Paper and Threads

In the summer 0f 2007, we saw an exhibit of Leon Kossoff's drawings at the National Gallery in London.  Although I didn't love the style of his Conte drawings, I was fascinated with his method of working as an artist.  Kossoff was born in London in 1926 and is a prominent member of the School of London which also includes Lucien Freud.  On the exhibit page, there is a link to one of his very rare interviews, actually done in his exhibit space.  Kossoff never paints from photos and although he doesn't consider himself accomplished in drawing, he starts every painting with a fresh drawing and then takes his work back to the studio for painting.  Since he was a child, he has drawn and redrawn many of the master works at the National Gallery, and in the interview he relays how he gets his inspiration from these drawings and every day wakes up saying that maybe today he'll learn how to draw! 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/leonkossoff/default.htm

I wondered whether drawing and redrawing a masterpiece that speaks to you would lead to some type of magical experience if you were in the presence of the masterpiece and drawing it over many years.  So I thought I would try it when I returned to New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Last January I selected  Cezanne's Card Players which I have always admired.  It is prominently placed in the 19C galleries and actually has one of the few gallery benches in front of it in the middle of the room.

Using watercolors, instead of oils, was a challenge, but I really wanted my work to be more than just an ink or Conte drawing.

Here is the link to my drawing from Jan 2008:

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2008/02/museum_visits_in_new_york_city_1.php

Here is the link to the painting from from the 2008 drawing:

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2008/05/cezanne_card_players_painted.php

Yesterday I arrived at the Met when it opened and had 45 minutes during which I was completely alone drawing the Card Players in one of the 19th C. galleries.  The Met allows pencils, but not pens or paints, so like Kossoff, I returned home to finish it.  But I wanted to try to reproduce the colors, and worked from a photo that I took.

My 2009 Painting:

Cezanne made 5 Card Player paintings.  The first one has 5 figures and is part of the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia.  The Met has the second one which was painted in 1890-92.  - which has 4 figures.  The remaining 3 all have two figures.

I also thought that it might be fun to see how my style or skills change over the years - so far not much to my eye.  But I wonder whether next year I might decide not to draw in ink, or perhaps to change the colors, or even to move to more of an abstraction.  In the interview, Kossoff tells how he once went home from a National Gallery drawing session, and just painted the Rembrandt painting using his own style, without a predrawing on the canvas.  He has no idea why his mind just wanted to do that!

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My husband and I were walking to our grandson's school in London to pick him up when I saw this wonderful row of 4 phone booths.  Usually they were single or in pairs in neighborhoods we visited - so I had to get this photo to later play with perspective.  And I never did!  That is my husband in the red baseball cap - waiting for me to catch up!  It was a nice challenge for me to draw this and I listened to Danny's recent Podcast while I sketched and painted it.  A good quiet Sunday afternoon.

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I recycled an old book on Elizabeth I, encorporating many kinds of watercolor paper for experimentation.  Since we returned from our last visit to London, I periodically play with the image of Big Ben from countless photos I took during our visits and use this recycled book.

Big Ben, even just a silhouette, is as much an iconic symbol for London as the Empire State Building is for New York.  I posted Big Ben #1 on May 24th.  Here are Big Ben monthly entries #2-5 from my Elizabeth  I book.  I'm curious how far I can take this - since I'm not someone who has even been able to work in a series.

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I finally painted our "2006-2007 London Home"  at 25 Royal Ave, Chelsea.  We were so fortunate to have 6 wonderful trips to visit our daughter, her husband, and 2 children and even were there when their 3rd baby was born prematurely in December.  We spent a total of 3 months visiting - approximately 2 weeks every 2 months - except when we rushed over one week early in December for the baby for a total of 3 weeks.  They have moved back to New York and we don't know who is living in this lovely home now.  We will always have wonderful memories from the time we spent there.

This was painted on Fabriano 9 X 12" 140 lb extra white HP paper.  It was the first time that I used it and I love it!

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There were several empty pages at the end of my 3rd London sketchbook so I decided to work from photos to fill the journal. 

Horseguard:  We finally walked by the Horseguards on Whitehall one of our last days in London and I was able to take a quick photo amid the crowds all having their pictures taken standing next to the horse.   

Duke of York Square Sculpture:  There are actually two pupils as separate sculptures.  I loved the boy leaping over the bollard and didn't especially like the girl sitting on a bench watching him, so I only sketched him.  This piece by Allister Bowtell was commisioned in 2003 for the bicentennial of the Royal Military Asylum.  We walked by it every time we walked to Sloane Square, making it an important memory of our year-long visit in Chelsea. 

I loved this drawing of Geurcino's at the Courtauld exhibit and copied it to create a two page spread at the very end of Journal #3 - the drawing on the left page and  Callum's birth announcement on the right page.  His birth in London in December was one of the highlights of the year for everyone.

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We were riding up WhiteHall in the front seat on the top deck of a #11 bus when I took this photo of storm clouds gathered over Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.  During most of our recent visit, black clouds alternated with sunshine and there were periodic drenching rains.   

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A view of The City from a riverside cafe at Hay's Galleria on the Southbank of the Thames.   

We are nearing the end of a wonderful year during which we really got to know London so much better.  It was a unique opportunity for us - being able to live in a terrace and shop in the local markets and stores in Chelsea.  We were also, ever so briefly, part of a family that was working and going to school, going to doctor's visits, having a baby, and taking soccer and swimming lessons.  But we also had time to ourselves to explore the streets, museums, theaters, famous national buildings, and restaurants.  

Since July 2006 we have visited 6 times - each time for 2 weeks except for a 3 week visit over Christmas when our grandson decided to arrive 6 weeks early.   Tomorrow we return to New York, leaving a house that feels sadly empty since our daughter and her family moved back to New York several days ago. 

