Union Canal - City High Rise and Canal Boats

St Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern

The City of London, St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge
from the Members Room, Tate Modern
11.5" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The Members' Room at Tate Modern is on the sixth floor and provides stunning views of the City of London and the River Thames

You can see what I mean via this virtual tour of the Members Room At Tate Modern - complete view views

This sketch was done sat at one of the tables next to the windows looking out at the view. In the background is the dome and structure of St Paul's Cathedral. In the foreground is the City of London School and the Millennium Bridge.

One of the other attractive features of sketching from a position which is so high up is that you also get a brilliant perspective on some great clouds.

St Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern

Fleet Street and Temple Church

Fleet Street and the Law Courts
9" x 12", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are my sketches from the First Sketchcrawl by Urban Sketchers London on 26th May 2012.

My first sketch was done while sat at the rear of St Clement Danes Church at the point where Aldwych becomes Fleet Street.  The very impressive buildings which are the Royal Courts of Justice were on my left.  I tried pen and ink so as to avoid too much rubbing out of pencil and then added coloured pencils.  I strengthened the latter when I got home.

In the foreground you can see of two other sketches from that day's sketchcrawl.

Below is a map of the area of the Sketchcrawl.  This is a link to a Google Map I've started of the locations of where I sat to draw these views - Urban Sketches London

View Larger Map

My second sketch was done not far in the Inner Temple - not from where we had the lunchtime get-together to look at the morning sketches.

I sat on the steps next to the cloister and looking across to the oldest and round part of Temple Church.  The Church was built by the Knights Templar (crusading monks) and was designed to remind them of the circular Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which was the holiest place in the Crusaders’ world.  Today it is better know to some as one of the locations in The Da Vinci Code.

This is the church of Inner and Middle Temple, two of England’s four ancient societies of lawyers, the Inns of Court
Temple Church website

Temple Church
12" x 9", pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The perspective was a bit of a challenge so I decided to go with pencil in the first instance and created a tonal sketch before adding in some colour.  I then strengthened the colour when I got home

This is how to find your way to the Temple Chuch Access for pedestrians after 20.30 on weekdays and all weekend is via Tudor Street only.

Dr Johnson's House and Hodge the cat
Gough Square
pen ans sepia ink

My third sketch was a very fast one, done in a few minutes, at the end of the Sketchcrawl in Gough Square.  I sat on the bench and drew the house of Dr Johnson the famous writer and the statue of Hodge his cat.

This is what Boswell had to say about Hodge in his account of Dr Johnson

I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. I am, unluckily, one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the presence of this same Hodge. I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr. Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, 'Why yes, Sir, but I have had cats whom I liked better than this;' and then as if perceiving Hodge to be out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.'

Fleet Street and Temple Church

Launch of the Art of Urban Sketching in London

London Urban Sketchers showed their sketchbooks and talked about their favourite materials and methods at Cass Art, Islington on Saturday 19 May. They were busy all afternoon, and the book got an excellent response from shoppers!

Zhenia Vasiliev talks about urban sketching

Adebanji Alade demonstrates his approach to drawing faces

KatherineTyrrell demonstrates coloured pencil technique

James Hobbs talks about  sketching

Launch of the Art of Urban Sketching in London

Sketching period gardens at the Geffreye Museum

Geffreye Museum Gardens - April 2012
20th Century Period Garden (Edwardian 1900 -1914) in foreground
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on Arches HP, 9" x 12"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

The Geffreye Museum is a museum of the home and garden between 1600 and the present day in Hoxton.  There are a set of period gardens to match the period rooms.

What I like best about Spring is the very fresh crisp vibrant leaf colours on the trees which tend to dull down as the months progress. 


This is the view - on a showery day - of the 20th century - Edwardian Garden (1900-1914) via the windows of the extremely nice cafe.  I wasn't too successful in getting the subtle and very pale purple colours of the wisteria over the pergola (bottom right).  The dark elongated pyramid structure in the middle is a Pelargonium Pyramid in the Mid-Late Victorian Garden (1860-1890)


See The gardens at the Geffreye Museum on my sketchbook blog for more about my visit and the museumand its gardens

Sketching period gardens at the Geffreye Museum

Several street cafes sketches

Several sketches from a refreshed, long-due sun-lit London!

From a street cafe in East London, on the crossing of Great Eastern Street and Leonard Street:

View from Hemingford Arms, Islington, in the evening:

Pigeons on a street lamp, Small Market Street, Angel:

People at Canteen, in Southbank (this one is actually done indoors):

Several street cafes sketches

Cherry blossom in West Smithfield

Cherry blossom in West Smithfield
(garden to the left and Smithfield market in background)
11.5" x 17", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

I've just returned to London and seeing all the cherry blossom everywhere reminds me very much of a pleasant hour or so sat sketching this sunny scene in West Smithfield in April two years ago.

