Category: Urban sketch

Sainte-Croix, Vaud

I’m just back from another visit to Sainte-Croix in Vaud, Switzerland. Mostly I was working, but I managed to do a few sketches.

I started sketching at the airport. The flight was full.

Check in queue IMG_4636

Here’s one of the outside of the hotel, done in 1 hour and 50 minutes, sitting on the pavement in the sun.

IMG_4606 Hotel de France

In between work on the computer and discussions, I made small quick sketches of what was in front of me. I experimented with watercolour sticks, which are very messy, but deliver strong bright colour.

Breakfast: Ovomaltine container and cup, done with watercolour sticks.
Tea tray
Experimental study of breakfast items, using watercolour sticks.
Flags on the outside of the hotel.

Here’s another experiment with the watercolour sticks. I was walking back from the swimming pool, and saw this sweep of land and the farmhouse sheltered by trees.  I was shortly due back at the hotel, so I made this sketch in about 10 minutes, sitting on the road. The watercolour sticks throw the colour on very quickly, and don’t allow me to fuss.

IMG_4628 Farmhouses on the hill

Here is a sketch made in about 20 minutes, while waiting for a meeting to start. I was looking out of the window…..

IMG_4626 From the window of the Bistro

At the end of my visit I sat at a table on the terrace and looked across to the Mont de Baulmes.

IMG_4624 from the terrace

Pen and wash, 20 minutes plus 20 minutes later.

Here are the watercolour sticks in their new/old box. It’s an old cigarette box. I just discovered they all fit into it nicely.

IMG_4639

Here’s a drawing on location:

IMG_4573

With thanks to Marina and Rolf, proprietors of the Hôtel de France, 25 rue Centrale, Sainte-Croix, Vaud, Switzerland. www.hotelfrance.ch

I have sketched here before:

Oxford: Pitt Rivers annex and Merton Chapel

This little building to the right (South) of the Pitt Rivers Museum has often intrigued me. It has four chimneys. one in each corner.

After I’d drawn it, I went to try to find out what it is. It appears to be connected to the Pitt Rivers Museum, but has no special name itself, and its purpose was not stated.  Since I finished the drawing at about half past seven in the evening, the door was closed and locked and no-one was about. It is in the same style as the main Pitt Rivers Museum.

“The new Museum building was structurally completed in 1860, and is now considered a gem of middle Victorian neo-Gothic architecture”

says the museum’s website.* In the background you can see the roofs and pipework of the science site. On the right is the Radcliffe Science library.

The strange vehicle in the foreground trundled in while I was drawing. It looks like a garden shed on wheels. The registration number is: Q710 LBW.

IMG_4436

On my way home after the lecture I drew this quick sketch of Merton Chapel looking down the marvellously named “Magpie Lane” off the High Street.

IMG_4435

Pitt-Rivers Annex: 1 hour 40mins

Merton Chapel: 40 mins

Both in Jacksons Watercolour Sketchbook. Pen and wash.

I have drawn pictures in Oxford before:

Oxford, St Giles , 

Two sketches in Oxford,

Old Observatory, Oxford

 

*The Pitt Rivers Museum Website contains a document on its history (consulted July 1st 2018) http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/articles/article-index/436-prehistory-of-the-pitt-rivers-museum.html

 

Grayson House

Grayson House is part of the Pleydell Estate.

IMG_4325 (1)

1 hr 40 mins from the small park called Radnor Street Gardens.

Grayson House on the left, and Gambier House in the background.

Next to me, for the entire duration of the drawing two men played ping-pong. The children came out of school at 4pm, and wanted to use the ping-pong table. But the men said no.

IMG_4605

I drew Gambier House from the same park, in March, on  a peregrination around City Road

fullsizeoutput_1b96

Later note:
I discover from the amazing “Streets with a story, The book of Islington” by Eric A Willats FLA, that “Grayson House (1961)” was ” named after Frederick George Grayson, a superintendent of Radnor Street Sunday Schools and Mission, formerly in Radnor Street.”

Mr Willats’ book lists streets and some buildings in Islington, including as he says “what has come to my notice up to the early summer of 1986.” It is in the Islington Museum.

Kessingland

 

Here are the roofs of a terrace of houses in Kessingland, near Lowestoft. The date on the terrace is 1860.

Each house, originally identical, has now its own idiosyncratic extensions and extra roofs. All the chimneys are different. Crows called all the time while I sketched.

IMG_4146

Here’s the view over the back gardens.

See all the washing lines, hauled up using nautical pulley systems. This picture was done in almost exactly the same position as the one of the roofs, but looking in a different direction.

IMG_4149

Both pictures, pen and wash in a Jacksons watercolour sketchbook.

IMG_4144

St Alphege, London Wall

St Alphege (“Ælfheah”) was a Bishop of Winchester, later Archbishop of Canterbury. He was captured by Viking raiders in 1011 and killed by them the following year after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed. Alphege was canonised as a saint in 1078.

