London Sketchers in Oxford

Last Saturday's outing had exceptional weather in Oxford and the buzz of the place could be felt easily with tourists, graduates and families milling about.
After a hectic week (#oxfordworkshop2015) I enjoyed sketching around my favourite Radcliffe square, this time I  focused not on the central Camera (room) with its great Dome but on the surrounding buildings.

A couple of photos also of the group, first at lunch time and then at the Museum of Oxford where the Urban Sketching exhibition continues until 27th July.

Next month's sketchcrawl details will be published shortly - back in central London - Katherine Tyrrell will lead that one.

London Sketchers in Oxford

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

28 Drawings Later - Entrances in London by Thomas Corrie

This is a guest post by Thomas Corrie, an "Architect and aspiring flâneur"  who is an active participant in the Flickr Group for Urban Sketchers London

He also manages to demonstrate how to keep sketching every day despite lots of rain and a tube strike in London this week!

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For the past two years I have participated in 28 Drawings Later, a challenge to draw something every day during February and post it online.

• In 2012 I had no particular theme or format. 
• In 2013 I decided to use a square sketchbook and draw with ink washes. 

In both cases I often just drew something from wherever I was going on that day, more often than not it involved casting around in the evening for something interesting to draw in my house.

This year I was determined to pick a theme for the month to have a more focused approach. I have set myself the challenge of drawing all of my sketches en plein air (whatever the weather!) and to cycle to every location. My theme is entrances which gives me sufficient flexibility as there are doors and gates everywhere.

I started at Fenton House in Hampstead having first bought some new pens and a 200mm square sketchbook...

Day 1: Fenton House copyright Thomas Corrie

The following day I cycled along the Grand Union Canal (suffering one puncture) to Osterley Park to draw Robert Adam’s fantastic open portico...

Day 2: Osterley Park - the Robert Adam Portico
copyright Thomas Corrie

Then I was into weekdays and although the light is improving in the evening it is still too dark after six o’clock so I have decided to draw before work which means I have to get up rather earlier than I am used to. On Monday I went to Kensal Green Cemetery to draw the stern Doric gatehouse…

Day 3: Kensal Green Cemetery - copyright Thomas Corrie

On Tuesday I was cut short by rain but managed a few lines of the elegant terraces in Little Venice…

Day 4: Clarendon Gardens - Little Venice
copyright Thomas Corrie

Wednesday was the first full day of the tube strike and I had to fight my way through the London traffic to get to St James’ to draw an extravagant curved entrance to a Nash terrace...

Day 5: Carlton House Terrace
copyright Thomas Corrie

I had an early meeting on Thursday so I found an Art Deco entrance near to my workplace in Marylebone…

Day 6: Ivor Court
copyright Thomas Corrie

It was raining on Friday morning and my original plan to sketch a modernist house on Frognal was scuppered. Instead I cycled down the hill to Swiss Cottage and sheltered beneath the library to draw the back of the Odeon Cinema…

Day 7: Swiss Cottage Odeon
copyright Thomas Corrie

More bad weather threatened Saturday and several attempts to draw the elaborate front of John Soane’s Pitzhanger Manor House were stymied by showers. Instead I took advantage of a break in the clouds to quickly draw a brick and flint gate he designed to enter the estate…

Day 8: Pitzhanger
copyright Thomas Corrie

I am surprised and pleased that I have managed so far to stick to my plan. I am looking forward to the next three weeks and seeking out parts of London that I don’t know very well and elaborating on my usually straightforward commute.

Thomas Corrie's kit comprises:

• Seawhite of Brighton 200mm square 140gsm cartridge paper sketchbook
• Staedtler pigment liners 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8mm
• Brompton M3L folding bike
• Ortlieb Mini-O Bag

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You can continue to view Thomas Corrie's 28 Drawings Later 2014 Set on Flickr and/or see his posts as they come up in the Urban Sketchers London Group Pool

28 Drawings Later - Entrances in London by Thomas Corrie

The Shenkman Bar at the RA

I was invited to a Bloggers' Evening Preview of "Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined" at the Royal Academy of Arts on Thursday.

After visiting the Kurt Jackson exhibition (closes 1 February) at The Redfern Gallery and Messums, I made my way past the gallery desert which now fills the eastern side of Cork Street (see this week's Guardian article - Galleries are forced out of their historic London home) and through the Burlington Arcade to the RA.

I filled the gap between the gallery closing and the bloggers preview starting with a cup of tea in the new Shenkman Bar in the basement of the former Keepers House.

At last - a comfy seat to sit down on and have a cup of tea - and a sketch - have returned to the RA!

I much preferred the black leather sofas in the former Friends Room but the banquettes are infinitely preferable to the hard seats in the current Friends Room. Lots of opportunities too for people sketching.

The Shenkman Bar at the RA
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook
© Katherine Tyrrell

It's worth taking a sketchbook to the "Sensing Spaces" exhibition.  It's quite unlike anything else I've ever seen at the RA. Ostensibly about architecture it nonetheless seems to be about very large sculptural installations.  See images on my blog post on Making A Mark which follows later today.

The Shenkman Bar at the RA

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

Playing, Watching, and Drawing Tennis

Every year for a few brief weeks, tennis fever grips the nation as we proudly watch our British players try and inevitably fail to get to the final of Wimbledon. But whaddya know - THIS YEAR HE'S GONE AND DONE IT!!! Andy Murray is through to the final, and win or lose, he's achieved something special. As a true part-time tennis fan, I've picked up a racquet myself and gone out on my local courts, trying to emulate our British number one. My closest place to play is Hilly Fields, which is also a great place to sketch, there are some fantastic panoramas of surrounding London and Kent, and I'll be returning there soon when there's some good weather for more drawing.

