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

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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 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 London - London Urban Sketchers in 2015

Tomorrow, I'll be posting about where we will be sketching in 2016, but today we'll look back  at where we sketched in 2015.......

Below you can see a record of the "Let's Draw..." events in 2015 - plus photos of people who participated and sketches.

January 2015

In January, we got organised and drew up a schedule of places for every month in 2015 - starting in February.  This helped enormously with making things happen. As a result - numbers attending the skethcrawls increased significantly over the year, both in terms of overall numbers and regular attenders.

7th February 2015: British Museum

London Urban Sketchers draw the British Museum in February 2015
sitting on the steps in the great Court

A large group came to the British Museum day which proved to be a very good place to go on a winter's day - although rather busy on a Saturday with lots of other people looking for things to see and do indoors!

• Let's Draw the British Museum - Saturday 7th February 2015  
• British Museum - The Court and Africa
• Drawing at the British Museum

Ramases at the British Museum by Shih Jih Ren

sketches at the end of the day

7th March 2015 - South Kensington and the Victoria and Albert Museum

We had a brilliant sunny day for the next sketchcrawl - and there was as much sketching of South Ken cafe culture as there was of the museum and objects within it.

• Let's draw the V&A and Environs - Saturday 7th March 2015
• Around South Kensington 

South Kensington by James Hobbs

I spent a lot of time sketching people sat round the pool in the courtyard - soaking up the sun!

Sunny Afternoon at the V&A

25th April 2015 - St Paul's Cathedral to the Thames

We had a marvellous time in April with many people discovering the roof terrace views from One New Change for the very first time

Let's Draw London - London Urban Sketchers in 2015

Sketching London from a height!

A Few weeks ago I was lucky to be invited to join a group of artists to sketch from the comfort of an office on the 32nd floor in Moorgate. It was amazing experience to gradually see London light up as the sky darkened. The views were incredible. The iconic curved dome of St Paul's Cathedral caught my eye, standing out in contrast to the numerous

gridded lines surrounding it. There was so much going on that I thought the only way I could capture this was through mark making, layering and pattern. The second drawing is the view of Finsbury Square, which you can get a brief glimpse of in the bottom corner with the Gherkin peeking through in the background. I tried to capture the density of the scene. It was great to see everyone’s impression of a challenging view. Thanks to James and Carlos for arranging such a great afternoon.

Sketching London from a height!

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

More obscure movie locations...

I often walk past this spot outside Liverpool Street station and think to myself, "There's Tom Cruise's house..." Of course, it isn't really, but it was used as the location for the team's secret "safe house" in the 1996 film "Mission Impossible". I find it a clever choice, because it's an unusual building but quite iconic, situated directly above a tube entrance, jutting out into two streets, and that classic Victorian railway architecture. So the other day I decided to stop and draw it.
It must be 20 years since they filmed Tom here, but it hasn't changed at all. Below is a composite from the film, for comparison.

The latest Mission Impossible movie that came out this year saw Tom Cruise and co. in Kings Cross Station, so perhaps he's working his way around the Monopoly board.

More obscure movie locations...

Miss Jones' residence

A very busy Borough Market was the venue for a recent London Urban Sketchers outing.   I arrived late so wanted to get started quickly and noticed this lovely little building, the Globe Tavern, dwarfed by the steelwork and railway bridges.  I didn’t know at the time but the flat above the pub was used as one of the locations in the film ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’.

In the afternoon, after sampling some of the delicious food the market has to offer, I chose to draw inside the main market building.  I found the structure is so complicated to draw, with sections added here and there as the market expanded.  It was really enjoyable though and I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the area.

Miss Jones' residence