London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl - Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - 26 April 2015

I'm organising the next London Urban Sketchers' Sketchcrawl. You can find all the details and maps and some suggestions of possible subjects or views to sketch in this post Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - 26th April 2015 on the Urban Sletchers London blog.

Everybody is welcome - the only requirement is that you stick to the terms of the manifesto (see end).

Here are the basics:

• On Sunday 26th April 2015
• Starting: 11:00 on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral
• Lunch at 1:30pm on the Roof Terrace of One New Change - where we might just try a "Draw the Dome in 15 minutes Challenge"! (I think I've been watching too many episodes of "The Big Painting Challenge"!)
• End at: 3:30pm at Paternoster Square

St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern

URBAN SKETCHERS' MANIFESTO

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Sketching three Wren Churches in the City of London

Earlier this month, on Saturday 2nd August, I spent the afternoon drawing three Wren churches as part of the Sketching Wren's London Sketchcrawl, organised by Pete Scully for Urban Sketchers London.

The area I covered was very familiar being located very close to the Puddle Dock Offices in Victoria Street where I used to work when I was a management consultant at KPMG in the 90s.

St Andrew by the Wardrobe, Queen Victoria Street
pen and ink and coloured pencil in Stillman and Birn Epsilon ringbound sketchbook, 9" x 12"
© Katherine Tyrrell

St Andrew by the Wardrobe is the last church designed by Sir Christopher Wren for the City of London.

Sir Chrisopher Wren
Image: Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

• The original church (no longer standing) dates back to the 13th century and was associated with Baynard’s Castle, which used to be located where the Mermaid Theatre is now.  The church was located close by to the place known as the The Great Wardrobe - where the state robes and other associated materials were stored.
• It was the parish church of Shakespeare when he worked at the nearby Blackfriars Theatre - which was also located just to the north of the church
• The church was burned down in the Great Fire of London - hence Wren's involvement
• It was then damaged in the Blitz - it completely lost its interior - but has subsequently been restored.

I've been sent some of the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks to review and this was the first time I'd taken out their Epsilon sketchbook (9 x 12" / 22.9cm x 30.5cm - ring bound / 100 pages).

I'll be publishing a review when I've used it bit more - I'm only just getting back into sketching having spent most of the year writing my book about drawing and sketching!

I really liked the paper which is heavy weight paper designed for pen and ink (100 lb. / 150 gsm - with a plate surface) and it certainly is an excellent surface for that.  The other big advantage is that the pen and ink does not show through the paper so you can work both sides without causing a problem when it comes to scanning. It also worked really well with coloured pencil as well and smudged beautifully when I used a tissue to blue the colours in the dark clouds behind the church.

I'm much less keen on the ring binding as it causes a problem when it comes to scanning.  I also need to remember that the sheets are 9" x 12" which means they're very slightly bigger in both dimensions than the A4 size permitted by my scanner.

I then walked up the road and swopped to a pen and ink sketch of The Guild Church of St Benet, Paul's Wharf on a double page spread in my trusty Moleskine Sketchbook.  This was drawn using an unusual 'portrait' format. I tried to get it all in but in the end lost the top of the tower.

This is the Welsh Anglican Church in the City of London and has a Baroque style.  It was originally located just to the east of the watergate of Baynard's Castle - and both castle and church burned down in the Great Fire of London.

This 'new' church was designed by Wren and built between 1677 to 1685. This is the English Heritage listing for it. See if you can spot what they're referencing in my sketch (it's not all theer!). I was located to the north of the church - looking south towards the River Thames - which means west is on the right and east is on the left.

Square compartment of 3 bays with north aisle and short west aisle to south of west tower. Exterior of red brick with modest dressings of painted stone and richly carved festoons above windows. Modillion eaves-cornice of timber. Hipped, tiled roof, in 3 sections to north aisle. Blind panel to centre of east front. Pedimented doorcase at south end of west aisle. Simple tower in 3 main stages with quoins, circular and round-arched windows and stone frames, simply mullioned belfry openings. Timber cornice capped by lead-covered cupola with lantern and weathervane. Flat ceiled interior has order of Corinthian pilasters and colonnades screening aisles, their high pedestals supporting galleries with carved fronts. Vestry (formerly entrance vestibule) beneath west gallery. Entrance now under tower. Fine, carved reredos communion table and rails, pulpit, west door, marble font with corner etc. Modest sword-rest. Wall tablets. Marble paving. Inscribed slabs. One of the least altered of Wren's churches.

