Have you ever tried this with a sketch?

Superimposing sketch on scene - on the terrace at Chartwellwith Crypotomeria Japonica (Japanese Cedar) in the background
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils

Have you ever tried superimposing your sketch on the scene that you are drawing? Below I've written my explanation of how I did this. It's not difficult but you can make it easier to do....

I normally sketch across a double page spread of my Moleskine to provide an 8" x 10" image. However yesterday, after dropping off my drawings for hanging at the Florum exhibition in Sevenoaks (opens on Saturday 12th September), we went to Chartwell.

Sat on the terrace I pondered as to what to draw while "he who must not be bored while I sketch" read the City pages. That's when I realised that I had brought out the sketchbook I finished last Saturday! (Have you ever done that?)

I was reduced to searching through it for half pages which I'd not used.

Given that Chartwell is a "big view" place I was somewhat perplexed as to what to draw - and then decided to draw HWMNBB against the house and the very large Japanese Cedar (Crypotomeria Japonica) in the background.

Then decided to have a go at the trick where you superimpose your sketch over what you are drawing.  The trick is twofold:

• when you start the sketch make sure you have a horizontal and/or vertical lines in the sketch which you can line up against the scene - in my case the horizontal line was the top line of the tree shadow and the vertical line was the outside edge of the arm
• then use one hand to position the sketch over the scene and line up your lines in the sketch with the lines in the scene.
• finally use another hand to take the photo. This is when you realise a third hand might be useful! It means you must use a camera or phone which you can get level and click with one hand.

I nearly got it right. If the sketchbook had been level I would have got it almost spot on!

HWMNBB says he doesn't look like that at all - and I have to confess something went very wrong with the mouth and jawline! Top half is not bad!

The Paragon at Blackheath

On Saturday I went on a long walk to join up with London Urban Sketchers who were sketching at Blackheath (see map at end!)

I got there in time for lunch and then spent the afternoon sketching The Paragon which started life as seven pairs of houses linked by colonnaded sections built as part of the Cator Estate. They've now been split into flats. My friend Jean and her husband live in the one on the left

Western end of The Paragon at Blackheath
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchboook

We sat for most of the sketching in the afternoon under leaden grey skies - wondering if we'd need to whip out umbrellas very fast. It was certainly cold. Then just as I was getting to the end of the drawing the sun came out and produced one of those very pale turquoise skies.

Then the clouds came over and it went back to being grey!

I finished the drawing while sat in the cold but added the colour when I got home. I also need to add more grass cutting lines!

More sketches - from lunch and tea - to follow.

These are the people who came to Blackheath on Saturday - I'm taking the photo.

London Urban Sketchers at Blackheath - the end of the day lay down of sketches and group photo

This is the map of my walk. The walk from Cutty Sark Station on the Docklands Light Railway is very pleasant as it takes you through the park (uphill for most of the way) and then across the heath - so only a tiny bit of traffic for the whole walk.

From the station to the Princess of Wales pub (where we had lunch) in Montpelier Row in Blackheath is 1.4 miles and is uphill for half the distance. It's supposed to take 28 minutes and burn 114 calories - which (according to my invaluable Citymapper app) apparently equate to 0.6 packets of crisps or O.6 pints of beer. Just so you know....

The walk from Greenwich Cutty Sark Station to Blackheath.
(click to see a larger image)

Sketching Cambridge: Magdalene College and Magdalene Bridge

Magdalene Bridge - sketching the sketchers and the Scudamore Punters
pen and ink and coloured pencils, 9" x 12"
on Arches HP Block

On Sunday 23rd August I drove up the M11 to Cambridge to join the Urban Sketching Cambridge Group ( also at https://www.facebook.com/uskcambridge) which is based there.

They had got permission to sketch inside Magdalene College.  For some reason I spent all my student years in Cambridge without ever knowing anybody in the east part of the college so this was a novel experience for me.

They were planning on a couple of hours sketching before lunch - and I wanted to see the Watercolour exhibition at the Fitzwilliam in the afternoon so I needed to be speedy!

I decided to focus on just doing pen and ink sketches and then adding colour when I got back home.

I started by sitting in the corners of one of the courtyards of Magdalene College and sketched the sketchers.

Magdalene College: Pen and ink sketches of Cambridge Urban Sketchers #1
11" x 8" in a Moleskine Sketchbook

Next are the two sketches above completed with colour - using coloured pencils - when I got home. I'm not sure who I've sketched in #2 below!

