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!

Sketching at the exhibition for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015

My book has a section on sketching in Art Galleries and Museums (pages 102-103 of my book Sketching 365) - and that's because this is an activity I love to do!

6 Tips about sketching in Art Galleries and Museums
from Sketching 365

This is a photograph of the sketch I did on Monday of the people visiting the Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition on its first day open to the public at the Mall Galleries.

Sketch of visitors to exhibition for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition
at the Mall Galleries 14-19 September 2015

I did it very fast - while I drank my cup of tea! It was done in my usual Moleskine sketchbook using a Pilot G-Tec-C 0.25 Hyper Fine Gel Rollerball Pen which delivers a 0.13mm line - which you can also see in the photograph.  

This one had brown ink which gives a much less 'in your face" line when compared to black ink. Turner liked brown ink as well! (see Review of Ruskin's Turners at the Fitzwilliam Museum).

I'm not using watercolour because the ordinary Moleskine sketchbook absolutely detests watercolour!

You can read my review of the exhibition for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 in Review: Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 on Making A Mark 

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.

Ary's Warung in Ubud, Bali

I thought while I'm waiting for my new glasses, I could post some of my sketches from a long time ago.

 More to the point - I've never posted my sketches of Bali as a series!

The Japanese waiting for a plane
Ary's Warung, Ubud, Bali
5 May 1997
pencil in Daler Rowney hardback black sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've still got my sketchbook notes of my stay in Bali in 1997 and this is in fact the last day and very nearly the last sketch.

This was morning and lunch on the last day.

5th May 1997 Taxi down to masseur (Metari). Bought shirt for J and T shirt for me. Changed money.  Thai calamari salad, lemon grass tea and white cocolate cheescake at Ary's Warung.  Sketched interior.  

Venice has Harry's Bar and Ubud in Bali has Ary's Warung.

Looking at what it's like today, I'm rather glad I visited it back in the 90s before it introduced chrome and the starched linen!  It looks as it's changed a lot.

Back then it was cane, cane and rattan on the verandah which contrasted with the lush greens of vegetation outside where I sat, watching the world go by.  There was a constant stream of customers - although some waited rather longer than others such as the Japanese couple in the centre of this sketch who were obviously killing time before the journey to the airport.

This is what I wrote when I first posted on Making A Mark about this place

I sat in Ary's Warung on the main street in Ubud in Bali and started to draw some people while I had a pot of their lemon grass and ginger tea. And it just turned into one of those sketches where you order another pot of tea and then lunch as your sketch keeps creeping across the page until every last bit is filled. People came and went - which was a bit of a challenge - and the Japanese couple with their suitcases that I had started sketching originally finally left for the airport to catch their flight.MAKING A MARK: Ary's Warung 27 April 2006

What I do remember - across the years - is the lemon grass tea.  I think it had a sliver of ginger in it as well.  When I think of Bali now I think of the lemon grass tea - and I've never been made able to make it the way I had it there.  Must be something to do with the freshness of the lemon grass....

I'll see if I can get my sketches about Bali posted before I get my new post-operative glasses at the beginning of next month - at which time sketching can return to normal.

Address: Ary's Warung, Jl. Raya Ubud Kedewatan, Ubud, Gianyar, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Contemporary Reviews of Ary's Warung on: Trip Adviser | Lonely Planet | Frommers.

You can see other sketches from this particular travel sketchbook on my website at:

• Travels with a Sketchbook - Australia
• Travels with a Sketchbook - Bali

You can also see other sketches from different places in the Travels with a Sketchbook galleries on my website "Pastels and Pencils".

Sketching the Manet Exhibition at the RA

I went to see the exhibition Manet - Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts on Thursday.
I took advantage of the seats in the different rooms to stop and record the life within the exhibition in my pen and ink - and coloured pencil - sketches in my Moleskine sketchbook.

The Status Portraits Room
Manet - Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Manet's portraits of his wife - with cat
Manet - Portraying Life at the Royal Academy of Arts
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The walls are painted a very dark charcoal colour - presumably because of Manet's liking for black and dark greys.  It makes for a very sombre exhibition.

