Outside London's Facebook HQ

[By James Hobbs] I've been drawing the London offices of some of the companies involved with misusing our data to help bring about the rise of Donald Trump and the UK's departure from the European Union. You can find it here, on my blog.

The London's Urban Sketchers Facebook page, I should add, can be found here.

Outside London's Facebook HQ

UPDATE: re Let's Draw Canary Wharf 16 January 2016

This is an update on places to meet, places to sketch and the weather for Let's Draw Canary Wharf - 16th January 2016. The VENUES FOR LUNCH AND FINISH HAVE CHANGED.

The weather forecast

First the good news. BBC Weather is predicting sunshine all day. The bad news is it goes with temperatures of about 3 degrees!

This is fine for sketching so long as you dress appropriately!

• It's ESSENTIAL you dress with layers, wear your thermals and a warm hat! My fingerless gloves with mitten tops will also be coming out with me tomorrow. 
• you have insulation between your rear and a very cold fixed seat outdoors. I also recommend carrying least a paper to sit on or seating pad! Thick trousers also help. Otherwise you must stand or need a stool.

Venues

I trecked round Canary Wharf on Wednesday to check out all the venues in detail - and took lots of photos so I can describe them to you. Plus I have maps for a few people!

If you have never been before the layout is VERY CONFUSING - but well signposted.

This is the Google Map of venues detailed below


I do recommend you grab one of the map guides as soon as you arrive. They're very easy to find in the shopping malls. I've already picked up some which I will bring with me but it won't be enough for everybody.


Please remember the whole of Canary Wharf is PRIVATE PROPERTY. The rules for what we can and cannot do may be different from the public domain (which this is not). However I've never had problems taking photos.

Start Venue - 11:00am at Canary Wharf DLR Ticket Concourse (Cabot Place)

We'll meet next to the clock inbetween the UP escalators to the platforms 4 & 5 at Canary Wharf DLR Station (ie NOT the Jubilee Line). It's on the same level as the Oyster Card readers and one floor below the level of the platforms.  So if you're arriving via this route you need to come down the escalators and walk across to the up escalators side. There's lots of room in the vicinity for a large group to congregate and not block people getting around.

This is what the clock looks like - next to the escalator and stairs UP to platforms 4 and 5.

The DLR Station Clock on the ticket concourse below the platform level
and between the escalators going up to the platforms

You can go back up the stairs (no need to use your Oyster card if you are not travelling) and sketch the amazing architecture of the DLR station from the platforms (see below)

Or you can walk out the doors to the right of this pic and visit the Sky Garden at Crossrail Place (see below)

Lunchtime - 1:00pm at Jubilee Place Shopping Mall

This is the below ground level of the Jubilee Place Shopping Mall
- lots of places to get food, hot soup and hot drinks
- and it's VERY WARM!

I'm CHANGING THE VENUE FOR LUNCH from the Sky Garden to Jubilee Place Shopping Centre (which is below ground level) for two reasons:

1. It's LOVELY AND WARM! I recommend this as a place to stay close to if you need to go and warm up periodically for 10 minutes or so during the day!
2. It has lots of places where people can get food and hot drinks e.g. M&S; Starbucks, Costa Coffee etc. We'll also be meeting up here afterwards (more below)

I suggest we meet near these columns.

This is what the entrance to the Shopping Centre looks like in the centre of Jubilee Place Park. Note how you get in as you go as finding your way out again is not obvious!

Entrance to the Jubilee Place Shopping Mall - and warmth and food

FINISH - 3:30pm Canary Wharf Underground Station (West Entrance)

I'm CHANGING THE FINISH VENUE to the Jubilee Line TfL Station between Jubilee Place and Middle Dock - for those going home on the tube. Beware there are three entrances and there are two photographic clues to which is the right one below

 Again we have lots of space to congregate near the station and lots to sketch for those who get there early!

