Tuesday 29 June: Newington Green N16 9PX

On Tuesday 29 June we are going to revisit Newington Green, on the borders of Islington and Hackney.   Since our last visit several years ago, Newington Green has sprung to public attention by the addition of a new statue by deeply contemporary sculptor, Maggie Hambling, of an early feminist heroine, Mary Wollstonecraft.  As Art in the Park is largely (but not entirely) a female group of artists, it seemed appropriate that we should visit this location, though we may wish to sketch Maggie's curiously disconnected creation from the rear.   The Green is surrounded by rather gorgeous buildings, including a Cromwellian period brick terrace, and the oldest in London,  and there are big trees, light and shade, and people to sketch.  

Here is the map: https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/local/newington-green-islington

(Better photo of the A-Z page refused to load!)

There is a cafe with outdoor seating in the square, and various others around, also loos in the square,  and multiple buses running past: 141, 236, 341, 73 ( https://moovitapp.com/index/en-gb/public_transportation-Newington_Green-London_and_South_East-street_5089192-2122 ) .

The nearest train station is Canonbury, and then a walk.

There are benches, but it is always good to have your sketching stool with you.  

Looking forward to meeting up, Sue's mobile number for the day is: 07975 864142

18 May 2021 Visit to Queen Mary's Garden, Regent's Park

 Despite a problematic weather forecast,  the morning of 18 May was sunny, cloudy, even windy, and with very occasional showers..  So all fine, really.  Nine artists presented themselves (as well as two on other days), and we had a good sketching session, and an entertaining lunch outside at the nearby cafe, a bit windy, but fine.   The afternoon, however, was totally different: the remaining two artists and all their gear were suddenly covered in hail, it was like being in Siberia!   An extraordinarily wet and windy hailstorm over took Regent's Park!   We have the photos to prove it, please see below.  Artwork damaged variably depending on effective or otherwise use of the umbrella.

The Queen Mary's Garden part of Regent's Park(the area inside the Inner Circle) is a good sketching location (being maintained by the Royal Parks staff), and our artists took particular interest in the rocky Japanese gardens, which have a cascade, wisteria bridge to the island, and little stone lantern.  Other areas which caught the eye were the circular pond with Triton Fountain, the Begonia Garden with its statue, and attractive assemblies of trees and blocks of yews. All reflected in our artwork.

A good place to revisit.

A tedious announcement: Your editors understand that Google, who maintain this blog (at no cost to ourselves) are shortly - in June, in fact - going to stop runing the automatic emailing out of blog updates to email subscribers to this blog. Presumably Google has not got enough funds for this feature. While your editors are going to be emailing regular attenders about our programme, everyone, and particularly intermittent attendees, should check the blog page for updates regularly in order not to miss sketching days (and the artwork!).

Photos below of dreadful climatic conditions and determined artist!

Images above by Diane Umemoto (left) and Tricia Sharpe (right)

Images above by Gill Steiner (left) and Janet Payne (right)

Images above by Mark Hodge (left)and Lindsay Topping (right)

Images above by Gill D'Ambrosio (left) and Gafung Wong (right)

Images below by Maggie Pettigrew

Images Sue Lees (left) and Priscilla Worley (right)

Images above by Gafung Wong (left) and Sue Lees (right)

Finally, an image by Avis Dennis of a friend's garden in Maidenhead

"At home" alternative to Queen Mary's Garden, Regent's Park on 18 May

The weather forecast suggests that any rain tomorrow is likely to be from lunchtime onwards, so we are going ahead with our plan to go to Regent's Park.   Fingers crossed here!   It seems wise to bring an umbrella as well as your sketching stool.

For anyone who is unable to join us on this outing, but still wishes to have a creative day, we suggest that you go outside and sketch (or work with any media) anything, possibly between showers.  Any response to the outdoors will harmonise with sketches done in the various gardens of Regent's Park.   Please send your images in to susan@lees.org.uk 

Sue's mobile number for the day is 07975 864142

Last pic from Golders Hill

 Ann Kozlowski-Hunt sent in this pic of Diogenes from Golders Hill Park, that she wasn't able to finish on site and I have taken some time to get round to posting.

Enjoy

Tuesday 18 May: Queen Mary's Gardens, Regent's Park

This will be our first visit to Regent's Park and we are going to focus on the splendid planting which can be seen in Queen Mary's Garden inside the Inner Circle.   There are herbaceous borders, rose beds, a more desert style area with strong plant shapes, and a Japanese woodland and lake, so plenty of choice, as well as ponds and statuary.   Just outside the Inner Circle is a wetlands area which might contain interesting wildfowl, and other garden areas which sometimes have art installations. 

 
A map of the Park, which shows the possibilities, can be found here 

We plan to meet at 11 o'clock in the  Regent's Bar and Kitchen, which is a cafe on the western side of the Inner Circle.  The cafe has loos, hopefully working, if not there are some on the eastern side of the Inner Circle.   We will have lunch back at the cafe, depending on the state  of the virus regulations only 6 people can gather together at once so we may need more than one table.  

We look forward to another pleasant day out with our art gear, and hopefully warm weather.  Please send your images to Sue afterwards:  susan@lees.org.uk  

 

 

Golders Hill Park

And one I missed;

Maggie Pettigrew
Regents Park

Golders Hill Park, 27 April 21

This was a wonderful sunny day, just warm enough to sit outside in spite of the recent cold weather. Released from strict lockdown, 11 happy artists met up in the park and another 3 sent in pics remotely. A great turn out and some wonderful pics.

Thank you to everyone who sent in pics by email as this has made posting a lot easier and has improved the quality of the pics. Trying to photograph over a crowded cafe table is not easy.

Artists sketched trees in spring blossom, formal gardens, flowers, the bandstand and the pergola in the adjacent Inverforth House.

We had a jolly socially distanced lunch on the terrace outside the cafe and swapped artistic and lockdown tips:

Cathy Burkinshaw

Diane Umemoto

Elaine Kleinen

Janet Payne

Gafung Wong 
Kew

Gill Steiner

Gafung Wong
Cherry Blossom in Kew

 
Lindsay Topping

Lindsay Topping

Lindsay Topping

Priscilla Worley
London Fields




Priscilla Worley
Blossom Trio

Sara Meidan

Sue Lees

                         Tricia Sharpe