Tuesday 19th October our visit to the Museum of the Home

Our next outing is to the Museum of the Home on Kingsland Road. This was previously known as the Geffrye Museum. It started as a collection of almshouses which were repurposed to become a series of rooms reflecting the historical furnishings of the ages. It has had two major refurbishments and extensions. One was more than twenty years ago when the architect Branson Coates introduced a new cafe in a central atrium and revamped one of the almshouse wings to include some more recent rooms, as well as a spiral stair down to some new community rooms. The next refurbishment was by Wright and Wright when the Museum was extended by creating and refurbishing the basement, again with extra rooms.

There is also a lovely historic garden at the back of the Museum. The Museum is free and they are expecting us and even have stools. Their website is www.museumofthehome.org.uk and their address is 136 Kingsland Road, E2 8EA. Hoxton Overground Station (trains from Highbury and Dalston) is almost adjacent to the museum, Old Street Station is not far away and Liverpool Street is a short bus ride or walk away.

The Museum has some quite tight spaces as the rooms and corridors in the old almshouses are very small and they have asked that we spread out to avoid blocking through routes for other visitors. No easels. 

There is a Museum cafe but we thought we should visit Song Que at 134 Kingsland Road, which is a popular and reasonably priced local Vietnamese restaurant, very close to the Museum on Kingsland Road. I will reserve a table, but at lunch time they should be able to accommodate us.

Meet in the entrance to the Museum at 11 am

And finally a late image from St Mary le Strand from Audrey Rapier

 

Our outing to St Mary le Strand

It was a rather cold and overcast October day when a dozen sketchers made their way to the newly pedestrianised area of the Strand outside Somerset House, from whence there is good view of St Mary le Strand. This church is no longer isolated on a traffic island and so it is easy for artists to find a good view to sketch from. There are picnic tables and benches on the now traffic free section of the Strand. The benches are much frequented by the students from nearby Kings College, which makes it a very lively venue. Unfortunately the church of St Clement Danes just a bit further away was encased in scaffolding, so this church awaits another IAS outing when the scaffold is down.

One sketcher arrived later, and sketched a Degas statue inside Somerset House. We had lunch in the Somerset House courtyard cafe and braved the outside seating.

David Gilbert, whose garden we drew in September, has asked that he forward our pictures to the National Garden Scheme, which will then link back to the IAS Art in the Park website. If you don't want your picture to be included please let me (janetat48ock@hotmail.com) know by 27 October, otherwise consent will be assumed.

The next outing will be on Tuesday 19th November, venue to be confirmed.

So pictures below:

Chris Baker

Betty Wang

David Gilbert

Diana Marshall

Diane Umemoto

Do Burgess

Gill Steiner

Phoenix Wong

Janet Payne

Sue Lees

Sue Loder

Tuesday 15 October: Visit to St Mary le Strand, Aldwych, WC2R 1ES

 On Tuesday 15 October we will sketch around St Mary le Strand in the Aldwych.   This eighteenth century baroque  church is now sitting in one of London's newest pedestrianised streets, so it should be possible to get some good views of both St Mary's and its companion church St Clement Danes a little further down the Strand. 

We will assemble at 11 o'clock outside the western end and front door of St Mary's.  We are hoping for a golden October day, with light and shadows passing through the trees and the pillars, but if it is wet people can go into both churches and sketch discreetly.   We may be lucky enough to find that there is a Tuesday lunchtime concert going on in the church.  The Courtauld Gallery is close by, and the Law Courts (sketchable from St Clement Danes, plenty of gothic towers and arches).  There are loos in the Courtauld, and various cafes.  

For more info please click here

For a map and travel details please click here

There are apparently lots of new benches around, but it is always worth bringing your own sketching stool.   

Sue's mobile number for the day is: 07975 864 142.

We look forward to another enjoyable day out with the art kit.

  

Our outing to David Gilbert's Garden

So very many thanks to David Gilbert for allowing us to sketch in his wonderful garden in Finchley which has been very thoughtfully laid out with wonderful plants, not to mention sculptures some of which are by David.

Fortunately the rain held off so we were able to enjoy the garden and the sketching. It was very Zen.

Some 10 people (including David) turned up and we had packed lunch at a table in the garden. What a good day.

People made a contribution to the National Garden Scheme Charities, which donates to the NHS Charities. David has collected over £1,400 so far this year for NGS charities, which is really excellent.

Below are our pictures:

Ann Funston

Chris Baker

Diane Umemoto

Do Burgess

Gill Steiner

Priscilla Worley

Sue Lees

Janet Payne.                                  

Lindsay Topping

David Gilbert

David Gilbert's Garden 24 September 2024

David Gilbert has kindly invited us to sketch in his garden, which is open on Sunday 8th September as part of the National Gardens Scheme (NGS), but is open specially for us on Tuesday 24 September. David is a recently joined member of Islington Art Society.

The address is 12 Lauradale Road N2 9LU. The NGS website for the garden is https://ngs.org.uk/gardens/12-lauradale-road-n2/ and for the garden itself https://davidgilbertart.com/garden/

Do click on the links and see the photos of the splendid garden with its very special Mediterranean tropical themed plants. The garden is the result of a seven year planting and design programme by David and his wife Mary Medyckyj.

The garden is to be found 300 metres from the 102 and 234 bus stops, 500 metres from the 43 and 134 bus stops. It is 10 minutes walk from East Finchley tube station. There is a CPZ in operation from 11 am to 1 pm so forgot coming by car as there is nowhere to park.

Meet at 11 am at the house. Please make a charity donation, the National Gardens scheme is collecting for Health and Nursing Charities.

Please bring sketching stools. There are some benches but not enough for everybody.

Please bring a packed lunch and any tea, coffee or cold drink that you want.

There are loos available in the house.

And two last minute images from Audrey Rapier of our previous outing to Regents Park Road.

        

Regents Park Road 20 August 24

Some 15 artists made their way to Regents Park Road on a sunny day. Rain was threatened but fortunately confined itself to a few spots whilst we were under an awning at lunchtime.

There was a great variety of street life, cafes with outdoor canopies and seating areas, specialist shops and even much interest in our work from passers by. The railway bridge with its graffiti was a must for some artists as was the nearby Primrose Hill.

We found an accommodating outdoor cafe for an impromptu lunch for so many people!

As usual there was much sharing of information about techniques and Art exhibitions over lunch.

The next outing is on Tuesday 24th September, venue to be confirmed.

Below is some of our work. The pics are below the names.  Don't forget to send your work to me janetat48ock@hotmail.com or to susanklees@gmail.com for posting on this blog.

Diane Umemoto

Do Burgess

Gafung Wong

Gill Steiner

Janet Perkins

Janet Payne

Peter Colley

Priscilla Worley

Sue Loder

Tricia Sharpe

Sue Lees

David Gilbert.                   

Alison Sandifer