The church was built around then, according to Wikipedia:  “The first church was built adjoining the London Wall, with the wall forming its northern side.The churchyard lay to the north of the wall.The earliest mention of this church dates to c. 1108–25, though it is said that it was established before 1068.”

The ruins of the Church have recently been made beautiful, and accessible, by the wonderful new public space around One London Wall Place. Here is is a sketch done from one of the wooden benches close to the church:

IMG_4173

You see the marvellous new high walks, which curve in the sky.

Until I started drawing them, I had not realised that the walls of the highwalk vary in height. The highwalk is made of some material which rusts, to give this bright orange colour.

On the right of the picture is the red brick of the old London Wall. The building in the background is Roman House, on Wood Street, a residential block.

The architects of One London Wall are MAKE architects.

About 2 hours, drawn and coloured on location, in Jackson’s watercolour sketchbook.

St Giles’ and Cromwell Tower

Here is today’s sketch showing:IMG_4081(annotated)

  • London Wall – 2nd century AD
  • Barber-Surgeons Hall – current building 1969, first hall, on this site 1441
  • St Giles Church – current building 1966, first church on this site by 1090
  • Barbican, Cromwell Tower,  Wallside and Arts Centre – 1965-82
  • Braithwaite House – completed around 1963
  • White Collar Factory – finished 2017
  • Atlas Building under construction

IMG_4081

Done in one hour 40 min from the high walk next to 140 London Wall, 4th June 2018. Finished 12:10. It was very cold and windy on the high-walk.

This completes a series:

St Giles’ Church and Shakespeare Tower

St Giles Church and Lauderdale Tower

St Giles’ Church and Shakespeare Tower

Here is a sketch from a staircase from the Barbican Podium, just outside the Dentists but just inside the old London Wall.

fullsizeoutput_1cc2

Parts of the Roman London Wall are in the foreground, 2nd century AD.

St Giles’ has Roman foundations and is much rebuilt. The church we see now is the 1966 restoration following designs of  architect Godfrey Allen (1891-1986). He used historic plans to make the church as much as possible like the medeival original.  It had been burned by incendiary bombs in 1940.

In the background is Shakespeare Tower, Barbican, completed 1976, to the designs of Chamberlain, Powell and Bonn.

St Giles’ Church is “St Giles’-without-Cripplegate”. As you can see from the picture, the Church is outside London Wall. Here is an extract from the St Giles’ website.

The foundations are generally Roman but higher up, the structure dates from various times as it was regularly strengthened and rebuilt….
As the population of the parish increased, the church was enlarged and it was rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style in 1394, during the reign of Richard II. The stone tower was added in 1682. The church was damaged by fire on three occasions – in 1545, 1897 and 1940…The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950 and it was extensively restored in 1966.  

…

The bombing of Cripplegate in 1940 was so extensive that barely any buildings remained standing in the entire ward. By 1951, only 48 people were registered as living within the ward. It was this widespread devastation which led to planners envisaging and eventually building the modern Barbican estate and arts centre, starting in 1965.

As I was drawing, I saw that the crenellations on St Giles were echoed high up on Shakespeare Tower.

IMG_4066

The drawing took two hours, pen and wash, in a Jackson’s Watercolour Sketchbook.

7 inches by 10 inches.

I’ve drawn St Giles and Lauderdale Tower: From St Alphage Highwalk EC2

Four sketches while the sun set

Yesterday the rain came with the evening.  I painted indoors.

I had a set of four paper samples from The Vintage Paper Company. Below are my four sketches.

fullsizeoutput_1cb2

Each sheet is of “J Green & Sons” paper, in different weights. The one in the top left is “NOT” and the other sheets are “Rough”. Each sample sheet is about 8 inches by 6 inches.

fullsizeoutput_1cb6

Here is a view towards Peregrine House, to show the satellite dishes on the roof. I also drew Peregrine House last week, see this link: Peregrine House from the King’s Square Estate

fullsizeoutput_1cb5

The hole in the top left corner is where the sheets were fastened together, with a neat little screw fastener.

 

Paper fastener – 1cm in diameter
Paper fastener unfastened

This was the only paper in the same pack with a ‘NOT’ (smoother) surface. Here is a close up view of the satellite dishes. On the NOT surface I can use pen easily. Pen and ink doesn’t work so well on the “Rough” surface. Here’s a close-up, showing Peregrine House and the satellite dishes on the building in front of it.

fullsizeoutput_1cbd

Below is a sketch out of the window in the rain: watercolour only, on the “Rough” surface 300gsm paper. Blake Tower is on the right, Post office Tower on the horizon, Barbican terrace block visible behind Blake Tower.

fullsizeoutput_1cba

Forty-five minutes later, the sun was setting. I enjoyed using heavier paper (400gsm) to try to capture the shimmering light on the buildings. Painted directly in watercolour, no pen, no pencil.

fullsizeoutput_1cb4

Below is the final sketch, done quickly after the sun has set. This is on the heaviest paper, a magnificent 615gsm. It was stable, like card, so it didn’t curl or misbehave,  and was not soft or absorbent, but took the watercolour brilliantly.  It was very handy for such a quick sketch.

fullsizeoutput_1cbb

It’s fun to experiment with papers, and surprising what a difference the paper makes. Thankyou to the Vintage Paper Co for the samples.

