50th WWSketchCrawl: Colchester

Yesterday afternoon, I arranged for the Colchester Sketchers to sketchcrawl at the bottom of the High Street. Tucked down a lane is the Coffee Cube café, which is where we arranged to meet. After a week that saw sleet and rain, we were amazed to have a blue sky and sunshine, so half of us sat outside to sketch the castle.

First sketch underway.

Being the organiser, I spent more time talking than sketching at the meeting point, but did manage to spend half an hour on my sketch of the castle. Luckily, as the sun disappeared behind the clouds, it was time to move on.

My first sketch

 Our second location was Hollytrees Museum, which is a museum of domestic life and childhood. Several of us were attracted by the Alice in Wonderland temporary exhibition.

The Queeen's croquet game.

  Our final location was the new Tiptree Tearoom at the Minories Gallery. I think we were all so interested in each others sketches and having some tea, that nobody sketched there. I plan to return another day as the choice of teas and cakes demand a proper "sketch" visit.

Colchester Sketchers (minus Johnny) show off their sketches.

  Where did you sketch?

A Perfect Day?!

Spindle Drilling Machine

This weekend is Heritage Weekend in UK with many interesting places open for free. Yesterday, taking advantage of the lack of entrance fee, I went to the Museum of Power, Langford.

In situ in Museum of Power

The sound and sight of The 'Simpson' Belt Driven Workshop attracted my attention, so I decided to sketch there. With so many machines, belts, and interesting things I chose a small section to focus on and the above sketch is the result. Here is the in-situ photo. This sketch was done with a sepia Derwent pencil in A4 Monologue sketchbook. Whilst the afternoon sketch was Winsor & newton watercolours, Staedtlar Pigment liner in Daler A5 sketchbook.

After lunch, Degas and I went to Goldhanger for their Gala Weekend. With a karate demo going on in the churchyard, I took Degas down the road and walked her around the sea wall before heading into the village. As musicians were setting up in the Salty Dogs Tea Room, we headed there. It was the perfect afternoon: What's better than drinking tea (and eating carrot cake), in a beautiful garden, listening to live music, with your dog lying at your feet as you sketch?

Music, tea & cakes in a beautiful garden.

 It was a lovely day. What would make your perfect day?

Drinking and drawing

3rd Essex & Suffolk Sketchers DrinkDraw event.

 

...talking and playing.

Here I am sketching

On Friday night, I had arranged for the Essex and Suffolk sketchers to have a 3rd DrinkDraw evening. These evenings are proving to be very successful and we had a good turn out again.

We went to the Rose and Crown in Wivenhoe, which has this great quayside beer garden. The above photo shows us hard at work sketching the estuary, boats, pub and more.

I spent most of my time chatting and/or playing with my assistant, who likes the drinkdraw evenings out, than painting. oh well there's always next month. 

Here's my one sketch, direct watercolour in an A5 Daler sketchbook.

Lowtide on the River Colne.

More talking than sketching occurred last Saturday too. It was the #48th Worldwide Sketchcrawl day, so I arranged to join the Drawing London on Location group at the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. Unfortunately, my sketching mojo didn't come too. I was ready to sketch on the train but... it was packed as the Norwich train had been offloaded onto the train I caught. I found a seat, got sketchbook and glasses out and... the man next to me proceeded to tell me all about his life as a cruise ship pianist. 

Arriving at the museum, it was one of those days that the scale of the building was intimidating and the gardens stunning but... nothing grabbed my attention. I decided a cup of tea was the solution, which it was as I loved the organic lamps and was lucky enough to have the people I was drawing stay as long as I sketched.

The Geffrey café

After another wander around looking at the exhibits, I chatted to a few other sketchers, then decided to head off to look for my sketching mojo elsewhere.  As my lack of results on Friday show, it hadn't come back by then. Fingers crossed I relocate it this week.

A Jumbo Start

"Jumbo" Ink in A4 sketchbook. ©Sue Pownall 2015

Recently, Sarah from The Connection Magazine and I started a new urban sketching group the Essex & Suffolk Sketchers, with the aim to become an official chapter of the UrbanSketchers.

Lunchtime show & tell

We decided to start big, drawing at Colchester's old water tower, locally called Jumbo, and the first meeting was last Sunday. It was a lovely sunny day, albeit cold in the shade, and we had a great turn out.

We spent the first part of the day sketching around Jumbo and the Mercury Theatre, then after a lunch break moved onto the grounds of the Colchester Art Centre. It was a lovely day and everyone seemed enthusiastic about sketching again soon.


Below are my sketches (photos from the day are here). I'd love to hear what you think in a comment below. Thanks.

My 1st sketch, Balkerne Gate.

A sketch from the 2nd location.

I stopped for a cuppa, which came in a glass cup & had to be sketched.

