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.
Category: Watercolour
watercolour, pen and wash
Shoreditch skyline
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.
I was quite pleased with the hedge, which only took a few seconds to paint.
Here’s the view:
Earlier, I’d tried to paint outdoors.
The painting got wet. But perhaps that adds atmosphere.
Some sketches of hotel tableware
I have been experimenting with pen and ink. Previously, I have used waterproof ink, with watercolour on top. This “pen and wash” technique depends on the ink staying where it’s put. See, for example, the urban sketch on this link.
Recently, inspired by the work of Nick Stewart https://quinkandbleach.wordpress.com, I have been trying non-waterproof ink.
Here are four sketches, done in the Hôtel de France, Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. Click an image to enlarge.
They are all done using only Robert Oster Signature Fountain Pen Ink, colour: Black Velvet. This ink has the property that is produces a chromatograph effect, blue and pink, as it runs and dilutes with water. See, for example, the left hand side of the “wineglass” drawing, where you see black, blue and pink.
I’m using a dip pen: the Pensive Pens Serendipity dip pen.
All of this is quite a challenge to accomplish, especially as the pictures were done in a Swiss dining room, on white tablecloths. No ink drops contaminated the pristine environment. But I had to be very careful.
Two sketches in Oxford
Here is the corner of Catte Street. On the left is the Kings Arms, a Youngs pub. The marvellous turret on the right is part of the Oxford Martin School. This building was originally the “Indian Institute”. It was designed by Basil Champneys in 1884. The weathercock is an elephant.
It now houses the Oxford Martin School.
“The School is a unique, interdisciplinary research initiative addressing key global future challenges….A key aim of the School is to mitigate the most pressing risks and realise exciting new opportunities of the 21st century. With interdisciplinary teams of researchers from across the university, the School is working on the frontiers of knowledge in four broad areas: health and medicine; energy and environment; technology and society; and ethics and governance. Aiming to have an impact beyond academia, the School also develops wide-ranging initiatives, intellectual programmes and public events to engage with national and international policymakers, business, students and the general public.”[LinkedIn]
On the way back from the lecture I sketched this domed building.
This is Rhodes House. It houses the Rhodes Trust, The Mandela Rhodes Foundation, and the Atlantic Institute, according to the notice on the door.
Both pictures took about an hour. The first one was sketched from the steps of the Weston Library, about 50 mins. By the time I’d finished the pen sketch, the light had gone. So I finished the colouring in my room in LMH that evening. The light in the top right hand corner is not some amazing watercolour technique, but the light from the small and very bright desk light.
The one of Rhodes House I sketched standing up leaning on Inorganic Chemistry. I coloured it sitting down on the tiled pavement, on a copy of the Economist.
Lady of Avenel at Heybridge Basin
Here is Lady of Avenel, 102ft Brigantine.
This was the third of three sketches. Here are the first two.
I have drawn Lady of Avenel previously: Outer Hebrides 2017
See also these pages for pictures of and from Lady of Avenel:
Outer Hebrides 2017
Outer Hebrides 2016
Sketch notes from maritime Holland
The Charterhouse, Pensioners’ Court, South West Corner
Here is a sketch from the first floor windows of manasian and co, a strategic brand consultancy with offices in Pensioners’ Court.
I like the way the newer buildings are visible above the old ones, placing The Charterhouse in its 21st Century context. Behind me in the office, people worked on large screens, making pictures, and talking gently with each other across the desks. Outside, a gardener in a red raincoat clipped at the plants, dragging a large basket behind her, for the clippings.
Sketch notes from maritime Holland
This is Noordermarkt, as seen from Café Hegeraad, in the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. It was a lovely autumn day, warm with a light breeze. I had the apple cake and a coffee. I had arrived from the overnight Stena Line ferry, then a sequence of trains from the Hook of Holland.
My destination was Surinamekade, to meet the boat “Lady of Avenel”. I walked through the renewed Central Station where I retrieved my bag from the luggage lockers. Here is a picture from the boat.
The “Race of the Classics” had just taken place, and they were saying goodbye to the last of the participants. The captain and crew went off to an award ceremony. On my own on the boat I drew a picture of three of the other classic boats moored up behind us.
In the morning, we set off along the “North Sea Canal”. I drew a complicated picture of “Lady of Avenel” from the quarterdeck, which took a long time.
Then, in a lock, I drew a quick picture of “Iris” who followed us in. This was much more successful.
We reached Scheveningen.
There was a long wait in the morning, while the storm of the previous night departed.
Then we left harbour, for the 36 hour trip across the North Sea.
We were taking ‘Lady of Avenel’ to her winter mooring at Heybridge, Maldon. See the blog post on this link, for pictures of her there.
A peregrination in De Beauvoir Town
I went for a long walk North.
De Beauvoir Town and De Beauvoir Estate are next to each other.
Here is a quick sketch of the very pretty houses on De Beauvoir Square, De Beauvoir Town. A tower block near Dalston Junction is just visible.
Just around the corner is the lovely St Peter’s Church, designed by WC Lockner, 1830s. In the basement of the Church, they serve lunch every Friday.
Then I walked back South, along De Beauvoir Road.
Here is a view looking West. The houses in the foreground are on De Beauvoir Road. In the background is Portelet Court, part of the De Beauvoir Estate, 1960s, Hackney Homes.
I drew Portelet Court as reddish. When I went into the estate to find the name of the block, I saw that the cladding is a dark grey. It only looked red because the sun was setting.
I drew this picture sitting on the pavement on De Beauvoir Road. About an hour. As I was getting up a cyclist stopped. I must have looked a bit awkward. He asked if I was ok. I said yes, puzzled. “I thought you had fallen over” said the cyclist, “you don’t often see people sitting on the pavement.”
I guess you don’t.
Newcastle Sketchbook
The Coastguard Station was completed in 1980 and closed in 2002. It is in the same enclosure as the very ancient Priory, which is managed by English Heritage. I asked in the English Heritage office about the Coastguard Station. She asked what did I want to know. “Who designed it, for example,” I said. She didn’t know.
“I’ve never been asked that question before,” she said.
We stayed at “Tynemouth 61”. Here is the view from the Dickens Room.
In the Laing Gallery I drew some measuring vessels. Quart, pint, half-pint. The pots are painted with dark green and brown paint, very highly glazed. A black line and blue stripe at the top.
Jane Sketching 