Tuesday 21 October: St Dunstan in the East, 20 St Dunstan’s Hill, Billingsgate, London EC3R 5DD

On Tuesday 21 October we will revisit the ruins of St Dunstan in the East, last visited sometime before Covid.   Regulars will remember this fabulous Church down near the Tower of London.   Most of the walls are standing, along with the arched window apertures, but no significant roof following the bombing in the War.   The interior of the Church is now a garden, and the walls are covered with creepers.   Hopefully our visit will catch the autumn colours on the climbers.   Our previous visit was when the climbers were green, and you can view our images here:  (Please scroll down the page to find the St Dunstan images.)

We will meet at 11 o'clock in St Dunstan's. 

There is no rain cover, except possibly in the tower, though depending on the direction of the rain, it may be possible to sketch from the shelter of the walls and under an umbrella.   No loos either!   The nearest cafe is Indra's net cafe (which has excellent reviews), which is in the Light Centre Monument, accessible via St Mary At Hill street close by.   There may be others not showing up on a google map search.

The nearest tube stations are Monument and Bank,  and there is an eight to ten minute walk from them.

 

  

In the event of heavy rain, we could go to All Hallows by the Tower, which is a five minute walk away.  

Please bring your sketching stools (though there are benches) and umbrellas, as appropriate.

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

 

 

 

 

 

Art in the Park: Liverpool Street Station, September 2025

Thirteen of us gathered on a chilly morning under the canopy of the Liverpool Street entrance to the station.

There were plenty of challenges: the structures of the entrance with the two towers, different surfaces – brick, glass and Victorian ironwork, and the reflections that distorted views into the station. One artist tackled the ambitious sculpture by Yosai Kusama nearby. And two chose inside scenes of people lounging in Wetherspoons.

It was cloudy by the time we adjourned to Pret for lunch. 

GaFung Wong
Diane Marshall	Diane Umemoto
Gill Steiner
Vanessa Whinney	Priscilla Worley
Janet Payne	Tricia Sharpe
Janet Perkins
Peter Colley	Sue Loder   Sue Loder
Steve Betts
Sue Lees

Tuesday 23 September 2025: Visit to Liverpool Street, EC2M 7PY

 On Tuesday 23 September we will visit the pedestrianised area outside Liverpool Street Station.  This is currently a mix of interesting Victorian buildings and state-of-the-latest-style modern offices.  Certain views of the station frontage have appealed to this editor as a curious mix of Victorian Renaissance styles.

Unfortunately some of the Victoriana is not as Victorian as it might be, and Network Rail has applied for planning permission to pull down the two towers and the building alongside them in the photo, and cover the original station with an enormous office block, and make new cathedral-like entrances, etc.,   The station itself is currently over-crowded, and in order to pay for the new escalators., etc etc., the new offices have to be built on top, so say Network Rail, there being no government money.  You can read about the proposed new build here:

It is not clear whether the project will be approved, but now seems to be the time to go and sketch the plaza before the place is demolished.   There are also some sculptures by Japanese artist Yagoi Kusama a little way down Liverpool Street, which look like silver bubbles on stems, which we might also like to sketch, this area is also pedestrianised, with an office overhang which would be useful if it rains.   This location is another opportunity to draw people both moving and static.

We will meet under the canopy between the two towers at 11 o'clock.  There are loos in the station, and various cafes, or we can bring sandwiches.   There are various blocks of concrete to sit on scattered around, but as always, it is best to bring a sketching stool.

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

 

 

Tuesday 12 August: Visit to Bonnington Square

16 artists braved the heatwave forecast and came along to Bonnington Square on the 12th August.   We were agreeably surprised to find that the climatic conditions were very comfortable in the Square, all the trees creating a very pleasant microclimate, so nobody got too hot.  This gem of a location was new to many participants, and ticks so many boxes for a desirable urban environment, we cannot understand why there are aren't more places like Bonnington Square (please advise if you know of any, Art in the Park will go there!).   We were able to have a very comfortable lunch and sketching gathering around large cafe tables in the shade unbothered by traffic.  

Enjoy our artwork.  You will see that our sketchers concentrated on either the strong rus aspect of the urbe, or the fascinating alfresco cafe scene with people enjoying prolonged coffee sessions.

Art in the Park's next sketching date will be Tuesday 23 September, venue tba.   Tricia Sharpe has kindly volunteered to do some of the blog posting, and has asked if artists when sending in their images could make sure that they put in their full names for ease of attribution as not all email addresses are identifiable.  Many thanks.

Image above by Ruijun Hu

 

Image above by Avis Dennis

 

 

 

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

 

 

 

Image above by Gill Steiner

 

 

Image above by Janet Perkins

 

 

Image above by Peter Colley

 

Image above by Diane Umemoto
 

 

Image above by Janet Payne

 

 

Image above by Sue Loder

 

 

 

Image above by Sara Meidan

 

Image above by Betty Wang

 

Image above by Diane Umemoto

 

Image above by Gafung Wong

 

 

Image above by Sue Lees

 

Image above by Steve Betts

 

 

Image above by Sue Lees

Image above by Daniel Lloyd-Morgan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 12 August: Back to Bonnington Square, Vauxhall, London SW8 ITF

On Tuesday 12 August we will revisit the lovely Bonnington Square, Vauxhall.   We do not seem to have been back since 2019, before the chasm of the pandemic.   Old hands will remember that this is a most beautiful garden square, more or less, with a small community garden at one end of the central part of the square, and the rest of the square is taken up with  Victorian housing, and effectively a pavement forest, planted by the residents. (Continuing the exotic tree theme from our last expedition, the forest includes palm trees and banana trees.).  The whole place is a triumph of community action against the might of corporate interests.  

We will meet outside the Italo cafe at 11.   The cafe has a loo.  From previous experience, we should order, but not eat, our lunch early in case they run out. 

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.

The full flavour of Bonnington Square can be viewed on the blog from our previous visit (and what gorgeous work we did that day!), here     (Please note the charming arrangement of the artwork, the blog no longer allows us to do this.)

We are going to pray for a dry day, as there is no cover.  If light drizzle forecast, please bring an umbrella and bring materials which can cope with damp better than watercolours.  If a downpour is expected, we will rush out a relocation suggestion.   Please remember to bring sketching stools so that you can get your best composition.  Looking forward to seeing many of you then.

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

Our Visit to the Natural History Evolution Garden

We had a good turnout for the Evolution Garden at the Natural History Museum. At least 15 people. It was a very hot day but we did manage to find some shady spots away from the many parties of school children who were having end of summer term outings to see the Museum.

The Diplodocus proved a popular subject as did the rocks and plants. The garden is sunken and thus avoids most of the traffic noise from the Cromwell Road.

We took a packed lunch along with some Pret offerings and ate on the benches by the rocks. The work we produced is below. Very well done everybody.

Our next outing is to Bonnington Square Pleasure Gardens SW8 1TE and surroundings on Tuesday 12 August. 

Sue Loder

Steve Betts

Ruijun Hu

Peter Colley

Janet Payne

Janet Perkins

Gill Steiner

Gafung Wong

Diane Umemoto

Betty Wang

Audrey Rapier

  

Ann Funston

Alison Gardiner

 

Sue Lees

Priscilla Worley