Travels with a sketchbook in London: a summary

This is a summary of all the sketches on this blog which relate to London. I'll update it at the end of every month if I've posted sketches relating to London in that month. A link to this summary is included in the 'trip summary section' in the right hand column.

Recent sketches in London can see seen either in the list of posts relating to the current month in the archive or by clicking on the category 'London'.

[Amended August 2007] The sketches are grouped first according to the area of London and as stated in the description beneath each area (rather than the date they were first posted as I'm still transferring sketches to this blog from my main blog).

Central London

This section contains sketches of places in the City of London and central London and of areas along and immediately north and south of the River Thames east of Tate Britain and west of Tower Bridge - including Bankside in Southwark. The order below is east to west rather than date order. [Section summary added September 2007]

• Northern Rock - Drawings from the Front Line sketches done during the first 'run' on a bank in the UK since the nineteenth century. This post introduced the new 'tag' of 'life events'.
• 10th International Sketchcrawl - the results a fish stall in Borough Market, London Bridge looking east towards the Tower of London and and Tower Bridge, outside Southwark Cathedral, Wright Brothers, an Oyster and Ale House, Southwark Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral 
• A 'trip' to Borough Market, Southwark and views of the marketplace
• Walbrook Wharf and Southwark Bridge - This is almost a nocturne. At the end of November I sketched barges on the River Thames at Walbrook Wharf, with Southwark Bridge and the sun setting behind them.  
• The Barbican Terrace - a sketch of the Terrace in February
• Sketching at the Brokers Wine Bar - inside the Brokers Wine Bar in Leadenhall 
• Leadenhall Market - an initial sketch of Leadenhall Market  
• Sitting on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral in the sun - a contre jour sketch of Ludgate Hill
• From Bankside to the City of London: the view from Tate Modern - a view of St Paul's Cathedral, the 'old' Nat West Tower and 'the Gherkin' from rooms in Tate Modern - the national gallery of international modern art.
• St Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern - this includes a view of the Millenium foot Bridge over the River Thames
• Room with a view - a view of St Pauls Cathedral from the Friends Room at Tate Modern
  
• Sketching at night by the Thames - St Paul's Cathedral at night and the Thames Bridges at night 
• Sketching Tate Modern people - people on the grass outside Tate Modern  
• The Millenium Bridge - The view that nobody draws - This is the view the other way round. I'm sat looking down the remainder of Peter's Hill to the Millenium Bridge and the Tate Modern.
• Barts and The Bankside Gallery - a view of the interior of the Bankside Gallery and the Great Hall at Barts Hospital
  
• The shoreline at Bankside - a plein air sketch of the shoreline on the south side of the River Thames at Bankside. The bridges you can see are the Blackfriars Railway Bridge and then Blackfriars Bridge carrying the road just beyond it.
• More sketching at Bankside - Another sketch of Blackfriars Bridge and more history of the area. 
• Sketching with watercolour pencils at the Bankside - sketching on a Sunday and an experiment with watercolour pencils

 

• The Courtauld, Old Bank of England and West Smithfield - a visit to areas around and about Fleet Street and Smithfield and sketches of lunch in the interior of an ex bank and West Smithfield in the spring
• The Temple and Temple Church - a visit to The Temple and a sketch of the Temple Church plus some historical facts about the Inns of Court, the Temple Church and Knights Templar.
• St Pancras International - home of the Eurostar and Lunch at Carluccios at St Pancras International - an interior view of both the restaurant and the home of the Eurostar. Plus John Betjeman and St Pancras - a sketch of Betjeman's status at St Pancras.  
• Sketching at Seven Dials -  a sketch of people sat around the great big Sundial Pillar (it has six sundials) at the centre of a junction of seven roads (between Soho and Covent Garden)
• Sketching in Neal's Yard - two views of Neal's Yard, a small courtyard which is a slightly hippy home to healthy food near Covent Garden
• RWS Friends: Sketching at the Royal Festival Hall - this has a view of Parliament and Embankment Place (above Charing Cross Station) from the RFH and a view down into the Skylon Restaurant and out to the Riverside Terrace and the Thames  
• A view of Charing Cross Station and Embankment Gardens - the same location but a different sketching group and this time a panoramic vista