I like the building in the background, which is actually a college.

I used to play tennis regularly, but its been a couple of years now since my last game. Living in London though, you can't beat the real thing, and Wimbledon is only 40 minutes away from me by tube/train. On Wednesday I went down there to try and see some of the men's quarter finals. I got to see Roger Federer warming up on an outside court, but the real attraction was Andy Murray's match.

To get in to Centre Court, unless you've booked way in advance, then you need to queue up for resales. Anyone who leaves early hands in their ticket, and they're then resold cheaply, with profits going to charity.

The sun sticker was a bit optimistic

We arrived at 10am, and were queuing all day. It was such a long wait that I felt I could attempt an ambitious drawing- the view from just above 'Henman Hill', of Centre Court and surrounding courts, with Wimbledon town in the background. I had a good feeling about this sketch, but unfortunately I didn't reckon on a) frequent bouts of pouring rain and b) I wasn't supposed to leave the resale queue for longer than 15 minutes at a time, so I didn't get to finish, which I was annoyed about.

 

But finally, at 5pm, we got tickets in time for the end of the 2nd set of Murray's quarter final, right at the turning point of the match. The atmosphere was electric, unlike anything I've been to before.

taken during a break, but the match itself was packed full

It was a very tense match, and it was hard to concentrate on drawing when the game was so absorbing, but I managed pretty well, doing the majority in between points and during a rain break. I finished the colour off at home.

This was my third time visiting Wimbledon, but the first on Centre Court, and it was definitely worth the queuing.

I may even go back down on Sunday just to sit on Henman Hill and watch the final, but I'm not sure I'll have the steadiness of nerves for more drawing - I'll be too busy shouting "Come on Andy!"

Playing, Watching, and Drawing Tennis

The Royal Academy of Art

I'm fascinated by the illustrious history of the Royal Academy of Art, and seeing exhibitions there is always a pleasure. I've been wanting to draw the outside of the building for a while now, so last week I made time to stop by and sketch it on a fiercely sunny day.

The Royal Academy of Art, Burlington House, Piccadilly

The Summer Exhibition is on at the moment, and the choices for display are always interesting, and often provokes debate about what should and shouldn't be called contemporary art. Don't get me started on that subject! But the story of one year when the RA rejected a sculpture but accepted and displayed the plinth it came with, believing it to be a separate work of art always makes me chuckle.

The Summer Exhibition has been held every year since 1769, the year after they were founded. The Royal Academy weren't always at Burlington House however. For a number of years they were based in Somerset House, where the Courtauld Institute is now housed.

Somerset House courtyard looking North

Eventually, they moved to share lodgings with another great London art institution, in the newly built National Gallery, in 1837, and then, as both continued to expand, moved to the present site 30 years after this.

National Gallery, Trafalgar Square

This last sketch was done while it was raining and quickly became the most uncomfortable location drawing I've done - I thought I'd found a sheltered spot on the steps of St Martins In the Fields, but as it rained harder my sketchbook was getting soaked, and I was desperately trying to finish as quickly as possible, one hand drawing, one hand holding the book, another hand balancing a broken umbrella...wait, I didn't have that many hands... which is probably why I got very wet, and cramp. I gave up and did the ink wash at home.

The Royal Academy of Art

Up the Watling

If you should happen to travel up the Northern Line, up the Edgware branch past Golders Green, you'll come to Burnt Oak, which is where I was born and grew up, where my mother grew up, where my family still lives. This is the 'skyline' of Watling Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Burnt Oak, weather-beaten chimneys crawling up the hill to Burnt Oak Broadway (aka Edgware Road, part of the ancient Roman highway called Watling Street). Burnt Oak it must be said is not a particularly charming part of London. It has changed a great deal over the years, nowhere more so than the shops on Watling Avenue, but these chimney-tops remain epic and unaltered, like a row of ancient statues. There is the odd shop here and there, however, that has survived the changes over the years as if unnoticed by the world - Hassan's clothing, Anthony's Drug Store, Pennywise, and of course my favourite shop Vipins, still run by the same Indian couple of who still remember me as a small red-headed eight-year-old buying felt-tip pens and glitter-glue. I sat in a quiet spot outside the Ming takeaway (another remnant from my youth) and sketched the chimneys, while the daytime passers-by passed me by, sometimes smiling, sometimes talking to me about what it was like round there when they were young. Burnt Oak might not be charming, but there is still charm to be found.

by Pete Scully

Up the Watling

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

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

Sketching people - on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral

One of the things I like to do is to find places in London where it's easy to practice life drawing ie sketching people - without having to pay the life models!  It's also a great way of getting people doing things naturally rather than those funny poses that life models like to strike at times!

The best way that I've found of finding people to draw is to sit somewhere that people tend to congregate and wait a while.  There's quite a few of those in London.

Sketching people on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral
11" x 8", pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

One of the best places to find people sitting and taking a "time out" is on the steps in front of St Paul's Cathedral.  Here's my sketch of people sat on the steps and done while I was sat at the top of the steps waiting for fellow Urban Sketcher Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini - from Sydney Australia).

Did I tell you how Urban Sketchers is also a great way to meet other sketchers from all over the world?

[Sketch first published in Sketching people on steps of St Pauls Cathedral in Travels with my Sketchbook] 

Sketching people - on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral

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

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: 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