Wednesday 28 October 2015

Let's Draw - Borough Market - 7th November 2015

Borough Market by Lis Watkins
No one will go hungry at this month's gathering as we are meeting at one of London's most tasty markets - Borough Market - a dream for the foodies amongst us.There is multitude of produce/stalls/architecture/tasty morsels to sketch so your inspiration should rejoice.
See their intearctive map to plan your day.

The sketching day plan is as follows:

Start Meeting 11:30 On Stoney Street See map link here for exact location, just off Southwark St
To get there, nearest tube is London Bridge or see the market's page

Lunch time 1:30 pm at the Market itself under cover opposite Park Street

In the afternoon we suggest:
Continue to draw the market or you can explore the surrounding streets or the riverside between Southwark and London bridges.

The end - meet again at the entrance to the market under the railway bridge at 4pm to share our sketches and then from 4:30pm at the Wheatsheaf

Thanks to Lis Watkins for letting us use her sketches for our image this month!

Borough Market by Lis Watkins



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Monday 26 October 2015

Drawn of the Dead

One thing I enjoy is drawing movie locations - the more obscure the better. Of course in London there's plenty to discover. I'm also a big fan of Simon Pegg, so with Halloween on the way, I thought it would be a good time to finally sketch some locations from seminal Zom-Com ("zombie comedy") Shaun of the Dead.
When I moved into the Haringay area 10 months ago, I was excited to learn that a lot of the Shaun movie was shot near where I now live. The one that grabbed my attention was Shaun's house itself, a few streets away from Crouch End Broadway. The street features in two great identical long takes of Shaun walking from his house to the shop and back, the first time when things are normal, the second when the zombie outbreak has begun.

there's a different gate now...




There were no zombies in sight when I started sketching, but I did feel a bit odd to be drawing a purely residential view with no obvious landmark or attraction - still, no one looked twice at what I was doing. It started raining by the end, but I persevered under an umbrella.


The most well known location of the movie is The Winchester, which in actual fact was filmed down in South London, in New Cross, coincidentally near where I previously used to live. However, I was intrigued to discover the real Winchester pub on Archway Road, less than 5 minutes from my current house. Although no filming was done here, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost used to be regulars and it was here the idea for the film was born.

Built in 1881, I especially love the original iron scrollwork above the door. The pub's been closed for a few years now it seems, but lately there's been signs of its ...re-animation ...ha ha ha ..sorry, zombie joke. Anyway, yes, over the summer, there was some concerted building work going on with the 'luxury' flats above, the brickwork was all cleaned, and the pub was given a brand new paintjob. While I was there sketching, I could see some activity inside, suggesting it's grand re-opening is imminent. I'll probably pop in for a pint to see what it's like, although no doubt the days of Frost and Pegg drinking in the corner are long gone...
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Sunday 25 October 2015

2015 London Urban Sketchers Exhibition at Timberyard Soho

The Urban Sketchers in London Group are holding their fourth annual exhibition at the brand new Soho branch of Timberyard - which opens on 2nd November 2015.

Some of the original sketches are for sale. Others will be available as prints.

We hope to see you at the Private Event (see below) and hope you enjoy the exhibition. 

From Blackfriars Bridge by James Hobbs

Urban Sketchers Exhibition



WHEN: Monday 2nd November - 31 October 2016
WHERE: Timberyard Soho
AT: 4 Noel Street, London W1F 8GB
OPEN: Monday to Friday - 8am-7pm; Saturday & Sunday 11am-6pm
@timberyarduk, @urbsketchlondon


The exhibition is free to view.

This is the announcement about the exhibition on the Timberyard website.

We'll be posting photos on this blog of both the exhibition and Private View on 3rd November.

We're running a number of events associated with the Exhibition.

