The Wallace Collection 31 January 2023

This proved to be a great success with more than 20 people attending and we were even able to get several tables together in the top lit internal courtyard for lunch. The gallery provides stools for artists as well! A warm welcome to newcomers to Art in the Park.

The Wallace Collection is a great place to go and it is incredible to think that all this once belonged to one family but is now free and easily accessible to the public and of course artists.

Some people drew the artefacts, some the architecture and some the pictures of course. Most artists sent their work to me janetat48ock@hotmail.com or to Sue, sue@lees.org.uk but if anybody else who was there wants to send us a picture this can be published on this blog next time.

Our next outing is to The Place, a dance school, where we have permission to sketch a ballet class. Tuesday 28th February. The class starts at 10:45am so aim to be there by 10:30. The Place Theatre, 17 Duke's Road, London WC1H 9PY. A reminder with more details will be sent out nearer the time together with a final confirmation.

So, pictures in no particular order:

Below by Tricia Sharpe

By Sue Lees

By Priscilla Worley

By Alison Sandifer

By Peter Colley

Patricia Walters

Janet Payne.                                       

Janet Perkins

Ann Funston

Gill Steiner

Gill d'Ambrosio

By Audrey Rapier

By Cathy Burkinshaw

By Daniel Lloyd Morgan

Visit to the Wallace Collection on Tuesday 31 January 2023

Meet at 11am at the entrance to the Wallace Collection. For any of you who haven't been to the Wallace Collection, it is a free exhibition based on the Marquess of Hertford's private collection of Art and artefacts. It includes many famous pictures and an armoury collection. The central hall, which contains the cafe and restaurant, is stunning with a glass roof. 

The address is Hertford House, Manchester Square, London W1U 3BN. It is just off Oxford Street so convenient for the Oxford Street buses. The nearest tube stations are Bond Street and Baker Street.

The museum has a collection of stools so no need to bring one (hopefully). Also dry materials only. Pull along shopping trolleys, which some of us use to move Art materials, can be a problem and if you have one you may be asked to leave it in the cloakroom. The cafe can get crowded at lunch time so we may not get a table all together.

Other than that, enjoy!!

Tuesday 10 January 2023: Visit to the East Court - and Skating Rink - of Alexandra Palace

 It was a particularly dreary grey and wet day when nine sketchers made their way to Alexandra Palace, to the East Court which has been renovated fairly recently, to include a kind of giant mosaic floor.  This end of Ally Pally leads into the Skating Rink, and staff kindly allowed us to go in and sketch the skaters at no charge.   This proved an irresistible attraction, but also the most monumental challenge for us all as we don't very often draw people in motion, and it was very difficult to catch the rapid and circular movements of some very beautiful skaters. Also it was cold around the ice rink!    Some of us preferred to concentrate on more static individuals, including in collage.  One person created her skaters in absentia.     A good experience, nevertheless, and we have discovered that spectators can go into the ice arena upon payment of £2, so artists could go back and work at their speed drawing again.   The discussion at lunch revealed various other venues where we could draw moving figures, so we will be pursuing this challenge again.

It was a great relief to move on to sketch the East Hall, which stayed still, and some people found other subjects of interest in the Hall - the cafe, and one of the vintage cameras on display.

Enjoy our images!

As we had no December sketching day, we are going to have a second January outing, and this will be on Tuesday January 31st, when we will visit the Wallace Collection.  Details to follow, but please put the date in your diary.

Image above by Priscilla Worley

 

Two images above by Janet Payne

Sculptural Image above by Gill Steiner

Two images above by Sue Lees

 

Five images above by Alison Sandifer

Two images above by Janet Perkins

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

Two images above by Peter Colley

Image above by Tricia Sharpe

Image above by Peter Hassell

Image above by Sue Lees

Image of a BBC TV Camera c 1970 by Peter Hassell

Image above by Sara Meidan

Visit to Alexandra Palace Tuesday 10 January 2023

Meet at the entrance to the East Court at 11am on Tuesday 10 January 23.

Ally Pally is an entertainments and sports venue. It has spectacular views overlooking London and will need little introduction to most Art in the Parkers. The East Court has been recently renovated and is now open to sketchers and others. There is more information on their website www.alexandrapalace.com. 

Built in 1873 Ally Pally has been a People's Palace and even home to the birth of BBC TV in 1936.  Perched on the top of a hill the red brick building dominates North London.

The ice rink will be open and Ally Pally are happy for us to sketch in the ice rink, though a 'spectator's' pass is required, but this is believed to be free. Ally Pally have suggested we call the outing 'Sketch and Skate', but skating is not compulsory.

The address is Alexandra Palace, Alexandra Palace Way, London N22 7AY. The W3 bus goes from Finsbury Park or Tottenham stations to the Ice Rink or Palm Court. Ally Pally has its own rail station, Alexandra Palace Station. The nearest tube is Wood Green and then take the W3. It is possible to park in the car park, but wise to check beforehand on visitor.services@alexandrapalace.com in case there is an event, but no events are shown in the calendar for 10 January. A £3 donation is suggested. 

The park is also full of sketching opportunities, though as I write the weather is still very cold so maybe we should return in the summer.

There are loos and a cafe.

Janet's number for the day is 07815 772857.

Visit to Marylebone Station on Tuesday 29 November 2022

Eight artists presented themselves at Marylebone Station on rather a raw grey day.  One person took cover in the underground, the remainder mainly concentrated on the Victorian ironwork in the roof of the main station.  As the mainline station is small, we all found that we were including similar features.  Unfortunately it was too dreary to work outside and tackle the glass canopy and exterior of the station.   As usual, there were a great many passengers hovering about and much activity.  

Our sketching trips quite often involve something totally unexpected, and this time one of our artists who lives close by advised us to have lunch in the Rudolph Steiner House.   So we navigated our way to London's first and only Expressionist building (similar to but not the same as Art Nouveau architecture) and had lunch there.  We spent lunch discussing the Rudolph Steiner approach to education and architecture, very interesting.

We have decided that December is too busy a time for a sketch date, so we will arrange two for January. 

Meanwhile, please enjoy looking at our Marylebone results.

 

Image above by Priscilla Worley

Image above by Janet Payne

 Image above by Diane Umemoto

 Image above by Sue Lees

 

Four images above by Audrey Rapier

 Image above by Pam Rigdon

 Image above by Gill Steiner

 And finally, an image by Avis Dennis from our previous expedition to Hays Galleria and the River, Avis looked across the River to St Paul's

 

 

 

    

 

Marylebone Station 29 November 2022

November's outing is to Marylebone Station on Tuesday 29 November meeting at 11 am. Janet's number for the day is 07815 772857. 

Send your pics to janetat48ock@hotmail.com

It would be a good idea to bring a sketching stool to be sure of a good spot. There are plenty of cafes and we will decide on the day whether to have lunch in the station or venture further afield. 

The full address is Great Central House, Melcombe Pl, Marylebone, London NW1 6JJ.

We last visited the Marylebone Station in November 2017.