I'm surprised and delighted that I was able to complete this art project - finishing sketchbook #3 on this trip.  Maintaining a daily sketchbook is new for me and my goal always was to develop enough skills to have many photos and a travel sketchbook from our travels.  For London I used spiral Cachet Linen Watercolor Journals (9 " x 7" cold press paper) and was able to use both sides of every page without any problem.  That means that I have approximately 150 pages of sketches - and all except a few have watercolor washes.  I also will have a Liberty of London scrap quilt which I worked on while here to remember this year.

I am naturally drawn to all sketchbooks using pen with watercolor and I used Pigma micron pens in the beginning and Zig Millenium pens more recently.  I have a small Daler Rowney travel watercolor set for days out and a palette with 12 W-N watercolor paints dried in the wells for home.  I carry only my sketchbook, pen case, Niji waterbrushes, and paints in a small backpack when I leave the house.    

Many of the sketchbook pages were uploaded and can be revisited by clicking through the London tag on the right side. 

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A combination of a real antique guard uniform and the life-size Bear that sits in front of Daisy and Tom's toy store on King's Road in Chelsea.  When visiting the Antique Military Uniform dealer in Antiquarius (131/141 King's Road), I learned that you can tell which guard division wore the uniform by the placement of the buttons.  Here on the left is a coat from the Coldstream guards because the buttons are in groups of 2.  The Bear is dressed in the Scotch jacket because the buttons are in groups of 3.

Inspired by an ink painting in the China Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

An exercise in perspective: this is the modern stairway in the central area at the British Library on Euston Road.  I'm not sure that it is possible to understand it unless you know the structure. 

This was my second visit to the manuscript reading room over the past year to transcribe a letter from Col. Henry Bouquet to the British General George Gage.  My Gr-Gr-Gr-Gr-grandmother Christina Wampler was kidnapped in 1757 by the Delaware Indians as child from the Wampler farm in Lebanon Township Pennsylvania.  Col. Bouquet was then sent to the Ohio Territory to arrange a prisoner release with the Indians and in 1764 sent a letter to General Gage describing the negotiations and listing the prisoners who were delivered to Fort Pitt by the Indians (now Pittsburgh).

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Drawing from Paintings: Leon Kossoff Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art

My husband and I went to this exhibit today on our way to the National Portrait Gallery - and I was intrigued by Leon Kossoff's process of working.  He began to sketch in front of National Gallery masterpieces when he was a young art student and returns over and over to sketch the same paintings - some over many decades.  He even etches plates directly in front of his favorite paintings to make prints. 

I like to draw from art masterpieces on occasion to learn more about techniques, but I usually buy a postcard to work from and rarely sketch a painting more than once.  I'm afraid I would be very bored....  Maybe I'll need to try the same one once a year and see if I can do it.

Here is a link to a Degas Masterpiece  Combing the Hair by Edgar Degas

Here is the very simplified sketch/print of the Degas Painting by Kossoff  Kossoff Drawing of Degas Painting

Here is my sketch with some watercolor added.

Most of Kosoff's drawings were more developed, resembling value sketches more than finished drawings.  I also purchased a postcard of the Poussin masterpiece, The Judgement of Paris, which was another favorite of his, and I'll use it for some figure practice when vacation is over. 

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Our daughter, her husband, and our 3 grandchildren left their lovely, rented Chelsea home at 7:30 AM Friday - and we  came back in the house for our continued minivacation, only to see the breaking news on BBC.  We decided to stay in for the morning to see BBC/CNN news coverage of the suspicious car discovered on Haymarket.  While we watched the news unfold, I sketched my photo of Piccadilly Circus - taken earlier in the week.  I still need to add watercolor wash, but wanted to post this as the the first of my 3 journal pages on this morning when the London threat level has been raised to critical.   

After lunch on Friday we took a bus to Westminster to walk around Big Ben - to see what sections of  Parliament were reopened since our February visit.  We were amazed how many people were out and about - all appearing relatively unconcerned about the possibility of terrorism.  I took many new photos of Big Ben so I could continue to play with the image in a series of sketches and then we visited Westminster Hall.  We have vivid memories of our visit there in 1970 - and weren't able to see it again until now.  When we came out the helicopters that were hovering over Piccadilly area had moved slightly west, but we didn't learn about the closure of Park Lane and the robotic exam of the second car until we arrived home. 

Saturday morning we left early for a visit to Portobello Road Market - in the rain - and I took this photo of our Circle Line train arriving at the Sloane Square Station.  We walked back to Chelsea during intermittent heavy showers - and then learned about the Glasgow Airport incident.  Foot traffic along King's Road and in Peter Jones Department Store during their big sale was unchanged from the usual Saturday afternoon crush.  We are watching local news, but will continue with our plans for today and remain hopeful that this Critical Threat alert will end shortly.

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SWAN IN HYDE PARK, LONDON.  As I type this Hyde Park remains evacuated and Park Lane closed as police use a robot to investigate a suspicious car parked in/near the underground car park (under Hyde Park with entrance on Park Lane).  This follows the discovery of a car bomb on Haymarket at 1AM in Central London.  We spent the afternoon at Westminster Hall and Parliament and the crowds didn't look as if they even knew that there was a huge area closed around Piccadilly Circus. 

I took this swan photo when we were here in December. 

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Hockney on Turner Watercolors at Tate Britain

I met Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark yesterday for a day at Tate Britain.  We browsed through the Turner watercolors in the morning, had lunch at the museum Restaurant where we shared sketchbooks and sketched, and then enjoyed another Turner exhibit called "Color and Line"  in the afternoon.  Katherine is really good at reviewing London museum exhibits - and she has an information-packed entry on her blog today with links to his watercolors and other Turner information.