The Guild Church of St Benet, Paul's Wharf, Queen Victoria Street
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook, 10" x 8"

© Katherine Tyrrell

View of the steeple of
St Augustine, Watling Street

The last church I sketched - St Augustine, Watling Street  - was one that doesn't actually exist any more. It's located to the east of St Paul's cathedral (visible in the photo on the right) in what used to be the cathedral's churchyard.

I also sketched it while sat in a Cafe Rouge which had windows which opened up on to the scene (see right)

The original church - located immediately to the east of St Paul's cathedral - dated back to the 12th century with the earliest recorded reference being in 1148. At the time it was 61 feet long.

The church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London. It was then rebuilt to a design by Wren in 1682-1695.

It was then destroyed again in the Blitz.

All that was left after the Blitz was the tower and the steeple. This time rather than restoring what was damaged, it was left. Subsequently, starting in 1965, the tower and steeple were incorporated into the buildings which comprise the St Paul's Cathedral School - for the choir of boys who sing in the cathedral.

I reverted to the Epsilon sketchbook for this last sketch - using it in portrait format - and this time I only lost a tiny bit of the spire of the church.  This time it was a pen and ink sketch using my much loved Pilot G-TEC-C4 gel ink rollerball (sepia ink). The plate surface makes this sketchbook an absolute natural for sketching in pen and ink

The tower and steeple of St Augustine, Watling Street
pen and sepia ink in Stillman and Birn Epsilon ringbound sketchbook, 12" x 9"
© Katherine Tyrrell

This time I located the drawing of the Church's tower and steeple againt the more modern architecture which surrounds it. Immediately behind is One New Change - a new shopping complex. Beyond that is Richard Seifert's Tower 42 (which I still call the NatWest Tower), 30 St Mary Axe - better known as "the Gherkin" and 122 Leadehall Street aka the "Cheesegrater"

You wonder whether these designs would get built if the architects and those commissioning the buildings had any idea what they might become known as!

Locations:

• St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe Parish Church, St Andrew's Hill & Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 5DE
• The Church of St Benet Paul's Wharf, Bennet's Hill, City of London, EC4V
• St Augustine, Watling Street - St Paul's Cathedral School, 2 New Change, London EC4M 9AD

Sailing ships and the City of London from Greenwich Park

This is the first of the sketches from the Greenwich Park Panorama - my 48 inch wide panoramic sketch of the view from the top of the hill in Greenwich Park.

The City of London and the River Thames from Greenwich Park
11 x 16" pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Sailing Ships and Maritime History

While people looking at this view typically pick out all the tall buildings around and about the City of London, few realise that they are also looking at a place which has played a huge part in British Maritime History.

Here are the site of the Prime Meridian - which helped sailors navigate; the place where the Royal Dockyards were located for 350 years; the place were Brunel built enormous steam sailing ships in the ninteenth century and finally the home of the Cutty Sark - one of the fastest tea clippers ever built,

What's in the sketch

Looking left from the hill - past the trees and bushes which populate the slope below the Royal Observatory at Greenwich you can see a variety of buildings which I've annotated on the Flickr version of this sketch.  Hold your cursor over the image in Flickr to see where all the places and buildings are located.

You can see - from left to right

• The path up to the Royal Observatory and the marker site for the Prime Meridian zero degrees longitude aka the Greenwich Meridian (just off to the left and out of frame)
• The 34 storey tower at Guy's Hospital - the tallest hospital building in the world
• The Shard - the tallest building in the UK and Europe at 309.6 metres / 1,016 feet high
• the area in Deptford which used to be the Royal Naval Dockyards - building sailing ships for war and exploration for 350 years - after it was commissioned by King Henry VIII in 1513 (see image below).  It built and refitted many famous ships in British maritime history.

Deptford Dockyards by Joseph Farrington

• St Paul's Cathedral - now a rather smaller landmark in the City of London when compared to......
• Three tall buildings in the City of London
• the former NatWest Tower
• the Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe
• Heron Tower - now the tallest building in the City of London
• In front of these is the Wharf in Millwall on the western shoreline of the Isle of Dogs where Isambard Kingdon Brunel built the steam sailing ship the SS Great Eastern which was the largest ship in the world when it was launched from Millwall in 1853.  This is also where the famous photo of Brunel was taken - against the background of the chains used to launch the Great Eastern
• Peeping above the trees in the middle ground are the two masts of the Cutty Sark - the tea clipper which has recently reopened after the massive refurbishment project
• On the right and in the foreground are the Equestrian Arena and other buildings built for the  London 2012 Olympics

The sketch was the first to be drawn on 15th September when I drew the panorama of the view from the top of Greenwich Hill during the course of the 2nd Sketchcrawl hosted by Urban Sketchers London.

