Paper and Threads

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.

Posted by Shirley at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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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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.

Posted by Shirley at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I sketched the roofline of 3 houses on Thurlow Street, near the V and A Museum, while we stopped for a cup of coffee.  The number of fireplace chimneys on each terrace house in London is impressive and I wanted to remember the great roofline.  The sketch shows houses at #13, 11, and 9 (from left to right).  The photo shows the fronts of the same houses (L to R #9, 11, 13).

Posted by Shirley at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We just returned from our second trip to London to visit our daughter, son-in-law, and two small grandchildren.  The foiled bomb plot in London occurred since our last visit so the Heathrow restrictions were now in place.  Each passenger is allowed ONE bag that is no larger than 45cm x 35 x 16 (18 in x 14 x 6.4).  No liquids or gels of any kind are permitted, even tube lipstick.  My bag contained my sketchbooks, journal, a pencil case with a pencil, eraser, and Zig Millenium pen, a book to read, my camera and card reader, jewelry, my wallet/passport, Filofax, kleenex, gum, and a comb.  My waterbrushes and watercolor paints were packed in my luggage, thus the JFK airport pen/ink sketch which I intend to leave that way as a reminder of this terrorist-shaped period in our lives.  It was amazing to me yesterday to see the large table full of confiscated items at Heathrow, and the number of passengers who arrived with 2+ carryon bags.  We heard that the restrictions will be lightened this week which is good, because we need to bring the Halloween costumes for our next visit!

 Back to work tomorrow so I will post some of my sketches from the trip slowly over the next week.

Posted by Shirley at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)