• Embankment Pier and Thames at Charing Cross - sketching the view looking west while sat at the base of Cleopatra's needle 
• Storm clouds over Westminster - a preliminary sketch study for a drawing from Committee Room 4 in 3 Robert Street, looking down the Rover Thames towards Westminster  
• The Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square - a sketch produced with very little light on the evening they switched on the lights of the Christmas Tree
• Lunch at the National Cafe - a series of lectures about drawing in October 2007 meant I visited the National Gallery every Wednesday lunchtime - and this is the pen and ink drawing of the interior of the National Cafe which I drew after the lecture on drawing. 
• Lunch in the National Cafe #2 - another in my series of sketches drawn while havling lunch.
• Drawings from the National Gallery - more drawings after another lecture on drawing at the National Gallery.
  
• Lunch at the National Dining Rooms and sketching at the National Gallery - views of my pudding (Eton mess), the front of the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square - plus a sketch from inside the National Cafe looking out and of one of the paintings in the National Gallery.
  
• High Spots in Westminster and Trafalgar Square - the view from the Portrait Restaurant at the top of the National Portrait Gallery
• Drawing, tea and DVDs at the National Portrait Gallery - the same sketch from the Portrait Restaurant while having a "Portrait Tea" at dusk on a rainy day in January.
• Westminster at Night - another sketch of the view from the Portrait Restaurant at night.
• Lunch at the Portrait Cafe - a sketch of the cafe in the basement of the National Portrait Gallery 
• Sketching at the Wallace Collection - three sketches of the interior of the Gallery in Manchester Square
• Sketching Soho with Julie Oakley - sketching in Gerrard Street in Chinatown starts a day in central London of sketching, talking about art and viewing art with Julie Oakley
• Sketching and quotations from the NEAC Exhibition - sketching in the Mall Galleries during a talk by Ken Howard at the Annual Exhibition of the New English Art Club 
• RI Exhibition at the Mall Galleries - another sketch over a cup of tea
• Drawing trees in St James Park - a 32 inch sketch of the panorama of the lake and trees in St James Park  
• Horseguards Parade and the Lake in St James Park - an early evening sketch
• Lunch at Fortnum and Masons - an epic sketching session. Three large sketches over lunch before I saw the Summer Exhibition across the road at the Royal Academy of Arts.
• Tea at Fortnum and Masons after the Summer Exhibition - a sketch done a pot of Darjeeling and a cream tea in the old tea rooms at Fortnum & Masons. Fond memories!
• A day out in Piccadilly - I spent the day with fellow blogger Robyn of 'Have Dogs, Will Travel' seeing exhibitions, eating and buying books and this is the result.
  
• Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #1 - one of my first ever blog posts and a theme which has continued
  
• Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #2 - a sketch done while having tea in the Friends Room after visiting the exhibition 'Impressionists by the Sea'
  
• Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #3 - plus tips on how to sketch a room like the Friends Room 
• Sketching at the RA - The Friends Room #4 and #5 - more drawings from the Friends Room at the Royal Academy of Arts   
• Sketching at the RA - Friends Room #6 - after the Van Gogh exhibition
•  Sketching at the RA - Friends Room #7
• Just time for a cup of tea - and a sketch - sketching at The Wolseley, a very popular a cafe-restuarant at 160 Piccadilly.
• RWS Sketching Day in South Kensington and sketches of the Roual Albert hall and the Royal College of Music 
• Panoramic sketchbooks and Kensington Gardens - trialling a new panoramic sketchbook on the views in Kensington Gardens
• Dining and sketching at the Tate Britain restaurant - lunch in the Rex Whistler restaurant at Tate Britain with Shirley.  
• Hampstead - Flask Walk, Burgh House and John Constable - sketching in Flask Walk and Well Walk
• Hampstead Heath and the Boating Pond - a couple of sketches on an sunny August day which started off with a downpour!

