Wednesday 14 November 2018

Next Sketch Day will be Tuesday 11 December at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth

Our next sketch day will be to the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Rd, London SE1 6HZ.    This is appropriate as we have just passed the centenary of the ending of the Great War, but in fact the most spectacular display in the main hall features  second world war aircraft, which can be sketched from below and above.   There are various exhibitions  and displays dealing with the Great War (and a very fine collection of wartime paintings, if anyone feels like not sketching themselves).  Lots of machinery, and people to sketch.   The building is pretty spectacular if you can deal with the cold.   More details: https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london#location_5


A previous visit with the London Urban Sketchers a year ago resulted in the following pictures which give an idea of some possibilities both internal and external:


There are no restrictions as to art materials, but bring a stool so that you can sit down at the view you want.

Meet at 11am in the main hall (go in the main door, and down some steps to the aircraft in the middle).   CafĂ©, loos, all available, and should be relatively empty as it will be a weekday in term time. 
The nearest tube station is Lambeth North, on the Bakerloo line.   Full directions can be found here https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london#location_5

Sue's telephone number for the day is 07975 864142, we look forward to seeing everyone.

Friday 9 November 2018

Day out at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Canary Wharf, 6 November

The Crossrail Place Roof Garden was a totally new environment for 13 Art in the Park sketchers last Tuesday.  An up-to-the-minute architectural structure with the partially glazed roofing, no doubt having won various awards, and a very smart garden design below.   We were particularly taken by a number of structural plants, including huge black spidery plants (unfortunately your editor was unable to identify these from home), tree ferns  and a very fine japanese maple in stunning autumn colour.   "The geographic location of the site – directly north of Greenwich – places the docks virtually on the Prime Meridian, dividing the western and eastern hemispheres. This positioning inspired the planting division of the gardens into two geographic zones. Plants from the Western hemisphere such as ferns and Sweet Gum are on the west side of the Meridian line, with Asian plants such as bamboos, magnolias and maples on the east side. The semi-permeable canopy structure enclosing the garden helped to create a localised microclimate allowing the use of more sensitive and rare species of plants."   A list of the most prominent plants can be found here: http://www.landscapethejournal.org/Above-its-station   We were pleased to see a blackbird and an empty nest, indicating that some wildlife had found its way across the acres of Canary Wharf's tower blocks and general concrete into a new safe environment. 

Apart from the plants, we found other subjects of interest:  one of us sketched the extraordinary design of the  Crossrail station from outside, others some of the people visiting the garden (a surprising number of young mothers with buggies), and there was a dressed up piano, a WW1 remembrance art installation, and various pieces of statuary.

There was also a very satisfactory lunch facility, known as the Food Robot, a vast hanger with various street food stalls, including a far eastern one, to go with the theme of the garden.   The Food Robot not only had large empty tables (with unfortunately screwed down stools) but was interesting artistically itself, and makes the whole place a viable winter venue for us at another time.