We both did a sketch during lunch.  Katherine has her restaurant sketch posted on her Travels with a Sketchbook blog. Here is my rather hurried sketch in the restaurant:

The Color and Line exhibit covered many of Turner's techniques - and his pigments.  I loved how they dissected so many aspects of his art and had interactive displays.  My favorite part was the drawing stations - set up with a block of paper and some pencils in front of approximately 8-9 of his sketches.  I sat and worked from two of them - here are the results.  Katherine has also linked to this exhibit on her blog today so you can see the originals for both of our "Turner" drawings there.

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We took Henry and Sydney to the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood this week.  The interactive displays are wonderful for children their age.  This is 2 1/2 year old Sydney who "dressed up" in a picture hat, one ladies shoe from 1870 and another from the early 1900s - and then clopped back to the fire engine so she could drive it.

The Museum also had an exhibit of Picasso animal drawings and lots of interactive activities for slightly older children.  I love to use his drawings for inspiration - and skill building.

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Chelsea Art Society Show at Chelsea Town Hall.  It is a beautiful building with windows and windowboxes all across the front.  The show was interesting and I found 3 artists who I liked - each of whom had done paintings of our area of Chelsea.

A walk along King's Road in Chelsea - with a local bus, Pizza Express, and Boots Pharmacy.  I will miss our daily walks on King's Road with my daughter and our grandchildren.

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This is the beginning of our last visit to London this year.  Our daughter and her family have completed their assigned year here and we are helping with odd jobs and babysitting while they pack.  We spent our first day wandering around Piccadilly Circus, St. James and Regent Places  - visiting the Summer Show at Chris Beetle's Gallery on Ryder Street.   My husband sat on a step across from St. James Palace while I sketched this in 15 minutes.  I then added watercolor while we sipped coffee at our favorite Caffe Nero on Piccadilly.  We ended by browsing Burlington Arcade and the galleries on Cork Street.

While sitting in front of the window in Caffe Nero, there was a constant flow of buses and I was able to sketch a prototype from bits and pieces of each of them.  We love riding the buses between Chelsea and our London destinations - sitting in the front seat on the top deck as often as possible.!

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We arrived in London on Tuesday and the only interesting yellow object to sketch was my grandson's toy tractor.  It gave me lots of practice with perspective and he always remembers pages in my sketchbook that relate to him.  Even my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter asked to see a page of her toys that I did last October - that are in a London travel sketchbook that is back in New York.  I photographed my journal page and then resized it with Photoshop Elements. 

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I recycled a 1940s book on Elizabeth I that I bought in the basement of a bookstore on Charing Cross Road in London for 1 pound - and added several different types of watercolor paper in the signatures.  During our regular visits to our family this year, I filled one journal page each day in Cachet Linen Watercolor Journals, so I needed to figure out how I was going to use this alternate journal.  I sketched Big Ben from a photo that I took during our visit, but then never painted it - no time vs no interest vs fear of failure or combination of all of these reasons.  This week I finally decided that I would use this London journal to do a whole series of sketches of Big Ben - close up, far away, from Victoria Street, from the bridge, from the Banks of the Thames at Somerset House where it was just a silhouette in my photo, etc.  We will visit again in June/July so I can increase my photo collection even more.  When I exhaust ideas for this image, I'll move on to another London icon and continue to play.  That will make this journal different from my other 3 - and I feel good that I finally have a plan!

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One of the joys of my visits to the Royal Academy of Arts in London is seeing the prints of Donald Hamilton Fraser's ballet dancers in the Museum Shop.  I purchased a "postcard book"  with 18 of his postcard size prints of dancers during one of my visits and I tried to capture his sketches in ink with watercolor washes as part of my figure drawing exercises.  I love ballet, I love dancers, I love sketches and painting of dancers, and especially his prints which I knew nothing about before visiting the Royal Academy this year.

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My husband and I love sitting in the front seat, on the upper deck, of a #11 bus as it winds it's way between King's Road Chelsea and Trafalgar Square/Strand, London.  We are on vacation when we are in London and have lots of time to really look at all of the buildings - which all look so cool from our aerial position.  I "examined" this clock on the front of the west entrance to Westminster Abbey during every busride, thinking about how much I would love to sketch it.  I had practically memorized all of the details - and therefore sketching from one of my photos was easier and more pleasurable.  I used my W-N gold gouache again for the gold on the clock.  Since I sketched it in my WC Moleskine, I had to simplify the center section of the clock because of space and it is not accurate!

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We thoroughly enjoyed the Hogarth exhibit at Tate Britain during our recent family visit to London.  Until I watched Danny's videoclip, I totally forgot about upside down drawing of people's faces - and just had to try it.  One of my favorite Hogarth paintings was one which had multiple faces of his family servants, so I sketched one of them quickly upside down.  While it is not a perfect representation, it does look like a face.  For small things I am grateful.

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Thirty-seven years ago, on our first visit to London, we visited the Royal College of Surgery Hunterian Museum.  It recently underwent a 3 year renovation and reopened in 2005.  The history of William and John Hunter and how the specimen collection was obtained is fascinating and they did a wonderful job presenting lots of relevant information about the times in addition to the many specimens.  One of John Hunter's prized possessions was his sketon of the "Irish giant" and I collaged a photo from the brochure on this page with the Royal College of Surgeons logo (in my own colors). 

