Paper and Threads

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!

Posted by Shirley at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

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.

Posted by Shirley at 7:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I usually have a problem doing the EDM weekly challenge when we are in London.   However, the light bulb from the lighted globe that we bought for our 3 year old grandson Henry for  Christmas burned out last night and I sketched it before taking it out to shop for a new one.  I'm having fun playing with a Winsor-Newton gold gouache and used it for the brass bottom on the bulb.  Although the photograph doesn't show it, it actually glitters on the page.

Posted by Shirley at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

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.

Posted by Shirley at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)