Magdalene College: Pen and ink sketches of Cambridge Urban Sketchers #2
pen and ink and colour pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

Magdalene College: Pen and ink sketches of Cambridge Urban Sketchers #3
Sketching Sue Smith under the Pepys Library Portico (or is it a Loggia?)
- the words at the top say Bibliotheca Pepysiana 1724
pen and ink and colour pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

I then moved around the river side of the college and drew from the wall which separates it from the River Cam and the extremely busy Scudamore Punt station. I listened to lots of different punter guides explaining the college and the bridge and Cambridge generally to those on guided tours while sat in a large punt.  I also watched a few novice punters receiving their instruction on what to do when taking out a punt for the first time.

If I'd had more time I'd have loved to have drawn the comings and goings of the punters beneath me - especially the bit where those who knew the rules came up against those who didn't!

It's not too far to Cambridge - so I shall be back sketching with the group again - although maybe not every outing.  I saw some amazing sketches at lunchtime - not least the panoramic sketches done by Peter Wenman

Panoramic sketchbook by Peter Wenman held by
Peter Wenman on the left and Yasemin Gyford on the right

It was also great being back in a place which holds lots of memories from being a student 40 YEARS ago!  I walked with a friend down Trinity Street and Kings Parade to the Fitzwilliam Museum with a constant chorus from me of

• "That's just the same!" (e.g. Heffers and all the colleges and Fitzbillies - even if I did forget precisely where the latter was!) and 
• "Oooh, that's changed!" (e.g. The Copper Kettle looks completely different and whatever happened to Eaden Lilley who did my graduation photo?).

Admiralty Arch and Horse Guards

On the 16th August I organised the London Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl to St James Park, The Mall, Horseguards and Trafalgar Square.

Below are my sketches - and a little bit of history about the two important London buildings I sketched Admiralty Arch and Horse Guards. Both are Grade 1 Listed Buildings - meaning they are very important in terms of both architecture and heritage.

I've already written about the sketchcrawl for London Urban Sketchers and I'm not going to do it again. However you can READ more about the sketchcrawl:

• the results August 2015 Sketchcrawl - Notes, photos and sketches and
• the plan Let's Draw - Trafalgar Square, The Mall & St James Park - Sunday 16th August 2015
• plus view the map of the locations

Plus you can SEE more photos of both sketches and the sketchers that I took in the London Urban Sketchers - August 2015 (Mall) album on our Flickr account. You can also see the sketches done by other people that have been posted to Flickr in the Urban Sketchers London - Group Pool.

Admiralty Arch

Admiralty Arch - drawn while sat in the middle of The Mall (16th August 2015)pen and ink and coloured pencils

What you do on a Sunday morning after the VJ 70th anniversary commemorations the previous day!- sit in The Mall behind the traffic cones and draw something you could never normally draw from this perspective!

I focused on the drawing and added more colour when I got home- building up layers to get intensity of colour can sometimes take a bit of time

Admiralty Arch was commissioned by King Edward VII - to commemorate the reign of his mother, Queen Victoria - which is why her name is written in Latin at the top on The Mall side.

It used to be used as government offices and Ministers used to have flats at the top but it's now been vacated and let for use as a hotel (which as yet has not yet happened).

The central gate of Admiralty Arch is typically only ever opened to allow the Monarch to pass through. If you sit the other side of it is a great place to get a full view of The Mall when the traffic is normal - unlike when we were there and most of The Mall was coned off for pedestrians only.

Horse Guards

This is my sketch of Horse Guards and the Parade Ground - which is where they held the drumhead service for the VJ 70th Anniversary.  It's also where they hold the trooping the colour every year on the Queen's Birthday.  You can see a drawing of what it looked like in 1695 at the end of this post.

Did you know that Horse Guards houses the space used for the Tilt Yard used by the original Whitehall Palace?  (see a map of this in 1680 at the end of this post)

I had great plans to include the London Eye but needed a different perspective or a wider sketchbook! I think I'm going to go back and have another go. It's a view I walk past regularly and I've always wanted to have a go.

A view of Horse Guards and the Parade ground (16th August 2015)pen and ink in a Moleskine sketchbook

Plan of the Palace of Whitehall 1680 
- right click and open in a new tab to see a much LARGER version
The Tilt Yard is at the top. The map has the river at the bottom and the parkland at the top.