Jubilee Line Underground Station (West Entrance)
- between Jubilee Place Park and Middle Dock (and close to the DLR station)

If when facing the station (as in the above photo) you can see these clocks if you look left then you've got the right entrance to the Underground!

If you look left while facing the underground entrance and can see these clocks you are at the right entrance!
Walk past these clocks, through the doors and turn left to get back to the DLR Station

AFTERWARDS - 4:pm Crush Fit Food

So we'll walk from the station back into the park and down the escalators to where we met and lunch and this time we'll go to Crussh Fit Food and Juice Bar Unit 21 Jubilee Place. I had a good look round for a suitable place to meet up afterwards. This was the only place that didn't have lots of teeny tables.

This is what it looks like - you can also see it the centre of the previous view of the Jubilee Place shopping Mall - below ground view.

It also does hot soups and coffees and teas!

Crussh in Jubilee Place

Places to Sketch

Canary Wharf DLR

Use the up escalators from where we meet to get to the platforms

I've checked and there's nothing to stop people going up to the platforms to sketch - you don't need to use your Oyster card. I do recommend you stay well out of the way of people who are travelling. There's a good amount of space at either end of the platforms which don't get busy.

DLR platforms and concave roof - plus note the fixed seats

The view from the other end of the platform

Crossrail Place Sky Garden

To get to the Sky Garden:

• face the clock on the ticket concourse at the DLR station and then turn right and walk through the doors and down to the street
• Turn right and walk up to Crossrail Place - the long covered bridge to Crossrail Place (marked as Adams Plaze Bridge on the map). Walk down the bridge past the photography exhibition of wildlife at Canary Wharf. 

the entrance to Crossrail Place - the bridge which leads to the Sky Garden.
There are great views of the architecture from this level

There are great views across the dock from the windows at the end of the bridge.

Inside Crossrail Place

• turn right and go up the up escalator
• at the top you come out at the side of a bar/restaurant. Walk straight ahead and you'll come to this view of the Sky Garden. 
• The roof is partially open and partially closed and you're protected from stiff breezes. There are lots of seats to sit on around the garden - and there are toilets!

You can sit under one end of the Sky Garden and sketch the geometry and the tree ferns!

If you enter the "Big Easy" bar and restaurant, they may open up their end terrace for you if you buy something to eat or drink. You can then draw this view

The view from the Big Easy - across West India Quay DLR Station

Winter Lights

The Winter Lights are not going to be on until 4pm. I didn't see much evidence of them and some were still being put up. The best place to see them is Jubilee Place Park and Montgomery Square.

Winter Lights Jubilee Place

Ice skating rink - Canada Place Park

You can stand around the ice rink and see through perspex windows around the larger part of the rink. There are also limited places to get alongside the rink. Those wanting to stay indoors to sketch skaters might like to investigate the Wahacca Bar at Canary Wharf (in the background of this photo). I didn't go inside so I don't know if it works as a venue but it seems to be the only place which provides a top down perspective

The ice rink is built up above the ground - viewing is through windows around the rink

The big dig in West India Dock

You can see this from Montgomery Square. It's now much bigger than when I last saw it in November.

The Big Dig in the Dock - lots of cranes

UPDATE: re Let's Draw Canary Wharf 16 January 2016

Let's Draw Canary Wharf - 16th January 2016

The next Let's Draw event for urban sketchers in London will be at Canary Wharf on Saturday 16th January 2016. 

PLEASE NOTE THIS IMPORTANT UPDATE RE CHANGE OF VENUES FOR LUNCH AND FINISH
UPDATE: re Let's Draw Canary Wharf 16 January 2016

_____________________________________

Our events are always FREE to anybody who would like to turn up and have a go at urban sketching.

Here are 

• the details of venues and times for start/lunch/finish 
• more information about what's on offer to sketch.

Note that sketching the Lumiere 'objects d'art' will be best after 4pm so I'm assuming those that want to sketch them at their best will want to stay later. 

I'm assuming some people may not have been to Canary Wharf before so am providing a bit more information than usual. I'd make very sure you have access to a printout of a good map - or one on your phone - as it can be confusing at times - although well signposted.

