Tuesday 8 July: Visit to the Evolution Garden, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

 On Tuesday 8 July we will visit the new dinosaur (Evolution) Garden in front of the Natural History Museum at South Ken.  This Garden replaces the ice rink, a decision taken for sustainability, ecological, and no doubt educational, reasons, and was opened last summer.  The attractions of this, for artists, are the views of the amazing facade of the Natural History Museum itself, and, looking the other way, of the architecture of the V and A, seen arising from prehistoric palm trees.   There are good compositions to be found involving trees and parts of the Museums.  

 

There are also at least two dinosaur skeletons, including a bronze copy of the huge diplodocus which used to stand inside the Museum, and arrangements of rocks and ancient plants.  The dinosaurs do not necessarily have to be included in your artwork.   Examples of homo sapiens will also be found moving around in the landscape.   We suggest you bring sketching stools as the benches may not be where you would like them to be.  There are big trees to provide shade and the area off the main drag is not likely to be crowded.  

An alternative sketching area is the covered street outside South Ken tube station itself.

We will meet at 11 o'clock at the main entrance to the Museum which is at the junction of Cromwell and Exhibition Roads.   The Nat Hist Cafe is likely to be packed, and the V and A cafes also, so we suggest that you bring a picnic and eat it (with the Natural History Museum's blessing!) in the Evolution Garden.  If you forget to bring something, there is a Pret close to the South Ken tube.

The nearest tube station is, of course, South Ken, and it is nicer to walk to the Museum via the streets rather than the very dreary Museums underpass.  Various buses go along the Cromwell Road, but a through route will involve changes.

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

 

 

Tuesday 24 June 2025: Visit to Canada Water, South London

Twelve of us turned up at the newly redeveloped and revamped Canada Water south of the river in the Rotherhithe loop, right beside the Canada Water tube station, very convenient when we had extracted ourselves from the state of the art tube and overground station.   It was quite a windy day, always exciting when trying to paint, but not hot!  Most of us got involved with the colour to be found on one side of the Canada Water dock, but not everyone.  There were City views to be found from the upper floors of the extraordinarily-shaped public Library.  We were all charmed by the water and reedbeds around the red walkway, where we saw coots, moorhens, assorted ducks, and even a heron.   This is a lovely place for local residents to go and chill out in nature. We were also impressed with the glorious planting to one side of the dock and the reedbeds, which used a yellow/orange/red palette, featuring yellow red-hot pokers. 

Enjoy our images.

The next sketching day will be Tuesday 8 July, details to follow. 

 

Image above by Janet Payne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image above by Maureen Bocking

 

 

Image above by Michelle Cowen

 

 

Image above by Steve Betts

 

Image above by Sue Loder

 

 

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

 

 

 

Image above by Diane Umemoto

 

Image above by Betty Wang

 

Image above by Priscilla Worley

 

 

 

Two images above by Sue Lees

 

 

Tuesday 24 June 2025: Visit to Canada Water, 21 Surrey Quays Road, London SE16 7AR

On Tuesday 24 June  we are going to visit Canada Water, near Rotherhithe and one of our rare ventures south of the river.  Canada Water is a former dock which has been redeveloped recently, and in particular has had incorporated an area of wetland and a striking lacquer-red footbridge which winds around one side of the dock amongst the reeds.  There are water views, hopefully some wildlife (swans), various ultra modern blocks visible across the water.  See images: here     Round the back on Surrey Quay Road there is the old Victorian Dock Office, complete with turret, now operating as the Canada Water Project Hub.  See images here:    The most prominent, if not actually attractive, new building fronting the water is the new Library, a startling wedge-shaped building (which looks rather like a ship), see image  here:

The Library is very close to Canada Water Underground Station (on the Jubilee tube and the Windrush line of the Overground), and we suggest that we meet as usual at 11 o'clock on the waterfront side of the Library, outside.   

The Library has all facilities, including a cafe, and also upstairs windows overlooking the water, from which it may be possible to sketch (the London Urban sketchers did so).

