Skating on the Natural History Museum Ice Rink

Sketch of the skaters and Christmas Tree on the Christmas Skating Rink at the Natural History Museum - complete with penguin stability aids for the little ones

Wishing all regular readers of Travels with a Sketchbook
a Merry Christmas 

and Happy Sketching in the New Year

Skaters at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've been saving these up since the beginning of the month when we visited the museums in south Kensington with London Urban Sketchers!

Christmas Skating Rink in front of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell 

Note the novice skaters clinging to the edge in the background.  The children had penguins to cling on to as they skated around - they seemed to work very well

Click this link for details of the skating rink at the Natural History Museum

ROI Art Event Evening at the Mall Galleries

Sketch of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters' Art Event Evening
at the Mall Galleries 17th December 2012
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell

I drew this sketch last night during the annual Art Event Evening while the Royal Institute of Oil Painters hold during the Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. It was done from my vantage point sat at the bottom of the stairs on the way into the West Gallery.  You can just see the lower legs and feet of the model on the left

Status of sketch at the third break.
Still got the floor and background to do!

The Gallery was absolutely full of easels and painters - most painting in oils but some painting in watercolours and some of us were just drawing.  I get bored drawing one person so I decided to do my view of the event! :)  We had a couple of hours with breaks to get something down.  All in all it was a very pleasurable event and much enjoyed by all I spoke to.  I can highly recommend it if you'd like to attend next year.

In the middle of the sketch are a couple of oil painters and art bloggers that I know.

• Sat in the middle in black is Adebanji Adeola Alade (Adebanji Alade) who is a Provisional member of the ROI and has a portrait painting in the exhibition.
• Standing next to him in the apron is Haidee-Jo Summers (Haidee-Jo Summers Artist) who won the First Prize of £200 worth of art materials donated by Winsor & Newton for the "best portrait".  She also has a landscape painting in the exhibition.

Haidee-Jo Summers, portrait painting and model.
Haidee is using an Open Box M.
That apron looked green in the more subdued light!

You can see (and buy) the paintings in the Exhibition online.  The exhibition continues at the Mall Galleries on The Mall, London until 23rd December.

Urban Sketchers London - Sketchcrawl #3 in South Kensington

Today's the day of the third Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawl - and everybody is welcome!  

Details are on the flyer below.

• start in the Central Hall (the one with the skeleton of the dinosaur) of the Natural History Museum at 11.00am
• finish inside at the Victoria & Albert Museum at 4.30pm (when it will be dark outside)

There are also opportunities to draw skaters on the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum - and below is the sketch I did last time I visited and sketched in Winter!

The nearest tube is South Kensington (Circle, District and Piccadilly Lines) which is right opposite both museums.  Couldn't be easier! (This is the map of the planned closures on the Underground this weekend)

PS If you're planning on sketching outside bring your thermals - it's cold!