I met Katherine Tyrrell <http://makingamark.blogspot.com/ > again to spend another "art day" during our visit to London.  This was my first visit to Bankside Gallery where they currently have the Royal Watercolor Society's 21st Century Watercolor exhibit.  I loved seeing the exhibit, the gallery, and the book store.  If the exchange rate weren't so dreadful for Americans visiting England, I'm afraid I would have purchased several new art books!  We then had lunch in the Member's Cafe at Tate Modern (which is adjacent to the Bankside Gallery) and sketched as we looked across the Thames.   Katherine sketched the area around "the Gerkin" and I faced the other direction and sketched Puddle Dock and the Blackfriars train station.  I love glancing through her sketchbooks when we meet.  She has wonderful pen sketches and many more detailed pages using colored pencil. 

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Another sketch from the London Natural History Museum.  This was sketched using a Derwent sketching medium wash 4B pencil and then "washed" by using a waterbrush over the sketch lines.  Interesting.  Need to play around with this pencil a little more.

There is a wonderful drawing exhibit at the Courtauld Art Gallery at Somerset House.  Guercino was the foremost Italian drawing artist during the 17th C. and his drawings are brilliant.  The gallery also is displaying some Rembrandt drawings to enhance the exhibit.  This is a quick sketch of St. Jerome that I did just to remember the joy of seeing his work.

We walk by this pub several times each day and I finally sketched it.  In spite of multiple visits to London over the past year, we still haven't gone to a pub.  There are several in our neighborhood that I've been meaning to sketch, but I feel that I should at least stop by for a drink.

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We found this wonderful "Drawings" exhibit at Petley Fine Art on Cork Street and I fell in love with the Elephants.  I didn't record the name of the artist, but I suddenly developed the need to sketch elephants.  My husband and I went to the Natural History Museum several days later to fulfill this need and I sketched both elephant exhibits. 

Both of these sketches were done with a Derwent Sketching Medium Wash pencil - 4B.  I loved using it and can't wait to see the effect of using water to create a wash.  I'm sorry that I didn't do the sketches in pen - next time!

Yesterday we went to the Mall Galleries for the first time.  It was the first time that we went through Admiralty Arch since many, many years ago.  I took a photo for this sketch because it was raining most of the time we were there.

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My husband and I went "gallery hopping" for several hours on Cork Street - primarily because the Helly Nahmad Gallery had 20 Picasso paintings from "La Californie" in an exhibit.  We found several other wonderful exhibits and then stopped at our favorite coffee bar - Caffe Nero on Piccadilly.   I thought that it was finally time to sketch the counter area for my travel sketchbook.

Rachel and I took Callum for his first immunizations and when walking back along Sloane Street saw this interesting roof top (4 tops like this along the front of the building) and a cute little vacuum called Henry which was being used while changing a window display at Peter Jones Department Store on Sloane Square.  I'm glad that I took a photo because it was gone by the time we took our Henry to see it.

This is a photo of the building showing the elaborate fronts that are part of the otherwise plain rooflines on these beautiful Victorian buildings.

We went early one morning this week to see the Hogarth exhibit at Tate Britain.  It was crowded, but later there were long lines and even bigger crowds.  I liked his engravings best and copied a few of the faces from one of my favorites - entitled "Characters and Caricatures."

Yesterday was drizzly and we decided it was the perfect day to go to the National Gallery to see their exhibit "Manet to Picasso."  It is a nice small exhibit - with many impressionist paintings on loan from the Tate and private collections.  There is only one early Picasso.  Since I am constantly trying to improve my skills drawing figures, I sketched this painting of Carlo Pelligrini (labeled Carol Pelligrini on the postcard I bought) by Degas.

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Our departure lounge at JFK in New York seemed crowded when we arrived for our early morning flight.  The East Coast was paralyzed the previous day by a snow-ice storm and these were travelers left behind when their flight was cancelled.  It gave me a unique opportunity, since I don't usually sketch people in these types of public spaces.   I had 5-10 minutes before he changed position - just enough time for a quick sketch.

We took the children to Harrod's toy department on Saturday - where there are numerous employees demonstrating all of the toys - and mechanical toys moving around on the floor all by themselves.  Syd loved the plush mechanical pig that could found instantly by the helium balloon tied to her tail as she moved slowly between displays.  Henry really liked the remote-control vehicles including the helicopter that was always flying through the air, as if by magic, as the Harrod's employee controlled its flight remotely.  The elephant and giraffe were two of many near life-size stuffed animals and I used a photo I took of Syd to show their size.  The sketch is a generic child - not my younger and really, really cute Sydney. 

Syd returned to this pig regularly during our visit.  They also had a rabbit and two types of dogs similarly "walking" around with helium balloons marking their position.

It was raining Sunday and I spent the afternoon home with baby Callum while everyone else went to the gym - for swims and a workout.  While Callum slept, I sketched, but still haven't painted, the houses across the street.   

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We are currently back in London with our fantastic grandchildren.  That means less quiet time, more fun, and "news on the run."  Since I have my laptop with me to keep up with work, I read the quick headlines on Google News which is displayed everytime I open the internet.  We also see short segments of BBC news before or after Henry and Syd watch Dora or Diego.  I'm trying to remember how to work with photographed (i.e. not scanned) sketchbook pages.  I plan to upload my daily sketches from our trip soon.

Posted by Shirley at 2:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I sketched a photo of Sydney and Henry in Hyde Park - intending to do a "city park landscape" painting.  But I never got around to finishing it when we were in London, and today decided to add a watercolor wash to both of my grandchildren and then call it done.  I have a series of similar pictures of the two of them.  Sydney, who just turned 2, says to Henry "hand!" when we are walking with both of them and sweet boy that he is, he takes her hand and walks with her. 

