Category: Watercolour

watercolour, pen and wash

YMCA site, Errol St EC1

This site is a few minutes walk from where I live. There will be a “new home for young homeless Londoners”. “146 beds, 10 000 lives, 60 years”, says the text on the hoarding.

There will be 146 en-suite rooms, an “affordable gym for the whole community” and a “social enterprise unit”. You can see none of this in the picture. It is a building site. The old YMCA building has come down, revealing a temporary skyline.  I hastened out to draw this skyline before it is obscured by the new building.

IMG_2447

In this view the huge diversity of London life is visible. On the left, Finsbury Tower houses the Cass Business School. The grey sloping roof below it is the Royal Statistical Society, whose main entrance is on Errol Street. This is an old Victorian building, clearly previously ecclesiastical. IMG_2445The three foundation stones are all dated 29th October 1889. They were laid, from left to right by Rev WF Moulton, Mrs ES Whelpton, and Mrs EA Holman. The names of the architects and builders are written on the left hand stone: WH Boney Esq, Architect, and Holloway Bros, Builders.

The building with the pitched roof, in the centre, is part of St Joseph’s Catholic Church. The Church itself is mostly underground. Right now they have a crib which you can visit.

On the right, the tall building with the wire netting on top, looks like an old school. It is in poor repair: the paint on the window frames is flaking, and the rooms look dark. But it is occupied. There was a light on in one of the windows, and Christmas decorations visible in the gloom behind the dusty window panes. Part of the building is “St Josephs Parish Hall”, accessible from the other side, with a modern lift. A notice by the door said “National Association for People Abused in Childhood”, but the notice looked very old, and I can’t find any reference to it on the web.

At the base of this building is a lovely garden, open during certain hours in the summer. It is in memory of Basil Hume “Monk and Shepherd”.

IMG_2447(with text)

In the centre background is the huge residential tower that is being built in Shoreditch: the “Principal Tower” 50 stories.

This picture took an hour and a half, drawn and coloured on location.

 

 

IMG_2448(2)

Suffolk sketches

Here is a view of the lighthouse at Southwold. While I was drawing it, standing on the path by the sea, a woman came up and told me I was very gifted. I said thank you. Her husband said he’d told her to say that, because she’d seen me on the way down, and not said anything. He said she should express her feelings.

He had a pit bull dog. Because his mother was pure Romany. I was not sure of the connection. He said this was Kensington-and-Chelsea-on-Sea. He said that people here told him “you don’t have a London accent”. That’s because he’s not from Kensington and Chelsea, but from a different part of London.

This is the picture:

IMG_2346 (1)

Here’s a drawing from Southwold pier:

IMG_2432

This is a sketch from a bird hide in Minsmere. The two ducks on the right are Shovellers.

IMG_2395

This is the sunset at Walberswick:

IMG_2365

It was misty. I drew the Church, St Andrews. There is a ruined part, from 1493, on the right. And a more modern 18th Century part on the left.

IMG_2406

I drew the view up the river. Here it is in the mist.

IMG_2397

Here it is in the dark.

IMG_2433

We went home by train. I sketched the people waiting.

IMG_2436

 

 

 

 

Fourteen Chimneys

In the bright sun, fourteen chimneys stand in a line at the corner of Garrett Street and Whitecross Street.

fullsizeoutput_1a3a

I drew them, standing up in the cold. I could hear a blackbird, from the garden outside St Luke’s.

40 minutes, drawn and coloured on location.

Charterhouse: North-East Corner of Preachers Court

It was a very cold day. The sun threw sharp shadows of the tree on the wall. Then the sun went in and the shadows disappeared.

A Brother was smoking in the cloister, under cover. Gardeners came by.

November 28th 2017 (Preachers Court NE Colour)

Here is the sketch before the colour went on:

November 28th 2017 (Preachers Court NE BW)

The Chapel at the Charterhouse

Here are three sketches done inside the Chapel at the Charterhouse.

Pencil sketch of the columns in the chapel. 22 Nov 2017, 1:45 (1hr 15)
From the Organ loft 22 Nov 2017 14:40, pen and coloured ink. 40min
Chapel pews, pen and wash, 28th November 2017 15:14

There is a quiet recording of religious songs in there. The sound makes the place calm. People speak softly.

The Charterhouse: Gate to Stable Court

Here is a drawing from the first floor windows of manasian&co, who are based in Pensioners Court,

Thank you to the people at manasian who gracefully accepted a stranger into their studio, and brought me cups of tea while I looked out of their window. They were all working hard at their screens.

November 22nd 2017 (Pensioners Court)

Two hours 15minutes.

Bristol Skyline from Mud Dock

I did this directly in pen, no pencil, and it took just over half an hour. Outdoors it was raining.

Mud Dock Deli (@muddockdeli) is directly above a bike shop, all wooden and modern. On another table, a coach was advising a man on how to conduct himself in a forthcoming interview. Make your career relevant. Smile. Be serious but not too serious. Be keen but not desperate. I couldn’t work out what the job was, and both men were out of my line of sight. Their conversation was a sound track to this drawing..

Cromwell Tower from Peabody Court

On a beautiful autumn day I went out to do a local sketch. I only had an hour, before I was due at the gym.

IMG_2059

Shoreditch skyline

IMG_2043

This is a view on an intriguing house which is on Clere Street in Shoreditch. A sort of greenhouse has been built on top of an older Victorian house. Very modern. As far as I can work out it is 17-18 Clere Street. There are various names on the door bell, and the top one is labelled “Nucco Brain”. Nucco Brain is a “visual storytelling company”. They make videos. But this may not be the glass structure, as that looks residential. Hard to tell.

The view is from the corner of Leonard Street and Tabernacle Street, EC2. In the foreground is a sunken bar, and then, amazingly, a bomb site used as a car park. The bomb site and the warehouse building on the left of the drawing are “EMA textiles”, with Acme bar in “EMA House” on the ground floor.

“EMA Textiles, based on the edge of Shoreditch and the City of London is a large specialist babywear and childrenswear fashion importer. We have been established for 60 years and successfully supply many high street retailers with a full range of products” (LinkedIn)

View from a Swiss Hotel

It was raining in Switzerland. Here is a sketch I did looking out of the window of the Hôtel de France, Sainte-Croix, Vaud. The building with the flags is the Hotel de Ville or town hall.

IMG_1982

I was quite pleased with the hedge, which only took a few seconds to paint.

Here’s the view:

IMG_1981

Earlier, I’d tried to paint outdoors.

IMG_2020

The painting got wet. But perhaps that adds atmosphere.