Sunday 26 April 2015

St Paul's and the Thames - we've got to do it again!

The general consensus from yesterday's sketchcrawl by London Urban Sketchers was that there was absolutely masses to draw and we need to go back!

We were sketching in the area around St Paul's Cathedral and down to the north bank of the Thames - next to the Millennium Bridge - see TODAY is "Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames" and the map created in Google Maps/Drive of the area and key places

I think this location will become a regular feature of our sketchcrawls in future years!
This is a photograph of one venue which blew people away with the views!

Sketching after lunch from the Roof Terrace of One New Change
and here's a sketch of the same by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan.
Roof terrace at 1 New Change by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan

New people


Yet again we saw several new people join the group of London Urban Sketchers. Please note there is absolutely no requirement to live and work in London to join the group.

A warm welcome is extended anybody who likes drawing London - and this month we welcome:

From outside London

  • Marissa Lee Swinghammer - living in Oxford since February, late of Boston, Massachusetts
  • Chuck Stull from Kalamazoo Michigan, currently on sabbatical in Oxford.
  • Sue Smith from Cambridge
  • Laura Moore - from I'm not quite sure where but I think it might be the Herts/Essex borders! 
  • Debbie Eyre from the Birmingham Urban Sketchers

From London

and we hope to see your sketches on Facebook or on Flickr very soon! :)

Do please let us know if you are new and where you come from - we're always pleased to see new faces and to link up with you.  You can leave a comment at the end of this post.....

Logistics


On a practical note, we've certainly noticed that emphasising that:
  • the "Let's Draw" event is FREE; and
  • there's no need to book
gets a very positive response from people! :) 

However it would be great to also get some feedback about the maps. The use of a map link embedded in the notice of the "Let's Draw" even seems to be working quite well - for all those with smartphones. I think maybe we need to think about creating a downloadable pdf for those with no phone but access to a printer.  This saves organisers from having to personally cut down trees to print off maps ;) - but more to the point means that when the organiser's printer has decided not to work(!!) we still have a way of getting the "where is everything" out to people.

Some photos from the day

I'm going to show you in this blog post how much easier it is for me to include your sketches if you tweet them!

Here's kickoff under cover at the top of the steps in front of St Paul's and that's me up on the little ledge so people could hear me more clearly over the noise of the traffic and the tourists.


Here we all are at lunchtime

London Urban Sketchers on the Roof Terrace of One New Change at lunchtime
and here are our sketches at that stage

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Saturday 25 April 2015

TODAY is "Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames"

Just a reminder that Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - SATURDAY 25th April 2015 has switched from Sunday 26th to today because of the London Marathon tomorrow.

The weather forecast is for light rain late in the afternoon but otherwise sunny intervals should prevail.

Tweet your sketches with the hashtag #usklondon and we'll try and retweet them via the Urban Sketchers London Twitter account.

St Paul's Cathedral
and the bronze statue to the firemen that saved it during the blitz in WW2
WHERE: St Paul's to the Thames

WHEN: Sunday 26th April 2015 CHANGED TO Saturday 25th April 2015 (due to the London Marathon) 

START: 11:00am at the top of the steps (right hand side) of the Main Entrance to St Paul's Cathedral

LUNCH: 1:30pm One New Change (shopping centre) - two options for where we meet depending on the weather
  • Dry: on the Roof Terrace of One New Change - we want a group pic with the roof of St. Paul's in the background if possible!
  • Wet: in the lobby area of One New Change near where the lift is to go to the roof terrace
Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge
from the Peter's Hill walkway down from St. Paul's
(near to the Salvation Army Cafe 101
 which is building on left)
END: 3:30pm 

TUBE: Stations:

  • St Paul's (Central Line); 
  • Blackfriars and Mansion House (District and Circle Lines) 
RAIL: Thameslink @ London Blackfriars and City Thameslink; Cannon Street

The North Bank of the Thames from the Millennium Bridge
Don't forget to look out for Shaun the Sheep!  He's everywhere - supporting children in hospitals - and as you might expect he has an app.



