London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl - Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - 26 April 2015

I'm organising the next London Urban Sketchers' Sketchcrawl. You can find all the details and maps and some suggestions of possible subjects or views to sketch in this post Let's Draw St Paul's to the Thames - 26th April 2015 on the Urban Sletchers London blog.

Everybody is welcome - the only requirement is that you stick to the terms of the manifesto (see end).

Here are the basics:

• On Sunday 26th April 2015
• Starting: 11:00 on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral
• Lunch at 1:30pm on the Roof Terrace of One New Change - where we might just try a "Draw the Dome in 15 minutes Challenge"! (I think I've been watching too many episodes of "The Big Painting Challenge"!)
• End at: 3:30pm at Paternoster Square

St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge from Tate Modern

URBAN SKETCHERS' MANIFESTO

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Sketching a lighthouse and lightships in London (Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawl 16th November)

Tomorrow lunchtime I'm going to go to a place not far from me to see a lighthouse I never knew existed. It is in fact the only lighthouse in London - and it's at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London, which is situated at the confluence of the River Lee and the River Thames.

Plus there's

• a couple of lighthouses , 
• a pier with a good view of the O2, a container city and 
• an American Diner - a painting of which won the Sunday Times Watercolour competition this year.

Annotated aerial view of Trinity Buoy Wharf and sketching opportunities

If you want to find out more about the Sketchcrawl and other events which form part of the Recording Britain events tomorrow - see What to see and sketch on Sunday at Trinity Buoy Wharf on the Urban Sketchers London blog

What: Sketchcrawl
Where: at Trinity Buoy Wharf. Meet at The Electrician's Shop Gallery, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, London E14 0JY
When: 12 noon - 4pm on Sunday 16th November
How to get there: it's not difficult - see the blog post for details or the TBW website

Urban Sketchers London - Sketchcrawl #3 in South Kensington

Today's the day of the third Urban Sketchers London Sketchcrawl - and everybody is welcome!  

Details are on the flyer below.

• start in the Central Hall (the one with the skeleton of the dinosaur) of the Natural History Museum at 11.00am
• finish inside at the Victoria & Albert Museum at 4.30pm (when it will be dark outside)

There are also opportunities to draw skaters on the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum - and below is the sketch I did last time I visited and sketched in Winter!

The nearest tube is South Kensington (Circle, District and Piccadilly Lines) which is right opposite both museums.  Couldn't be easier! (This is the map of the planned closures on the Underground this weekend)

PS If you're planning on sketching outside bring your thermals - it's cold!

Urban Sketchers London SKETCHCRAWL in Greenwich tomorrow

Many of you will have seen Greenwich Park and some of the heritage and very historic buildings to be found in Royal Greenwich while watching the Olympics and Paralympics.

Tomorrow you can sketch them with Urban Sketchers London.  You are invited to join us in Greenwich for a day of sketching around and about.

This is a link to the Cutty Sark DLR Station where people will be meeting up.  Use the TfL Journey Planner to get to the station - and remember to make sure that the DLR option is enabled.

What to sketch in Greenwich

There are masses of places to sketch in Greenwich.  The problem is working out where to start and how much you can fit in on the day!

Below are details about some of the things you can see.  (Why not bookmark this post for tomorrow?)

• Links in the address are to a map of where this is located. The aerial view on the Royal Museums website for Greenwich gives an excellent view of the location of the different museums and what Greenwich has to offer.
• Links in the names of the places are to the website for that place

The Cutty Sark

• Address: Cutty Sark Clipper Ship, King William Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9HT - 
• Opening hours: Monday–Sunday 10.00–17.00, last admission 16.00.  Note that entry to the ship is by time ticket only
• Did you know that you can now go on board and go beneath the vessel? The rehabilitation of this very famous tea clipper has resulted in vastly improved viewing facilities

The Royal Observatory 

• Address: Blackheath Ave, London SE10 8XJ
• Transport: road | tube & rail | cycle | bus | river
• open daily between 10.00–17.00, last admission 16.30 
• This is at right at the top of the hill in Greenwich Park.  This is also.....
• ... the home of the Prime Meridian aka the Greenwich Meridian

Greenwich Park

• this was used for the equestrian events in the Olympics.  
• There's a stunning view of London from the hill.   
• You can download a detailed map of the Park
• Public access to Greenwich Park this summer is the official statement about which parts of the Park will have been reopened by 15th September. 
• From 14 September the areas of the park which will not be immediately accessible to the public include area in front and to the west of the Queen's Field and an area behind The Children's Playground, near Maze Hill Gate.
• Public vehicles will be permitted in the park from 14 September with vehicle access to Blackheath Avenue and parking possible from this date.

