Cold weather and small quick sketches

When the weather gets cold I do much less sketching outside. Mainly as a risk management strategy for the problem I have with tearing ligaments and muscles my feet. If I stay too still and get too cold, muscles contract and seize up which then means balance is difficult and can make walking very risky for me if the surface is not dry and safe.

One possible answer is a smaller sketchbook - one that fits in the pocket of my very robust anorak - and quicker sketching!

Lake People #5
5.5" x 7", pencil in small Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I find it works well for my sketches of people having a cup of tea or bite to eat at the Pavilion Cafe in Victoria Park (when I'm sat inside the Cafe looking out). The one above was done just after the snow fell just before Christmas when I discovered that the walk along the canal is very risky in poor weather conditions (ie slush and ice). I concluded that it is only safe for me to go out when the snow is dry and powdery - and this wasn't! The only bit I enjoyed on that walk was tramping across the snow on the grass in Victoria Park which was still dry.

The small sketchbook works less well at present for my sketches of the Ecology Park Pond. Maybe because I'm still wanting to do larger sketches and the time I allot for a sketch while sat outside in the cold is minimal?

Willows around Willow Pond
5.5" x 7", pencil in small Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I need to keep reminding myself that Turner and Constable both made an awful lot of sketches in very small sketchbooks. I think I'm going to have to study them to identify their techniques for sketching small landscapes.

You can see all of Turner's 300+ sketchbook here on the Turner part of the Tate Gallery website - Tate Collection | Turner Collection | Sketchbooks

Links:

• JMW Turner - Resources for Art Lovers
• Tate - Turner Sketchbooks
  

Lake Trees and a veggie breakfast

This is a sketch I did recently of the trees by the West Lake in Victoria Park in Bow.

I sketched them while I sat and eat the organic veggie breakfast at the Pavilion Cafe by the Lake in Victoria Park - yummy! I think it had a beneficial effect as I'm rather pleased with this one

Lake Trees
11.5" x 8.5", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I'd been up and out at 7am as it was the first morning in ages with decent light and I wanted to get some photos in July of the Ecology Park Pond. After checking out the changes at the pond I walked up the canal to Victoria Park and had my breakfast plus a big mug of builders' tea.

Finished off by a walk back down the canal to home.

Then in the afternoon we walked all the way along the Herford Union Canal to the Olympic Stadium site and back again. So all in all I did quite a lot of canal walking that day - although only half of it was Sketchercise! Minus pedometer I've no idea how much but it will have been well in excess of 10,000 steps.

However I'm still very puzzled about how most people living in London can fit in 10,000 steps on a routine basis.

It's a watercolour.........

Willow Pond 14th June 2009 5.00pm
watercolour and coloured pencil in Conté à Paris sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

.....but it's got coloured pencil on top as I'm not great at watercolour!

I was trying out a new sketching kit during a late afternoon sketch of a weed covered Willow Pond while sat on my new sketching stool on Heron Bridge. (See Ecology Park Pond series)

• set of 12 large pans of Schminke watercolours
• enormous brush - specifically chosen so I wasn't tempted to get detail oriented
• Conté à Paris sketchbook - an old favourite, great paper for watercolour sketches
• 2 pill tubs for water - haven't tried these before but they work fine
  
• a few coloured pencils
• pentel HB mechanical pencil - for initial layout

The big brush worked in terms of avoiding detail. Mixing watercolours was much faster as well plus it was great for working round edges and softening them up when used with clean water, however I think it'll take a bit of practice before I can use it really effectively.

The most difficult bit was trying to work out the mix for the very dark water. I was mixing complementary colours for quite a while before I hit on the perfect mixture which of course I now can't remember as I didn't write it down!

I did write a blog post A few tips about watercolour last year - such a pity I can't always remember them. It was originally written as much as a reminder for me as anybody else! I think I might need to print it out before I have another go.

Sketchercise: 5,509 steps 2.608 miles

A second group - Sketchercise on Flickr

It's obvious quite a few of you like the idea of Sketchercise!

However it was very sad yesterday to have to turn down about half the people who applied for membership of Sketchercise yesterday. This is because while our Ning community is still very new and getting off the ground we're limiting new members to people who are already active in terms of sketching combined with some form of activity. What that means is that I take a look at your website or blog to find evidence of what you've achieved so far - in terms of combining sketching and exercising.

