Sketching in the RI Exhibition at the Mall Galleries

I went to the Private View of the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours this week at the Mall Galleries. Looking back at past blog posts about their exhibitions reminded me to look back in my London sketch folder at sketches done IN their exhibitions in the past - and you can find some of these below.

See my blog review of this year - 205th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and you'll find lots of subject matter for sketching while the exhibition is on!

As usual, all sketches below start in pen and ink in a Moleskine sketchbook and then have coloured pencils added - except for the ones at the end which are in pencil.

See RI Exhibition at the Mall Galleries (2010)
This sketch appears on page 103 of my book Sketching 365 
available via a link in the side column or from all good art bookshops
(which includes the Mall Galleries!)

Some marvellous and colourful paintings by Bob Rudd of Iona and various other islands in the Hebrides feature on the end wall.

see The Private View (199th RI Exhibition) (in 2011)

My method of sketching is simple - find a seat and start drawing! The composition evolves as I draw. People come and go and the trick is to get good at spotting the ones who look like they're going to stick around in the same spot for a little bit!

See RI 2015 Private View - and sketchbooks on show

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.

and finally....

Below are two sketches from this review of the exhibition Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Annual Exhibition 2008 and the sketch is of Bill Toop RI (who sadly died last year) demonstrating how to paint in watercolours and a little boy called Thomas who was watching him intently.

NOTE: This blog has been on a hiatus for various reasons - not least being the very serious problems I had in mobilising last year due to the onset of arthritis and a torn meniscus in my knee. This has meant I now cut out carrying anything unnecessary. I had trouble getting my coat on and off at one point never mind a back pack!! I'll be trying to get back to sketching and blogging again in the future and in the meantime may well post more sketches from the past that haven't seen the light of day on this blog before!

London Urban Sketchers at Canary Wharf - 16 January 2016

On Saturday I led the London Urban Sketchers Group's visit to Canary Wharf (see UPDATE: re Let's Draw Canary Wharf 16 January 2016

These are my sketches. I first took people to see the amazing sky garden at Crossrail Place where the vegetation has really bedded down since it opened last May.

This was my first sketch of the day

My first sketch was of Poplar DLR Station - from a distance

Sketched through one of the holes in the roof of Crossrail Place

I then turned my attention to the sky garden

I drew in pen and ink on the spot
- and added some colour when I got back home

Dicksonia Antartica at Crossrail Place in Canary Wharf

 - it was just above freezing on the day and I was greatly amused by the name of the tree ferns!

We shared our sketches at lunchtime in Jubilee Place - the warmth was much appreciated

London Urban Sketchers - lunchtime at Jubilee Place undergound shopping mall

This is when I discovered there was a sketch of me sketching my first sketch!

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!

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

A Cheshire Garden on St David's Day 2015

A Cheshire Garden on 1 March 2015
pencil and coloured pencils in a Stillman and Birn Zeta sketchbook  12" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've been drawing my mother's garden in Cheshire for some years. I sit next to the French window into the garden and have the benefit of armchair, warmth and cups of tea while I draw the scene outside the window.

Sunday, 1 March 2015 - St David's Day - is nominally the first day of Spring in the Meteorological calendar - or so the BBC weatherman informed us!

The the weather was very good in the morning and very dim and grey in the afternoon!  Of course, the major benefit of staying in one place is that I can get up the next day and continue a morning sketch from where I left off the previous day. However, by midday, as we travelled to catch my train from Crewe, the weather had turned to sleet!

This isn't finished and I might tweak it a little bit more - but I'm loath to do too much now I'm back in London and don't have the garden in front of me.

You can see more sketches of the same garden - at different times of the year - on this blog. See:

• A Cheshire Garden in Spring - and some new plants (May 2011)
• A Cheshire garden in summer (August 2010)
• A Cheshire Garden in July (July 2011) This one features as a large image on the Section Title Page of my new book 'Sketching 365'.
• The Winter Garden (December 2011)

If you're wondering about the size of the bird table it moves around depending on the season and weather. In the winter months it's always very close to the door into the garden so Mother can feed the birds easily.

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!

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

Guess where I'm sketching #1?

I think I'm going to start posting some photos of places where I have sat and sketched and see if people can work out where they are. To be followed by sketch done while sat in said place.

Here's the first one - this is where I was last Sunday. There is a clue in the picture. "He who must not be bored while I sketch" and the Sunday Times occupied the sketch to my left (your right)

The bench was very comfortable, had a good view and had the added advantage of giving me somewhere flat within easy reach on which to put my Pencil Art Bin, pencil cases, rest my camera, leave my bag etc.

If you know where it is see if you can work out precisely where it is! :)

Guess where #1?

Lying on the bench is my new Stillman and Birn Zeta sketchbook with extra heavy weight paper in Natural White (kindly supplied for review by Stillman and Birn via Jacksons Art Materials). I have to say I am liking it more and more with each use. It likes pencil, it's likes pen and ink a lot and it's absolutely fine for use with coloured pencils. Plus it lies absolutely flat when opened up - I really could not work with any sketchbook that didn't.

A slideshow of the sketch I was doing will follow in the next post.

20 years ago in Belcastel

While going through my sketchbooks for the book, I came across a sketch in a very old sketchbook that I'd never posted before.

This is a sketch of Belcastel in the Aveyron done 20 years ago in July 1994.  I'm looking up at the Château de Belcastel from the banks of the River L'Aveyron right next to the bridge over the river (here on the map). It's one of my favourite parts of France.