View of the Palace of Whitehall by Leonard Knijff, c. 1695-7
- right click and open in a new tab to see a much LARGER version
Thames is at the bottom of the picture and the space now occupied by St James Park is at the top
You can just see the entrance to Horse Guards in the middle

The VJ Day 70th Anniversary Drum Head Service on Horse Guards Parade Ground

PS. I've been very slow getting sketches on to this blog of late - and am now trying to catch up. It's not that I haven't been sketching - just that I haven't been scanning and photoshopping and blogging!

The Shard from Greenwich Pier

Yesterday I did this sketch of The Shard and London skyline on the River Thames from a seat in front of the Old Royal Naval College/Hospital at Greenwich - just beyond Greenwich Pier.

So first here's the sketch. There were amazing clouds yesterday. I was half tempted just to sketch the sky!

The Shard from Greenwich Pier
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 10 x 8inches
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Next is the Moleskine Sketchbook with pencils as I was finishing

Sketchbook and pencils - nearly finished
As you can see quite an assortment of pencils are used - I'm not a dedicated one brand only person.

then the sketchbook again - but this time with the view

The Shard is in the distance and Greenwich Pier is in the foreground
He who must be bored while I sketch holds up my sketchbook for the photo with the view
(He was reading 'Shakespeare' by Bill Bryson - while I sketched. Looked interesting!)

and finally a pic of the place where I was sketching

We were sat on the seat just in front of the Old Royal Hospital - which is now the University of Greenwich.
I was looking up the river past the end of the pier on the left
If you sit at this spot you usually get the sound of somebody practising a musical instrument
coming out of the windows behind you!

RI 2015 Private View - and sketchbooks on show

I usually have a sit down half way through a Private View, pull out my sketchbook and my favourite Pentel G-TEC-C4 gel ink rollerball in brown ink and have a quick sketch with my cup of tea.

I'm into line sketching at the moment - no shading, no colour, just line.

Time out at the Private View
Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at the Mall Galleries 24 March 2015
8 x 10", pen and ink in Molekine Sketchbook

You can read about the 203rd Annual Exhibition of Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours #1 - Prizewinners and Events on my main blog Making A Mark.

There's a lot of RI member artists bringing in their sketchbooks to the exhibition as part of the events programme (see the list below) and as you can imagine a lot of them will be sketching using watercolour.

Saturday 28 March - usually a very busy day in the gallery as the Art Societies arrive by the coachload

• David Parfitt - Showing sketchbooks and iPad drawings 11:00am – 4:00pm
• David Poxon - Showing sketches and photographs 11:45am to 4:00pm

Wednesday 1 April

• Ian Sidaway - Showing a selection of sketch books 11:00am – 3:00pm

Thursday 2 April

• Jean Noble - Showing a selection of sketchbooks and photos and critiques of visitors' paintings

Saturday 4 April 

• David Parfitt - Showing sketchbooks and iPad drawings 11:00am – 4:00pm
• David Poxon - Showing sketchbooks and discussing working methods 11:45am - 4:00pm

Wednesday 8 April

• Ian Sidaway - Showing a selection of sketchbooks 11am – 3:00pm

Lunch at The Merchant Hotel, Belfast

After I had finished my talk and panel discussion last Thursday I took myself and my travel sketchbook off to The Merchant Hotel. This is a 5 star hotel which houses The Great Room Restaurant in what used to be the Banking Hall in the Headquarters of the Ulster Bank in Belfast.

As many of you know I'm very fond of sketching food and in particular nice meals in different parts of the world.

Cherubs looking down on diners

I arrived about 1.30 and the restaurant was full. At first, it seemed unlikely I would be able to get a seat. However keen to enjoy some fine dining and a wealth of things to sketch I persisted and was rewarded with a table.

The banquette was very comfortable and the service was extremely high quality after a minor hiccup.

So here - in order - are my sketches and a photo or two.

All sketches were done 
at the Merchant Hotel, Belfast 

on Thursday 12th March 2015

 in pen and ink and coloured pencils 
in a Moleskine Sketchbook 
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

First my sketch of the cherubs decorating the tops of the walls around the room. I decided I liked the one with wings coming out of his head!

Next my starter which was a Seafood Ravioli

Seafood Ravioli, Portavogie Lobster and Irish Scallop Ravioli and Shellfish Bisque
Merchant Hotel 12 March 2015

This was a beige colour - but delicious! Next course was a dish of Roast Irish Cod Fillet with Ham Hock.

