Tuesday 30 August: Visit to the Cloister Gardens of the Museum of the Order of St John, St John’s Gate, St John’s Lane Clerkenwell London, EC1M 4DA

 On Tuesday 30 August we are going to the Cloister Gardens of the Museum of the Order of St John, who have very kindly agreed to let us come and sketch once again.   

We are to meet at 11 o'clock at the front door of the Museum (which will be closed) where Amie will greet us again and take us round to the Cloister garden, which is the other side of the Clerkenwell Road.   I think that we will have to be guided in to the Garden which does not have direct access to the outside world, so it is best if people arrive promptly.

For directions to the Museum's main entrance please go to:  

To see images of the Garden, please go to:    

It won't be crowded when we are there!   The lovely old back wall of the church (with three medieval windows) runs along one side of the garden, and at certain times of the day (unknown at present!) it gets good shadows from next door's trees.    St John's Square just outside also offers sketching possibilities.

The photo below shows the location of St John's Priory Church, the Cloister Gardens are at the back of it. 

 

We do not yet know whether the Museum will be able to provide us with access to a loo, and in the event that they can't we will have to use a cafe.  Roni's Cafe on the junction of St John St and Clerkenwell Road is the nearest, users may need to buy a coffee in order to use the facilities.   The Museum are kindly allowing us to eat picnic lunches in the Cloister Gardens so please bring your own lunch.

We may have clarity about the loo situation before the 30th, in which case we will update the blog.  Please keep checking - and remember that the blog no longer sends automatic emails out to subscribers.

Hopefully the weather will be balmy.  There are benches, but in order to get the exact view you want, please bring your sketching stool.

Janet will be collecting images of everybody's work afterwards, please email to janetat48ock@hotmail.com.   Janet's telephone number for the day  will be 07815 772857 and Sue's will be 07975 864142.

We look forward to another lovely day out. 

 

 

 

Tuesday 26 July: visit to the Omved Garden, Highgate

14 sketchers presented themselves at the Omved Garden, Highgate's newest eco-garden.  Sloping and surrounded by trees, the garden includes ponds, hedges, areas of wildflowers, a vegetable garden, a pergola, and the old glasshouses used in the Garden Centre era, now immaculately refurbished.   The garden is beautifully laid out and every care is taken with it, and we are immensely grateful to Omved for allowing us to come in and create art.

The day was generally rather cloud-covered, which was a welcome relief after the dreadful heat of the previous week.   Some of us focused on the structures in the garden, others on the landscape of the area, some on the massed meadow flowers, and some on individual plants. As usual, a great variety of media have been used, and some artists have worked up their drawings into paintings afterwards.    We had a lovely time in the garden, and we hope that you enjoy looking at our work.  

Our next sketch date is LIKELY to be Tuesday August 30th, venue to be confirmed. 

Omved Garden Collection:

Images above by Cathy Burkinshaw

Images above by Maggie Pettigrew

Four images above by Audrey Rapier

Image above by Sue Lees

 

Image above by Priscilla Worley

 

Image above by Diane Umemoto

 

Image above by Gill Steiner

Image above by Peter Hassell

Image above by Ann Funston

Image above by Janet Perkins

Three images above by Diana Butement

Collage image above by Alison Sandifer

 

 

 

Red Alert tomorrow 19th July

It was so hot today that neither Sue nor I can face Newington Green tomorrow 19th July in spite of the earlier start 10 am. Tuesday is forecast to be even hotter than today Monday, if that is possible. If you do decide to go anyway you can send your pics to me, janetat48ock@hotmail.com and I will post them on the blog. Meanwhile, keep safe.

We will be sitting safely inside with the curtains drawn looking forward to the Omved Garden next week and hoping for cooler weather.

Tuesday 19th July, Newington Green

Intrepid artists all, hello from your organisers.

As most of you already know Tuesday 19 July is expected to be a real scorcher with record breaking temperatures. In view of this we have decided to start earlier at 10am before the heat builds up. Do be careful, sun screen, shady hats, plenty of water. We leave it up to you to decide whether you are comfortable going out on Tuesday. But for those who wish to brave the heat, we have decided not cancel.