The two portraits of his wife are two of the paintings I liked best in the exhibition.

Here's my "headlines" Exhibition Review: Manet - Portraying Life at the RA

You can see more of my sketching of exhibitions on this blog

Skating on the Natural History Museum Ice Rink

Sketch of the skaters and Christmas Tree on the Christmas Skating Rink at the Natural History Museum - complete with penguin stability aids for the little ones

Wishing all regular readers of Travels with a Sketchbook
a Merry Christmas 

and Happy Sketching in the New Year

Skaters at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've been saving these up since the beginning of the month when we visited the museums in south Kensington with London Urban Sketchers!

Christmas Skating Rink in front of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell 

Note the novice skaters clinging to the edge in the background.  The children had penguins to cling on to as they skated around - they seemed to work very well

Click this link for details of the skating rink at the Natural History Museum

ROI Art Event Evening at the Mall Galleries

Sketch of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters' Art Event Evening
at the Mall Galleries 17th December 2012
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell

I drew this sketch last night during the annual Art Event Evening while the Royal Institute of Oil Painters hold during the Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. It was done from my vantage point sat at the bottom of the stairs on the way into the West Gallery.  You can just see the lower legs and feet of the model on the left

Status of sketch at the third break.
Still got the floor and background to do!

The Gallery was absolutely full of easels and painters - most painting in oils but some painting in watercolours and some of us were just drawing.  I get bored drawing one person so I decided to do my view of the event! :)  We had a couple of hours with breaks to get something down.  All in all it was a very pleasurable event and much enjoyed by all I spoke to.  I can highly recommend it if you'd like to attend next year.

In the middle of the sketch are a couple of oil painters and art bloggers that I know.

• Sat in the middle in black is Adebanji Adeola Alade (Adebanji Alade) who is a Provisional member of the ROI and has a portrait painting in the exhibition.
• Standing next to him in the apron is Haidee-Jo Summers (Haidee-Jo Summers Artist) who won the First Prize of £200 worth of art materials donated by Winsor & Newton for the "best portrait".  She also has a landscape painting in the exhibition.

Haidee-Jo Summers, portrait painting and model.
Haidee is using an Open Box M.
That apron looked green in the more subdued light!

You can see (and buy) the paintings in the Exhibition online.  The exhibition continues at the Mall Galleries on The Mall, London until 23rd December.

Restaurant Nausicaa, Boulogne sur Mer - my last meal in France

Two sketches from my trip to France last year - and my final french meal!  I'm trying to fill in the gaps where I've missed out posting places I went to and sketches I did on my Painting in Provence trip last summer.

Today I'm posting my lunch at the Restaurant Nausicaa in Boulogne sur Mer and the view from the window.  This was the "get as close to the tunnel as you can and then stop and have a meal" meal!  The idea was that I'd leave myself with half an hour's journey to the Tunnel and I wouldn't need to have a big meal when I got back home which would be quite late.  Plus it was the last chance to indulge in French cuisine!

Lunch at the Restaurant Nausicaa, Boulogne sur Mer - 4th July 2011
11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This meal continued to endorse my theory about the colour palette of chefs and the notion that chefs cook the food in the colours that they like! The dishes on the menu in my sketch are:

• L'Entree top left - Oyster, whelk and celery soup and croutons Soupe huitres et des bulots, veloute de celeri vert, petis croutons 
• Las Plat right - Grilled large prawns with a paella like creamy risotto and red pepper sauce Gambas grilles, coulis de poivrons rouges risotto crémeux au chorizo façon paëlla
• Le Dessert bottom left - Half-cooked chocolate cake Mi-cuit au chocolat

They were delicious!  I have a policy of eating one new thing every time I eat out in another country! Which is how I came to add a new food to my list of things I've eaten over the years - whelks (although I thought at the time that they were winkles).

I checked the menu and only the sauce with the main dish is what's on offer on the menu today!  Always good to see a restaurant that changes it's menu on a regular basis!

I switched between drawing the dishes as they arrived and then drawing the scene out the window as I waited for them to arrive.