Canary Wharf Station

TIMES & PLACES 

• START venue/time: Canary Wharf Station @ 11:00 UPDATE: next to the clock on the ticket concourse between the up escalators to the platforms
• LUNCH: 1:00pm - Crossrail Sky Garden - in the North Dock (semi-circular seating area - see photo) You will see signposts to the Sky Garden.  UPDATE: in the below ground eating area of the Jubilee Shopping Mall - entrance in Jubilee Place
• FINISH: 3:30pm - Canary Wharf Station UPDATE: Next to the West Entrance to Canary Wharf Underground Station - between Jubilee Place and Middle Dock
• AFTERWARDS: 4:00pm I'm going to try and locate a place to have a drink where we can see the Lumiere Crussh in Jubilee Place Shopping Mall

See UPDATE: re Let's Draw Canary Wharf 16 January 2016 for photographs of what different places look like.

[Please note: the Sketchcrawls Page is now called "Let's draw London in 2016"]

Crossrail Sky Garden amphitheatre semi-circular seating
- good for sitting eat sandwiches and a photo at lunchtime!

MAPs

• Let's Draw Canary Wharf (on Google Maps)  Please print this out or make sure you have saved it on your phone
• Do have a look at where the public art is on the estate - some of it is stunning 
• Art Map Artworks 1-20
• Art Map Artworks 21-65 
• Winter Lights Map  (for those staying after 4pm)

Click this map to see a larger version of where the Winter Lights are at Canary Wharf
Source: http://canarywharf.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/canary-wharf-arts-events-winter-lights-map.pdf

For those wanting to orientate themselves relative to how the docks sued to be here's a map of the docks in 1899

Isle of Dogs in 1899
The Sky Garden is located in what was then the West India - Import Dock
The two parks are either side and overlapping what was the West India Export Dock
The South Dock -where the Big Dig is happening used to be called West India -South  Dock.

More information - a summary

Websites:

• Canary Wharf  
• Winter Lights at Canary Wharf
• Ice Rink
• Canary Wharf - installations of public art on the estate

Refreshments: This is the Store Guide for where everything is. Sandwiches can be bought from:

• Marks and Spencer (Jubilee Place Shopping Mall)
• Waitrose (Canada Place Shopping Mall)
• meals can be had at various other places of refreshment

Toilets: These are not so obvious. However, there are public toilets in all the shopping malls at Canary Wharf. They are located as follows:

• Cabot Place, Mall Level -1, behind Citibank
• Canada Place, Mall Level -1, at the end of the corridor opposite Robert Dyas
• Churchill Place, Mall Level -1, behind James Shoe Care
• Jubilee Place, Mall Level -1, adjacent to Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Travel:

• Canary Wharf - getting here
• Docklands Light Railway - The DLR network runs from Bank and Tower Gateway to Stratford, Beckton and Lewisham. For some of the trains the Canary Wharf station is the point where you change - so it's BIG!
• Tube: Jubilee Line - link lists journey times
• Bus:135, 277, D3, D7, D8 
• Transport for London's Plan a Journey
• Parking: park your car at the weekend in the car parks. You can get three hours free at the weekend if you spend more than £10 in any of the shops/cafes and get your ticket validated. 

More Information - specific places / installations

Canary Wharf DLR Station 

This is a large station for the Docklands Light Railway in the centre of Canary Wharf with some amazing architecture.

Note this is NOT the Canary Wharf Jubilee Line station.

Crossrail Sky Garden

The Crossrail Sky Garden was opened this summer.

View of the Sky Garden. It contains two of the light installations in January

The Big Dig - South Dock

There's a big going on at present in the South Dock - presumably to provide foundations for another skyscraper.  Great for those who like construction and machinery to sketch!

See the map for the location where this photo was taken from in November. The three cranes on the right are iconic and preserved from the days of the docks. On the left you can see part of the O2 Arena.

