Art in the Park: April 2022

Tuesday, 26 April 2022

Tuesday 10 May: The Olden Garden, Whistler Street, Highbury N5 1NH

On Tuesday May 10 we will be visiting the Olden Community Garden in Highbury, where we have been kindly given permission to come and sketch. This is a real secret garden entered from a door in a high wall (opposite Number 22 Whistler Street). The Garden is a long strip alongside one of Islington's many railway lines, sloping downwards to the tracks and facing more or less westerly. Hidden from the charming Whistler Street by the wall, there is a lawn, much planting, a summer house, pergola arches, lots of small vegetable patches, fruit trees, small terraced paths, greenhouse/s, and a woodland area. The Garden will be gorgeous in May, with hopefully lots of glancing sunshine through the trees. There will also be figure drawing possibilities as that day the volunteer gardeners will be in operation. More details can be found here:

There is also a loo, and a community room. Artists' lunch must be brought in advance as we will stay there for the day. (There is a Tesco Express at 71 Drayton Park, according to the internet, if anyone forgets.) The Garden closes at 4 pm. We are sure that donations will be appreciated.

We will meet at 11 o'clock inside the Garden, the gate will be unlocked.

The Garden is close to Drayton Park train station and the more widely known Emirates football stadium. If you look at the map, you will see the railway line running south from Drayton Park station and just beside the word Park, you will see Whistler Street, which is a sort of triangle, very small in actuality. The Garden is the sliver beside the railway track. A better map can be found here: The nearest Tube stations are Arsenal and Highbury and Islington, both 10 - 20 minutes' walk away. It will be quicker to get on a bus going up or down the Holloway Road and get off as close as possible to the junction of Liverpool Road and Drayton Park. Parking will be impossible as controls operate all day.

We suggest you bring your sketching stools and an umbrella. There are various places to sit under cover, but they may not be where you want to be, and the summer house will not accommodate very many of us. We are of course, hoping that the weather will be balmy!

Looking forward to a lovely painting day. Sue's telephone number for the day will be:07975 864142.

Monday, 25 April 2022

Visit to Granary Square on Tuesday 19 April 2022

11 sketchers came to Granary Square, the large open area in the centre of the vast redevelopment behind Kings Cross and St Pancras railway stations. For some, it was a first visit, and for everybody it was wonderful to see the area more or less finished and largely free of construction operations. It appears that everything which could be preserved has been kept, which includes various huge iron gasholders as well as a number of Victorian warehouses associated with the canal and the need for huge quantities of coal to keep steam engines running. Consequently, there was quite a selection of architectural features to incorporate into our artwork, including the Regent's Canal and associated locks. Our artists ranged widely, and have sketched quite a few of these features, and also bits of the new architecture. Two even caught what is left of the view of the iconic railway stations, now sandwiched between the many vast apartment and office blocks to the south of the canal. And some drew the many people who were out and about enjoying the spring day.

Granary Square is clearly a place of artistic opportunity, and we are sure that we will go back before long.

Image below by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan