29 January: sketching at the Temple Church

Thirteen artists braved the freezing cold to go to the Temple Church to draw. It was lovely and warm as well as being very historic with its connections to the Knights Templar and the tombs of the Marshall family, who were Earls of Pembroke and very influential in the reigns of Kings Richard II and John.

The church was full of atmosphere. Parts of the original Norman round church still remain though there have been several enlargements and rebuilding. The tall windows have splendidly colourful stained glass, though this was Victorian as English stained glass tends to be. We had a refreshing lunch in Zest, a vegetarian restaurant and then back to work.

There was an amazing selection of Art produced by Art in the Parkers. My apologies for my photography which does not do the work justice. I am also working on improving the layout for the pictures.

The next outing will be to Covent Garden opera house where there are accessible public spaces and a good view over the market rooftops. The date will be published on this blog.

Next sketching outing is on Monday 3 April

Our Next Sketching Day will be on Monday 3 April, when we will be going to Covent Garden Market. We will meet at 11am outside the portico of St Paul's church, also known as 'The Actors' Church, Covent Garden, which is the big unmissable church built by Inigo Jones on the western side of the square. The nearest tube station is Covent Garden (Piccadily Line) but Leicester Square (Northern Line) is not very far away.

Some people may want to establish themselves with their stools and their sketchbooks in the area outside St Paul's drawing either the gorgeous St Paul's or the covered market place, with its lovely pillars and nineteenth century iron worked arcades. Others may want to go inside the market (particularly if wet) and find a corner to do interior market views.

We are hoping that there may be musicians in the lower parts of the market, or there may be assorted performance artists outside in the Plaza. In any case, there will be lots of people, some sitting at the restaurants both indoors and outdoors. This is a location with multiple artistic possibilities.  

We will gather at lunchtime and find a suitable café. Sue's telephone number is 07975 864142 if you arrive and cannot find anyone! We suggest you bring your sketching stool to avoid being restricted by the locations of café chairs.

Winter outing to Fenchurch Street station

Nine IAS members and guests met at Fenchurch Street station on a freezing cold day. The station facade was aglow with winter sun, the last showing of autumnal colours in the trees and a winter food market. Most artists braved the cold and sat outside in the forecourt on the seats especially provided until the sun departed when we repaired to a North African hot food cafe. Some stunning results and worth the risk of hypothermia. The Caffe Nero meeting point unfortunately proved difficult to locate, but artists persevered and we all met up eventually.

The next outing will be in January to the Museum of London. The date and meeting details will go on the blog shortly.

Next sketching outing is on Tuesday 29 November

The November outing is to Fenchurch Street station on Tuesday 29 November at 11 am. All the excitement of a London Terminal. There is now a pedestrian precinct outside the station, which has a stunning facade but this could be a bit cold. Plenty of coffee shops inside the station but you may want to bring a sketching stool. Meet inside the station by Caffe Nero at 11am and then choose your spot. Janet's number for the day is 07815 772857.

Our next outing is to Hoxton on Tuesday 25 October

Our October Art in the Park outing is to Hoxton and the Geffrye Museum. We will meet at 11 am on Tuesday 25 October in the alley (Geffrye Street) at the back of the Geffrye Museum, next to Hoxton overground station. The plan is to draw the workshops in the railway arches or the view from the upper levels of the station. If cold or wet we have the opportunity of drawing inside the Geffrye museum, where there are lavatories and a café. There are also coffee shops and a bar/café/restaurant directly adjacent to the entrance to Hoxton Overground Station. This is Caffeine Central after all.

Information about the Geffrye museum can be found here. The website also includes directions for how to get there. Janet's mobile for the day is 07815 772857 and Sue's mobile is 07975 864142.

Sketching outing to Golders Hill Garden on 29 September

The September Art in the Park outing is to the Golders Hill Garden and Pergola on Thursday 29 September 2016 at 11am.

The Pergola is on the West Heath adjacent to Golders Hill Park, the nearest underground stations are Golders Green and Hampstead. The 216 and 268 buses run along North End Road. The Pergola  is in the grounds of Inverforth House which dates originally from the late eighteenth century and was substantially altered by Lord Leverhulme. It is privately owned but the gardens and Pergola are open to all. The location is stunning.