Greenwich Park Panorama

This is my very big sketch of the panoramic view from the top of the hill in Greenwich Park on the day of the Urban Sketchers had their 2nd Sketchcrawl.

The panoramic view from the top of the hill in Greenwich Park
- complete with Equestrian Arena for the Olympics 2012
pen and ink and coloured pencils,
11" x 48" (3 double page spreads in Moleskine Sketchboook)
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

It was sketched in three double page spreads.  I'll start unpicking the panorama tomorrow and then  I can show you the constituent parts!  It includes:

• the Shard, St Paul's Cathedral and the City of London
• Canary Wharf, the Old Royal Naval College and the Equestrian Event Arena used for the Olympics and Paralympics
• the O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome)

For the record I was also sat about 30 feet east of the Prime Meridian ie 0 degrees longitude!

I got it all drawn out while I was there and most of the colour down.  However as always it takes a little longer to get the dark values reinforced which I've been picking away at last week when i had a moment.

I only saw this for the first time myself about 10 minutes ago!  Up to now I've been hoping three double page spreads would join up!

I'm thinking I maybe need to return with a roll of drawing paper so I can draw the landscape the way they used to be drawn in the past.

The Leaning Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

It wasn't until I got home that I realised that I'd drawn that well known new tourist attraction The Leaning Dome of St Paul's Cathedral while sketching the spectacular views from the roof terrace of One New Change on Friday.

The "Leaning" Dome of St Paul's Cathedral
11" x 8", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I really should learn to repeatedly check my verticals because I know I've got a tendency to lean one way when it comes to verticals!

I used to draw the interior of St Paul's Cathedral and always started by drawing a vertical line right down the centre of my page so I could keep track of the verticals as I looked up and down!

See my website for more drawings of the interior of St Paul's and the view of St Paul's from the South Bank of the River Thames

Two views across the Millennium Bridge & 'Tales from the Bridge' Soundscape

Yesterday I sat adjacent to the Millennium Bridge and its new soundscape and created two pen and ink sketches of the view looking across the Thames from opposite viewpoints - before and after visiting the Damien Hirst exhibition at Tate Modern

The first one was done while sat on the Thames Pathway in the City of London - facing Tate Modern and adjacent to the Millennium Bridge.  Office workers sat next to me eating their lunch and telling stories of how to get on in the City.  People ran up and down the Thames Pathway during their lunch hour and I enjoyed the warmth of the sun while I sketched

Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge from the Thames Pathway
11.5" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The interesting thing about this sketch is I drew to the sound of Tales from the Bridge -  a sound installation on the Millennium Bridge.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'From Saxon times to Londinium and Shakespeare's city to our present day metropolis, London's story is one of dynamic change. With the magnificent Thames as the constant that flows through that great history, Tales from the Bridge provides an evocative soundtrack to the sights, the sounds and the people that have passed through these streets. With a wonderful poem and amazing invisible choir, it will be an inspirational part of the celebrations we are hosting across the city throughout the summer.'

It's both interesting and soothing - particularly when the chorus starts singing - click the link to see a video about it.

London’s Millennium Bridge (has been transformed) into a giant 3D soundscape. Tales From The Bridge went live the morning of the opening ceremony, and will run daily from 8am to 10pm during the Olympics.

It is the largest 3D soundscape in the world, using 3DAudioScape software (developed by Ware’s company Future of Sound, in collaboration with Vince Clarke) to position spoken elements written by poet Mario Petrucci and voiced by Mia Austen and Steven Alexander within a soundfield that runs the entire length of the bridge. In addition, at the start of each hour, an astounding invisible 3,746-voice strong choir from 73 countries – Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir – will perform Water Night, written by Grammy-winning composer, Eric Whitacre.
Largest 3D soundfield on Millennium Bridge during Olympics

The other sketch is of the City of London - including St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge  - done while sat having a pot of Lemongrass and Ginger tea in the Members Room on the sixth floor of Tate Modern.  It's a great place to take a break and avoid the hordes in the museum cafes.

Click this link for a virtual tour of the Members Room and see its wonderful view.

The City of London, St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge from the Members Room, Tate Modern
11.5" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is what was behind me while I sat and sketched Tate Modern!