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We are now home from our Holiday visit to London and I have two more journal pages to upload - completing my second London Travel Journal.  This is a portion of a clock at Michael Hoppen Photography on Jubilee Place in Chelsea.  I visit the gallery each trip to see their new exhibits and always take more photos of the clock.  However, I never could really see the hands of the clock because they were overlapped at 3:15.   During this visit Michael Hoppen himself got a yardstick and leaned over the open stairwell to change the time so I could sketch the clock hands.

On New Year's Day we wandered through the crowds assembling for the parade on Whitehall in Westminster and went to visit the War Cabinet Rooms and the new Churchill Museum.  I sketched this on the last page of my journal after we came back to New York from photos that I took of the entrance and of the sentry (mannequin) who is quarding the War Cabinet Room.  The scans could be better, but it was difficult getting the final 2 pages of the journal to stay flat.

I wasn't sure that I was going to enjoy the Cachet Linen Watercolor Journal, but I now have completed two.  I am able to paint on both sides of each page so I have approximately 50 pages in each book.  When my daughter told us they were moving to London for one year, I had no idea that I would be able to maintain a travel sketchbook and have so much fun doing it.  I love looking back through the pages and remembering each day of our visit.  Some of the pages reflect activities in the lives of my grandchildren and each of them spends time looking through the journal for their favorite page - Pooh bath toys for Sydney and 5 cars from the Disney movie CARS for Henry in this volume. 

We have 2 more visits planned before they come back to New York, so I think that I'm hoping to finish a 3rd journal.   I'm so glad that I ordered multiple copies because I haven't seen these in any art store and only on one website.

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I'm about to enter the British Museum to see the exhibit "The Past From Above" - 100 aerial photos of the major archeologic sites of the world.  In addition to the photos they had artifacts from the British Museum to supplement some of the images.  This photo of me shows my brown leather backpack with sketchbook and map in the back and small digital camera in a black leather pouch on the front.  This has been a successful way for me to be a grandmother and tourist while sketching quickly and taking lots of reference photos.

I was very attracted to these 3 pieces of Moche pottery that were together in a case next to an aerial photo from Peru.  I sent my husband off for 30 minutes to work on a New York Times crossword puzzle from his pocket and sketched as quickly as I could.  I was in such a hurry that I actually sketched it upside down in the journal.  The watercolor was added at home using a reference photo that I took in front of the case.  We returned from London yesterday so this journal page was scanned, not photographed.  It was another great visit and I brought home many reference photos that I hope to use for sketches in my recycled Elizabeth I book.

Posted by Shirley at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Last Thursday I met Katherine Tyrrell and several of the Society of Graphic Fine Art members for a sketch day at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I was delighted that they chose the Islamic Art Room - we saw it briefly when it reopened this Fall and I always meant to return to sketch some of the designs.  I spent the morning analyzing a Turkish tile design followed by a Turkish bottle.  We had canvas stools and I had my backpack with sketching tools, waterbrushes, and the Daler-Rowney cylinder of watercolor paints.  I was delighted to be so comfortable sketching/painting and zoned out.

I chose this Turkish tile design because it forced me to slow down and figure out the design which was symmetrical across the diagonal of the square.  In the past I photographed magnificent mosaic tiles from the floor of the old Paris Opera House and appliqued quilt squares from the designs. 

This 16th C Turkish bottle was the most beautiful shades of blue.  I loved the stylized flowers and also envisioned the design in fabric.

Katherine prepared a sheet of Arches Watercolor paper with a grid design before she came to the museum.  She then copied designs from a series of beautiful plates and was halfway done when I left.  Her work is wonderful and is now posted (Jan 5th entry) at:

http://makingamark.blogspot.com/

My notes re: adding hot links in my blog are back in New York - so I'm just adding the link to Katherine's blog here because today's entry is from her visit to the Holbein exhibit, followed by the sketches from the V & A.  I love reading all of Katherine's blog entries, and not only enjoy her journal sketches, but learn something about art everyday because of the research she does for each entry.

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We played tourist in London this week and visited the exhibit at Tower Bridge followed by a delicious Italian lunch in the Butler's Wharf building.  This morning there was a question about the Daler-Rowney travel watercolor set on the EDM message board, and I remembered that I had this rare photo of me - sketching a piece of Tower Bridge from the warm restaurant.  Since I carry the camera, there are full vacations without any documentation that I traveled with my husband!

I take a small leather pencil case with mechanical pencil, 2 Zig millenium ink pens, a Bic Clik eraser, a folded paper towel, the watercolor set, two size Niji waterbrushes, my travel journal (not very small), wallet, comb, kleenex, Moleskine cahier with map and bus route - all in a very small (ladie's purse size) leather backpack.  Here is the journal page that I was creating:

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I downloaded the Holbein drawing on the left from the on-line exhibit catalogue and sketched the drawing on the right in #2B pencil.  How can I prevent it from smudging?

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We  returned to the Imperial War Museum with our grandchildren.  Henry loves the interactive submarine and asks us to take them back each time we visit.  For the holidays there was a small display in the middle of the ground floor from the "Children at War" exhibit.  The mannequins drew me in instantly and I had to sketch them during our short visit.  While I was standing there sketching, an older man, his son, and grandson came to look at the display and the grandfather told his family how he was sent to the countryside in 1939 - an only child sent to live with strangers in a small country village.  He told me that the two beige shoulder boxes were the gas masks.  He was returned to his parents in London once during the 4 years, but immediately sent back as the blitz worsened.