Roast Cod Fillet, Smoked Ham Hock, Saffron Potatoes, Chargrilled Leeks and Mussel veloute
at the Merchant Hotel, Belfast 12th March 2015
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook | copyright Katherine Tyrrell

and finally... my dessert - White Chocolate Parfait.

White Chocolate Parfait, Yellow Man and Orange Poached Figs
at the Merchant Hotel, Belfast 12th March 2015

Tea in the Great Room Restaurant

Corner of The Great Room Restaurant

I didn't get round to sketching my cup of tea at the end of the meal - due to the need to get to the airport - but it was beautifully served.

This is the link to an example of the Lunchtime Menu. (If I were to make a suggestion for one way in which they could improve - I love restaurants which update their menus on their website as fast as they do in the kitchen - and don't just leave the same menu up all year round)

You can find The Merchant Hotel in Waring Street, Belfast in the Cathedral Quarter.

You can find out about the history of the building here.

More of my sketches from Belfast

• Cicchetti at Coppi
• Sketching the Sessions at the Ulster Festival (tomorrow)

More of my sketching meals sketches

Cicchetti at Coppi

One of the highlights of my recent visit to Belfast for the Ulster Festival of Art & Design was the food which can be enjoyed in the vicinity of the Faculty of Art & Design.

On Wednesday lunchtime I enjoyed Fish and Chips while sat in a booth next to Dara Ó Briain at the Canteen at the Mac (I sleepwalked past!). The Mac is a new arts venue in Belfast - behind the Art School. It has fabulous looking and tasting food (here's the lunch menu). It tastes even better when you've had no breakfast because you were up so very early to catch a plane to Belfast!

Then on Wednesday evening after my talk, Julie Douglas and I met up with John Angel and his wife Megan and we went for a late dinner at Coppi in St Anne's Square, behind the Cathedral.

I did a super fast sketch of the Cicchetti I had for a starter - and then had a go with colour when I got home. Very tasty!  I followed up with Pork Saltimbocca Prosciutto, Roast Chestnut, Sage Butter & Bitter Leaf Insalata - but was too tired to sketch by this stage!

Cicchetti (pronounced “chee-KET-eeh”) are small dishes of food - not unlike Tapas - but Italian in origin and typically served in traditional "bàcari" in Venice.

Cicchetti at Coppi in Belfast 
(spelt incorrectly on the sketch)
Clockwise from left: Crispy Squid, Arrabiata Mayo & Lemon, 
Lemon Chicken Spiedini, Roast Pepper Salsa and Polenta Fritti, Candied Fennel, Goats Cheese & Balsamic

Plus I do like a restaurant which goes to the trouble of telling you which dishes are vegetarian, gluten free, contain nuts etc.

I've got a set of food sketches coming up next - from lunch at The Merchant Hotel on Thursday after my sessions were finished.

Reference:

• Coppi - Restaurant St Anne's Square, Cathedral Quarter, Belfast BT1 2LR
• Coppi - Menu
• Belfast: Coppi - TripAdvisor

Sketches from Victoria and Albert Museum Sketchcrawl

Only a week late this time - here are the sketches from the London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl at the Victoria and Albert Museum last Saturday.

It was so sunny that I say in The John Madejski Garden - the courtyard with a pool in the centre of the Museum - all afternoon drawing people sat in the sun.

Sitting in the sun, The John Madejski Garden, Victoria and Albert Museum 7th March 2015
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook (11" x 16")

I started with the chap sat next to the external corner of the building (top left) and then worked my way across the page relating one person to another. Of course they were never all present at the same time as people came and went as I drew - and some of them moved rather a lot while I was drawing! Which accounts for why some are half finished!

I also drew some London Urban Sketchers. On the left is Jean Edwards (a drawing a day) and on the right is Pavel Miller. You can see what Jean and Pavel were sketching in the Tweets below my sketch - they were both sketching the architecture of the V&A at the time.