There is a café in Golders Hill Park and the Bull and Bush pub is nearby. There is some cover under the Pergola but come prepared if the weather looks bad as this is an outdoor location. It is always a good idea to bring sketching stools.

A map can be downloaded here.

Our July outing is to Newington Green on Tuesday 19th

The next Art in the Park outing will be to Newington Green on Tuesday 19 July. We are meeting there from 11am in the café on the Green itself. Newington Green has a fascinating history, several Listed Buildings, a Unitarian chapel, the old facade of the China Inland Mission and also London's oldest surviving brick terrace.

The Green itself was revitalised a few years ago and is a pleasant area with seats, a café and paying loo, planting and a children's playground. There are many cafés and pubs nearby.

Newington Green is served by the 73, 476, 21, 141 and 341 buses. The 236 runs from Finsbury Park station but is not the fastest bus that London Transport runs. Canonbury Station on the overground is close by.

Hope to see as many of you as possible there.

The New River Path: a tranquil haven in the middle of Islington

Six IAS members and their guests decided that it was going to be outdoors sketching weather despite all appearances to the contrary, and met up at the New River Path in Islington. Fortunately the weather was kind to us and we were rewarded with excellent reflections in the water from the greenery surrounding the New River, a turtle and ducks' nests on straw bales watched closely by a frustrated fox cub who didn't want to get his feet wet.

There was bosky planting, Georgian cottages and of course the Marquess Tavern, where we could sit outside for coffee and lunch. We finally located the bird bath shown in the photo montage above dedicated to two members of the Islington Art Circle, the forerunner of IAS. So we were keeping up a great tradition of Islington artists!

The next outing will be to Newington Green, with its Dissenting history and links to Mary Wollstonecraft. The date will be posted on the blog shortly.

Spring time in a secret garden

On a sunny morning in late May 11 artists met up in Culpeper Community Garden to spend time sketching. This proved a very popular outing for IAS members and their guests. Culpeper Community Garden is near the Angel and Chapel Market, so this is a very easy location to get to and the weather was ideal.

The Garden is lovingly maintained by volunteers and was looking lovely and lush in contrast to the nearby densely urban landscape of inner London. There is a good variety of plants, some vegetables and a lawn where workers from nearby offices were eating their lunchtime sandwiches. We hope to go back later in the year  to capture  a different season in the Gardens. A big thank you to Culpeper.

Our next outing is on Tuesday 24 May at Culpeper Community Garden

Our next sketching outing is on Tuesday 24 May to the Culpeper Community Garden. They will be expecting us from 10:30am but of course we are free to arrive later if we want. Please bring sketching stools as there is very limited seating outside. This is a charming spot close to the Angel tube, Upper Street and Essex Road buses and of course Chapel Market. Either bring sandwiches to eat in the garden or there are plenty of cafés nearby. Mandy, one of the volunteers will be expecting us and there will be people working in the garden.

The address is: Culpeper Community Garden, 1 Cloudesley Road, Islington
London, N1 0EG.

Revisiting the Barbican

Seven artists met at the Barbican on a sunny February day for a drawing and painting session. We were not the only group of artists there, the Barbican is obviously a popular venue. There were good views of the central courtyard with its pond, the church, St Giles without Cripplegate and the City of London School for Girls.

It was also possible to get views into the spectacular upper level conservatory and the lower level foyers. The Barbican Kitchen provided coffee and lunch, together with a warm base from which to draw the courtyard and allowed the artists to exchange news and ideas around a table.

Our next sketching outing is on Thursday 11 February

The date for the next Art in the Park outing is Thursday 11 February. Having previously enjoyed a sketching day at the Barbican it was decided to make a return visit. We will meet at 11am in the 'Barbican Kitchen' on the ground floor (level 0). There is plenty of seating and the café sells reasonably priced food, or just a coffee. The Kitchen overlooks the outdoor space, City of London School for Girls, the pond and the Church as well as having all the usual café opportunities for sketching, not to mention the foyer itself or from the stairs.

For those who don't know the Barbican, enter on Silk Street and carry on towards the open space on the far side and the Kitchen is on the left, or ask the Barbican staff. Barbican underground station is on the Circle, District and Hammersmith line and Moorgate is on all these plus the Northern Line (City Branch).