My view from my table - the beach at Boulogne sur Mer
11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was sat high up next to a big glass window looking out on to the promenade and beach to the rear of the Nausicaa Centre - which is Boulogne's huge aquarium.  Small wonder that fresh fish and sea food featured on the menu!

The restaurant is actually independent of the Centre and I highly recommend it as a stopping off place to eat in the Pas de Calais for anybody facing a long journey when they get back to Folkstone. It serves excellent food and does not keep normal restaurant hours.

For the record the journey to the EuroTunnel was not straightforward as the satnav didn't understand the port and I missed the turning and then couldn't work out how to get back to the place where cars need to go to enter the Tunnel!  Calais could do with some better sign posts!

However it was nice to get back home and reach the end of my journey and a very long drive from Provence to London.

You can see

• more of my sketches from my trip to Provence and my drive there and back through France in the page at the top of this blog marked Provence Sketchbook 2011
• more of my sketches of meals by clicking on the labels:
• food sketch - this can be food in its raw form as well as food raw, uncooked and cooked.
• sketching meals - these include sketches of meals such as the one at the top of this post
• restaurant sketches - these include views from where I'm sat in the restaurant
• You can also see sketches of the interior landscapes of places to eat on my website

Links:

• Boulogne sur Mer on Wikipedia
• Restaurant Nausicaa

A conversation

Sometimes I'm riveted and intrigued by the people I see in art galleries and museums when I'm sketching.  This was a very fast sketch - and it made me want to try and work out who they are and what they were talking about.

A conversation - August 2012
pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Of course they could just be discussing which train to catch!

Tea at the Orangery, Kew Gardens

We visited Kew Gardens at the end of July.  It's a great option when we don't want to drive but do fancy a long walk.

Given my current problem with my pinched radial nerve, driving any significant distance isn't to be contemplated as 'himself' has to drive both ways.  Instead we had fun when the new NSAID medication I'm taking for the nerve failed to deal with my dysfunctional feet and the right one decided to throw a full-on diva tantrum at the far end of the gardens and demanded both a lie down (as in elevate and take up a whole seat!) and a long rest before I could walk!  If I could trade in all my limbs for newer models I'd do it like a shot!  In the meantime next week I investigate the delights of Osteopathy to see if a mechanical solution will help with the pinched nerve!

Anyway, the right hand was still working and I did this sketch when we had tea on the terrace at the Orangery.  We didn't want to miss any sun or blue sky after the dismal summer we'd had up until that point!

Tea at the Orangery, Kew Gardens 26 July 2012
8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook

© Katherine Tyrrell

I've gone back to using my smaller Moleskine Sketchbook - which still delivers an 8 x 10 inches sketch across the double page spread.

I've drawn people having tea on the terrace a few times previously. Previous posts and sketches about taking tea at the Orangery include the following - which also record the progression of the sunshades on the terrace.

• The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in June
• Sketching the Japanese Landscape at Kew Gardens
• Peacocks, palms and magnolias - Kew Gardens in April
  

and yet more about Kew Gardens

Lunch in the Portrait Restaurant

If I'm at the National Portrait Gallery for events in the morning and afternoon I try and have lunch in the Portrait Restaurant at the top of the building.  It has a fabulous view which I never get bored of and the food's not bad either (you can review the menus online - see links below) although not cheap!

Lunch at the Portrait Restaurant - June 2012
11" x 16" pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook

It's much used by people to meet up with friends, do interviews, do work etc.  On this occasion I got very distracted when I realised one of the people I was sketching was Jon Snow (look no face!)

I was making notes of the interviews I'd just done the award-winning artists and about the portraits I'd just seen in the BP Portrait Exhibition so on this occasions did not sketch lunch!

See my posts on Making A Mark

• Aleah Chapin wins £25,000 BP Portrait Award 2012
• Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2012 (Part 1)
• Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2012 (Part 2)
• Video of BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2012 - a walk around the exhibition with a handheld camcorder.
• A Profile of Aleah Chapin - includes a link to my video film of edited highlights from my interview with Aleah.