London Urban Sketchers hard at work
Pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook

@UrbSketchLondon @makingamark2 #thedailysketch an enjoyable and productive day at the V and A https://t.co/Vq97fkNXOi pic.twitter.com/9itVWhuRD9
— jean edwards (@JeanEd70) March 7, 2015

Awesome day sketching in the sun with @UrbSketchLondon at the @V_and_A can't wait for the next one! pic.twitter.com/aGBwIQ3eOv
— Pavel Miller (@PVMill) March 7, 2015

Sketch of a Potager in Provence

This is for Ruth - I've just read on Facebook that she feels she no longer has enough time for her garden in Provence due to all her other commitments and is thinking of giving it up.

A potager in Provence
6 ½” x 12” / 29cm x 42cm, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in
Moleskine A3 size Folio Sketchbook

This is my sketch of her wonderful potager (a kitchen garden) at Couguieux with Mont Ventoux in the background. I never got round to posting it on this blog although it was posted to Four Go Painting In Provence.

I absolutely adore kitchen gardens and can always be found wandering around them very slowly whenever I come across one!  It was therefore a real joy to have one to look after and sketch during our stay in the Postcard from Provence house.

I liked the fact that one had to walk a little way down the road to visit the potager - as we did every evening to water the vegetables.  All the water had to be transported using a hose and/or watering can so it is no little effort to maintain such a garden under the hot Provencal sun.

I sketched this potager just over three years ago. It was too hot to finish it and I really should have a go at doing a proper drawing of it as the view was wonderful.

It was one of my first sketches using the very large A3 size Moleskine sketchbook which means I can do large sketches with no binding line down the middle of a double page spread! If you're interested in the sketchbook you can find out more here - The Largest Ever Moleskine Sketchbook!

A new place to sketch at the RA

The Shenkman Bar in the Keepers House at the RA
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook © Katherine Tyrrell

I've been sketching in the Friends Room at the Royal Academy of Arts for years - but the experience of trying to get in and get a seat had become more and more tortuous as the pressure on space from the 90k Friends became more intense.

In recent times, I've more often walked in, gasped at the queue and then walked straight out again and gone straight across the road to various options at Fortnum & Mason so I could contemplate whether an Annual Friends Membership (£90) is really worth it without access to the black leather sofas.

The Friends Room now has a new name and its own website page - the Sir Hugh Casson Room and the Belle Shenkman lounge on the new Friends website.

They've now removed the much beloved black leather Chesterfields and made it into a cafe with tables and hard seating which is open to the public after 4pm. (Mental note: Make sure I go to exhibitions in the morning in future!)

I think the RA have completely forgotten that rather a lot of the Friends are middle aged and older and very appreciative of a comfy place to sit down and have a cup of tea - and a quiet snooze before tackling the train home. It's a triumph of form over function! Lots of hard seats keep the Friends moving through fast. I suspect that those of us who with more than a few aches and pains who always appreciated the comfy seats may well continue to head across the road to the comfort of F&M as the sofas are very definitely no more.

However the RA have recently introduced a restaurant and bar in the basement of the Former Keepers House. The latter was where I sat and sketched on the more comfortable banquettes on Thursday night as I waited for the start of the Bloggers' Evening Preview of "Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined" (for images and more about this see my blog post on Making A Mark later today).

The bar is comfortable and serves tea as well as cocktails!

I then had dinner with Ilaria Rosselli del Turco (Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco - News) - who'd I'd invited to come with me to the Bloggers Preview - in the very nice Restaurant, in the basement of the Keepers House. (see the menu) There I was introduced to Fregola with girolles in a broth with a soft poached egg. It's like a large couscous. Yum!

I'll definitely be returning to the restaurant - maybe for lunch next time.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden in August

We paid a visit to Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent on a warm afternoon  in late August. Everything was set off by the brilliant blue skies.

I'm posting sketches in reverse order - because I like the one I finished last the best.  This is a coloured pencil sketch of the Rose Garden in the afternoon - with a contre jour aspect to the sunlight.  The colour was touched in while I was there and then I completed this part of the sketch at home.

You can see the very fast pen and ink sketch done in the garden below the colour sketch.

Sissinghurst Rose Garden - an afternoon in August
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was sketching very much "contre jour" so I was keen to get down the areas of darkest tone and the outlines of the shapes of the plants and flowers.

The original very fast sketch in pen and sepia ink on Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is the sketch I did as we sat and ate our lunch before going into the garden.

The entrance to Sissinghurst Castle Garden 27 August 2013
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

You can see a lot more sketches of Sissinghurst on this blog - click Sissinghurst

It's amazing how many overseas visitors this garden gets.  I lost count of the languages I heard.