Some people were engaged in only one - but not the other activity.

Bert on Heron Bridge 4th June 10.30am
8.5" x 11.5", pencils and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
(see sketches from the same walk in Herons, coots and goslings - grooming, housekeeping and babysitting)

A second Sketchercise Group

As a result, I've decided (a bit like Urban Sketchers) that's there's going to be a need for a place where people can join in while they develop their sketchercise habit.

So I've set up a new group on Flickr - called Sketchercise on Flickr! See http://www.flickr.com/groups/sketchercise/. This is the description of how it works.

Sketchercise is for people who enjoy sketching AND taking exercise to maintain or improve their health outside a gym!

Sketchercise is a new community with two groups

SKETCHERCISE ON NING All you need to do to join the Sketchercise on Ning group is to enjoy sketching from life (no photos!), have already developed the sketching habit AND have found ways of getting out and about - with a sketchbook. You can walk or cycle or paddle your own canoe - so long as it involves activity and sketching! This group is for people who've already got the Sketchercise habit and we review your nominated website for evidence of this before new memberships are approved.

SKETCHERCISE ON FLICKR If you like the idea of Sketchercise and want to have a go at Sketchercise and develop a Sketcercise habit then this NEW FLICKR GROUP is the place to post your sketches and show us how you're getting on. Post all your sketchercise sketches in this group and tag them all with 'sketchercise' and that makes them easy to find.

So Sketchercise on Flickr will be the group which in future I will refer people to if they apply to join Ning but have very little demonstrable evidence of sketching and exercising at the same time.

It has a few rules which are detailed below. The emphasis is on the process rather than the output - we're not expecting drawings or paintings which are exhibition ready!

The focus of this group is the process of sketching and exercising and the Group rules are very simple

1. Upload up to 3 sketches each day - in any media
2. The sketch must be done from life and ideally done plein air (no sketching from photos at home!)
3. The sketch must be done while taking exercise
4. Say where you went and how you got there
5. Tell us what you noticed while out exercising and sketching

Sketchercise on Flickr

If you are by any chance writing about Sketchercise on your blog, would you mind linking to this post and highlighting the difference between the two groups - thanks! :)

Note: My sketch is another one for the Ecology Park pond series and is of Willow Pond and was done while on my walk last Thursday morning. You can see Bert the Heron sat on Heron Bridge in the foreground!

Herons, coots and goslings - grooming, housekeeping and babysitting

Coot Nest in Victoria Park

pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Thursday I decided to take my sketchercise in the early morning and headed out for the walk up the Regents Canal to the Ecology Park Ponds and Victoria Park.

I was waylaid by some very demanding red poppies in the meadow grass of the Art Park but arrived at the Ecology Pavilion Roof at the same time as the heron arrived at Heron Bridge. Below you can see my photo of the heron coming into land on the bridge - he never gives me much warning and I was lucky to get this!

Bert comes into land on Heron Bridge
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I'm afraid I have a habit of giving names to animals and birds that I see often. This Grey Heron has been named Herbert the Heron - or "Bert" for short. I think it's the same heron I see each time but I could be wrong.

He then proceeded to give himself an all over groom - all the time standing on one leg!

Bert takes personal grooming very seriously pencil in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

It took a couple of minutes for me to realise that this was going to take some time and that I could try sketching him as he changed posture - so I did - and you can see the results on the right.

I found when watching him that he had a number of standard moves - and a lot of it depended on how he held his neck and whether or not it was folded or in twisting mode

Tomorrow I'll post the drawing I did inbetween his changes of posture.

The second drawing (top) is of the coot nest which is right next to the Pavilion Cafe in Victoria Park. I can sit with my cup of tea on one of the outside benches and sketch this little family which are only about ten feet away. The most difficult bit was trying to work out how the ripples worked as the Mum and Dad busied themselves with housework and looking after the nest - which was of course now needs an extension as their kids are growing up fast and now need more room.

I love the way coots seem to find the largest things to put between their beaks so they can add it to their nest on the water. They are the soldier ants of the water birds!

Greylag Geese Goslings with Mum and Dad
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Finally, a photo of the other group of birds which I've grown very fond of in the last few weeks and that's the greylag geese families which live in Victoria Park. The Mums and Dads are most attentive and are often found standing around their brood on one leg, while the babes have a quiet snooze. I think this brood outgrew their nest a while ago!

