How to sketch The Shard

I've been having difficulties with The Shard - in terms of finding a way to draw it which makes for an interesting sketch as opposed to here is a VERY BIG building and here are tiny little buildings next to it down the bottom of the page.

Last week I discovered the trick is to get away from it and to draw it from the riverside.  Mind you I'm not entirely sure I got the scale right - but "I'm getting there".

Here's a panorama I did last Friday of the River Thames and the South Bank of the Thames at Bankside and is that rare thing - an annotated sketch by me.  As a result I've loaded a large image which you can only see if you click the sketch and then open in a new tab

Panorama of the Thames and the South Bank at Banksideright click to see big version
8 x 10*, pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Featured in the sketch from left to right are: Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, No. 1 London Bridge (the building with a bit missing - home of PWC), a riverboat stop (at Bankside Pier), City Hall - headquarters of the Great London Authority, The Shard, Guy's Hospital Tower (I've stood literally on the top of that building!) and Shakespeare's Globe.

The shoreline at Bankside

Bankside shoreline

8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is a part plain 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.

This sketch is described as 'part plein air' as it started to drizzle shortly after I started - so it was finished at home. I think the colours might appear ever so slightly more exciting than reality! ;) There were no people in the picture when I started but they appeared as I drew so I popped them is as they give a great sense of scale.

Out of the picture and on the other river bank, next to the railway station was the site of the Norman fortress Baynard's Castle which stood in the southwest corner of the City of London, where the walls met the River Thames. It burned down in the Great Fire and the site is currently occupied by an awful lot of concrete. I used to have an office in a completely undistinguished concrete slab office blocks at Puddle Dock where I was based while working all over the UK in the nineties. Those bridges were the view out of my office window - so they're a very familiar sight for me.

Out of the picture and over to the left is the Bankside Gallery, home of the Royal Watercolor Society and the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. I'd just come from my visit to the RWS Spring Show on its last day. You can read a post about the show on my other blog later today.

The River Thames was low yesterday, hence why the shoreline was exposed. Over on the other side of the River one can see the wood associated with the old wharves to the east of the Millenium Bridge up to Queenhithe.

The remains of old wharves on the north bank of the Thames
(Left) The view from Millenium Bridge - looking east
(Right) The entrance to Queenhithe
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Queenhithe was originally presented by King Alfred the Great in 883 AD to his brother-in-law Ethelred, who in the same year was made the first Earldorman, or Alderman. It acquired its name after the dues and profits from the docks were dedicated to the wife of Henry I, Queen Matilda. The area probably began life as a Roman dock, but was known in Saxon times as Aedereshyd. Indeed, it contains the remains of some Roman baths. With the oldest and possibly the only extant Saxon harbour in the world, the area has always been known as a trade centre, used extensively until the 20th century by the corn and later the fur and tea trades.
Port Cities - London

Below is a present day bird's eye view of the location of Queenhithe and the wharves and this is a very old map if the area.

This is a new experiment using Google Maps - please let me know if you think it works or whether it makes the blog too slow to load.


View Larger Map

Links:

• British History online - Baynard's Castle
• Port Cities Online - Queenhithe Dock
• Bankside Gallery
  

Room with a view

View of the City, Cathedral and cranes from the Friends' Room at Tate Modern
8" x 11.5", pencil and coloured pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On the Friday before Christmas we went to Bankside to see the Christmas Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery and do some food shopping at Borough Market.

The Mini Picture Show (see description below) remains open until 24 January. It's one of the few exhibitions at the Bankside Gallery where you can take your picture home straight after buying it. The aim is to keep the stock revolving and there is new work from members of the Royal Watercolour Society and The Royal Society of Painter Printmakers being hung all the time. I saw some very nice work by the printmakers - I was reaching for my plastic - before I remembered that the other main purpose was to get veggies for Christmas!

Mini Picture Show
Wed 12-Dec-2007 to Thu 24-Jan-2008
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Featuring exciting new work on a small scale, this exhibition promises to be the perfect opportunity to purchase enchanting, original and affordable art for Christmas. Works by Members of both Royal Societies will be available framed and unframed and may be taken away when bought. Look no further for a thoughtful Christmas gift.

We paid a quick visit to the Tate Modern and had a cup of tea in the Friends Room - and sat on the sofas which line the long thin section of the room and look out to the City of London across the River Thames. It always feels pretty weird being nearly on the same level as the dome of St Paul's Cathedral. I continue to be amazed by how many cranes they've got in the City of London - they seem never-ending, only changing locations. Two ladies stood on the balcony outside the Friends' Room (which I have tagged as a plein air painting spot for a warmer day) and provided a nice bit of scale for my sketch!

We then trotted down to Borough Market which is the place you always used to see when Jamie Oliver was collecting his foodie bits and bobs in his early TV series. it was full of people collecting their partridges and turkies and geese and ducks and just about every other form of meat or fowl likely to be consumed over Christmas. Absolutely masses of other Christmas goodies too - but I restrained myself and stuck to the organic veggie stall.

We walked back via Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge to Monument and caught the tube home amongst lots of festive folk on their way home from work for the holidays. "He who must now be bored while I cook" did a stirling job in helping me carry it all the veggies home!

Links:

• Bankside Gallery
• Borough Market