 Essex & Suffolk sketchers. Find and like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/EssexAndSuffolkSketchers/

Next meeting is June 20th, 12noon St Mary's Church, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8LL

Manchester sketchcrawl

Sketching the River Irwell sat on Calatrava's Trinity Bridge

 Yesterday,  I joined the Manchester,  Yorkshire,  and Society of Architectural Illustrators (SAI) for a sketchcrawl in Manchester. It was a surprisingly blue skied sunny day, but with an icy wind, which made outdoor sketching a challenge. As you can see from my sketches below, I alternated between outside and inside locations.

River Irwell from Trinity bridge. Sketch 1

I accidently bought a scone when I went for a warm up cuppa. Sketch 2.

Piano practice in Manchester Central Library's music library. Sketch 3.

Shivering and sketching at the end of the day. Sketch 4.

It was lovely to meet so many sketchers from all over (40+ at the interim lunch meeting) and hope to get up to Manchester and sketch again... albeit in a warmer month.

Show and tell social at the end of the day. Photo by Hakym.

Café Sketching

This week's homework for Liz Steel's online course Sketching Now, which I'll be posting about next Saturday, was to sketch in a café. My morning didn't go to plan, which those of you doing the course know, is what happened to Liz too. The brief was to sit head on a café counter and to draw from the focal point out. My idea was to head to Tiptree Tearooms & Jam Factory mid-morning for a cuppa and a scone. 

 

However, I got engrossed in some material I was preparing for a course I am giving and didn't get there until midday. I got a head on view, of the side, which was not exciting as the photo shows. To my left was the hostess desk, so I chose to draw that instead.

I used my Super5 pen, which is filled with Noodlers blueblack ink, and started at the desk, added the girl who flitted there and back, then worked more details out from that point. I do like how the sketch looked before I added watercolour.

 Initially, I had thought to have a scone with my tea, but as it was lunchtime I ordered a salad instead. Whilst, waiting for it to arrive I added colour to my sketch. (The finished scanned image is below). Unfortunately, due to a huge queue of people waiting for tables at the hostess desk, I scrapped my plan to sketch my food too, so ate quickly and left.

 

I will be posting tomorrow as I've been nominated for the Around the World Blog Hop. Please come back and see what I post. In the meantime check out some of the others' posts such as Béliza's post here and Tina's here.

Waiting

Café at National Gallery. Ink in Moleskin sketchbook

On Saturday, I went to London to see some of the exhibitions. Whilst waiting for my friend to arrive, I sketched in the National Gallery's café.

 I didn't have any more time to sketch as my friend and I saw
three exhibitions starting with Rembrandt: The Late Works at the National. Then it was round the corner to the NPG to see Grayson Perry's, Who Are You? and finally the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2014. All worth seeing!
I'm a total Grayson Perry convert after seeing his exhibition and then watching the backstory documentaries.

What exhibitions have you seen recently?

Red, White & Blue

I've just had a short break as a birthday treat. It involved lots of tennis, treats, and catching up with friends. Looking at my sketches I seem to have had a red, white and blue theme running through my head/drawings. They were all done in my A5 Daler Ebony sketchbook. Hope you like them.

Red: Sat waiting for my flight to Abu Dhabi, a lopsided Christmas tree caught my eye. After inking the scene I then added red watercolour before the flight was called.

Pencil and watercolour

Blue: Once in Abu Dhabi, I went to the hotel, checked in, left my bag with the concierge and dashed straight to the Mubadala World Tennis Championship as play had already started. I normally sketch people at the tennis, so I thought I'd have a change whilst waiting for the second match. This is in pencil with watercolour and I'm not really happy with it, luckily the tennis made up for it.

Morgan's Converse. Ink & watercolour.

Red & blue: Having travelled to Doha my next sketch was of my friend's son's abandoned Converses. Followed by a sketch of her cat, Blue.

Come back I haven't finished. Pencil sketch

As the photo shows, despite being fast asleep, she suddenly got up and I was left with an unfinished sketch.

Blue: I bought myself some beads, blue of course, then drew them. Another sketch abandoned as my friend sat post shower and was a fabulous opportunity to do some life drawing.  Why blue? Because she got cold and would have turned blue if she'd sat too long.

Pencil

White: 1st January My friend and I sat in the MIA (Museum of Islamic Art) Café, which has been designed by Philippe Starck, and is a beautiful complement of black and white within the off-white of the building's atrium. Lounging on white sofas with a slab of lemon cake and a huge pot of tea, I found the architecture intimidating so chose my default sketching subject; the people around. I love the Qatari's white gutrahs (scarves) and captured a few of those.

 

Blue: The final sketch of my trip was of a blueberry cheesecake whilst I waited for my delayed flight home from Doha.

Ink and watercolour

Proof of on-location painting

I will be posting my annual review and arty resolutions in a few days time.
Happy New Year everyone. Here's wishing 2014 brings peace and happiness.