HARROD'S Food Halls have always been one of my favorite places in London.  I always feel an enormous urge to buys lots of ingredients and go home to cook a big dinner.  We managed to visit the store several times in the last few weeks and each visit ended in the food halls where I bought a few things and took photos of others.  Yesterday we bought fresh crab, tiger prawns, and fresh artichokes for New Year's Eve dinner, but I was attracted to the huge charcuterie (Pig) sculpture (silver) and my photo of the poor little pigs from last week (pink) for my daily sketch.  I can't imagine how many people buy suckling pigs to make for dinner to have them as a regular item!  Today we are going to see the Holbein exhibit at Tate Britain.  Can't wait to see his drawings.

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Baby Callum is now 10 days old.  The National Health Service provides at-home, mid-wife, after-birth care so he was weighed at 1 week and was almost back to his birthweight.  He eats, sleeps, and spends a little time between each feeding with his eyes open.  Henry and Syd check in on him periodically but have been busy with a belated birthday party and Christmas. 

I continue to do a daily sketch, but most have been items or scenes from around the house or neighborhood.

Sydney had her belated birthday party on December 23rd (instead of 12/20 when Mom and Callum were still in the hospital).  My daughter made a Pooh cake for her and had Happy Feet penguin plates and cups.  She and Callum will have birthdays one day apart in the future!

Partidge's, in Duke of York Square, is the specialty food shop in the area - a place where we stop for fresh baked bread on our way home at lunch or dinnertime.  This is the first time that I sketched individual bricks - and it made me realize that I get no joy from these kinds of details! 

My daughter, son-in-law, and baby Callum joined the rest of us for Christmas Eve dinner at Oriel, a brasserie on Sloane Square.  There are almost no restaurants open in the area on Christmas and our son and daughter-in-law arrived from Washington DC to see their new nephew and celebrate the holiday.  The restaurant was very gracious and set up an area next to the table for Callum's pram.  He was bundled and slept peacefully during dinner. 

We bought Christmas presents for Henry and Sydney when we were here in October - and they really seemed to enjoy them.  She now takes the big bouncing Tigger to bed with her - along with monkey, books, a special pillow, quilt etc.  Henry learned where New York, London, and Washington DC are on the globe and then had fun telling us about the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  He wanted to find out where Africa was before we put it on the shelf.

The neighborhood was very quiet on Boxing Day.  While Henry and Syd went to Battersea Park with the guys to ride scooters, Rachel and I took Callum for fresh air and a stroll along King's Road.  We have no idea what Boxing Day commemorates and saw many possible explanations on Wikipedia.  Osborne and Little (that previously had ice cream cones and fish in their 4 windows), now has gigantic Christmas stockings outlined with little white lights.  I also sketched the clock on the Chelsea Town Hall, something I wanted to do since July.  

There was a special, old-model London double-decker bus parked along Duke of York Square the other day.  I previously sketched one for my grandson from a photo on Morgue file - but now saw one myself on the street.   I never found out the significance of a free ride in the Art Bus.  We take buses all over the city and love to take Henry and Sydney to the top deck!

Yesterday my husband and I went to the Rodin exhibit at the Royal Academy and I did a 2 minute sketch of "The Thinker."  I hate uploading this because it is really out of proportion and barely representational.  But it is my daily sketch and part of my learning process.  Today we are off to the Imperial War Museum again with Henry and Syd.  They LOVE the interactive submarine and ask us to return during our visits.

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There are beautiful Christmas lights around Sloane Square and in Duke of York Square in Chelsea London.  I take photos every time I walk through and wanted to share them.

Sloane Square and Peter Jones Department Store

The street lights along King's Road Chelsea all have these mini-trees.  The blue "ball" is one of many hung in the trees at Duke of York Square.

Sloane Square looking north to Sloane Street.

These lamp post lights are around the square and on Sloane Street leading toward Knightsbridge.

Sloane Square looking toward Court Theatre. 

One of the shops in Duke of York Square - beautiful trees on the roof add to the lights around the open area next to Partridge's Market.

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I am trying to continue with a daily sketch, even though our days are full - with Henry and Syd at home and Rachel and baby Callum at the hospital.  I don't have a scanner and therefore chose to photograph my journal pages.  The light, the angle, the shadows are all an issue, but I want to document this wonderful week now rather than waiting until we return to New York after the holidays.   

A fun window display at Green and Stone art supplies on Kings Road.  I was on a mission to find bottle nipples and couldn't walk by the window without a quick sketch.

Henry and Syd went to Budakwai for a 75 minute play session on Monday and Thursday morning.  I sketched the children while I watched - although I didn't even try faces.  The child in pink with a heart on her shirt is Sydney.  The boy is orange - with a face - is Henry.  He insisted that he needed a mouth!

We went shopping for Callum supplies.  Mothercare on Oxford St. has the following clothes sizes: Early (up to 5 lbs), Tiny (up to 7 lbs), Newborn (up to 10 lbs).  We bought Callum a fluffy white suit and hat to come home from the hospital in Tiny - although he really should be in early!

EDM Challenge #98:  I saw these Santa and Snowman ceramic figures in the window of Waterstone and the small gold Christmas tree in the window of Pier 1 as I was doing grocery shopping along King's Road.  This is a wonderful week for us - especially now that Callum arrived and we know that Rachel will be back home with her family for our Christmas celebration.

Our last daily visit to St. Mary's Hospital - we just got word that Callum and Rachel are coming home tomorrow!  I took lots of photos of the hospital buildings from outside, but chose to sketch the exterior door to the maternity hospital where Rachel had her prenatal visits, hospitalization and delivery this week.  I wanted Callum to have photos of his hospital, since Henry and Syd were both born and live in New York City.

Callum and Rachel came home from the hospital today.  He has a really nice Moses basket in the living room and the two soft, furry duck toys were sitting in it waiting for him to arrive.  We are so happy!  Uncle Jason and Shannon arrive tomorrow for Christmas so we will have our in-house Pediatrician here.  Callum is eating well and was 4 lbs 11 oz at discharge!