Sketching nature by the lake in Kew Gardens

Last Friday we went to Kew Gardens for the day - and spent the whole afternoon experiencing very warm weather and saying "It's going to rain soon" - but it didn't (until later that night)!

Kew Gardens - sketching nature by the lake
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils, 8" x 10" in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Good weather for birds though!

We have a favourite spot next to the lake where there are some benches and you can see all the birdlife as well as the plants which grow on the water margins.  The coot wanted to be in the sketch!

I've got an artwork planned and wanted some 'in situ' sketches of a plant - hence the above.

Links

• Visitor Information Map (pdf)
• more sketches of Kew Gardens

Summer in the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst

Last month I posted my Step by step sketch of the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst, but I completely forgot to post the finished version - completed at home.  Until yesterday - when we started making plans for our next visit.

So here's the final version of Summer in the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst.

Summer in the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst (24 July 2013)
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 16" x 11"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

A lot of what's done at home is about strengthening colours as opposed to identifying them. Sometimes I need to build up a few layers to get proper darks.  My preference is for using complementary colours to get an optical dark green - and I find the colours red and orange come in very useful for toning down the blue of greens!

I also find other tricky bits are getting the blooms to "come out" of all the foliage and finding differences in the greens so it doesn't look like one massive green splodge!

See more of my sketches and drawings of gardens on my website - Pastels and Pencils - Houses & Gardens - sketches and drawings by Katherine Tyrrell or in Pastels and Pencils Katherine Tyrrell travels with a sketchbook - in England

If you'd like to get inspired to sketch, draw or paint gardens check out my website Gardens in Art - Resources for Artists. This is for artists who enjoy drawing or painting your own garden or gardens you visit. Its contents cover gardens in art and how to draw and paint gardens.

Find out more about Sissinghurst - see Sissinghurst Castle Garden - a great garden

Step by step sketch of the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst

Here's a photo montage of my sketching the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst yesterday.  We were there yesterday and this time I sketched the view I sketched in April - after a very cold spring - on a very hot day in July.

My sketch of the Rose Garden at Sissinghurst 24 July 2013
pencil and coloured pencils in large (A4) Moleskine Sketchbook
all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Above you can the arm of "he who must not be bored while I sketch" who was asked to hold the sketchbook up against the subject matter while I took a photo.  It's not finished but we'd agreed 4.00pm was tea time and this was as far as I'd got!  I'll post the finished version when I've strengthened some of the colours.

Below are the stages of sketching

First the pencil sketch

Initial pencil sketch of the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst from the Lutyens Bench

Then I start to add hatching with coloured pencil.  I work all round the image so that I have a sense of the colour relationships and also so that I use the same colour throughout the drawing - which adds unity to the picture

When I'm working on a large sketch I very often create small patches which are the 'finished' colour but wait until I get home to do all the layers which get large amounts of paper to the same level.  I often leave off finishing the sky until I get home.

I'll post the finished version tomorrow.

Starting to add coloured pencils

...and this is where I was sat - under an absolutely glorious clematis called Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'.  I lost count of the people who photographed it while I was sat doing my sketch.

Clematis 'Perle d'Azure' and the Lutyens Bench I sat on for this sketch
- and the one I did of the same scene back in April

Below are more blog posts about sketching at Sissinghurst.