Coffee shops

Location shot through car window

On Saturday, I started the concertina Moleskin that we got at the symposium before Sketch Muscat 8. I've decided to record Muscat coffee shops in it. The Muscat Gate Coffee Shop is past the airport behind a garage (filling station). All the business I observed was of people driving up, a waiter passing a bag of food through the car window, and them driving off to eat/drink at a different location. Many just tooted their horn and a waiter scuttled over with a bag, so I assume they had phoned in their order prior to collection.

I found the Moleskin a little problematic for a couple of reasons. First, a mental struggle with myself as I do not use the first page of a sketchbook and had to force myself to start there. Next, I found it a little difficult due to the concertina of the pages behind. However, as I already know which coffee shop is going on the next page, I will continue with this mini-project.

Next, it was onto Sketch Muscat 8, a sketching event I had organised. Although I'd arranged the Muscat Sketchers to meet in Costa's, I didn't add any more drawings to the moleskin. Eight people turned up to sketch plus Pari's daughter and we had a good mix of nationalities: Omani, English, Indian, German, Kenyan and Filipino. I took the opportunity of eating some cheesecake as it looked a great subject to draw - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I also did a café scene sketch, but didn't get very far with it.

Almost finished.

Thanks Aziz Al Hahdhami for the cheesecake photos.

Continuing the momentum

La Sagrada Familia, ©Sue Pownall

 Several of us wanted to see the Sketching Barcelona exhibition (by Miguel Herranz, Lapin, Sagar Fornies, Òscar Julve, and others) and to sketch in Bari Gòtic or El Born and so met up the next morning. After the exhibition, which was amazing and inspiring, we went to Granja Dulcinea a xocolateria. Shantele and her partner ordered churros with their chocolate. Kindly they didn't eat them whilst I drew them. I couldn't draw my chocolate as I drank it. I was very impressed as Shantele didn't have her sketchbook with her but soon adopted the suggestion of drawing on a serviette.

Churros. A5 sketchbook ink & watercolour

The above photo was taken by Chris, the only non-sketcher whilst he was waiting to eat the churros. It shows Alissa, Chris H, Shantele with napkin, myself, Dave Black, & Yvonne sketching.

Reflections. Watercolour moleskin ©Sue Pownall

 Afterwards, Chris, Alissa & I walked into El Born district looking for subjects. I left Alissa sketching a door and Chris found an alley she wanted to do. I wandered around a while longer before I saw a distinctive window in a plaza. Luckily, there was a bench across the way and I took out my new watercolour moleskin (given on Virginia Hein's workshop) and tried to capture it. I'm quite pleased with the results and it is not as wonky as the scan implies - my bad photoshop stitching is partially to blame. I can't believe I tackled something so challenging; I think it's partially due to confidence gained from the symposium and a big improvement on how I felt at La Sagrada at the beginning of the trip. Unfortunately, intimidation reset-in later in the day when a lot of us met at CCCB'd cafe and everyone was drawing everyone else. It did make me smile when I asked to see the amazing Luis Ruiz's sketchbook and he said "it's only workshop drawings", just like I had done moments earlier to someone else.

Tapas. A5 sketchbook. Ink & watercolour

When I finished the window it was lunchtime, so I went to a tapas bar I have visited before. It's slightly expensive but very tasty. I sat at the counter and ate a tapas whilst drawing another. Not liking stuffed peppers, I was able to draw that from the plate near me.

La Sagrada Familia moleskin sketchbook.

The next day, before checking out of my hotel, I went back to La Sagrada Familia. As it was only 9am, there were very few people about and I found a bench with a great view. There's a very heavy influence from Norberto Dorantes as I experimented more with non-waterproof ink. It's also inspired by the work of others on the symposium. I am very pleased with this sketch, so it was a good way to end. All too soon, it was time to head to the airport for a week in UK, and to start planning my return to Barcelona.

Eros

Checking maps in Picadilly. A6 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2011

Yesterday in London, having arrived early at our meeting point of Eros in Picadilly I sketched the tourists around me. I was a little concerned by a Spanish lady in woolly hat, thick scarf and hooded coat, as it wasn't that cold. We met at Eros as we wanted to see the Degas exhibition at the RA, but unfortunately as we hadn't prebooked, it was half term, and we chose not to wait the 45minutes+ to get tickets.

People at Eros in A6 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2011

Instead my friend, the fabulous designer Mary Wright, & I went straight to Tate Modern, via the protestors at St Paul's, to see the Gerhard Richter exhibition Panorama. I was amazed at the mixture of styles from super-realism to abstraction that he uses. I can't confess to liking or understanding all of his work, but I'm very pleased we saw the exhibition. I introduced Mary to my favourite café in the Tate, no sketching as I was too busy chatting & eating, before we explored all the other exhibitions.

Next stop was back across town where we went to the National Portrait Gallery, my favourite, where I saw Marc Quinn's Blood Portrait for the first time. Something else I'm not sure about, but it is certainly intriguing. Unfortunately, we were at cultural overload by the top floors, so we went to another of my favourite cafés The Café in the Crypt.

Finally, here is a photo of a happy customer with her edition of Cuban Scenes, which had arrived in the post that day.

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