The Big Dig in South Dock - from the edge of Montgomery Square

The Ice Rink

You can visit and sketch skaters on London’s largest outdoor ice rink Ice Rink Canary Wharf in Canada Square Park.

Skaters are good fun to sketch as although they keep moving they also keep making the same repeated movements and after a while you find you are sketching a bit of people and then waiting for them to come round again so you can finish them off!

(I'm checking whether or not we need a ticket to watch and sketch the skaters. You don't need a ticket at other ice rinks - but worth checking!)

Canary Wharf - Winter Lights 

This is an exhibition of 18 light installations which has just been installed and is on until 22 January. The best effect will be enjoyed by anybody who decides to stay late.  I suspect this will be decided by the weather and the best place to view them from somewhere warm!

• FREE/Daily (Best viewed 4-9pm), Throughout Canary Wharf
• This is the Winter Lights Map 
• This is a preview of the Winter Lights at Canary Wharf in the Evening Standard 

My understanding is that this event is associated with the Lumiere London event which runs from 14-17 January in Central London.


If you have any queries please send them to the contact email address in the side column or on the sketchcrawls page.

Let's Draw Canary Wharf - 16th January 2016

Let's Draw The National Gallery and Trafalgar Square at Christmas - 12th December 2015

This December's "Let's Draw London" sketchcrawl on Saturday 12th December 2015, is based around Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. PLEASE NOTE THE LATE START.

The aim of starting later is to have time to sketch the tree in lights as dusk begins

This is the Event Link on Facebook.

The Christmas Tree on Friday 4th December 2015 at 4.40pm

In early December the Christmas Tree from Norway is erected in Trafalgar Square. You can see a photo of it that I took on Friday afternoon last week above.

For those wanting to sketch the Christmas Tree and the lights at the entrance to the Strand I recommend experimenting with some dark paper with you and media which works on top of dark paper!  Otherwise you just end up filling in a lot of darks!

In case it's wet or for those of us who don't do to well in cold/damp weather (I shall be indoors!), the National Gallery offers lots of opportunities for keeping warm and dry and drawing people and paintings in art galleries.  The trick with drawing people fast is to focus on the shape, size and posture and not the faces.  There's also any amount of architecture and perspective in the very large interiors to keep the 'drawing buildings' fans happy!

The National gallery has sketching stools - but they're sometimes difficult to locate

PLEASE NOTE: The National Gallery does not allow wet media for sketching. You need to use pencils or coloured pencils. Pens that don't use wet ink seem to be OK i.e. no dip pens and no fountain pens.

This is what they have to say about Sketching in the Galleries

Guidelines

• Sketching is not allowed in exhibitions
• Use a hand-held pad of paper, pencil, graphite stick or felt-tipped pens
• Avoid materials such as pastels, wax crayons, charcoal and fountain pens

Copyists

If you wish to use paint, or other oil/water-based media, request an application form from: information@ng-london.org.uk

The National Gallery also has 'facilities' - see the map of the interior (Level 0 in main building and Level 1 or -1 in the Sainsbury Wing)

Looking at the Turners in the National Gallery - sketched from the splendid red sofas!
sketch in pencil and coloured pencils (11 x 16") by Katherine Tyrrell

A group of school children having a lesson about art - in the National Gallery
pen and ink and coloured pencil sketch in a Moleskine by Katherine Tyrrell

Information for Saturday 12th December

Times and Places 

• START venue/time: 12:00 (note later time)
• wet - in the lobby area of the Ground floor entrance to the National Gallery (to right of external stairs)
• dry - next to the 4th Plinth, National Gallery side
• LUNCH: 2:00pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
• FINISH: 4:30pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
• AFTERWARDS: Buttery section of the National Dining Rooms - at the top of the stairs in the Sainsbury Wing for tea and cake!