Kingsland Basin, 21 August 2015

Ten artists met at the Proud Archivist for our August Art in the Park sketching outing before dispersing to find interesting locations along the Regent's canal to draw and paint. This was a return visit to this spot as Art in the Park had met here in the summer of 2014 and it was deemed successful enough for a second outing.

The day was very warm for late August and it proved to be quite a challenge at times to keep focussed but the finished results were worth the effort. We were entertained by ducks swimming in the canal, a group of teenagers canoeing towards Hackney and a small group of our artists enjoyed lunch at one of the canal side cafés.

May's sketching outing to Finsbury Park

We managed to sketch these views before the rain started

We continued sketching inside the café after lunch to avoid the downpour

"I like to join the Art in the Park sketchers because I enjoy the camaraderie, the support of other artists and the exchange of information"                        Janet Payne

Art in the Park group visits the Museum of London

On Tuesday 17 March five IAS members took their pencil cases to the Museum of London. We had a great day. It is possible to avoid the crowds and find peaceful corners of this fascinating museum in which to draw.

We particularly enjoyed the 18th century pleasure garden experience, which featured models in fashionable dress of the period (many of the costumes were the real 18th century McCoy, made for very petite ladies) as well as screenings of dramatisations of 18th century incidents located at Vauxhall and Ranelagh Gardens, all in lighting suggestive of gardens at night. 

There were other places we liked as well, which included the Victorian shopping experience, some art deco moments, and the Lord Mayor’s golden carriage. While the lighting is generally dim in the Museum, punctuated by spotlights, it is consistent – a drawing can be taken up after a break with no concerns that the sun will have gone in or moved round. 

There was much imaginative display in the Museum which is yet another Art in the Park location that is worth a return visit.

ART IN THE PARK DAY AT THE BARBICAN MONDAY 16 FEBRUARY

Seven IAS members and their guests came along to the Food Market in the Barbican and had a good art day. Some of us sketched outside on the terrace, because there are very interesting circular pools off the main lake which are topped off by rather good palm trees, until the chill set in. Other people sat at the window bench in the Food Market and painted the ancient church across the lake and the unique Barbican construction shapes. We also found the diners in the café good subjects.

There was plenty of room and we were undisturbed by the staff. We also looked at the little art gallery outside the library, which could be a future venue for an Art in the Park exhibition. This was a good location for Art in the Park, and a place worth going back to in warmer weather when the many outside possibilities could be explored.

Sketching inside Union Chapel

Photograph: Graham White

We began our 2015 series of sketching outings yesterday at Union Chapel in Islington. The architecture presented the nine artists, who were scattered around the church, with numerous challenges as did the cold weather in spite of the heating being on full blast.

We happened to time our visit with the first organ recital of the year so we were able to wrestle with sketching and enjoy listening to the famous Father Willis organ at the same time. Following our visit some of us repaired to a local café to chat and enjoy lunch.

A view of our combined efforts

Liverpool Street station

Lunchtime at Ponti's restaurant

Today's visit to Liverpool Street station was our last sketching outing for this year. Eight sketchers gathered by platform 10 and then duly signed in at the station reception and watched a video on health and safety. Once we had been issued with our visitors passes we were allowed to roam free around the station. An hour and a half later we stopped for lunch at Ponti's restaurant to warm up and compare our artistic efforts. As usual we were all interested in the views that other people had chosen.

After lunch most of us repaired to the upstairs bar at Hamilton Hall which was the former ballroom of the Great Eastern Hotel and overlooks the station, in order to continue sketching. It has the most ornate decoration, comfortable chairs and interesting views of the downstairs bar and would be well worth visiting again with our sketch books.

Our first sketching outing: 22 April

A small group of artists from the Islington Art Society chose Clissold Park in Stoke Newington for their first sketching outing. The weather was overcast in the morning and nearly scuppered the whole event but in spite of the slightly inclement conditions they persevered and produced a number of interesting sketches which were compared later in the café over lunch.

The intention is to meet roughly once a month at different locations around London. Both members and non-members of the society are welcome to join in. The date and location for the next outing will be posted on this blog.