My Sketchercise totals for Thursday were 7,548 steps or 3.57 miles

Links: Ecology Park Pond project plus RSPB links to each bird

• RSPB - Grey Heron
• RSPB - Coot
• RSPB - Greylag Geese
  

8,000 steps 3.8 miles 456 calories!

The Fishing Net (Moor Hen Pond, 24th May 2009, 4.15pm)

8.5" x 11.5", pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Well if I'm going to start counting steps I might as well show you how it comes out! Unfortunately this is the only record I have of the walk on Sunday afternoon and I know I rounded the number of steps - but it was only just over 8,000 steps. This pedometer cancels the count and starts again in the early hours of the morning so I need to learn to write totals down before I go to bed!

However I now know the length of my classic long walk which should provide some incentive to do it a bit more often.

Here's the sketch I did at the pond. Fishing season has begun and the kiddie fishing nets are out in force at the weekends, ably assisted by the Mums and Dads who are enjoying a second childhood.

Speaking personally, I always used to enjoy going crabbing as a child - but I need to live a bit closer to the sea for that!

Sunday's sketch is not the best designed of sketches as the people sat down to fish after I had started the sketch so I fitted them in the best I could! I think I'll probably have another go at this one as a formal drawing and see what I can make of it.

I'm beginning to enjoy the way the sketches and drawings for the Ecology Park Ponds are beginning to repeat in the same way that the photographs already are. Just compare this scene from this one sketched on the 2nd January when I could barely sit on the metal seat because it was so cold.

....erm - did I remember to mention how I forgot to put my pedometer on yesterday when we went out for another walk! I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon....

Sketchercise - and my new pedometer!

Willow Pond from Heron Bridge - 21st May 2008
pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The doyennes of sketchercise are the small group of bloggers who participated in Julie Oakley's One Mile from Home challenge. I was a supporter more in spirit than reality during that challenge.

However this year getting more exercise has become a very real goal to reduce the risks of more falls/tissue tears/etc.

One of the reasons I started my Ecology Park Ponds series this year was to try and make sure I got more exercise. The walk up to the pond is something that is near enough and far enough to make it a decent walk without making it an expedition or taking up too much time. However if I do have the time it's the start of my four mile walk which also takes in the Regents Canal and both lakes at Victoria Park.

Yellow flag irises at East Lake - the "before"
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I do however need to sort out my pencils - since the pond 'greened up' this month - see the photos in the May Ecology Park Pond Gallery on Flickr. I've been deficient in greens in my pencil case and latterly I've been visually swamped by the development of the yellow flag irises (Iris pseudacorus). I had a bash at doing a sketch of them on Thursday but it needs finishing as I hadn't got the right colours with me. This is the 'before' version!

Anyway the point of this post is to say as of Friday I have a new incentive. I've now got a pedometer!

It's called the ex3 plus and I bought it an hour after I'd been given a pedometer which I promptly lost because although it was hooked inside my trouser pocket it dropped out! This new one weighs next to nothing and hangs round my neck so there's no chance of losing it!

ex3 plus by silva.se

I'm currently 2lbs away from having lost 2 stone since January 1st - which I would have achieved some weeks ago if it hadn't been essential that I went on an official "leg rest with foot up" three week break during the back end of March and early April. I'm planning to road test the new pedometer this afternoon when we go for our Sunday afternoon walk.

What I like about the new pedometer is it gives me feedback about the number of steps, the distance I've walked and, if I program in my weight, how many calories I've burned. That's the sort of feedback I like! You may just possibly see steps counted and distance walked on future sketchercise posts!

If you are also participating in sketchercise, just mark your posts with that word as a tag/label/category and I'll find them - or just leave a comment below.

Victoria Park Lakes and a few birds

Victoria Park Lake People #3
pencil and coloured pencils in Derwent Safari sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Last Wednesday it was blue skies and warm (i.e. above freezing) so I went for a long afternoon walk and repeated the walk I did on 8th January - as recorded in The coldest snap for 20 years

I had my new alpaca 'fingerless gloves with mitts extension' on and have discovered that I can get my smallest Muji pencil case into the zip pocket of my Rohan fleece. So with my Derwent sketchbook tucked up the sleeve of my jacket I went for a bag-free walk. Well that's not counting the camera bag!