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Henry and Sydney went to meet their new brother on Wednesday.  Callum James was born Tuesday at 7:38 AM - 4 lbs 14 oz - and 6 weeks early.  Fortunately, he was absolutely fine right from birth and both breathed and fed well.  We are all very relieved.  There was just no way that this baby was going to wait until his due date!  The plan now is for Mommy and baby to come home tomorrow.  Then we can celebrate sister Sydney's birthday (no one told her it was yesterday) and Christmas.  One of their uncles and aunts are flying in on Saturday - fog conditions permitting so we look forward to a wonderful family Christmas celebration far from home.

 This was Sydney at Christmas in 2004 and then 2005.  She started life even smaller - 3 lb 13 oz and was discharged from the NICU at dinnertime 12/24/2004.

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My daughter and I both must have known subconsciously that our schedule would be changing completely this Christmas.  She set up the baby's room one day before being hospitalized and wrapped all of the presents.  I finished all of the gift sewing before going to Orlando on a 6 day business trip.  That made our change in plans possible - but still not ideal. 

Things are still stably unstable - and she is so disappointed and bored to be in the hospital instead of enjoying the wonderful decorations and festive activities of London.  Meanwhile we're having a great time with Henry and Sydney.  I loved arriving to her Christmas tree and Poinsettia plants and sketched them for my daily sketch on Saturday (12/16).  I'm testing a photo of the sketchbook page, instead of a scan to see if this will be a temporary solution to my lack of a scanner.  The colors seem grayed out. 

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Our Christmas holiday in London began 1 week earlier than expected.  My daughter was hospitalized with possible premature delivery and we came as soon as we could to help with Henry (age 3 1/2) and Sydney (who will turn 2 on Wed).  We barely had time to finish the Christmas cards and pack the night we received the call.  It is the first time that I didn't do the weekly EDM challenge in months. 

London looks beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations and holiday shoppers.  It is wonderful being with grandchildren and I hope to post some London photos instead of sketches over the next 3 weeks because I don't have access to a scanner.  Here is the first photo of the group,

                      Sydney who will be 2 on 12/20                  Henry who is 3 !/2

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I love London public mailboxes and the old style public phone booths.  This mailbox was painted very quickly in the rain during a walk to the grocery store on King's Road Chelsea.  Click on each image for a larger size.

This is a statue on Pont Street in Belgravia - it is tucked into a small area with pretty trees and benches.  I was fascinated to see that it is the logo for the Jeeves Complex - a group of stores in the area.

We walked from Oxford Circus all the way back to Chelsea - browsing all the way.  My husband humored me by touring the fabric section at Liberty to price fabric for my latest quilt.  When we stopped at Caffe Nero, our favorite coffee shop in London, I sketched the tower of the St. James Church across the street.

We took care of our grandchildren our last weekend in London while my daughter and her husband explored the town of Bath.  By the time we finished a full day with them on Saturday, the only thing I could think of for my daily sketch was the bath tub toys that they just played with.  My 22 month old grand daughter loves Pooh and his friends.

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My daughter and her family are living in Chelsea, right off King's Road, so I have many opportunities to walk in the neighborhood with strollers and my grandchildren.   

The sketch on the left is the back of one of the terrace houses on Walpole Street.  As you look down the row of houses, it is interesting to see how each owner has added space in a variety of ways around their back entry.  This sunroom addition has a wonderful round table that is bathed in sunlight and surrounded by flowers.

The sketch on the right is the Library entrance to the Chelsea Town Hall.  The other end of the long building is identical and there are civil ceremony weddings occurring there almost everytime that I walk past.

Left:  John Sandoe Books - a wonderful, packed book store that is purported to have everything.  During my last two visits, I have lovingly looked at Cezanne's Basel Travel Sketchbook and Henry Moore's Sheep sketchbook in the store.  It is hard to buy anything in London, however, that is available in the US because the exchange rate is currently so bad. 

Right: A regular dinner spot for our family - The Big Easy on King's Road Chelsea.  They have an American menu which is perfect for our toddler grandchildren.  I loved the fisherman/fish sign the first time I saw it in July, and finally had time to arrive at the restaurant early and sketch it.

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We returned to the Imperial War Museum with our daughter and both of our grandchildren during this visit to London.  Our grandson loves the submarine simulation and spends much of his time at the controls.  My 22 month old grand daughter loved the puppy that was descending from the roof in a parachute.  After they left to return home for naps, my husband and I went through the "Children's War" and "Holocaust" exhibits.  Both were excellent and emotionally draining.

There is an amazing exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci notebook pages at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I loved seeing his figure drawings, but was especially intrigued by his exploration of the human body.  The sketch reproduced above presents his ideas about the brain.  He completely ignored the white and gray matter and hypothesized that all human functions were contained in the 3 fluid-filled ventricles: The first was the receptor of all senses, the second blended the senses into consciousness/soul, and the third was the memory.  It is unusual for him to be so wrong.

One of my treats this trip was meeting London artist Katherine Tyrrell  for an afternoon at the David Hockney Portrait Exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.  I have never been attracted to Hockney's Southern California series, but was overwhelmed during this exhibit by his drawings.  It is a large exhibit, but there was still time for Katherine to take me to Tea in the Cafe at the top of the Museum.  There we spent time enjoying each other's sketchbooks and had time to talk more.  The view from the Cafe is magnificent - and the above quick sketch was taken from a photo that I hastily took before the cafe closed.

