Mill Road Winter Fair

Mill Road Winter Fair ink, watercolour and coloured pencil

On Saturday 5th December I joined the Cambridge Urban Sketchers to sketch the annual Mill Road Winter Fair. A few hardy souls gathered at the skateboard ramp at the Parkside end of Mill Road at midday before settling off to find a sheltered spot to sketch. I settled on a spot near The Broadway and perched on my camping stool until I could hardly feel my fingers anymore. Discarded coffee cups and escaped balloons swept past me as I was buffeted by the wind and I finally gave in and headed off to Romsey Mill Community Centre cafe to meet up with everyone else and thaw out with tea and cake! I added a bit more colour when I got home and got my fingers unfrozen!

This was my first trip out with Urban Sketchers since breaking my ankle in September and I hope to join the London Urban Sketchers next Saturday in Trafalgar Square. 

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."