I discovered a sign in the eastern park of Victoria Park which says what I've been calling a pond is actually a lake according to the Victoria Park Anglers Alliance (VPAA) - which is a biodiversity oriented voluntary community group. What's nice is they've got quite a decent website which tells me (and you) a it more about each lake.

The East Lake bit of the website indicates where it is and has some photo albums which explain the work they've done to rehabilitate the lake.

The lake is stocked with Tench, Rudd, Roach, Crucian Carp & Perch- mostly small fish with the aim of getting more bites (in contrast to the West lake).

The West Lake has quite a history and this album has historical photographs of the lake dating back to the Victorian era when there was a pagoda. I wonder if they built it around about the same time that Kew acquired its pagoda? I think the Pavilion Cafe must be where the West Lake boat house used to be.

I had my cappuccino at the Pavilion Cafe half way through the walk and sketched more of the Lake Side People - and a dog!

Birding

I'm really getting into this birding thing. I've now taken to photographing everything that moves especially if I've not seen it before and don't know what it is! Besides mute swans, greylag geese, mallards, coots and moorhens I got:

• a male ( and female I think) shoveler (my photo)
• a black headed gull in winter plumage (my photo)
• a male and female pochard (my photo) and
  
• a male and female tufted duck (my photo)

Plus the really good news is that I was right first time and there are moor hens in my "Moor Hen Pond" at the Ecology Park - so no need to change the map - phew!

You can see photos from the walk in:

• Birds in London set
• Ecology Park Pond set
  

Guess who's started drawing birds? I'm very tempted to start a series of drawings of coots.

The Ecology Park pond in December - an update

I thought that people who mainly follow my sketchbook blog might like to see how sketches get converted into more formal drawings which are currently being posted on my other blog - Making A Mark.

Below you can find a couple of original sketches already posted on this blog and the drawing done as a result

The Ecology Park Pond - 26th December 2008
8.5" x 11.5" pencil and coloured pencils

becomes............

Ecology Park Ponds Series #4 - 26th December 2008
The Willows across Moor Hen Pond
10" x 14", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

2nd January 2009 (12.30pm)
Canal View Bridge from the side of an icy Willow Pond
8.5" x 11.5" pencil and coloured pencils

becomes............

Ecology Park Ponds Series - 2nd January 2009 - #3
Canal View Bridge and Moor Hen Pond
10" x 14", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Plus another couple of drawings which I've been able to do because of my growing familiarity with the Ecology Park Pond.

Formal Drawings
(left) Lily Pad Pond from Canal View Bridge - looking towards Tow Path Platform
(right) The Willows behind Dog Walker Bridge from the southern edge of Lily Pad pond
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The main differences I notice are:

• sketches done in cold weather are never going to be as good as those done in when it's warmer - if only because I've got a tendency to hurry the sketching or to pack up before I've finished because I've got too cold!
  
• the format of my sketchbook and the size I've been working are not quite the same. Maybe time to think about cutting up some paper to the right size and/or same format?
• more formal drawings usually have a more defined and definite value pattern - with the darker values worked up better. That's partly because it takes quite a time to get good darks on the bond paper in the Daler Rowney black sketchbook which I like to use (because of its smooth bond paper - coloured pencils skate across the paper very fast!).
  
• I'm pushing colour in the more formal drawings and the colour is not completely faithful to the environment. That's a deliberate aesthetic decision over any commitment to total accuracy. I think on the whole I prefer the faithful image which "speaks of the place" rather than absolutely reproduces it
  

Some things to think about the next time I go sketching!

Links:

• An introduction to the Ecology Park Pond series
• 28th December 2008 (15:30) - Frozen Pond
• The Ecology Park Pond in December

An introduction to the Ecology Park Pond series

2nd January 2009 (12.30pm)

Canal View Bridge from the side of an icy Willow Pond
8.5" x 11.5" pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This sketch was done on 2nd January at midday and is of the view to the left of The Ecology Park Pond in December - but it's been drawn with me sat on the same seat.

The names of the pond and bridge have emerged since the sketch - see below for more about the 'naming of parts' and a map of what is where in this complex of ponds!

It was bitterly cold again and too cold to hang around for long so having got the pencil sketch done, I took a photo of it on the ground (see right) and then started on the coloured pencils - but gave up when I got too cold. In the current cold snap it's been fine to be out if you keep moving but it gets very cold if you stop to sketch!