The opening hours are a bit odd - but then it is in a Gallery! I've quoted the current hours below

• Breakfast & Afternoon Tea
• Breakfast - Monday-Sunday, 10:00-11:00 (last orders to the kitchen by 11:30)
• Afternoon Tea: Monday-Sunday, 15:30-17:00 (last orders for the kitchen 17:00)
• Lunch & Dinner
• Lunch - Monday-Friday, 12:00-14:45 (last orders for the kitchen 15:00)
• Dinner: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 17:30 - 22:00 (last food orders for the kitchen 20:30)
• Pre-Theatre Dinner: Thursday,Friday & Saturday evenings, 17:30-18:30 (last orders for the kitchen 18:45)

Sir Joshua Reynolds gets a garland - again!

When the Summer Exhibition is open at the Royal Academy of Arts, the statue of Sir Joshua Reynolds which stands in the courtyard of Burlington House is adorned with a garland.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723 - 1792) was one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Arts and its first President.  Garlands were apparently a feature of many of his portraits and I guess there's probably a connection. He's also holding a palette and brush in his hand.  You can see his works of art in the RA's permanent collection.

Sir Joshua Reynolds - and garland
from Burlington House Terrace
Pen and sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is what he looked like from the other side two years ago when I took a photo of him.

Sir Joshua Reynolds plus garland, brush and palette
Courtyard of Burlington House, Piccadilly
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was sat looking out at him under the very nice tent which is erected at the front of Burlington House so people visiting the exhibitions can drink tea - as I was - and not get wet in the summer showers.  Or even enjoy some shade should the sun ever come out!

You can read my review of this year's Summer Exhibition over on Making A Mark - see Review: 244th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy.

What is a well-chosen collection of pictures, but walls hung round with thoughts?Sir Joshua Reynolds

Sketching people at the Picasso exhibition at Tate Britain

The Draw London Group visited the environment around Tate Britain recently. I was suffering from sun dazzle and no visor - after lots of sketching on very sunny days - and decided to opt for the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition at Tate Britain.

These are sketches of people viewing the exhibition.  As always they are composites of people coming and going in the exhibition and I assemble the drawing one person at a time.

Visitors to the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition at Tate Britain #1
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

I've just noticed that the perspective lines are not all in alignment in the sketch above.  But that's what happen's when you're focused on the people rather than the perspective!

The one below involved sitting the other side of a door with glass panels and looking through at the people in the next gallery.  It's an excellent way to sketch without being "in your face".

Visitors to the Picasso and Modern British Art exhibition at Tate Britain #1
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

Plus a sketch of one of Picasso's paintings which I've always liked a lot.

As always I learned a tremendous amount just trying to get a sense of the forum and the colour using pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils.

Sketch of " Child with a Dove" (1901) by Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973)
 oil on canvas, 73cm by 54cm
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
sketch and photograph © Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

The painting is one of Picasso's earliest works.

It was painted when he was just 19 and sold to Mrs. R. A. Workman, 1924. Samuel Courtauld purchased it from her in 1928 and then it was bequeathed by him to Christabel McLaren, Lady Aberconway on his death in 1947. It remains in the Aberconwy family and has been loaned out to different galleries in London.  When it's not in the current exhibition it can normally be seen at the The Courtauld Gallery.

However I gather there is an inheritance tax bill and the Arts Council has been notified of an Intention to Sell this work which it's thought might be valued at around £50 million.

It's unlikely that any UK gallery can afford this sum and it was announced last month that the painting may leave the UK.  So if you want to see it before it disappears make a point of visiting the Picasso exhibition soon!

National Gallery - drawing children drawing art

Constable and the National Gallery Children - Room 34
8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday I met up with Jackie Simmonds (Jackie Simmonds Artyfacts) at the National Gallery.  We were going to have a chat about a few things over lunch at the National Dining Rooms so I suggested we meet up in the morning to sketch in the galleries.