Pool of London / East London / Greenwich

This section follows the Thames upstream from the Olympic site around the Bow Back Rivers to Tower Bridge and the Pool of London.  It covers areas either side - Spitalfields, the East End, Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf (the new financial centre) to the North and Rotherhithe to the south. Again the order is from East to West. [Section summary added September 2007]

• Sketching the Olympic Park - and where you can sketch it too
• Old Ford Lock - and some ancient tales of the pre-Romans and where Queen Matilda fell in the river back in the 12th century
• Formans and Fish island  - opposite the Olympic site
• Sketching Victoria Park and the Hertford Union - scenes from the first recreational park in the East End and an adjacent canal
• Developing a view of the East Lake - this is the quieter East Lake in Victoria Park
• Sunday in the Park - a sketch of the main promenade in Victoria Park on August Bank Holiday Sunday

• Victoria Park: the Tea Pavilion - a sketch from a hot June morning in Victoria Park
• Victoria Park Lakes and a few birds - a sketch on a cold day in January 
• Lake Trees and a veggie breakfast - the view from my veggie breakdast across the lake in Victoria Park
• An introduction to the Ecology Park Pond series - about my project to record a pond and surroundings over the course of one year plus The Ecology Park pond in December - an update
  
• The Green Bridge - the Millenium bridge (a bridge with a park and trees on top) built over one of the main road into London from Essex 
• It's a watercolour......... - of Willow Pond 
• Herons, coots and goslings - grooming, housekeeping and babysitting - I start getting into sketching East End birds!  
• 8,000 steps 3.8 miles 456 calories! and more sketches from the Ecology Park ponds
• 13th International Sketchcrawl: Sketches of the Pool of London
• Rotherhithe: the Mayflower and Brunel - historic locations in a short stretch of riverside in south London
  
• Wapping: the Pier Head and Old Custom House - the old entrance to the old London Docks
  
• Shad Thames, Tower Bridge and the Pool of London - a view from Wapping of what was once the busiest area on the River Thames.
• The religious extremes of Fournier Street in Spitalfields - highlights the mosque and Hawksmoor's great church at either end of Fournier Street 
• Columbia Road Market on a Sunday morning - two sketches of the famous East London flower market 

Greenwich

This section is views of Greenwich or from Greenwich. Posts are not in date order.

• Canary Wharf Sky 31st January 2007 - the view from next to the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park - looking down to the Old Royal Naval College and the National maritime Museum and beyond over to the Isle of Dogs and the skyscrapers at Canary Wharf on the other side of the River Thames.
• Greenwich - very nearly sitting on zero - a view of the Royal Observatory at the top of the hill in Greenwich Park - which is where the Prime Meridian lies. Plus some observations on the Palace of Placentia.
  
• 16th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - the result - good intentions of sketching along the Prime Meridian are scuppered by a slow puncture only discovered when I get to Greenwich Park. But I did a sketch anyway - of the view towards the Millenium Dome/O2 Arena.
  
• A Canaletto View - a sketch of the view of the Old Royal Navel College in Greenwich from Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs plus old sailing ships
• Trafalgar Tavern and low tide on the Thames- a sketch of the view to the left of the Naval College - at very low tide
  
• Boxing Day ice skating at Greenwich - Ice skating at the Old Royal Naval College.

West London and Kew Gardens

West London is defined as anything which comes with the area known as Greater London which is west of Tate Britain and Vauxhall Bridge. [Section summary added September 2007]

• Good Friday at Kew Gardens - sketches of the Palm House and Syon Reach
• The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in June - a sketch of the terrace outside the Orangery and photos of some of the flowers in bloom at Kew on 1st June
• Henry Moore in Kew Gardens - a visit in October 2007 to view monumental sculpture in a world heritage setting
• Sketching the Japanese Landscape at Kew Gardens. This post contains a few basic reminders about useful practices when sketching - plus a few other items of interest to those visiting Kew in Spring and Summer 2008
  
• Taking tea at Kew Gardens - a sketch of people taking tea at the Kew Plaza cafe in May   
• Autumn at the Sackler Crossing, Kew Gardens - a sketch of the vivid colours of the gardens in autumn
• Tea at The Kew Greenhouse - a sketch of the interior of the cafe near Kew Station on the way back to the tube
• Peacocks, palms and magnolias - Kew Gardens in April - sketches inside the Temperate House and outside the Orangery

Reference Books - Book Reviews

• Byfield and Binney: London Sketchbook