MAP: Map of start/lunch/finish places
Websites: Trafalgar Square | National Gallery

Refreshments: Sandwiches - In the National Gallery (Grab and Go next to the National Cafe and Expresso Bar in the Basement), M&S @ Charing Cross, Boots at the Trafalgar end of The Strand, various coffee places around Trafalgar Square


Travel:

• Nearest Tube Stations - Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Embankment - so far as I am aware there are no planned closures.
• Nearest Rail Station: Charing Cross 

In early December the Christmas Tree from Norway is erected in Trafalgar Square.  Last year it was lit on 4th December.Plus the National Gallery offers lots of opportunities for keeping warm and dry and drawing people in art galleries.

The aim of starting later is to have time to sketch the tree in lights as dusk begins

• Websites: Trafalgar Square | National Gallery
• MAP: Map of start/lunch/finish places
• START venue/time: 12:00 (note later time)
• wet - in the lobby area of the Ground floor entrance to the National Hallery (to right of external stairs)
• dry - next to the 4th Plinth, National Gallery side
• LUNCH: 2:00pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
• FINISH: 4:30pm - Bottom of the stairs, ground floor of Sainsbury Wing
• AFTERWARDS: Buttery at the top of the stairs in the Sainsbury Wing
• Travel: Tube Stations - Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Embankment

- See more at: http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.co.uk/p/london-sketchcrawls.html#sthash.JsdrpzGS.dpuf

Let's Draw The National Gallery and Trafalgar Square at Christmas - 12th December 2015

Saturday 11th July 2015 - Day trip - Let's Draw Oxford

Sketch by Isabel Carmona - Radcliffe Square - Oxford

WHAT - Day Trip and Sketchcrawl
WHERE - Oxford
WHEN - Saturday 11th July 2015
START - 11 am  - meet at entrance of the Museum of Oxford with Oxford sketchers and Oxford Workshop participants.
LUNCH - 1 to 1:30 m - meet outside St Mary's café in Radcliffe square.
END - 3:30 to 4 pm - back at the Museum of Oxford, inside, at the gallery by the Café to share sketches. Oxford workshop exhibition is on show.
AFTERS - 4:30 onwards - at the Head of River pub for further sharing of sketches, chatting and even some more drawing.
TRAVEL - from London there are regular trains and coaches - see the map below with details of stops in Oxford and links to the various websites.
MAP - Oxford Sketchcrawl Map Link includes start/lunch/finish/afters/places of interest information.
ORGANISER - Isabel Carmona - leave message here or on facebook page with any queries
PLACES OF INTEREST - indicated in map with links, include Oxford Covered Market, Christ Church Meadow, High Street and colleges, Radcliffe Square, Sheldonian Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums and much more. 

Oxford sketchers and participants and instructors of the Oxford USK workshop will
l be there to make this day trip outing the most enjoyable.

As always, it's free to join, you just need to bring your own sketching materials... and perhaps a hat and sun cream - let's hope it is warm.

Hope to see you all there!

Saturday 11th July 2015 - Day trip - Let's Draw Oxford

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 - Call for Entries

If you like drawing you may be interested in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015.

• This is the poster for their call for entries. 
• There is a First Prize of £8,000, a Second Prize of £5,000 and two Student Awards of £2,000 each. 
• Entry is online. You can submit three entries - and fees are discounted for students. 
• Deadline for entries is 5pm on 26 June 2015
• Entry is open to all artists resident in the UK.

Further information can be found:

• on the Parker Harris website (the organisers) for The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015
• in this blog post commentary Jerwood Drawing Prize: Call for Entries by Katherine Tyrrell, one of the founders of Urban Sketchers London. She highlights how they define drawing for the purposes of this competition.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015 - Call for Entries

Green Lanes supermarket

Of course, I use supermarkets like everyone else, like this one up the road at Green Lanes in north London, but a minor war has waged closer to home where there a planning application has been made to build one in a street of small, quirky independent shops that give our locality its distinct flavour.
The campaign has already won concessions - there will now be no customer car park, for instance - but the planned store would still be out of scale and out of place. The big supermarkets seem to get whatever they want, and we the people shouldn't be steamrollered. But I can't help thinking that perhaps I'm just turning into a middle-aged, grumpy, Nimby.