London Creatives - Private View of Launch Exhibitions



You are invited to the Private View of the London Creatives participating in the launch of the new branch - London Creatives Private View Meet-up: Drinks with the artists

WHERE: Timberyard Soho 4 Noel Street, London W1F 8GB
DATE:
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
TIME: 6.00pm - 9:00pm
Facebook Event Page
London Creatives is a project that celebrates the colourful talents of our city’s emerging artists, start-ups and early stage businesses. Join us for an evening of exciting art, colourful people and Spanish wine plus the chance to meet the artists exhibiting at this the first TY Soho exhibition.
and
Returning to the walls of Timberyard for this six-month exhibition of works by the city’s branch of the international drawing phenomenon that is Urban Sketchers. The exhibition includes a broad range of works of London scenes from the members’ sketchbooks – and some of the works are on sale.

Sketchcrawl


James Hobbs, author of Sketch Your World - is leading an extra sketchcrawl linked to the exhibition - Liberty's (Great Marlborough Street) to the BBC (Langham Place) - and afterwards at Timberyard Soho on Saturday 14th November

Also listed here on the Timberyard website


Book Event


On Wednesday 25th November London Urban Sketchers are holding a Book signing: Katherine Tyrrell, Isabel Carmona and James Hobbs, 7-8.30pm at the exhibition.

You can meet Katherine, James and Isobel to discuss the world of urban sketching alongside Timberyard’s exhibition of drawings by London Urban Sketchers - and they'll also be happy to sign copies of their books for you.

The books about sketching available at the event will be:
  • Sketching 365 by Katherine Tyrrell, author of popular art blog Making A Mark
  • Sketch your World and Dream, Draw, Design Your Garden by artist, author, freelance journalist, urban sketcher James Hobbs
  • Brighton West Pier and More, 1995-2008 by Isobel Carmona  

PLUS the new books about sketching by leading Urban Sketchers

Selected Artists and Sketches


This is the list of sketchers and works selected for the exhibition. The sketches are a mix of ones done on our regular monthly sketchcrawls and those sketched while people have been out and about London.

Links in the names below are to the websites or blogs of the sketchers.  Do please take a look at their other work.
  • Sangeeta Bhagawati - Panoramic view from the roof terrace of One New Change
  • Elizabeth Blunt - The Salisbury, Green Lanes, Harringay
  • Nathan Brenville - Waterlow Park, Highgate
  • Julie Bolus - Bookstore Charing Cross Road, London ( any amount of Books)
  • Isabel Carmona - South Kensington
  • Jo Dungey - At the Chelsea Physic Garden
  • Katy Evans - Blue Pagoda (Kew Gardens)
  • James Hobbs - from Blackfriars Bridge
  • Isabelle Laliberte - British Museum Great Court
  • Daniel Lloyd-Morgan - One New Change/St Paul's - people sketching
  • Choon Low - St Paul's Cathedral
  • Dolores Kitchener - corner of Flask Walk
  • Tom Ledger - March against Austerity, Bank
  • Paulina Little - St James’s Park, London on VE Day, Hawker Hurricane Mark II
  • Simone Menken - South Ken Cafe Culture
  • Olya Osipova - Cheyne Walk, Chelsea
  • Simon Privett - (1) Flask Walk and (2) Admiralty Arch
  • Nick Richards - Bow Church
  • Evelyn Rowland - Albert Bridge
  • Sue Smith - The Flask, Hampstead
  • John Swanson - King William's Temple, Kew Gardens
  • Marissa Lee Swinghammer - Trafalgar Square
  • Katherine Tyrrell - The Paragon, Blackheath
  • Tony Underhill - St Paul's Dome From The Roof Terrace, One New Change
Marissa Lee Swinghammer - sketching Trafalgar square in August

We very much enjoy exhibiting with Timberyard as the owner is very enthusiastic about linking up to creative people - not least because the different branches are all frequented by very creative people!


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Sunday 18 October 2015

International Urban Sketching Symposium - Manchester 2016 - NEW Facebook Group

The 2016 International Urban Sketching Symposium will be held in Manchester between 27th-30th July 2016.