An Index of posts about sketching at Sissinghurst

• The Rose Garden at Sissinghurst - late Spring 28 Apr 2013 Sketch of the Rose Garden and photos of Sissinghurst Castle Garden April 2013.
• Sissinghurst - from 3rd hottest to 2nd coldest! 26 Apr 2013 Sketch and photos of Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Farm April 2013 plus discussion of weather and impact on plants.
• Vita Sackville West's Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden 01 Sep 2012 A sketch of the writing tower used by Vita Sackville West at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent.
• Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine 1 Apr 2012 Sketch of the moat plus photos of the orchard on a sunny Spring day at Sissinghurst in March 2012.
• Sketching the Herb Garden at Sissinghurst 24 Sep 2011 Yesterday we went to Sissinghurst. I left "he who must not bored while I sketch" reading The Economist and his latest book about The Eagles, while sat in the Chair in the Cottage Garden while I sketched down in The Herb Garden
• The Gazebo at Sissinghurst 17 Sep 2009 The Memorial Gazebo at Sissinghurst, built of Kentish weatherboard, was dedicated in 1969 to Sir Harold Nicolson (husband of Vita Sackville-West) by their sons, Ben and Nigel.
• Sissinghurst - and tips for time limited sketches 08 Sep 2009 This particular sketch was done right at the end of a trip to Sissinghurst in August. "He who must not be bored while I sketch" read his book sat in the chair outside the cottage while I sat on the doorstep.
• Sissinghurst and the BBC4 documentary 15 Mar 2009 This is a view I love every time I visit Sissinghurst - of the fields seen through the arches of the great Elizabethan Farm.
• Spring fields from Sissinghurst 16 May 2008 This was my sketch from the windows of the Barn Restaurant at Sissinghurst on Monday afternoon which I did while I drank my afternoon cup of tea
• Spring at Sissinghurst 15 May 2008 Here's my latest sketch of the garden at Sissinghurst.
• The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent 11 Sep 2007 We went to Sissinghurst Gardens in Kent on Friday and I produced the above sketch while sat in the corner of the White Garden. The White Garden only contains flowers which are white and rather a lot of 'silver/grey foliage
• Autumn at Sissinghurst 13 Sep 2007 Sissinghurst can be very limiting as to set-ups because they won't allow a lot of things (easels/tripods/chairs) into the gardens because of health and safety concerns as the gardens are so popular.
• More sketching at Sissinghurst and a salutary tale 07 Sep 2007 (of a sketch done in 2005) This sketch was a bit of a challenge in terms of placement and perspective, although, to be honest the only perspective I was interested in was whether the trees forms had recession - despite being different in type, shape and colour!

Cheese and biscuits at Fortnum & Mason

Yesterday I went to the Royal Academy of Arts for the press view of the Summer Exhibition - which opens to the Friends' Private Views tomorrow and to the Public on Saturday.

Cropwell Bishop Stilton with Chutney And Fortnum’s Cheese Crackers
pen and ink and coloured pencils, 8" x 10" in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

 I have an annual tradition of crossing the road to Fortnum & Mason for a bite to eat after the exhibition.  One of the things I love about the Gallery Restaurant is it never matters what time you turn up - they have a menu for it!  (see the end for information about opening times and links to menus).

I had their Table d'Hote Lunch which gave me a breather between the Summer Exhibition and the Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition run by the David Shepherd Foundation.  It turned into a bit of an investigation of eyesight and sketching.

Sketching as eyesight testing!

I think I overloaded my eyes with visual information in the morning because I found it very difficult to sketch over lunch.  I started four but couldn't make much progress.  However I did learn something which will be helpful when it comes to prescription glasses.

First I think my eyes were crying out for a rest from looking!  I'm thinking it must be quite a lot for the brain to adjust to when you change vision very quickly (see Day surgery sketching at Moorfields Eye Hospital and Postoperative checkup at Moorfields Eye Clinic). 

 When I sketched at the post-op clinic last week, it was in the morning and I'd not been "looking" beforehand and my eyes were more rested - and as a result there were few problems sketching.  This time I'd spent a long time looking at lots of art in a fairly intent way during the morning and my eyes would have been very tired in any case - even if they hadn't had a recent operation.  Constant switching of focal length is very tiring even if your eyesight is perfect. However my experience yesterday was worse than usual (see a comparable lunch post Summer Exhibition)

Second, I know I was having problems with switching between  viewing the art on the walls and reading my catalogue with the "make do" magnifiers  I'm using while I wait for proper prescription glasses.  That problem will be resolved by having the right prescription - round about the beginning of July.

The view from my table
Gallery Restaurant, Fortnum & Mason 5 June 2013
pen and ink and coloured pencils, 8" x 10" in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I found it much easier to sketch the cheese and biscuits than I did the scene in the restaurant.  You can see that sketch on the right.  I think it's very "sketchy" but not in a good way!

The cheese and biscuits were probably much easier because the sketchbook was parked in front of the plate of cheese and biscuits and my eyes didn't have to adjust constantly for different distances

In the end I decided the problem with the sketching in Fortnum & Mason was probably down to:

• having to constantly switch between distance vision for viewing and near vision for reading during the morning and 
• not yet having the correct prescription glasses for the right distance.

It did also make me wonder whether reading glasses or computer glasses would be best option for sketching.

As a result I've decided I'm going to take my sketchbook with me when I go to get my eyes examined for my new prescription glasses!  Then we can measure out the length between eyes and sketchbook!