Remember the trip to Omved on 26th July where hopefully it will be less hot.

Pics to janetat48ock@hotmail.com

 

Tuesday 26 July 2022 Omved Gardens

 We have arranged an outing to the Omved Gardens in Highgate. Meet at 11 am on Tuesday 26 July. The gardens are a delightful space with glorious views across north and east London. This is a week after our outing to Newington Green, but Omved is a special place and it is summer so we thought that two outings in two weeks would be great!

From their website "Until recently a wounded and tarmacked wasteland it (the garden) is being transformed into a diverse eco habitat with a wildflower meadow, an orchard, and a vegetable garden."  Truly inspirational. There are also a series of glasshouses which host Art exhibitions and events, as well as dining clubs. They are in partnership with the World Food Programme and Chef's Manifesto.

Their website is omvedgardens.com.

Omved Gardens, Townsend Yard, N6 5JF. Townsends Yard is off Highgate High Street. Get a bus up the Hill, or walk from Archway Station. Townsends Yard is a real yard, it is signed but look carefully and be not deterred. 

There are benches but bring a sketching stool if you can. Also a packed lunch would be great, so we can all eat together without disappearing into Highgate High Street, where there are of course many cafes. 

Below is a pic Sue Lees did on a recent visit to the Omved Garden with Highgate Watercolour Society

And a photo of the gardens, again from Sue

See you there

Tuesday 19 July: Newington Green, Islington N16 9PX

 

On Tuesday 19 July we are going to revisit Newington Green, on the borders of Islington and Hackney.   Artists can have another go at Maggie Hambling's sculpture to Mary Wollstonecraft, which repaid close study on our last visit, a year ago, and there are interesting old terraces and the old chapel across the road, big trees with light and shade, and people to sketch.   Also street scenes.   You may find it helpful to look up in advance the images from our previous visit and see what other people chose to sketch, the collection can be found in the July 2021 section of the archives. 

As usual, we will assemble on the Green near the cafe at 11 o'clock.

Here is the map:

There is a cafe with outdoor seating in the square, and various others around, also loos in the square,  and multiple buses running past: 141, 236, 341, 73.

The nearest train station is Canonbury, and then a walk.

There are benches, but it is always good to have your sketching stool with you.  

Looking forward to meeting up, Sue's mobile number for the day is: 07975 864142

We have decided that as a special treat we will have another July outing, details will be published shortly.

Tuesday 14 June 2022: Visit to Christchurch Highbury N5

 A dozen artists presented themselves in the new courtyard of Christchurch, Highbury, on a beautiful sunny day.  There was a distinctly continental feel to the courtyard beside the church, with its metal cafe tables, shaded by a large tree, and stone chippings on the ground.  It was an extremely relaxed and comfortable location, with loos and cafe to hand.  And, of course, there was the gothic architecture of Christchurch itself, and the splendid clock tower, a kind of miniature Big Ben, which were what attracted our attention when making our plans for our June sketchday.  (The clock tower was put up in 1897 in celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, and paid for by a local resident, Mr Alfred Hutchinson.  What a splendid gift for the parish!  It was restored in its original colours in 1997.)   All this is reflected in our artwork, we were mostly scattered around all sides of the church, only one of us went inside to paint the fine assemblage of arches there. 

We are very grateful for being kindly allowed to sketch by Christchurch's staff who made us very welcome.

As is often the case with our Art in the Park jaunts, we had a totally unexpected encounter, this time with a free-range parrot!   She was visiting with her man, and greatly enjoyed herself moving round the chairs at their table.  Many of us talked to her devoted carer, but only one of us, Gafung, was on the ball enough to do a quick painting of the parrot, who was a green winged macau.

Please enjoy our images.  

Our next sketchdate will be Tuesday 19th July, venue to be announced, we hope shortly.

Parrot by Gafung Wong

Four images above by Audrey Rapier

Image above by Janet Payne 

 

Image above by Janet Perkins

Two images above by Gafung Wong

 Image above by Avis Dennis

Image above by Gill Steiner 

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

 Image above by Peter Colley

 

 

 Two images above by Sue Lees