For outdoor artwork, there is an area with steps and seating on the waterside opposite the Library, accessible via the Boardwalk.  Good views of the red Boardwalk against green reeds etc.  The building behind this seating area contains a food hall (Corner Corner, apparently) and has a roofing overhang for shelter during rain.  

We suggest you bring your sketching stool, and plenty of red paint/crayons!

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

     

Our visit to Leadenhall Market

It was a sunny May Day when a large group of us (over 20) made our way to Leadenhall Market, which is an amazing Victorian era market in the City, now a venue for shops, cafes City workers and tourists. On the day we were there it was very noisy due to building works, so some people went to nearby Finsbury Square which was quieter. Others stopped off and drew the amazing City buildings before they even got to Leadenhall Market. But many artists persisted and did some good work. And eventually the noise stopped.

Due to the historic significance of the original site of a Roman Market there were quite a few tour groups, including several of European school students. 

Our next outing is to Canada Water on 24th June. More info to follow.

Pictures below the artist's name

Ruijin Hu

Diana Marshall

Betty Wang

Janet Perkins

Sue Lees

Steve Betts

Gill Steiner

Tricia Sharpe

 

Michelle Cowen

 

Gafung Wong

Diane Umemoto

 

Avis Dennis

Three below from Audrey Rapier

Priscilla Worley

Do Burgess

Janet Payne

Peter Colley

David Gilbert

Leadenhall Market Tuesday 20th May

Meet at the Bishopsgate entrance to Leadenhall Market at 11 am on Tuesday 20th May.

Leadenhall Market is a covered market dating back to Roman times when the Forum was on this site. It was redesigned by architect Horace Jones in the nineteenth century as the market had become too unruly and because it is very near the City, London's financial capital, it had become bad for business. The arches are spectacular and echo those of Smithfield Market, designed by the same architect.

Leadenhall Market was used to film Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films as it has an other worldly magical atmosphere.

Today it is bustling with cafes and shops and at lunchtime City workers.

The address is Gracechurch St, London EC3V 1LT and the nearest tube is Bank. We last went there some years ago.

Meanwhile as most of you know, after some ten years, Janet is stepping down from her role as joint organiser in September. If you would like to become a joint organiser or even take over some of the duties, please contact Janet or Sue for more information. You do not have to be a member of Islington Art Society to be a joint organiser, in fact one of the many perks is free membership of IAS.

Visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum's Cast Courts: Tuesday 8 April 2025

16 sketchers laden with dry materials (including ipads, pre-prepared paper, etc.,)  in accordance with the regulations, went to the V and A's Cast Courts.  It was an astonishing experience for those of us who had somehow not previously visited the Cast Courts to sit in peace and quiet amongst clusters of  beautiful Roman, medieval and renaissance sculptures and architecture, exact copies of the originals.   Most of the casts were made in the late nineteenth century, when the complicated casting methods had been developed and museums across Europe were keen to inform their citizens of high, mainly European, culture.  Due to changing fashions in museum display, the V and A is almost the only museum to have kept its replica exhibition, which is a sadness.  For our sketching purposes, the casts are fantastic and are indistinguishable from the originals (which in some cases have been destroyed or damaged or are a long journey away and likely to be surrounded by crowds or railings. 

We were also able to get two tables for lunch in the V and A's principal decorated cafe, a delight, and such a refreshing change from the international airport lounge style of interior decor.

Please enjoy our images.   Some colour was added at home.

 

Image above by Do Burgess

 

Image above by Priscilla Worley

 

Two images above by Gafung Wong

 

Image above by Sue Loder

 

Two images above by Diane Umemoto

 

Image above by Priscilla Worley

 

Image above by Avis Dennis

 

 

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

 

 

Two images above by Janet Payne

Image above by Gill Steiner

 

Image above by Peter Colley

 

Image above by Steve Betts

 

Image above by Janet Perkins

 

Image above by Ann Funston

 

                                                     Two images above by Sue Lees