Sketching at Fulham Palace

On Friday (20th June) the illustration class from Putney School of Art and Design had a PlayAwayAwayDay at Fulham Palace. Bright Phoebus shone most glorious and a good time was had by all.

Find out about Fulham Palace

Fulham Palace is a haven of tranquility and contemplation in the midst of urban London. It's a great place to sketch as there are usually people around - on Friday there were a couple of school groups and a wedding - several interesting buildings and the recently renovated walled garden which is a lovely place to escape from the hullabaloo to read, sketch, eat your lunch or canoodle - as evinced by several couples who found the sunshine and seclusion highly conducive.

I stayed all day and did two sketches, one in the walled garden and one of the facade of the palace.

Ian drawing the greenhouses in the Knot Garden

 Ian is an architect who eschews 'puters and still draws the traditional way. He does fantastic pen and watercolour drawings. I did this sketch on A4 200 gsm cartridge paper with a 3B mechanical pencil and Derwent Studio coloured pencils.

A gaggle of school children in front of Fulham Palace

I did this sketch on A4 200 gsm cartridge paper with a 3B mechanical pencil and  Rembrandt watercolours using a Pentel waterbrush, which is great for sketching as you don't need a pot of water which can spill all over the parquet floor.

When you visit a museum and Uniformed Security Personnel (What's your USP Awa Rich?) search your bag. They're not looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction, they're after your watercolours, as Ian will relate.

I got the proportions a bit askew, the building is wider than it appears here. Another problem I always have with buildings is dividing up the space between the windows and doors. I think I can do it by eye rather than using a perspective division method, but as you can see - I can't.

Linda asked Ian how he gets his drawings to look so accurate, he just shrugged and replied "years and years of practice". The answer no one wants to hear but know deep in their hearts to be true.

Accept no substitutes eh Awa Rich?

True enough. Now go practice!

p.s. I can thoroughly recommend the coffee and the chocolate brownies in The Drawing Room cafe, I went back twice!

Sketching with Olivia by the Thames in Richmond

This morning I left the flat in the rain and cold - yes, the Summer Solstice is on Saturday - and caught the train to Richmond. A small group of us (current and former students of Putney School of Art and Design Children's Book Illustration class) get together to sketch the Out There now and again. Sometimes we head into the city, sometimes out.

Two of us couldn't come out to play today, so it was just me and Olivia. After walking upstream to that point where we might keep walking and not do any drawing, we decided to stop walking and sit.

The bench was quite wholesome, not too much moss, lichen, bird poop, ice cream or other unidentifiable unsavouriness. The view was reasonable - river, trees, buildings, boats, people. We sketched for a couple of hours and the sun came out. A pleasant way to spend a morning, drawing what's in front of you and talking of, well you know, those brassicas and monarchs again.

I'm still enjoying using my antique Derwent Studio coloured pencils. Olivia went for pen and watercolour.

Go to Olivia's blog to see her sketch.

Olivia's pen and watercolour sketch of Richmond Bridge

On the Thames at Richmond - click for bigness