February 2019 at the Royal Opera House

Ten dedicated artists sketched in the foyers of the Royal Opera House on a brilliantly sunny February day. The foyers are now open to the public every day from 10 am and so we were able to enjoy the amazing spaces. 
The Paul Hamlyn Hall is the old Floral Hall, raised up a level and shortened. It is now an incredible foyer space with a huge mirror, escalators  and of course posh dining facilities and a bar for opera goers. It is also possible to go out onto the balcony overlooking the front of the opera house.
The artists took full advantage of the opportunity to draw the spaces and the results are displayed below. The opera house had no objections to water colour so some people took full advantage of this to great success.
The original tutu worn by Margot Fonteyn for Swan Lake in the fifties was also on show and there is a water colour of this displayed on the blog. She found this a very demanding role.
We had lunch in the downstairs cafe near the entrance to the opera house from Covent Garden market, and there were plenty of tables for displaying work although the sandwiches were Central London prices!!

Our next outing will be to Brixton market in late March. More details will be published on the blog.

Royal Opera House 26 February

The next outing is set for Tuesday 26 February 2019 to the Royal Opera House. The public spaces for the Opera House are now open from 10 am and there are of course loos and cafes. We will meet just inside the entrance from Covent Garden itself, on the North East corner of the market square. I suggest we meet inside as it will still probably be cold. There is a cafe just inside the entrance, which can be our lunch venue. The public spaces in the Opera House including the old Floral Hall are very impressive and there is a roof terrace with a view over the market roof tops for the hardy as the terrace is not enclosed. We meet at 11 am, my mobile for the day is 07815 772857. 

The nearest tube is Covent Garden but this should be an easy venue to find.

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.