The subject and the sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I often put my sketch on the ground in front of a subject to see whether it looks similar as I get further away from the sketch - it's a very good test of proportions.

I've finished the drawing which relates to this sketch - but the light has been too bad today to do any photographs of it.

More about the Ecology Park Ponds and the series

Today, I've got posts on two other blogs about the Ecology Park Pond series - they both have the same name but they vary somewhat as to topic.

An annotated map of the Ecology Park Ponds

(click for a larger version)

• Making A Mark - The Ecology Park Ponds - an introduction. This covers the location of the ponds and a couple of maps one of which is reproduced above. I decided to have a 'naming of parts' because it could get a bit confusing as to which pond was which and which bridge was which!
• Watermarks - The Ecology Park Pond Series - an introduction - this provides a summary of what I hope to be doing - in terms of subject matter and media - with this series. It also has some photos of the ponds.

You can also see photographs of the Ecology Park Ponds in a new set which I've published on Flickr - see The Ecology Park Ponds.

Links:

• Watermarks: Reflections on a Pond
• Travels with a Sketchbook: The Ecology Park Pond in December
• and 28th December 2008 (15:30) - Frozen Pond
• Making A Mark - Working in a series - drawing and painting ponds
• Making A Mark - The Ecology Park Ponds - an introduction
• Flickr - The Ecology Park Ponds.

The coldest snap for 20 years

Victoria Park Lake People #1

pencil in Derwent Safari sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Today it was finally warm enough for me to risk going out for a walk - as in the temperature got above freezing.

It's been very, very cold for the last few days in London with newspapers now reporting that some parts of the UK are experiencing the coldest temperatures for 20 years.

I struggled for hours this morning while trying to renew and install my security suite. In the end I decided I needed to just walk away from the problem and go for a good long walk - and wait for the support people to sort everything out.

So, my walk today took me up to Victoria Park where I'd remembered there was another pond which would be worth investigating. It's the one I always think of as the fishing pond and it always has lots of bird life around and about. Today it was frozen with just one part open for a large gaggle of birds who were all being amazingly sociable

Then I walked across to the Lake - which was also frozen except for the bit in the middle where the fountain was keeping the water moving. I can't remember the last time I've seen it frozen like that - it's been many, many years. It's a large expanse of water and it sometimes freezes around the edges but nothing like it was today. The swans and other birds were standing on top of the water and finding it difficult to locate water to 'hoover'.

Although above freezing it was still far too cold to sit outside and sketch (I've identified the thermal long johns I need - I've just not got them yet!) so I dived into the Pavilion cafe for lunch and sat and sat at the window and drew people on the terrace outside - overlooking the lake and the fountain. I ha d a lovely Chorizo, hummus and spinach stew with granary bread while I sat and sketched. The people in the cafe were a complete mix of Yummy Mummies with teenie tinies and old East Enders - a sign of how the area has changed in the last 25 years.

It struck me this might be quite a good spot to do a series of sketches of people all occupying the same space. So having done my first sketch of a couple of yummy mummies, I proceeded to a sketch of three people having lunch. They were joined by a couple of very friendly pigeons. I think some of the birds in Victoria Park have a goal of making the leftovers from the cafe their staple diet!

Victoria Park Lake People #1

pencil in Derwent Safari sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On the way home, down the Regents Canal, via the Ecology Park Pond, I found yet more evidence of just how cold it has been. The canal was all churned up suggesting that there has been some movement of canal barges - and the ice was quite fascinating as a result.

Ice on the Regents Canal 8th January 2009

In the Ecology Park everything was frozen solid - except under the wooden bridges where the moor hens had taken up residence.

Ecology Park Pond frozen - ice on the ice
and my usual seat for sketching

I discovered a new way of going sketching today. I put a pencil and a pen in the zip up pockets of my fleece. Then I use my new smaller Derwent sketchbook - and that will just go inside the sleeve of my warm furry lining jacket with the rib cuffs at the end of the sleeves. Which means I can walk around with no backpack. Yippee. I think winter sketching means more sketching in pen and graphite and less in coloured pencil - well until it warms up a bit!

Note: The Pavilion Cafe comes highly recommended by me - just what this area needed! Here are a couple of reviews from Time Out and The London Review of Breakfasts - which is a blog which is new to me! The menu board suggested they catered for both those who like a major fry-up at breakfast or the alternative healthy veggie blow-out version. Read the comments for the breakfast review!

