I went down to the river to find the sun. It was there, flooding the North side of the Thames, and so were an extraordinary number of tourists.
But who can blame them? The city was looking clear cut and perfect, there was a slight haze in the distance, a blue sky, and a low golden sun. I stopped by The Tower, and admired Tower Bridge, as everyone else was doing. Then I looked the other way, and saw the towers of the City.
I enjoyed the fact that you can see the pollarded trees and the chimneys of the buildings of the Tower of London, in front of the skyscrapers. The lower, pointed building, just to the left of the Gherkin, is the former headquarters of the Admiralty. Samuel Pepys (1633 – 1703), who wrote the diaries, worked there. This building is now an upmarket hotel.
The castellations in the foreground are part of the Tower of London.
The colours used are Cobalt Blue, Burnt Umber, and Mars Yellow, all Daniel Smith watercolours.
This drawing took about an hour, drawn and coloured on location.
Jane Sketching 