You can thank the Japanese Ukiyo-e artists Hokusai and Hiroshige for reminding me of the strength of designs in their pictures of cherry trees and that you can have a tree trunk which is barely in the picture plane!

My blog post then The Courtauld, Old Bank of England and West Smithfield tells you about the very considerable history behind this place and its connections with both Wat Tayler and William Wallace.

Cherry blossom in West Smithfield

London spring street and park reportage

All of them are very quick, done almost on the run.

Shoreditch E1 - near the art shop:


Regents Park:


Covent garden crowd on Sunday:

London spring street and park reportage

The River Thames at Kew in March

Earlier this month - in the first spell of good weather - we went down to Kew Gardens twice in one week.  We also left the gardens via the Brentford Gate and walked on the towpath next to the River Thames wile the tide was out.

I sketched this view sat nearly opposite Syon House.  I started it on the Monday and finished it on the Thursday.  It has the soft hazy colours of a warm day which started with fog!

The Thames at Kew - looking towards Richmond 12 and 15 March 2012
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

You can read more about the place and my visit here on my sketchbook blog - The Thames at Kew - in March sunshine

The River Thames at Kew in March

Meet the correspondents: Zhenia Vasiliev

For me, both a graphic designer and illustrator, drawing is rather a process of thinking rather producing a finished piece. I love to think about how things look like, and drawing helps me with this, so sketching is a big part of my profession.

Regrettably, my full-time work schedule does not allow me to do full-scale sketching sessions too often, so most of the time I do a sketch on the go, whenever I am - so any place around London will suit me as a sketcher. I love working on along Regents canal, sketching birds, trees and people in the parks, or make a quick street scene from a cafe window, especially when it's cold outside.

I love trying all of the art materials and exploring how different materials work together in a sketch. When I go out of the house, I just grab something that lies on my work table - a bunch of colour pencils, a waterbrush, a watercolour box or just a ballpoint pen. All the materials are worth exploring and give a new dimension to my work.

Visit my blog and check out my flickr.

Marble Arch, waterbrush, india ink

Traffic jam, colour pencils, from an upper deck of a double decker bus.

Upper street sketch, North London, watercolour

Meet the correspondents: Zhenia Vasiliev

Meet the correspondents: Katherine Tyrrell

I've been sketching on a regular basis for about twenty years. I now carry a sketchbook all the time and use pen and ink and coloured pencils to record my sketches of different places in London.

Six years ago I started to post my sketches on my blogs, then in October 2008 I became a member of Urban Sketchers. I'm now very proud to now be a founder member of Urban Sketchers London.

Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils, 11" x 16 in Moleskine sketchbook
all rights reserved Katherine Tyrrell

The best bit about sketching for me is the way it helps to remember a place so much better than any photo I could ever take.

I also sketch because it helps me to 'see' pictures everywhere I go. It also gives me a better record of colours than photos and helps me draw fast - which means I get to sketch more and more!

I love the challenge of creating composite sketches out of the people who come and go in galleries and cafés.

Fish! supper in Borough Market
pen and ink in Moleskine Sketchbook
all rights reserved Katherine Tyrrell

What I sketch

I'm primarily attracted to finding the green places in an urban environment....

Syon Vista, Kew Gardens - from the Palm House
coloured pencils, 11" x 16" in Moleskine sketchbook
all rights reserved Katherine Tyrrell

....and the views and heritage associated with the River Thames — like the view of London and the Thames from Greenwich Park in my photo - and the views of the Thames at Bankside outside Tate Modern below.

The Thames at Bankside
coloured pencils, 8" x 10" in Moleskine sketchbook
all rights reserved Katherine Tyrrell

The spine of my London sketch trail is the River Thames. My sketchbook blog - Travels with a Sketchbook - has a record of recent sketches of London in four groups:

1. the River Thames from Richmond and Kew Gardens in the west, through central London to Greenwich in the east
2. Parks, gardens and green spaces in London
3. Interiors in Central London - mainly art museums and galleries and places to eat and drink
4. Interesting buildings and architecture in London

I also enjoy sharing information about the places seen in my sketches and the practical aspects about good places to go to sketch on my blog. I'm using it to create a virtual sketch trail about different areas I've visited.

Where you can see more of my sketches

You can see more of my sketches in:

• My sketchbook blog: Travels with a Sketchbook (featured in and recommended by "The Times" newspaper 25.2.11)
• My online sketchbook on my website

I also love botanical art - and you can see one of my drawings at the 2012 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - at Westminster Central Hall next month - 20-29th April 2012.

You can also read more about the art galleries and museums and the exhibitions I visit (and sketch) in my main art blog: Making A Mark - which is #3 in the top 25 art blogs in the UK

Meet the correspondents: Katherine Tyrrell