Links:

• London Borough of Tower Hamlets - Victoria Park
• Wikipedia - Victoria Park, East London
• Qype - Victoria Park
  

28th December 2008 (15:30) - Frozen Pond

28th December 2008 15:30 - a frozen pond

8.5" x 11.5, pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The surface of the Ecology Park Pond had a very thin sheet of ice over the centre when I visited it last Sunday afternoon. These are the reeds to the right of the last sketch and I've turned about 60 degrees to the right to sketch them. I spent about 15 minutes on this one and then decided I was absolutely freezing despite the many layers of clothing and that I needed to start moving.

I did a complete tour of all three parts of the the pond to see what the views were like from different angles. I've never done this before and was pleasantly surprised at how many really good views there are. As a result I've decided that what I'm going to do is have the whole pond as my subject and I'm going to keep touring round the edges and doing sketches from different angles as there is lots and lots of potential material there and it would be silly to waste all that by just doing the same view all the time.

However I'm also going to have one view which I'll try and do at least once each month and that will be the first one I did on Boxing Day - The Ecology Park Pond in December.

I've decided that I'm also going to take photos of the pond through the year as well as sketch it so that I get a better sense of what it looks like at different times of day in different months of the year. I'm getting the photos organised so that they'll be on Flickr and be accessible to public viewing. I think I might do a set for each month. There again - there are three parts to the pond and different perspectives and different times of day - so lots of opportunities to ring the changes on Flickr sets!

I'm also going to do draw a map of the pond so that I can then annotate it and say where I was when doing each sketch.

What's going to be very helpful about going to the same place a lot is that I'll get very used to colours and will be able to use photos to develop drawings when the view is of a location where it is difficult to sit. Especially those where you have to stand for any length of time - as that's something I cannot do with my very dodgy feet, particularly when it's cold. I love my sketching but I'm not about to risk having another spontaneous rupture of my instep for sketching!!!

Drawing ice is difficult! In the end it seemed to me that where there was ice, the water was completely opaque ice whereas in the places where there was no ice - at the edge, next to the reeds - the water had reflections and also developed little ripple marks as the breeze blew across it. This may seem obvious - but when the water was glassy still it really wasn't quite so obvious.

I've decided that drawing water is also about drawing what surrounds water and what grows in water. Drawing reeds is also difficult when it's cold. They all look the same to start with and all look like they're all the same colour. Then you realise they're all a bit different in terms of how they're growing and the colours change slightly depending on which clump they're in. But none of that it recorded in this sketch - however hopefully I'll get better with time!

The ice also had a steely blue tinge to it while the areas of water which had reflections of the reeds was a very murky olive green/brown. I need to find a pencil which is near that colour as I can see I'll be using it a lot. My recollection is that Caran d'Ache do a lot of good colours in the range of olive brown that I need. The reeds are a peculiar mix of yellow ochre and true blue/green at this time of year with lots of raw umber thrown in.

What was particularly nice was that the sun was setting behind me and as I was sketching the apricot coloured sky started to appear at the front edge of the pond and coloured the section which wasn't under ice.

I'm going to be doing a series of posts introducing different parts of the pond as the sketches develop.

The next thing to do is to visit in the morning - which is what I've got scheduled for this morning - and it's very gray and dull outside!

You can see the first 'proper' drawing I've done in Making A Mark in 2009 - The Plan. Here's a little version of it. It's of the same day but I'm looking west rather than east and at a different part of the pond - and I've begun to get a better idea of how all the reeds work!

The Ecology Park Pond, 28th December 2008 #1
14" x 10", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The Ecology Park Pond in December

The Ecology Park Pond - 26th December 2008
8.5" x 11.5" pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

We went out yesterday for our Boxing Day Constitutional along the Regents Canal to Victoria Park - expecting to find lots of people also out walking - but we saw very few people. Maybe they had all gone to to the 70% discount sales?

This is the Ecology Park Pond which I sketched when I was reviewing the Derwent Safai Journal. Except yesterday the sky was an intense blue overhead - as was the pond - and the pollarded willows didn't have any leaves. The low afternoon sun in a very clear blue sky created a brilliant mix of complementary colours. I have to confess that it was so cold that the coloured pencil got added when I got home!

I'm thinking about maybe drawing this pond and its trees every month in 2009..........(see Reflections on a Pond)