Sketching at the RA - Friends Room #6

Yesterday I was at the press preview of The Real Van Gogh - The Artist and his Letters - which opens this Saturday 23rd January. I'm going to be highly recommending it in my review which should appear tomorrow on Making A Mark - I have absolutely no doubt it'll be a blockbuster.

Sketching at the RA - Friends Room #6
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

After the extended tour by the curator and much study of all the exhibits and an awful lot of note-taking I retired to the Friends room for a cup of tea and a spot of lunch. If I'm in the Friends Room I always try and do a sketch and this was yesterday's effort.

It was nice to be in there when It was a little less crowded from usual. While drawing this I could not help but overhear the converations on the sofa next to me. One was a high-powered female strategy manager making her case (rather loudly) while negotiating next year's salary and bonus followed by a couple of teachers apparently up for the day and talking about their pupils. It was an interesting contrast of personalities and styles of conversation - I kept wondering what Alan Bennet would have made of it. I've always thought I should record snippets of converation while doing these sketches and now thinking about maybe doing that in future,