Friday, 27 July 2018

Tuesday 14 August Walthamstow Church and Old Village

Meet at the Gate of St Mary's Church on CHURCH LANE,  E17 9NH at 11 o'clock


On this sketch date we have another new venue, Walthamstow Village.  Our chosen centrepiece is  St Mary's Church, a handsome building, with a lovely old graveyard of 3 acres, big old trees, some paintable memorials, and charming rows of cottages alongside, a village green  with an enormous (but truncated) ionic column, a timbered house, etc.   When last seen the churchyard was largely laid to long grass and cowparsley, so good for the wildlife, but it may be cut now, and brown, but nevertheless will have a rural feel.

We have an agent on the ground who is kindly enquiring if the Church (with loo) can be opened for us in case of rain.   If not, the 'Village Pub' at 31 Orford Road has facilities, they are open from 11am. It's a big old fashioned pub and has a largish beer garden at the rear. It's about 4 mins from the churchyard so good for loos/lunch.    If we cannot get into the Church, and it rains (this seems unlikely) we can sketch in the pub or find another sheltered nook.

There is a map of the Conservation Area around the Church:
here

Getting there.   Walthamstow Village is (probably) a five minute walk from Walthamstow Central (Victoria Line) , (linked by footpath to Walthamstow Queens Road on the Overground).  When last visited bits of this area were being rebuilt and so confusing.  If you come in on the Overground, we suggest that you get yourself to the tube station.   You may need to cross the tube line in the station (quite easy) , and then you can more or less see the vast road (the A112/Hoe Street) which has got to be crossed.    See map here
Once you are on St Mary's Road, after the major road crossing, the Village is at the end of St Mary's Road straight along, although this turns into a path towards the church.

Bring your sketching stools!

Sue's mobile number for the day is 07975 864142.   We look forward to seeing everyone.

  

Sunday, 22 July 2018

Visit to Victoria Park, Bow, East London on 17 July

Thirteen committed sketchers made their way to East London's Victoria Park on Tuesday 17 July. We had a great day. There was plenty to paint and the weather was lightly sunny, so we did not boil. Also there were a lot of handily placed trees and benches, especially around the Western Lake and the Pavilion Cafe where we mostly remained.

The area around the park is also interesting artistically, and some of us started sketching before making it into the park:

For everyone else, the Chinese Pagoda on its own island in the lake was an unmissable attraction:

The Pavilion Cafe (as well as producing very nice homemade lunches) is a fascinating subject in its own right, and one after-lunch picture has made it to the editorial desk. During the day we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful waterfowl, and we were particularly charmed by the coot nest, six feet away from the Cafe, where several adult birds seemed to be attending to three baby coots - with red fluff on their heads, all under the noses of the cafe's customers.

Victoria Park turned out to be a great place for painters, so will go on the list for a revisit in the future, when hopefully the 277 bus will have made it back onto its route all the way to Highbury and Islington.

For regular Art in the Parkers, we have a slot in the Cass Art building near the Angel in late September where we could have an exhibition/showing of some work done or worked up from our days out together. Ann K-H has the vision for this, so we suggest that you contact her or speak to her when you see her.