Belcastel in the Aveyron

This has 'status' in terms of me still being in the very early stages of using coloured pencils.  I remember I used mainly pastels on that trip which involved staying in a very nice house in Cougousse.

One of the interesting things about sketches is the way they take you back. I vividly remember drawing the angles of the houses and roofs of the houses very carefully. Plus being intrigued about how to capture the light under the bridge and its reflection in the river.

I think I'll mentally file this away as a 'need to think about working up' folder.

Maybe I need to post some more of my old sketches from 20 years ago?

VIDEO: Sketching with coloured pencils #1

..and finally - we have a video of me sketching! Watch it here - or for the big HD version click the link and go to YouTube where you can view it on my YouTube Channel. Below you can also view some photographs from my day out at Great Dixter yesterday.

Making a video of me sketching!

I can't remember how many years it's been since I started thinking about making a video of me sketching. Last year I did get as far as making a slideshow of a step by step - see © Katherine Tyrrell Sketching the Long Border, Great Dixter (July 2013)

I've long said I'm going to produce a video of me sketching - and years have gone by during which time I have bought tripods etc and never ever done anything about it. We then come to the advent of the mini iPad and I've again begun to think about videos of sketching.  Yesterday quite spontaneously I finally did it!

...and finally - this is it!

This comes with about 15 seconds of thought and preparation and starts with me taking the mini iPad back into my own hands from "he who must not be bored while I sketch" - who was supposed to be filming me - just as he has yet another hay fever attack.

That's when I discovered I could actually hold the iPad Mini and sketch by looking at the sketchbook through my iPad!  For those of you with iPad Minis why don't you try it?

You might be interested in how I hold a pencil....... however my pudgy hands distress me - they come courtesy of both age and disability!

Other than that take a look at my first go at iPad videos of me sketching.  Like I said - this is spontaneous - and you get the usual features associated with sketching (something falls over , the sketchbook goes skew whiff etc).

More about my day out and photos of the sketching set-up

Who would have thought that writing a book about drawing and sketching would have led to a drought in terms of plein air sketching - and blogging about my sketching? My visual capacity in my brain has been completed filled with selecting and gathering in images (and copyright forms), rescanning and photographing over 100 images of my own plus creating lots of diagrams to explain points.

It was absolutely idyllic yesterday to sit in a very English Garden and enjoy the humming of the mower, the singing of the birds and the shade of a barn on a very hot day in East Sussex - and to also enjoy getting back into my plein air sketching!

The view

Here's the view of The Topiary Lawn at Great Dixter with its edge/fence of ash trees that I was sketching.

The trees reminded me of both Sisley (long slim tree trunks) Hockney (tree surgery!). I liked the people on the big bench as it added life into the garden - and of course show me yew topiary and I'm itching to get my sketchbook out - all those nice big shapes!

This shows you how far away I was actually sat - in the old cow shed which was lovely and cool (it was a very hot day yesterday!) - looking out across the wild flower meadow which surrounds the yew topiary! Listening to the grass paths being mown.

The set-up and kit

This is where I was sat

My sketching kit and where I was sat in the old cow shed

This is the pen and ink sketch - after a bit of judicious work in Photoshop - the photograph shows the white paper as actually being blue - as per the one above.
But you can retrieve blue sketches - see my blog posts about how to do colour corrections on Making A Mark

• Correcting colour: How to stop your white paper looking grey and 
• Correcting colour: another way to stop your white paper looking grey)

The pen and ink sketch I usually do some hatching to indicate shadows and form
particularly when it's a time of day when the sun is moving quite fast.

This is where I'd got to prior to the video. One of the aims of the day was a test of my new Stillman and Birn Zeta sketchbook with extra heavy weight paper in Natural White (kindly supplied for review by Stillman and Birn via Jacksons Art Materials). Plus a new pen - a Sakura Micron Pigment Ink - size 01 with archival ink. More about this on Making A Mark Reviews later.

The sketching kit in use - before I started the video
Stillman and Birn Zeta Sketchbook - the double page spread is 30cm x 42cm
the pen is a Sakura Micron 01 and
the coloured pencils are usual ecelectic assortment by Caran d'Ache Pablo, Lyra Rembrandt,
Faber Castell Polychromos and there's even an old Karisma Lime Green in there!

More of my sketches at Great Dixter can be found by clicking this link.

The wildflower meadows at Great Dixter

This is what the wildflower meadows are looking like at Great Dixter at the moment. I have never ever seen so many orchids in one place! The meadows are part of The Weald Meadows Initiative developed by the Wild Meadows Partnership. Great Dixter is supporting the High Weald Landscape Trust's campaign to double the number of wildflower rich grasslands in the High Weald by 2015. Now is the time to see them!

One of the Wild Flower Meadows at Great Dixter

There are thousands of common Spotted Orchids 
in the Great Dixter Wildflower Meadows.

Visit Great Dixter

If you want to visit Great Dixter, I suggest you take a look at a few facts

• Address: Great Dixter, Northiam, Rye, East Sussex TN31 6PH
• consult this Google Map of its location
• Opening Hours: Open 29th March to 26th October 2014 Tuesday to Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays. (Closed on all other Mondays) Gardens 11am to 5pm (last admission); House 2pm to 5pm
• read http://www.greatdixter.co.uk/plan-your-visit/ 
• review the map of the garden