Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine

Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

I love that short period in Spring when the greens are vivid.  This last week we've been enjoying the third hottest March since records began and I've been in sunglasses all week enjoying the warmth, the intense blue skies, the vivid colours and the fresh new shoots of Spring - and lots of daffodils in two gardens in Kent and Surrey.

We went to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens on Tuesday last week and RHS Wisley on Friday (post to follow re Wisley).

The view of the Moat and Orchard in the Spring Sunshine

At Sissinghurst I sat on the step of the gazebo that Sir Harold Nicholson used to use as his writing room - and sketched the moat.  It's a nice sheltered spot located in the corner of the orchard and right next to the Moat.  It has the distinct advantage that nobody can look over your shoulder while you're sketching.  (Sissinghurst is one of those places where rather more middle class ladies than usual would like to tell you what they think of your sketching and how they wished they could draw...)


[I had a very odd image up earlier - the colour was completely off - I think the Derwent Inktense I used is proving to be rather too bright!]

Here are the photos of the gazebo

Gazebo at Sissinghurst
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

and the step where I sat

My sketchbooks and pencils
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

and the alternative view to the right of where I was sat - of the forsythia in "full on" mode

Full On Forsythia at Sissinghurst
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

We went for a walk round the estate in the afternoon - it was lovely to be tramping over fields and along bridleways in sunshine but the extent of the drought in this corner of England is quite shocking.

If you'd like to see more of my sketches of Sissinghurst - click this Sissinghurst label link

I also have a website which provides more information about the garden - check out Sissinghurst Castle Garden - a great garden.  It's a wonderful garden to visit between April and the end of September.

An aside:  I learned while writing this post that, there's an arty connection to the Nicholasons -  Benedict Nicholson, the elder son of Harold Nicholason and Vita sackville-West was appointed Deputy Surveyor of the King's Pictures under Kenneth Clark in 1939.

Sketching the Herb Garden at Sissinghurst

The Herb Garden at Sissinghurst - a sketch in progress
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on double page spread in A4 Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

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.

Below is the action shot - maybe better described as my "I'm about to pack up and now is a good time to take a photo of the sketch with the pencils I used" photograph!

Click the pic to see it open to a larger size which allows you to see the range of pencils I use.  This is not finished as I need to work a lot more on the saturation of some of the darker colours - plus I found I'd left some colours at home which I needed for the bright grass greens.

About to pack up....

Also - after our walk around the lake we went up the tower at the end of the day - and here's a view of some of the garden rooms from the tower.  Got to work out how to do a sketch from up there!

View of the Rose Garden from the top of the tower

Wet evening at Burlington House

Wet evening at Burlington House
sketched from the leather sofas of the Friends Room, Royal Academy of Arts
Brushes iPad app and iPad
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is my very first digital sketch on my brand new iPad.  It's the direct result of learning how to use Brushes - with no manual or instruction - while sat on the leather sofas in the Friends Room at the Royal Academy.

I was quite pleased to end up with ANYTHING which looked remotely like a drawing!  However I can now see the potential of the iPad as a sketchbook and will be doing this again.  Although I might practice a bit more first!

It's a bit of an odd sketch since it has the capacious and comfortable black leather sofa under the window at the bottom and then the wet courtyard of Burlington House out the window behind.

Two elderly ladies watched me while they had their cup of tea and came up and asked me about it before they left.  They were very intrigued and absolutely loved the way the picture swivels when I turned it towards them.

Anyway - what do you think?  Any good?

I had a little bit of a fright as I left the RA and walked out under the archway to Piccadilly.  There was police incident tape absolutely everywhere.  It turned out that there was a "suspect vehicle" (which in London is code for "suspect bomb") parked not very far away and the Police had closed down the whole of Piccadilly.  It's a long time since a policeman has said to me "I wouldn't look that way" as I turned around to peer and see where it was.  Realising that white van man had parked a bit too close for comfort I scurried away to the tube - all the while doing mental calculations about the value of the artwork currently residing in the exhibition galleries inside Burlington House!