Room 34 is always a favourite - because it has the best British paintings with the most comfy seats!  (see floorplan of the National Gallery / Level 2).  I've sketched there before more than once

Just after 10am when the Gallery opens, the rooms are more or less deserted - with a few art fans wandering around.  Then the small children arrive!

It seems to be a requirement that they must all have a very bright sweater on unless they are incredibly well behaved.  They split into small groups and then learn about a painting and/or draw it.

At the top of this post a teacher is explaining to her group about Constable's painting of Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows

Below a group of children are deep in concentration drawing a painting by Turner.  They are, of course, all moving all the time as well.........

Can you guess what the painting by Turner is before you click the link?  I've only given you a little clue........

Now draw this Turner painting....
8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The Fighting Temeraire Class
8" x 10", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These were a group of very behaved young ladies in school uniform - who were all great at putting up their hands in response to questions related to The Fighting Temeraire by Turner. (Teacher's Notes)

I can highly recommend art galleries for practising quickie sketches of people.  Nobody stays still for too long and you haven't got a chance of ever catching a likeness.  However it does make you look at what makes a good group composition.

Other blog posts about sketching - paintings and people - in the National Gallery include:

• Drawing Monet
• Drawings from the National Gallery
• Drawing Heads - Velaquez and the Prince's Drawing School
• Activities in London Galleries and Museums
• A 'Day to Draw' at the National Gallery
• Sketching at the National Gallery: "Manet to Picasso"
• Renaissance Faces - in my sketchbook
• Looking at the Turners in the National Gallery
• Canaletto & His Rivals at the National Gallery

Links:

• Room 34, National Gallery
• J.M.W. Turner - Resources for Art Lovers
• Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums
• The Top Ten Museums in London

Lunch in the RA Friends Room

A couple of quick sketches from yesterday.  After visiting the preview of the new David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, I grabbed some lunch in a pleasantly empty Friends Room.

I slightly indulged as I'd had to skip breakfast - so it's smoked salmon sarnies on the right, an apple and blackberry crumble on the left and a pot of Earl Grey tea in the middle.

Lunch in the Friends Room
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I then sketched a couple of ladies comparing ticketing adventures for various cultural jaunts.

Discussing Cultural Outings
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind on posting sketches - but hope to get some posted in the next few days.

Links:

• Making A Mark - Review: David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture
• David Hockney RA - The Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy of Arts

Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse

Interior of Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse

Dinner at Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse was interesting rather than pleasurable.  I felt a little bit like I'd stepped into a 1980s time warp as I don't think the restaurant had been decorated or had a makeover in a good 25 years.

On the other hand the bright yellow tablecloths and blue walls made for a colourful sketch and made up for the fact that my meal seemed to lack any colour at all.

The chef contributed yet more evidence to my theory that chefs cook the food in the colours that they like.  This chef liked brown.  See my sketch of my meal below.

Meal at Les Quatre Saisons in Bourg en Bresse on Saturday 2nd July 2011

The menu was as follows:

• (top left) an Amuse Bouche  I have absolutely no idea what this was!
• (bottom left) Grenouilles a la verre et ciboulettes - I knew what the Grenouillles (frogs legs) were but was less certain of the ciboulettes (chives).  My first frogs legs - quite tasty and not at all chewy
• (top right) Volaille de la Ferme de Valaisant, creme morelles and Vin Jaune - this should have been tastier than it was.  The worst bit was that the fact that there was nothing that made it look appetising - wall to wall bland!
• (Bottom right) I think this was a Tarte Tatin with a very ordinary ice cream but forgot to make a note of the dessert having become totally disinterested in the food by this stage.  Lack of colour is a real turn off for me.  I'd switched my focus to my sketch of the interior which was Bright with a capital B!  You can always tell how good the food is by the relative merits of the sketches of the meal and the place where I ate it!
• (centre) The only spot of colour came with the petit fours!

My own impression was that the restaurant would be fine for people who spoke French well, liked a more traditional French way of cooking food and enjoyed discussing the food.  My French is limited and their English was virtually non-existent.  With no translation on the menu or from the waiter I had a rough idea what I was eating.  It's probably more accurate to say I had to opt for courses where I had an idea of what it was.  I'm not sure a single woman who doesn't speak much French was very interesting as a customer to them.  That's said in the context of having been in other restaurants in France where I've been very well looked after and had an enjoyable time despite the language barrier.

