Category: London

Decisions, decisions

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We have been doing some serious thinking lately. Plans are still very much up in the air, but the idea of moving to Rome for a year is slowly taking shape. With a two year old and a new baby on its way, we are probably mad, but the excitement when we think about this move is building up more and more very day. What do you think? Any thoughts and advices to share?

RWS Friends Sketching Day – 20th March 2011

Wonderful day along the river today! We visited the RWS Spring Exhibition first, with one of the Friends giving us a guided tour through so many inspiring paintings (some others not so much!). Then we headed off towards the Tate Modern. One of the Friends and I found a nice spot on the steps just below the Millennium Bridge and, although it was crowded as usual, the view was not interrupted. I liked the overall view with the modern and sinuous silhouette of the bridge and the very classic St Paul’s Cathedral at the end. I did underestimate, however, the very complex shape and perspective of the bridge! I also realised, after so many years sketching in London, that the colour palette that I use the most is always the same: cobalt blue, yellow ochre and ivory black…..not very exciting! I think I’m going try a different approach next time, I’ll take out these three colours from my sketching kit and let’s see what happens.

RWS Friends Sketching Day – 14th November 2010

Pencil Sketch

St Michael, Cornhill, City of London
It was another cold day for outdoor sketching, one figure temperatures and rain. I spent a good 40 minutes in the district line from Wimbledon to Tower Hill, I had forgotten how slow this line is! On my way to station I picked a bunch of leaves: a Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) leaf and a very red leaf from another tree which I can’t find the name. I tried to do some pencil sketches while I was in the tube, but I’ve found it a bit difficult to keep my hand steady. Although it was raining we did a tour around Pepys tramping ground and I stopped to sketch in St Michael’s Alley. It took me a long time to get the sketch done as I wanted to use a pen & wash technique. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel very confident using a pen straight away, so I did a pencil sketch first, then pen on top and some watercolours to finish off…..it took me over 1 hour to do that!!

RWS Friends Sketching Day – 27th June 2010


Holland Park – The Arboretum

Holland Park – The Pond behind Lord Holland’s Statue

Holland Park – Kyoto Garden

Had a fantastic day yesterday in Holland Park. It was about 30degC and the watercolours were drying very quickly. The sun was so strong you could hardly see the real colour of things. I managed to get three small sketches done before meeting for lunch at the cafe’ (it was too hot to sit in the sun!). I also spent a bit of time taking some pictures with my new camera, but had to revert to the auto mode as I’m still not ready to use the manual settings!