The National Maritime Museum

• Address: Park Row, Greenwich London SE10 9NF Located at the bottom of the hill and south of Romney Road.
• Transport: road | tube & rail | cycle | bus | river
• open daily between 10.00–17.00, last admission 16.30 
• 
  

The Old Royal Naval College 

• This is a site map
• Painted Hall - a good place to go if it's wet - but always worth seeing whatever the weather.
• this provides the classic Canaletto view - but you have to go north of the river to see this! (Or to my blog post - A Canaletto View).  This is not impossible as you can use the Greenwich Foot Tunnel to walk under the Thames.  I've not done this for years but my recollection is that this is only for those who like steps.  To check the current status of the foot tunnel, you can call 020 8921 8334 during office hours or 020 8854 8888 after hours. However the website says this 

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel is now accessible on both sides by stairs and lift 24 hours a day. The stairs in the Greenwich tunnel may need to be closed on a short-term basis during parts of the works, but the lifts will remain open.

A Canaletto View (2nd June 2007)
(the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich from Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs)
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The Queen's House is closed until 22 September.

Greenwich Market provides lots of opportunities for sketching for those who like markets - but can get a bit crowded

Views of the River Thames - from the walkway next to the Thames.

• The Trafalgar Tavern provides a good place to view the Thames or a place to be sketched!

NOTE:  This is the Meetup page for this Sketchcrawl.  You can register if you intend to come on this Sketchcrawl

"Let's Draw London" Sketchcrawl is TODAY 26th May 2012

We have delayed the Urban Sketchers London first sketchcrawl until Pete Scully - our North London blogger pal who now lives in California could join us.

Today we'll be sketching the area around Temple and Fleet Street.  Which means I'll be at Temple Underground station at 10:30am this morning!  Sketches and report back later.  You can read more about the Sketchcrawl in Reminder: Let's Draw London Sketchcrawl this Saturday on our Urban Sketchers blog.

PS Here's some photos by Barry of our Book Launch as Cass Art last Saturday - Launch of the Art of Urban Sketching in London

The 21st Worldwide Sketchcrawl is today!

The 21st Worldwide Sketchcrawl is today - the 10th January 2009. You can find out where sketchcrawls are taking place by consulting the 21st World Wide SketchCrawl in the Sketchcrawl Forum.

As usual, the threads which are very active are those relating to:

• San Francisco, CA - USA
• Los Angeles, CA - USA

although this year Sydney - Australia is more active than Los Angeles!

The Sketchcrawl T shirt is now available

see New SketchCrawl t-shirts!!!

This year the people in San Francisco are changing the way they operate - a very sensible move to my mind. Getting to a starting point on time can be a lot more difficult than getting to a finishing point more or less at the same time - especially if it's somewhere where everybody will hang around for a while looking at each other's sketchbooks

In San Francisco we are trying something a little different this time around, instead of meeting at the beginning of the day in a large group we are planning to meet at the end of the drawing day … the idea is to go on our own separate adventures and reconvene to share them.
Enrico Casarosa - The biggest crawl of them all …

Other threads that I note have been opened - by continent - include:

• Asia: Bangkok, THAILAND, Tokyo!, India , SEOUL - KOREA
• Australasia: Melbourne Australia
• Europe: Barcelona_Spain , Berlin - Germany, Edinburgh, UK , Bologna Italy, Firenze, ITALY, Guimarães, Portugal , Hamburg - Germany, Lisbon, Portugal, London - UK , Milano - Italy, Munich, Germany , Paris - France, PARMA, Italy, Porto - Portugal, Po Valley, Italy, Rhein/Ruhr - Germany , Rome - Italy, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia - Spain, Tel Aviv, ISRAEL, Terni, Italy, Vienna, Austria
• South America: Curitiba, Brasil, Natal - RN - Brazil , Rio de Janeiro, Rj - Brazil, Santos - São Paulo - Brazil, São Paulo - SP - Brazil
• North America: Boston, MA - USA, Bryan/College Station, Calvert, Texas Brazos Valley Area, Denver, CO, USA, Eugene, Oregon , New York City, Houston, TX - USA, Minneapolis, MN - USA , Orlando, Florida , Phoenix - AZ - USA , Santa Cruz, CA, San Diego, California , Seattle, WA - USA , Vancouver, Canada , Washington, DC- USA , Whistler BC Canada

And by the nature of things - I've not got this posted before Sydney starts to post its RESULTS!

You can always have your own tailor made sketchcrawl. Find a time slot in your day and then work out what you can do within that - and the constraints of your local environment and weather.

There are no rules:
-Anyone can participate, be it to draw for 20 minutes or the full day.
-Any level of ability is welcome from veteran artists to first time sketchers.
-Any age! Try it with your kids!
SketchCrawls - how to participate and how to post images!

I'm waiting to see what the weather does as it's been far too cold to sketch outside all week and I'm not keen on indoors sketching in a Museum on a Saturday - plus I've got 'things to do' today. I'm also going out a week on Sunday with my sketching group for a sketchcrawl around Spitalfields so I think I'll probably stay close to home today. If the weather gets better I may well go for a "four ponds sketchcrawl"!

Links:

• 21st World Wide SketchCrawl
• Sketchcrawl HQ
• Sketchcrawl Blog
• Sketchcrawl Forum