Green Lanes supermarket

London's Urban Sketchers exhibit at Foyles bookshop

James Hobbs, Foyles, Charing Cross Road

Have you bought a copy of The Art of Urban Sketching by Gabriel Campanario yet?

Urban Sketchers London are delighted to be publicising this very popular book and exhibiting their work by participating in Foyles Bookshop's Sketching the City summer season of exhibitions about sketching.

Works by London-based urban sketchers that are included in The Art of Urban Sketching will be on display at the third-floor gallery in Foyles flagship bookshop at 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London from next Monday.

The show also includes:

• excerpts and drawings reproduced from the book by other urban sketchers from around the world
• plus other framed works by London-based Nathan Brenville, James Hobbs, Barry Jackson, Olha Pryymak, Katherine Tyrrell and Zhenia Vasiliev. 

The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition is for one week from Monday 16 July to Sunday 22 July 2012. For more details about the gallery's opening hours and how to get to Foyles, check its website.

The book is on sale in the shop and at the exhibition.

Follow London's Urban Sketchers on Twitter: @urbsketchlondon

Further details about the events in Foyles Sketching in the City season, which continues until 26 August.

London's Urban Sketchers exhibit at Foyles bookshop

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

Around Temple Church

Middle Temple Lane, London

Pete Scully's Let's Draw London was a great sketchcrawl, and the first one I've been on, which is odd, because it immediately seemed a natural thing to do. We went as a family (Naomi, my wife, and our daughters aged 13 and 10), and I realise now that of course I have been on family-only sketchcrawls before. An occasion springs to mind when all four of us sat outside a cafe on a Swiss mountain and drew together like some visual arts version of the Von Trapp family, taking a break on our escape to safety.

The Temple Church, London

The London sketchcrawl was great fun, and an opportunity to meet people I'd only communicated with online. I also bumped into some people who had come to the launch of The Art of Urban Sketching at Cass Art, and some who I'd told about the sketchcrawl after seeing them drawing in the streets of London in the weeks gone by. But somehow I didn't meet Pete. Next time, Pete.

For more, see www.james-hobbs.blogspot.com.

Around Temple Church

The Art of Urban Sketching book launch

The Art of Urban Sketching, by Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario, has its London launch on Saturday 19th May at Cass Art's flagship art materials store in Islington N1.

Six of the London-based Urban Sketchers with work in the book – Adebanji Alade, James Hobbs, Barry Jackson, Olha Pryymak, Katherine Tyrrell and Zhenia Vasiliev – will be present on Saturday 19 May between 12.30pm and 5.30pm, with some of their sketchbooks and drawing materials, and ready to answer questions.

Bonus!  The Art of Urban Sketching will be on sale at a special discounted price of just £12.95 for one day only.  Here's what the Cass art Facebook page says

Get the incredible new book 'The Art of Urban Sketching' for only £12.95 at our launch event in Islington tomorrow! Usually £17.99 this offer is valid for tomorrow only. Drop in to meet the artists featured in the book and get tips and advice on drawing on the go.

Don't know much about Urban Sketching? Look here.

Wondering how to get to Cass Art?

Here's a link to Cass Art Islington, 66-67 Colebrooke Row, London N1 8AB Click the link for a map of where this flagship art store is located.

• Nearest Tube station: Highbury Islington
• Nearest Train Station: Essex Road (North London Line)
• Buses: Put "Colebrooke Row Borough of Islington, N1" into the TfL bus maps and it will identify all the buses that run near to Cass Arts. The click the number of the bus to see the route and the bus stops.

These are the links to:

• the Transport for London map of the Planned weekend Tube closures for the weekend 19/20 May 2012. This is the link to the Transport for London pdf file which shows the service disruptions this weekend.
• Use the Journey Planner on the TfL website to work out the best route to the store on Saturday afternoon.

We look forward to meeting you there.

