Trinity Buoy Wharf

I've only just realised that I forgot to post my sketches from the Urban Sketchers London sketchcrawl at Trinity Buoy Wharf on 16 November 2014.

The prow of the red Lighthouse Ship at Trinity Buoy Wharf
- next to where the River Lea enters the River Thames
- with the Emirates Cable Cars in the background

As always the prospect of trying to scan an A3 spread across two pages in an A4 sketchbook has me thinking twice before doing so. In the end I tried photographing with my new iPhone instead - which wasn't perfect but has the merit of at least getting these sketches to appear here with minimum fuss!

The above sketch was done from inside Fatboys Diner - while Suzanne du Toit and James Hobbs sat the other side of the table. It was drizzling outside and a number of us took refuge inside the Diner!

Suzanne du Toit and James Hobbs sketching opposite me in Fatboys Diner

In the morning I was drawing Fatboys Diner - and the other end of the red lightship while testing my new Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils in my Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook (ie smooth surface and amenable to water washes).

This was the result - it's sadly unfinished due to the drizzle which started. I can cope with drizzle and have sat and sketched under an umbrella before now while using ordinary coloured pencils - but it's a bit fatal with watercolour pencils - they have a very unpredictable impact!

Fatboys Diner and the big red lightship - at Trinity Buoy Wharf
- I've used water on the red on the diner
- but the rest of the sketch is watercolour pencils untouched by water

Two things I learned:

• the Albrecht Durers work well with the Zeta Sketchbook when dry
• when the pencils are wetted, the saturation of colour is very good.

I need to try them again on a subject where there is more scope for colour mixing on the paper.