The symposium is an annual educational and networking event organized by Urban Sketchers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the practice of on-location drawing.

In addition to USk Manchester, several Urban Sketchers Regional Chapters in the area are contributing to the production of the event: USk Yorkshire, USk London, and USk Birmingham. We'll be talking more about this at a later date.

Sketchers of all levels, experience, and backgrounds are welcome!

A view of the centre of Manchester from the sky - and south of Manchester

Find out more about the 2016 International Urban Sketching Symposium


The organiser, Simone Ridyard has set up a Facebook Group for all those thinking of coming who may have questions, want advice about travel arrangements, hotels etc.

JOIN THE NEW SYMPOSIUM FACEBOOK GROUP https://www.facebook.com/groups/1633806703541999/ to discuss USk Symposium Manchester 2016. They're ready for your questions about travel arrangements, hotels etc - just ask a question in the group!

Plus you may also find this official website helpful if you've never visited Manchester before: http://www.visitmanchester.com/home

There's also an OFFICIAL MAILING LIST FOR THE 2016 SYMPOSIUM

If you'd like a peek at what Manchester looks like take a look at this video by Craig Murfin


#Manchester from Craig Murfin on Vimeo.
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Thursday 15 October 2015

Chelsea and Battersea

I enjoyed a lot the sketch meet last Saturday. It was good to see loads of sketchers along the north bank from Battersea to the Albert Bridge as I approached the meet point.
My first sketches were of the Albert bridge from the north bank and from the bridge itself looking to the east. I liked the connections of the bridge and the careful ribetting.
In the afternoon, after our lunchtime meet at the Battersea Pagoda - see group photo - I had time for a sketch of the back of the Fosters Albion building, curvaceous, on the approach to the grungely urban Doodle Bar.
The afternoon meet was lively and expontaneous and everybody mingled and chatted whilst looking at each others work. Fantastic!

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Sunday 11 October 2015

By Albert Bridge

16 and 17 Cheyne Walk, London
It was good to see so many people at yesterday's sketchcrawl around Battersea – including new faces as well as the familiar ones. It was a good mix of subjects, too: as well as a great expanse of the river and Albert Bridge, there was historic and modern architecture. Above is Dante Gabriel Rossetti's house in Cheyne Walk. (It's actually the house to the right of the tree – the visible blue plaque is on the house once lived in by Thomas Attwood, a pupil of Mozart and St Paul's organist. There must be more blue plaques in this row than anywhere in London. Brunel lived in a house here, Turner died in one, and George Eliot lived further along. And there are many more besides.)

Across the river on the Battersea side are the offices of the architects Foster and Partners. They designed Albion Riverside, the neighbouring development with curvy-lined balconies overlooking the Thames and Cheyne Walk opposite. It was a good day's drawing, although I seemed to spend more time talking than drawing. We all met up at the end of the day at Doodle Bar on Parkgate Road to look at what we'd all done. There was some great work. Well done to Isabel for organising the day.

Albion Riverside, Battersea



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Tuesday 6 October 2015

London Urban Sketchers' Exhibition 2015 - Reminder & UPDATE

The REMINDER is to:
  • make sure people remember that the deadline for entries for the London Urban Sketchers Exhibition opening this November is the end of Saturday 10th October.
  • encourage entries  from anybody who has been active with Urban SketchersLondon group in 2015
We'll also be reminding people who come to this Saturday's sketchcrawl! ;)
The UPDATE is to say
  • IGNORE the deadline to ask for an entry form. You can still ask for one - check the link below to find out how
  • Entry forms have also been uploaded as files to the Urban Sketchers London Facebook Group -in Word - in both.doc and .docx formats

To find out more about the exhibition do please read the Call for Entries: Urban Sketchers Exhibition 2015

Lunchtime for London Urban Sketchers at the Orangery in Kew Gardens in May 2015

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