The Art of Urban Sketching book launch

Meet the correspondents: Barry Jackson (Professor Shorthair)

I love drawing, and making pictures. I've been drawing for more years than I can count, but it's only in the last few years that I feel like I'm making some slow progress. Towards what? I'm not sure. Perhaps my goal is just not to be too bad.

Much of the time my interest is focussed on urban themes, and I draw on location in an urban space. A few years ago I found the Urban Sketchers blog, and this provided an opportunity to share some of these works with an audience that has a similar set of interests. It's been a real stimulus for me, to see such a variety of urban drawing from all over the world.

Drawing at Alexandra Palace

Sometimes I draw when I'm traveling. Unlike many Urban Sketcher members though, I find that travel and drawing don't complement each other well. The kind of drawings I like to do work best when I can spend time on them, without wondering what I might be missing around the next corner.

Drawing places that mean something to me is what I most enjoy, and much of my work therefore is focussed on London, where I was born and brought up. Hence I was delighted to be invited to be a correspondent for the new London-based blog.

St Anne's Limehouse, charcoal,  50x60cm

I often sketch, in a sketchbook, wherever I happen to be - which means cafe and pub sketches fill a lot of pages in my books! But if I'm out specifically to draw then I'll have a particular location or theme in mind

I don't have any  favourite places in London that I repeatedly draw, although I do find myself returning beside the river or around the Regent's Canal  quite frequently.  I also don't have any favourite subjects or themes - these continue to change and evolve - sometimes it's spaces, or the movement of people, or solitary trees, or water, or as in this drawing, particular buildings. (This is St Anne's church in Limehouse)



 

St Paul's from Surrey side, graphite 29x84cm

If I'm going out to draw I'll be carrying a whole range of kit with me, because I like to play with media and techniques. The drawings will usually be bigger than sketchbook size, occasionally ending up very large. (The St Paul's drawing on the right is made up of 4 sketchbook pages)


Occasionally I have periods of trying to use colour, but on the whole I find it difficult to make satisfactory drawings when I'm using colour. At the moment I love using ink, particulary Quink, and carbon pencil, as in this drawing below of a spectacualr weeping ash tree in Rosemary Gardens, Islington

Weeping ash, ink + carbon pencil, 30x40cm

Meet the correspondents: Barry Jackson (Professor Shorthair)

Meet the correspondents: James Hobbs

James Hobbs, Great Eastern Street, Hoxton, London

London is, of course, many different things to different people, as this blog will no doubt prove. Each of us has our own view and our own islands within the huge whole that we know particularly well. For me, this means Stoke Newington—where I live, which is an ancient inner north London village with a history of dissension that has become perhaps a little more gentrified than I would prefer—along with Hackney, Hoxton, Islington, the South Bank, the City and West End. I’m not so at home in most areas with postcodes with a “W” in them (apart from NW11) or, I must now confess, most places south of the river (apart from The Oval cricket ground). I still draw in these places when I get a chance.

To have a bicycle and a sketchbook is, for me, the way to be. My drawings are often A6-sized or perhaps A5, and made with permanent marker pens. I’m quite happy to work on the back of an envelope. Taking quiet, off-piste cycle routes can lead to unexpected pleasures, usually unfrequented by tourists and yet gloriously cosmopolitan and multicultural, which is how I like my London to be. London can be ugly and violent, but it’s usually not, and I love to live here and have my children grow up here. Drawing it is a kind of hymn of praise to the city, warts and all.

James Hobbs, New Oxford Street, London

I show at Skylark Galleries, an artist-run gallery in the Oxo Tower Wharf on the South Bank, and the Art Agency, Esher. I was for a while the editor of Artists & Illustrators magazine, and am now a freelance journalist. Five of my images of London scenes have just gone on sale as A5-sized art cards at IKEA stores worldwide.

You can see more of my work at www.james-hobbs.co.uk, visit my blog or follow me on Twitter.

Meet the correspondents: James Hobbs

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