Next Sketch Date: Tuesday 17 September at Bonnington Square, Nr Vauxhall, SW8 1TO

Our next sketch day will be on Tuesday 17 September when we will be meeting at Bonnington Square, Kennington, SW8 1TO. We will meet at our usual time of 11 o'clock at the cafe, Italo, opposite the entrance to the Pleasure Garden in the Square. (There is nothing to stop enthusiasts starting earlier!) Bonnington Square is a true green oasis in the city, complete with actual palm trees. It is a charming Victorian Square with an exotic community garden, and the planting also encompasses part of the pavements. Trees and herbiage fill the square, producing lovely shadows on some of the rather pretty Victorian terrace houses. There is also the Harleyford Rd Garden which can be reached through an alley between the houses. More details here

The cafe has a loo!

The nearest tube station is Vauxhall, on the Victoria Line, and Bonnington Sq is about 3 mins walk from the station. You have to cross some of the vast roads around the station. Bonnington Sq can either be reached via the South Lambeth Road and Langley Lane or Harleyford Road, cut through the Harleyford Road Gardens.

Various photographs below were taken by your personal representative who went sketching there in June with the Cafe Sketchers, and was captivated by this unique garden Square, also a painting. The place is a delight with all the shadows thrown by the trees. There are quite a lot of seats around and opposite the cafe, and in the Pleasure Garden, but as always, we suggest you bring your own sketching stool so that you are free to paint wherever your muse suggests.

There is very little rain shelter in the square - we would survive a short light drizzle, but nothing more. So if the day turns out looking tempestuous, we will go to Brixton Village, two stops down the Victoria Line. Regular attendees will recall that Brixton Village was the second covered market we painted in when we went to Brixton Market last autumn, generally golden yellow in hue, and very paintable. Map is here  .  If the forecast for that week in September is generally bad, we will post an update on the blog a day or two before. If it suddenly looks bad on the day, ring us, tel number at the end of this post. If it starts to pour when we are set up in Bonnington Square, we will decamp.

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

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August Outing to Walton on the Naze

In the end four of us braved the early train from Liverpool Street for our seaside outing to Walton-on-the-Naze. The weather was perfect, no rain, not too hot, lovely sunshine and amazing cloud formations over the sea and the Essex flatlands. The train on the branch line to Walton was full of families with buckets and spades, sunscreen and wind breaks. We felt like the Famous Five but lacked Timmy the Dog.

The views from the top of the Naze Tower were stunning, right across to Harwich and Felixstowe. There were second world war fortifications that had found their way down to sea level from the top of the cliff, plenty of dog walkers, sea bathers, and great seascapes. We had an excellent picnic lunch underneath the Tower together with a celebratory seaside ice-cream. The home made buns were excellent.

We even did some work, see below.

Walton on the Naze

Don't forget our summer outing to Walton on the Naze on Tuesday 13 August. Details further down the page on this blog.
Hope to see as many as possible there, and the weather should improve