 

 

 

 

Peregrine House from the King’s Square Estate

At 27 stories, Peregrine House and Michael Cliffe House are the two tallest towers owned by Islington Council. This sketch shows Peregrine House, an Islington Council residential tower, visible from my window.  It is on Hall St, just off the Goswell Road. The view is looking North towards Peregrine House. I was standing in the Kings Square Estate, another Islington Council Estate, next to Rahere House.

fullsizeoutput_1ca1

Peregrine House was finished in 1969. It is part of the City Road Estate, together with Kestrel Tower. I have drawn Kestrel Tower previously, see this link: Towers of Finsbury – Rahere and Kestrel. See the different brick colours on Peregrine Tower: the more yellow brick for most of the balconies, and the more red-coloured brick for the balconies across the top and around the sides.

The solid neo-Georgian block in front of Peregrine House is “Level 3 communications” a data centre and communications hub. In 2011 they applied to Islington Council for permission to install 5 steel flues. The permission was granted and the flues are on the back (north) of the building, not shown in the sketch. As part of the consideration of the permission, the building is described as “1930s”. I haven’t yet found out what it was before it was a data centre. It looks like a telephone exchange or electricity substation. (Update: 6 February 2019 – it was a Gordon’s Gin Factory – see comments below)  I drew the back of this building in the Kestrel Tower sketch: Towers of Finsbury – Rahere and Kestrel

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 15.13.21
Photo from the Level 3 application to install satellite dishes. I think that’s Micheal Cliffe House in the distance.

Level 3 also applied for permission to install 4 satellite dishes on the south side of the building. The application is undated, and no indication is given of the outcome. This application was “retrospective”. Link to their application is here:  Level 3 Application for Satellite Dishes

I was looking at the South face of the Level 3 building and I couldn’t see any satellite dishes.

 

In the foreground, right, of my sketch, is the blank end-wall of 6 Moreland Street, an Arhag Housing Association residential building, which looks like a late 1970s development.

Screen Shot 2018-05-25 at 15.31.07
The Kings Square Phase 2 development, picture from the Higgins Construction website. It’s a bit hard to tell, but I think that’s a similar sightline to the one in my sketch, with Peregrine House in the background. Picture credit: Pollard Thomas Edwards architects.

In the foreground on the left, work is in progress on “Kings Square Phase 2” which a hoarding informed me was “93 new homes”, which are “51 council homes and 42 for private ownership”. Completion is due in 2020, and they’ve already got the concrete frame up. The construction workers were working hard and calling to each other while I sketched, issuing instructions and shouting warnings in several languages, including English. The contract was awarded to Higgins Construction plc in February 2017: £30 million.

The sketch took 90 minutes: half an hour each for pencil, pen and watercolour. Done in Jackson Watercolour sketch book, 8 by 10 inches.

If the lighting looks flat and there is a complete absence of shadows, that’s because the lighting was flat and there was a complete absence of shadows. It was that kind of a day.

Later note:

I saw the satellite dishes on the Level 3 building, they are high up on the roof and not visible from ground level.

Here they are:

IMG_4027 (1)
Sketch 28 May 2018, from my window.

 

 

St Mary’s Tower

St Mary’s Tower, sketch

This sketch shows St Mary’s Tower, in the Roscoe Street Estate. Prior Weston School is in front, with its first floor playing pitches festooned in black net. The pinnacle of St Luke’s is just to the right of St Mary’s Tower, followed by “Cannaletto” the black and white striped modern tower block, then Coltash Court, the tower block at the north end of Whitecross Street . The south of Whitecross St is to the far right of the picture. The tower block in the background on the right is Godfrey House.

St Mary’s Tower was built on church land by the Peabody Trust. It was completed in 1957. The architect was John Grey and Partner.

St Mary’s Church was built in 1868, but was then demolished having been badly damaged in the Second World War.

The Tower now forms part of the Roscoe Street Estate, managed by Islington.

This information from a report by Publica, 2010, on the Whitecross Street Estate. 20120821FLP38WhitecrossStreetPublicareport2011

Sketched from the Barbican podium, in about 2 hours. A cool, sunny spring afternoon, with the wind curling the paper. Jackson’s watercolour sketchbook, 7 inches by 10 inches.

St Mary’s Tower features in my etching “Towers East”.