May Sketch Date: Tuesday 15 May, at the Horniman Museum

We have decided to visit the Horniman Museum and Gardens, 100 London Rd, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ, in order to have a wet weather option, as forecasting spring weather is so difficult. We will meet at the main entrance at 100 London Road at 11 o'clock.

The Horniman, deep in South East London, is surprisingly easy to get to on the London Overground from Highbury and Islington and other stops along its journey to Croydon. The train stop is Forest Hill, and details are here:     The Horniman is a five to ten minute walk from Forest Hill station.

 There are extensive gardens, with features including a bandstand and a Victorian Conservatory, and a collection of animals, all suitable for outdoor sketching. Also some distant views of London, and the countryside southwards. If the day is wet, we can draw in the Museum, although you need to bring your sketching stool as they do not provide these. Please remember that they only allow dry material work inside the Museum. (There are also various covered locations outside). There is an eclectic collection featuring natural history, anthropology, ancient Egypt, music, etc.,

Entrance to the main Museum is free, there is a charge for the aquarium, butterfly house, special exhibitions.   There is a cafe.

We look forward to seeing you on this sketchdate. Sue's number for the day is 07975 864142.

April 11th: Stoke Newington Church Street

Our chosen date for our April outing, Wednesday 11th, was grey and deeply uninspirational, but not actually raining. Despite this, six artists came to Stoke Newington Church Street, and all but one immediately disappeared into the comfortable surroundings of The Green Room Cafe.
One outdoor painting was produced before the artist got too chilly to carry on, but mostly we concentrated on the customers of the Green Room. We had a great time capturing faces and gestures in this busy cafe,and some of the decor, although one person preferred the seclusion of the semi-covered backyard, and we enjoyed the excellent cuisine on offer. We may have achieved our aim of getting together some work to put into the impending IAS Spring Show in the Stoke Newington Library Gallery round the corner!