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These are the last London sketches that I wanted to post from our September trip.  All of the other pages of my sketchbook that I haven't scanned have drawings from our daily life with our grandchildren in my daughter's house.

Lion:  One of the recently refurbished and now uncovered lions from the center of Trafalgar square.  The tourists are still climbing all over them for photos.

Flower Cart:  A charming cart that is permanently set up along King's Road, Chelsea.  The red and blue wheels, which add charm, are just propped up against the actual cart.  While I was sitting on a small step at the corner, the only person who stopped to talk was an 8-10 year old boy who then had to catch up with his mother and brother.  He spent more time with me again on his return trip down the sidewalk - but Mom didn't seem really interested in letting him take time to ask all of his questions.

London Taxi:  I Love all of the gaily-colored London taxis, many with very interesting exteriors that are part of a total car advertisement.  This sketch was done from a photo while the taxi stopped for an instant to let off passengers.  It was only when I was drawing it that I noticed there was no light on top.

St. James Palace Guard:  We were walking by the Palace with my 3 year old grandson Henry when the guards changed shift.  I took a photo of the new guard when he got into position and then did this drawing from the photo.

Fish:  When we visited London in July, Osborne and Little Decorating Shop on King's Road had ice cream cones in their windows.  This time it was fish.  Each of the colored pieces in these drawings are separate fabric-wrapped pieces of cardboard or wood.  There were 4 types of fish as pictured here and each window had multiple fish of a single design.  I can't wait to see what their Holiday display is going to be.  I went into the store to ask permission to take a photo when I was done sketching and learned when the windows will change again.

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My husband and I enjoyed more and different museums on this second visit of 2006. 

British Library: I wanted to read an 1857 copy of a 1764 manuscript that described a prisoner exchange with the Ohio territory Indians during the French-Indian War.  My ancestor was one of the kidnapped colonists who was returned to her family during this exchange.  Only pencils are allowed in the Manuscript Reading Room, so while I was waiting to receive the manuscript, I sketched the book pillow on which all such "elderly" books must rest.  We now have British Library reader cards!

Imperial War Museum:  Our last visit was in 1970!  This time we took our 3 year old grandson who loved the interactive submarine.  We will return soon to see the Children at War (WWII) exhibit that we couldn't see easily when he was with us.

National Gallery: We visited parts of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery and I decided I would like to try a copy of a simple Van Gogh painting to commemorate the visit.  I bought a postcard of this painting from the exhibit and sketched/painted it later in the day.

Somerset House-Courtauld Art Instutite:  The Raoul Dufy painting seemed like an appropriate painting to copy since the EDM challenge was to draw water and because I wanted to see how well I could mix and match paint colors. 

Somerset House-Gilbert Collection:  A medallion from the outside of the building on the River Terrace and one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry in the current Tiffany exhibit.  I wasn't sure what the rules were about sketching the jewelry, so I sketched this image from the brochure while we had lunch in the River Terrace cafe.

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Each of these sketches was done during approximately 30 minutes and then the watercolor wash was added later.  We saw Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe Theatre Bankside and had 30 minutes to wait along the embankment - with a wonderful view of St. Paul's Cathedral across the Thames. 

The second sketch is the roofline of houses along King's Road in Chelsea - directly across from Caffe Nero where we were having coffee.

The last sketch is a row of interesting shops across from another small cafe with outdoor tables in Pimlico.  My husband can be encouraged to stop for coffee while I sketch and he does a NY Times crossword puzzle.

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When we visited London for the first time in January 1970, we were intrigued by the market at Covent Garden and loved eating lunch in the area restaurants.  We attended a performance of the Royal Ballet - one of our favorite ballet companies- and the entrance seemed to be right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the market.  In July we returned to Covent Garden on a very hot Sunday afternoon and were so disappointed.  The market was gone, it was jammed with tourists, and globalization had replaced the very English establishments with the equivalent of an American mall food court.  In September we decided to return yet again on a cool weekday afternoon for lunch and spent a very pleasant hour at Le Petit Chez Girard's court level outdoor cafe.    This was one of the views from where I sat and sketched.

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More Sketches from our recent London visit. 

Sketch 1:  Parliament and Big Ben as seen across the Waterloo Bridge from Somerset House.  They were both so far away that only a guess could be made re: the actual structure.  We visited the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Gilbert Collection Tiffany Exhibit at Somerset House - both were terrific.

Sketch 2:  Royal Hospital - designed with Royal Avenue by Christopher Wren as a home for elderly soldiers.  It is fun to see many of them walking along the streets of Chelsea in their old uniforms.

Sketch 3: A pub near Queen's Square in Bloomsbury.  We had a quick lunch at the adjacent outdoor restaurant, but the pub was much more interesting to sketch.

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When the EDM bread challenge was posted last week, I took this photo in Baker and Spice, a wonderful bakery and gourmet food shop in Chelsea, London, UK.  It would have been wonderful to spend time in the bakery, sketching and painting because the smells were wonderful, but it was hard enough even getting a photo due to the size of the space in front of the bread counter.  I love bread and the most wonderful part of moving back to New York from Texas is the incredible variety of bread that is available fresh every day within walking distance of our apartment.  I was very uncertain about painting it, but tried to stay loose and just see what happened!  The walls were actually painted the brick red color that I tried to match. 

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I have never sketched/painted water, and don't believe that my skills are up to it yet.  In addition, the only outdoor water I saw during the challenge week was the muddy brown Thames in London and it looked gross.  I did accompany my 21 month old grand daughter to her first swimming lesson at an indoor pool and decided that was going to have to be my sketch for this challenge.  You have to look really carefully to see the small patch of pool water on the bottom right!  The beautiful blue color of the water was of course due to the colors of the pool tiles and walls.

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