Mill Cottage

Last summer during the NGS open gardens I visited Impington Mill, to do some sketching and produced this drawing.

I have since made a watercolour, pen and coloured pencil version, which I intend to be the first in a series of paintings of local landmarks. I'm going to visit the mill again next month to draw the windmill itself. Impington Mill will be open during National Mills weekend 9th and 10th May from 10.00 to 16.00. I believe it will also be open for Histon and Impington Open Gardens on Sunday 14 June.

Botanic Garden Sketches and Jade Vine

View of the hot houses

 Last week I spent a couple of days sketching in the Cambridge University Gardens. The first day I didn't take my folding stool so had to wait for a seat to be vacated! When I started sketching I was in the shade but as the sun moved round I was getting hotter and hotter.

1 Brookside

I returned the following day armed with my stool and settled down to draw 1 Brookside, just inside the entrance, but although the sun was shining it was distinctly cooler and I soon retreated to the Garden Cafe. I will finish both sketches in the comfort of my studio desk in the corner of the living room!

I can never visit the Gardens without going in the hot houses and this time I was rewarded with the magnificent Jade Vine in bloom.

Drawing with London Urban Sketchers

Yesterday I joined the London Urban Sketchers for the first time. We were to meet on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral at 11 o'clock but I was late and so after catching up with the organiser, Katherine Tyrrell, I headed down to the river and sketched the view across the Thames to the Tate Modern.

View across the Thames from just right of the Millennium Bridge

We all met up again on the roof terrace of One New Change to sketch the fabulous views and pose for a group photo. We also gathered all our sketches from the morning together. It was great to see
everyone's different styles.

The dome of St Pauls

Materials and equipment used, left to right. Winsor and Newton 
A4 sketchbook, Moleskine large watercolour sketchbook,
 Winsor and Newton Bijou watercolour box ,Uni Kuru Toga
 mechanical pencil,Uni Pin fineliner, Pentel waterbrush

Sketchbooks!

Group photo in Paternoster Square 

 We met up for a final time in Paternoster Square for another group photo (including a photo bomber, far right!) and another look at everyone's sketches. After saying our goodbyes a few of us repaired to a nearby coffee shop to compare the contents of our sketch kits!

More sketchbooks!

All in all I had a fantastic day and I can't wait to do it again next month when we are going to Kew Gardens on the 16th of May! Details of future London events can be found here.

Thanks so much to Katherine Tyrrell for organising the event. It was great fun and I made some new friends! Urban Sketchers London post about the event is here.

London Urban Sketchers

London Urban Sketchers' Sketchcrawl - Sunday 26th April 2015

Pen and watercolour sketch of St Pauls.

I'm going to join the next London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl which will be at the Millennium Bridge North Bank, St Paul's Cathedral, and One New Change - The Rook Terrace. All the details are on the Urban Sketchers London blog. This event is being organised by Katherine Tyrrell and details are also on her Travels with a Sketchbook blog.
The sketch above of St Pauls was done a few years ago from the cafe of the Tate Modern.

You can find out more about Urban Sketchers at their main blog at urban sketchers dot org.

"Urban Sketchers is a network of artists around the world who draw the cities where they live and travel to. Our mission is to "Show the World, One Drawing at a Time." Visit our main blog at urban sketchers dot org for more information."