A cheeseboard
from a previous visit

Links to previous sketches at Fortnum and Mason:

• Tea at Fortnum and Masons after the Summer Exhibition
• Lunch at Fortnum and Masons (this is a previous post Summer Exhibition sketching session - compare the difference!)
• The Parlour Restaurant
• A Day out in Piccadilly

NOTES re. Venues

Royal Academy 245th Summer Exhibition 10 June — 18 August 2013
In the Main Galleries, Burlington House, Piccadilly
Sponsored by Insight Investment

Fortnum and Mason: The Gallery Restaurant, Ground Floor (overlooks Food Hall)  - entrance via Food Hall
Morning: Monday to Saturday 10am to 12pm | Menu (also applies in the afternoon)
Lunch: Monday to Saturday 12pm to 5pm; Sunday 11:30am to 5pm | Menu
Afternoons: Monday to Sunday 3pm to 6pm | Afternoon Tea Menu

Postoperative checkup at Moorfields Eye Clinic

Today I went for my check-up at Moorfields Eye Clinic at Mile End, one week after my second Phacoemulsification of cataract with intraocular lens implantation #2

That's medical terminology for removing a cataract and implanting a new permanent lens. (see also Day surgery sketching at Moorfields Eye Hospital).

I'm very pleased to say I'm infection free, inflammation free and the 19 eye drops  a day have now been reduced to 12!  Plus I can now read easily to the second to bottom line on the eye chart and today I drove again for the first time in weeks and weeks.  Big mistake - I totally forgot about the dilating drops and had to get "he who must not be bored while I sketch" to come to where I'd parked the car and drive me and the car back home again!

Subject to my check-up at the end of June, I should be able to get new glasses for reading and the computer and get back to normal activities   At the moment I'm having to limit the use of my eyes for reading/computer use.  Instead I'm watching rather a lot of television with my brand new better than normal eyesight for longer distances!  Come July, everything will be back to normal - as in normal about 25 years ago!

Moorfields outreach service at Mile End Hospital - Waiting in reception
8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The above sketch was done while sat waiting to be called for my eye tests this morning.  Drawn on site with colouring added when I got back home.

My clinic is held at a local surgical centre on the Mile End Hospital site.  It's just one of the 19 outreach sites Moorfields Eye Hospital has around London.  These enable people living all over London to get treatment and monitoring and follow-up care without having to travel to the main hospital on City Road.

I have to say this has been one of the very best experiences of NHS care I've ever had.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised as it is a postgraduate teaching hospital! I certainly wasn't in the least bit surprised to see from the website that the hospital has just had an excellent report after a surprise inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

If you live in London (or elsewhere in the UK if you have an uncommon eye condition) and need your eyes sorted out see if you can get your GP to refer you to Moorfields!

Day surgery sketching at Moorfields Eye Hospital

Yesterday I had my second day surgery to remove my cataract and implant a new lens (see
Phacoemulsification of cataract with intraocular lens implantation #2 - which means super new sketching eyes!  Plus I'll be able to get back to proper artwork having had severe difficulties seeing proper colour, tonal values and detail for the last 18 months or so.

I was the last operation of the day so had some hours to while away - and there's nothing like a spot of sketching for passing the time and keeping you calm!

I arrived at 11.30 and after initial check-ups for blood pressure and temperature and the insertion of my dilating drops I got stuck into my first sketch.  The theatre gown in the foreground was for me later in the day.

The patient in the bed opposite - with the ubiquitous post surgery eye dressing
8" x 10" pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

When you come back from theatre, those who have had a general anaesthetic get to rest up in bed.  I was more than ready for my chicken sandwich and big pot of tea when I got back to my bed at 5.30pm having had nothing since 7am!

While I was waiting earlier in the afternoon, I drew the nurses station but didn't try drawing the nurses as they were always busy and came and went too quickly.

Nurses' station in Sedgwick Ward, Moorfields Eye Hospital
8" x 10" pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I felt great after the operation and after post surgery examination and tests was back at the bus stop for the journey home two hours after I left the operating theatre!

Thanks to everybody who helped me get my eyesight back!

Postscript:  The sketches were much admired by staff - as always seems to happen when I sketch while in hospital.  However one of the interesting aspects of this particular operation is I might have earned myself a commission from one of the doctors.  I now have an email to follow up on!

I've added in a module to the side column to say how you can commission a sketch from me.