Art in the Park: July 2020

Sunday 26 July 2020

21 July 2020 Caledonian Park

As we emerge from the Covid 19 pandemic thirteen brave artists went on our first outing for many months, all socially distancing of course. Another person stayed at home and made a model.

Our meeting point was the old clocktower in Caledonian Park, Islington's second largest open space. The park was previously a general market and also a cattle market. It has recently been revived as a thriving neighbourhood park complete with cafe, which was open for sandwiches which could be eaten outside.

Everyone worked very hard. It was a lovely sunny day with white clouds scudding across a blue sky, families having picnics and outdoor gym enthusiasts. Everyone was vey excited to be out again with Art in the Park.

We have had a request from Islington to use the images for their social media content for Caledonian Park. I will assume that artists are fine with this unless I hear from you janetat48ock@hotmail.com.

Hope I haven't missed anyone's picture out.

The next outing is planned for late August, date and venue to be confirmed, possibly Hamsptead Heath if the building work to the toilets by the Italian cafe is finished.

Happy Sketching

Some artists who arrived at 11 am for the photo opportunity

Gill Steiner worked from home and made a model of the clocktower

Tricia Sharpe

Mark Hodge

Diane Umemoto

Priscilla Worley

Thursday 9 July 2020

21 July 2020

Outing to Caledonian Park

Innings "A Better Tomorrow "

As lockdown eases we thought we would try a socially distanced outing as well as an innings for Tuesday 21 July 2020.

For those who are still shielding or would prefer not to join an outing, the innings is "A Better Tomorrow", which we hope will give people plenty of scope.

The outing is to Caledonian Park, Market Road N7 9PL. Meet at 11 am underneath the clocktower on the cafe side.

This park is based in the old cattle market, and has a stunning clocktower, heritage railings, and thoughtful planting. There is plenty of history and it was one of the places that people marched from to support the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Info can be found by Googling Caledonian Park.

The park is large and relatively underused, so we should have no difficulty keeping our distance. There are plenty of benches but do bring a sketching stool. The cafe is open and serves sandwiches and hot and cold drinks. Also of course you can bring a picnic, and there are several local food shops in North Road close by, if you forget. The idea is that we eat our lunch outside keeping the numbers congregating together to six or below.

If it rains then we can all do 'A Better Tomorrow' from home!

The loos in the park should be open by the date of our outing but if not the Shell Petrol Station, 109-113 York Way is five minutes walk away and the loos are open.

Islington residents who drive, can park free between 11am and 3pm in residents bays. There is also paying parking. For those prepared to use public transport the 274 bus stops on Market Road, the 390 goes along York Way and the 17, 91, 259 and 274 go along Caledonian Road. The overground stops at Caledonian Road and Barnsbury and is a short walk away. Caledonian tube station on the Piccadilly line is nearby. There are of course walking and cycling options.

Images to janetat48ock@hotmail.com. My number for the day is 07815 772857.

And finally a further arrival from Heather James from Tallinn.

Monday 6 July 2020

Tuesday 30 June 2020: Virtual Sketching in Tallinn, Estonia

We have had interesting time getting to grips with virtual sketching and Tallinn, although this effort has not resulted in a vast outpouring of artworks. A fair amount of preliminary spadework was needed to get the streets of Tallinn even on the screen! We discovered that Tallinn has some art nouveau frontages (though not everyone found them in the slippery camera of google's streetview). It also turns out that Riga, along the coast, is a hotspot of art nouveau, and one of us was able to produce an image from a previous visit to Riga. (Riga's art nouveau looks like a future opportunity!) Our images reflect the historic charm of Tallinn, its old walls, watchtowers, cobbled streets, and even what appears to be a miniature St Basil's cathedral! For armchair travellers it was a pleasure to discover.

Details about our next art day will follow shortly.