However this was in Bourg en Bresse which is not a tourist destination and it would be totally unreasonable of me to expect restaurants to cater for English tourists.  A shade more hospitality wouldn't have gone amiss though.  More colour in the food would have been even better!

The whole meal (including coffee but without wine) came to €42 which I thought was a bit steep.

What's really odd though is that my two worst meals of the entire trip were a short distance from Lyons which is supposedly the gastronomic centre of France.  Very odd.

I went to bed very much looking forward to my lunch the next day in Gevrey Chambertin in the Côte de Nuits in the northern part of the Côte d'Or, which is home to the vineyards which line the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the Burgundy wine region.

Links

• Les Quatre Saisons, 6 Rue de la République, France - 01000 Bourg-en-Bresse
• Phone 0474220186 | Fax0474211035

More from The Provence Sketchbook (2011)

More from the Friends Room at the RA

RA Friends Room 13th September 2011
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 11"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I have a very long series of sketches of people (Friends of the RA and their guests to be specific) in the Friends Room at the Royal Academy of Arts.  You can see them in my Interior Landscapes Gallery on Pastels and Pencils my portfolio website

This is the latest and was sketched after I'd finished making my notes about the Degas exhibition which I saw last week. (see MAKING A MARK: REVIEW: Degas and the Ballet: Picturing Movement and MAKING A MARK: The Degas Exhibition - notes for pastellists)

Sketching visitors to BP Portrait Exhibition 2011

These are two sketches made while visiting the BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery.  The gallery was packed and I sat on the end of a bench and sketched the visitors.  They moved constantly and the ones that weren't being sketched frequently obscured the ones that were!

I'd say I was lucky to get 10-15 seconds per outline.  As you can see many of the outlines started - and then I was unable to continue

But that's the way it is in a very popular and busy exhibition!

See if you can find the girl with the large bow in her hair who sat next to me and watched me sketch.

Sketching the visitors to the BP Portrait Exhibition 2011 (1)
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink in double page spread of A4 size Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Sketching the visitors to the BP Portrait Exhibition 2011 (2)
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink in double page spread of A4 size Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The National Portrait Gallery has announced that the 2011 BP Portrait Award Exhibition has been the most popular exhibition in the Gallery’s history.  You have until 18 September to see it in London.

High Watermark PV at Mall Galleries

There's two more days left of the High Watermark exhibition at the Mall Galleries - see Review: "High Watermark" at the Mall Galleries.

I visited the Private View on Tuesday and took the newly retired "he who must not be bored while I sketch" with me.  We had a quick trot round to see what was in the exhibition.

Then we sat down for a cup of tea and I drew this sketch in pen and ink (and then coloured it at home after a few quick colour notes in the gallery)

Discussing the High Watermark Exhibition
8" x 10". pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

After which I made another tour of the exhibition and jotted down my notes of the artwork which had caught my eye - and had a very nice chat with the Presidents of the two watercolour societies - Ronald Maddox PRI, (President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours and David Paskett PRWS, (President of the Royal Watercolour Society).

It's so very nice to see the two societies collaborating together to produce this exhibition which is seen in two venues and provides yet another welcome exhibition of watercolour painting in London.

There's just one day left to see it - it closes at 3pm on Saturday 20th August

Sketching people on steps of St Pauls Cathedral

Sketching people on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral
2nd August 10am
16" x 11", pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I arranged to meet Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini) on Tuesday morning on the steps at the front of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London.

It's a good place for sketchers to meet.  You have views down Ludgate Hill (see Sitting on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral in the sun) - and a big covered area should it start to rain!

Plus if you like sketching people - or just need the practice - there's lots of opportunities to sketch people who have stopped to sit awhile on the steps at the front of the cathedral.

As I did. It's a great perspective for sketching the backs of people and trying to capture posture and character - and what the back of a head looks like!