This is the https://www.flickr.com/groups/usklondon-grouppool/ where you can post your sketches of today:
  1. after you have posted them to your own Flickr account
  2. after your application for membership of the Urban Sketchers London Flickr Group has been approved. The review of your application for membership depends on the sketches on your own account. You don't have to be really good at sketching but your sketches do need to conform to our rules - see below

Rules for posting to the Urban Sketchers London Flickr Group

All drawings posted to the group were drawn on location IN LONDON, not from photos or memory. Your membership will be terminated if you repeatedly post sketches of places other than London.
• The location of the sketch IN LONDON is always included in the headline or caption or the image is located on your public Flickr map.
*The only photos which can be posted to the Group MUST relate to Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawls - on the date of the sketchcrawl
• No sketches from figure drawing sessions or posed models will be posted to the Group Pool
* No objects or figures without a location context which is a place in London will be posted to the Group Pool (ie sketches of people in locations are OK; sketches of people in isolation are not)





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Friday 24 April 2015

Spring sun, tree shadow

 A few days of warm spring sun. Blossom on the fruit trees, and in London parks horse chestnut leaves are just opening to their full, while other trees are still budding.

It's actually too hot today to sit in the sun, so I sit in the shade, my back to a tree.

It's only at the end of the morning I realise that my subject has not been trees or parkscape, it's been shadow.

Clissold Park - charcoal, inks 42 x 29cm

Clissold Park - charcoal 42 x 29cm

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Wednesday 22 April 2015

The trees are not green (yet)

Walking around South bank with a friend on Monday we stopped a couple of times to draw - the first time was spurred by the many building cranes along the north bank. I noticed the great amount of trees along the north bank - still not green.

In doing the second view,  we were amidst the people enjoying a warm Monday afternoon after work, the buzz and activity is only possible in London. It was impossible to get anything but either water or pimms at the roof top bar we were sat at. Water it was. 
A great setting, Royal Festival Hall, London Eye, with Houses of Parliament beyond, Big Ben, Hungerford Bridge, the Thames


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Tuesday 21 April 2015

Just one more ...


                                          St Mary Abchurch, Abchurch Lane EC4

This lovely little piece of Wren is tucked away in-between King William Street and Cannon Street. I can't believe I didn't want to draw it before. This church is also home to an outfit called Friends of the City Churches. Anyway, pretty it may not be but wacky it certainly is.
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Saturday 18 April 2015

Let's Draw! DATE CHANGED to 25th April

Yellow marks the route of the London Marathon
IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT - IMPORTANT - CHANGE OF DATE!!!

The date of the next Let's Draw event is being moved to a day earlier - SATURDAY 25th APRIL - which coincidentally is also the next International Sketchcrawl date.

The reason is that the London Marathon is being run on Sunday 26th April. Although the Marathon route actually takes the runners under the area we will be (through the tunnel) there will still be lots of people around and the travel issues relating to the huge numbers of people who come to London to watch will make travel very much more challenging than usual.

The logistics problems will be much reduced on the Saturday.

PLEASE SHARE with anybody you think is coming and don't assume they have seen this or the notices in the Facebook group.

Please also go on Sunday 26th April and sketch the Marathon if you don't mind crowds and transport delays/problems!

Let's Draw in May


The next Let's Draw event will be at Kew Gardens (admission fee of £14) and the provisional date (to be confirmed) is Sunday 17th May.


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Friday 10 April 2015

Tales from the riverbank



It’s the annual Boat Race tomorrow along the Thames so it seemed a good opportunity to go and draw at some point along the route.  I chose Barnes, spending a really lovely afternoon sketching the river and some of the neighbouring buildings in a very well-heeled part of town.  When the rowers from Oxford and Cambridge pass under Barnes Bridge, they will be almost at the end of their 6.8km battle which has been taking place between the rival universities since 1829.  

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Sunday 5 April 2015

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!
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