A dozen artists presented themselves in the new courtyard of Christchurch, Highbury, on a beautiful sunny day. There was a distinctly continental feel to the courtyard beside the church, with its metal cafe tables, shaded by a large tree, and stone chippings on the ground. It was an extremely relaxed and comfortable location, with loos and cafe to hand. And, of course, there was the gothic architecture of Christchurch itself, and the splendid clock tower, a kind of miniature Big Ben, which were what attracted our attention when making our plans for our June sketchday. (The clock tower was put up in 1897 in celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, and paid for by a local resident, Mr Alfred Hutchinson. What a splendid gift for the parish! It was restored in its original colours in 1997.) All this is reflected in our artwork, we were mostly scattered around all sides of the church, only one of us went inside to paint the fine assemblage of arches there.
We are very grateful for being kindly allowed to sketch by Christchurch's staff who made us very welcome.
As is often the case with our Art in the Park jaunts, we had a totally unexpected encounter, this time with a free-range parrot! She was visiting with her man, and greatly enjoyed herself moving round the chairs at their table. Many of us talked to her devoted carer, but only one of us, Gafung, was on the ball enough to do a quick painting of the parrot, who was a green winged macau.
Please enjoy our images.
Our next sketchdate will be Tuesday 19th July, venue to be announced, we hope shortly.
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Parrot by Gafung Wong
Four images above by Audrey Rapier
Image above by Janet Payne
Two images above by Gafung Wong
Image above by Avis Dennis
Image above by Gill Steiner
Image above by Tricia Sharpe
Image above by Peter Colley
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Two images above by Sue Lees
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