Tag Archives: england

Heathrow

Posted on by
1

7″X5.5″ Pen on paper

This is almost the last of my holiday pics. It has been fun to relive my trip this way, more fun than photos, and thank you for indulging me. There is something much more satisfying about sketches, perhaps because they take that much longer to record, there is a larger imprint on the brain and looking at the sketch brings back the whole process, not just the second it took to take the snapshot.

I have just got some new glasses, “progressives”. They will take a while to get used to but I am hopeful that they will do great things for my painting, my main reason for getting them. That and the fact that I am sick of constantly putting them on and taking them off (and losing them). I have been getting by with drug-store readers for the past few years but have got to the point where I need several different pairs for different functions. The only problem with these new ones is that the computer isn’t really at the right focal length and I have to tilt my head back a bit to see the screen. At home I can just use my laptop on my lap (duh!) but at work I may have to keep a pair of computer glasses in my desk or get used to having a crick in my neck!

Posted by Picasa

Orangery

Posted on by
1

3.5″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

The weather was so miserable when I was at Kew Gardens that I didn’t do any sketching outside. I did get to visit the lovely Shirley Sherwood Gallery and I stopped for lunch in the Orangery, a Grade 1 listed building which has been turned into a very pleasant cafe. I am not sure who the scantily clad young man is, a larger than life statue no doubt dating from the original building.

Posted by Picasa

Overground to Kew

Posted on by
1

7″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

Well I am almost finished with my English sketches. On the day after the Tates I went to the British Museum but I don’t seem to have done any sketches that day, although I took a fair number of photos. The next day I went to Kew on the “Overground”. I kept on waiting for nice weather but eventually gave up, it wasn’t to be. We had virtually no rain while I was there but it was uniformly overcast almost every day.

I couldn’t quite tell whether this lady was asleep. She had something in her hand that she appeared to be reading but she kept nodding off.

Posted by Picasa

St. Paul’s from Tate Modern

Posted on by
2

7″X5.5″ Pen on paper

I took the riverboat from Tate Britain to Tate Modern, a bit pricey but considering that there is no entrance fee for the galleries, not too bad really. Someone told me that you can see right into The Globe from one of the restaurants, I couldn’t find it but there is a wonderful view of St Paul’s from the fourth(?) floor cafeteria.

Posted by Picasa

Kings College London

Posted on by
1

7″X5.5″Pen on paper

On the day I went to the Tates I walked along the Victoria Embankment. I sat for a while on a bench not far from the Houses of Parliament and listened to a conversation between an older man and his adult daughter (I am guessing). He was telling her how he could fix her VCR (yes VCR not DVD player) with some parts he had scrounged from something that someone was throwing out. The conversation changed and he was explaining to her the workings of the house of Commons. I realized at this point, from what he was saying, that he was an MP (that is Member of Parliament not Military Police, for my American readers). I suppose even MPs can have a hobby.

This building is part of Kings College London and is in Lambeth on the bank of the Thames almost opposite the Houses of Parliament. I have been trying to find something on the history of this interesting building but so far have come up empty. There are so many buildings that make up King’s College, many of them are mentioned in various London guides, but not this one as far as I can tell.

Back Windows 3

Posted on by
1

7″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

I seem to have posted little but sketchbook studies for the past while. I will start to do some more painting soon, honest.

Back in London, I did this quick drawing of the view from my bedroom window. It could be almost anywhere in London, or in many other towns of the same vintage. There must have been hundreds of thousands of houses built between about 1870 and 1920 that follow much the same floorplan, with the variation being mostly one of scale. It seemed to work though, they are very livable houses and I still like them better than most of what has been built since.

Many have been chopped up into rooming houses or flats. Some, ever adaptable, wings added on the back, rooms knocked together into open plan “great rooms”, have been turned back into single family dwellings. What I noticed more this time was how many have attic conversions with dormers being cut into the roof line and gardens added to flat-roofed rear extensions.

Posted by Picasa

Arundel

Posted on by
3

7″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

Anyone who knows West Sussex probably knows the Black Rabbit in Arundel. It is perhaps one of the most famous pubs in the south of England. We thought we would stop there for lunch on the nicest Saturday of the year to date. Needless to say, so did the rest of the local population and probably not a few who drove down from London and further afield. Never mind, it was a nice day for a walk so we didn’t really mind parking half a mile away, and by the time we got back the crowds had thinned a little and we found a nice table by the river.

This is the river Arun where my mother used to row (the silhouette in the distance is Arundel Castle which I will try to do to greater justice one day). She and her fellow rowers would stop in at the Black Rabbit for a pint. It must have been a lovely spot then before it was discovered by the crowds. The couple depicted here were oblivious of me but a gentleman sitting a little closer thought I was drawing him and got quite self-conscious.

Posted by Picasa

The Dome Cinema

Posted on by
1

7″X5.5″ Pencil on paper

On the second day of my trip my I went down to Worthing with my sister and nephew. We stayed at the Ardington Hotel in the lovely Steyne Gardens. This was a real treat as we both realized that we never usually stay in hotels unless someone else is paying, for conferences and conventions, or in my case, sleazy motels for little league baseball tournaments. We felt very grown-up.

I didn’t sketch at all that day but on the following day I walked down to the seafront and sat in a shelter while I drew the Dome. This building is a Worthing landmark. It was built early in the 20th century as a “leisure centre” offering roller skating with a six piece orchestra providing the music. By 1911 it also included an “electric theatre” or cinema. My grandfather remembered skating there as a teenager and seeing the early films there was certainly part of his inspiration to become a projectionist when he grew up. I went to see films there myself as a child but it was already pretty seedy by then and it closed down for many years. Now it has finally reopened, completely refurbished and again running as a first release cinema.

Posted by Picasa