Travels with a Sketchbook in.......

Carluccios - 12 West Smithfield

2008-07-22T12:33:00.005+01:00

Carluccio's, 12 West Smithfield 12" x 16", coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I had dinner with my 30 something god-daughter last night. She was in town for a training course and we went out for dinner at Carluccio's in West Smithfield. South west of the historic Smithfield Market and opposite St Bart's hospital. Farringdon, Barbican and St Paul's are all close by.

Drawing trees in St James Park

2008-07-14T12:00:00.002+01:00

St James Park - the Lake View, with trees 32" x 12", coloured pencils in double page spread of sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is a sketch of a view of the Lake in St James Park from the Horse Guards Road end of the park - Duck island is on the left, Buckingham Palace is at the other end of this lake (beyond the Blue Bridge and obscured by the Swire Fountain and the slight bend in the

A hot summer's afternoon in a Kentish garden

2008-07-02T10:25:00.019+01:00

The Garden Tower, Penhurst Place 8" x 11.5", coloured pencils in Daler Rowney Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell Yesterday was a glorious English summer's day - hot (but not too hot) with clear blue skies - so I headed out of town to spend the afternoon in a traditional English garden in the High Weald of Kent - also known as the garden of England. I visited Penshurst Place (next to the

Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #3

2008-06-25T08:00:00.002+01:00

The Friends' Room 11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencil copyright Katherine Tyrrell Another sketch from inside the Friends Room at the Royal Academy of Arts. This one is slightly larger than the others as we had our mandatory pot of tea after working our way through two exhibitions in October 2007! This is the view from very near the counter looking down the full length of the room -

Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #2

2008-06-24T08:00:00.002+01:00

This is the second of my sketches of people in the Friends Room at the RA. This one was done late afternoon in August 2007, after I saw the exhibition "Impressionists by the Sea". Tea in the Friends' Room, Royal Academy of Arts 8" x 10", pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I particularly like the composition of this one and the value pattern, with a bit of

Sketching at The RA - The Friends Room #1

2008-06-23T08:00:00.001+01:00

This week I'm going to post a series of sketches done in Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy of Arts (the RA) in Piccadilly. Drinking tea and drawing people 8" x 10" pencil in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I'm one of the 85,000 Friends of the RA. I'm a Friend primarily because it means I don't have to pay for exhibitions, don't have to queue for tickets, get to go to

Tea at Fortnum and Masons after the Summer Exhibition

2008-06-20T08:00:00.005+01:00

Cream tea at Fortnum and Masons after the Summer Exhibition (in the old Patio Restaurant) 5.5" x 8", pencil in Daler Rowney Sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell On the 6th June 2004 I went to see the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly and then went across the road for a cream tea in the Patio Restaurant at Fortnum and Masons (now sadly no more due to a refurbishment).

Lunch at Fortnum and Masons

2008-06-19T08:00:00.001+01:00

Following on from yesterday's post, two years ago - on the 9th June 2006 - I saw three exhibitions and about 2,500 images in terms of paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture. In the middle of the day I sketched at the St James Restaurant on the 4th floor of Fortnum and Masons and these three sketches are the result. The First Course at Fortnum and Masons 8" x 10" pencil and coloured pencils

A day out in Piccadilly

2008-06-18T12:30:00.001+01:00

Robyn of Have Dogs, Will Travel is in town and on Monday we spent a day seeing exhibitions, eating and buying books - but most of all talking. Those of you who have met up with other 'cyber buddies' face to face after a long time talking online will know all about what that's like. My Fortnum and Masons cheeseboard 11" x 8", pencil and coloured pencils copyright Katherine Tyrrell We started

More sketching at Bankside

2008-06-15T16:03:00.003+01:00

River Thames series:Bankside Shore #2 pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell Every time I go to the Bankside Gallery I look to see if the tide is out - and if it is, out comes the sketchbook. I've got a fixation about the view towards Blackfriars Bridge and the 'beach' at Bankside just in front of the Bankside Gallery. You can see another recent sketch in The

Lunch at the Portrait Cafe

2008-06-12T16:06:00.004+01:00

Lunch at the Portrait Cafe 11" x 8", pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell After attending a preview of the BP Portrait Award yesterday, I had lunch in the Portrait Cafe which is in the basement of the National Portrait Gallery. Most of the ceiling is some sort of glass or perspex which gives splendid light down into the basement. The wall on the left then has

Trafalgar Tavern and low tide on the Thames

2008-06-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

Trafalgar Tavern and low tide on the Thames 8" x 10", coloured pencil on Moleskine copyright Katherine Tyrrell We went for a walk down at the southern most point of the Isle of Dogs on Saturday afternoon. This is a map of where we were. Wewalked along looking at the opposite shore which is Deptford and Greenwich. We tend to park next to Masthouse Terrace Pier next to what is left of the point

The view from the Downs

2008-06-01T23:37:00.007+01:00

The Weald from Emmetts Garden on the North Downs 8" x 10", coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell Emmetts Garden is the highest garden in Kent which is open to the public. Last weekend we went there on the sunny Saturday before the deluge which followed. I parked "he who must not be bored while I sketch" on a bench so he could read his book in the sunshine and then

Taking tea at Kew Gardens

2008-05-19T06:47:00.014+01:00

Taking tea at Kew Plaza cafe pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell A lot of my plein air sketches at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew seem to be of people having a cup of tea. Maybe because that's often the only time I sit down and can sketch. Otherwise, because it's a very big garden (over 300 acres), it's sometimes feels a bit like a route march while

Spring fields from Sissinghurst

2008-05-16T12:47:00.007+01:00

Spring Fields 8" x 10" coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell This was my sketch from the windows of the Barn Restaurant at Sissinghurst on Monday afternoon which I did while I drank my afternoon cup of tea after taking the previous sketch Spring at Sissinghurst as far as I wanted to go. Below is a sketch of what the view slightly to the left of the one above

Spring at Sissinghurst

2008-05-15T08:04:00.007+01:00

Moat Walk in Spring, Sissinghurst 7.5" x 10", coloured pencil on Arches HP copyright Katherine Tyrrell Here's my latest sketch of the garden at Sissinghurst. I've previously done posts about Summer At Sissinghurst and Autumn at Sissinghurst - now it's time for Spring at Sissinghurst! Above you can see a view of the Moat Walk with the vivid yellow azaleas on the right and the Japanese Wisteria

Great Dixter in the Spring

2008-04-16T08:00:00.005+01:00

Reading in the Sunk Garden 11" x 8", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell We visited the late Christopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter yesterday. His book "Christopher Lloyd's Gardening Year has temporarily replaced the art books as my bedtime reading. I'd read all about April in the garden before we got there. I love the review of the book

The shoreline at Bankside

2008-04-14T08:16:00.009+01:00

Bankside shoreline 8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is a part plain air sketch of the shoreline on the south side of the River Thames at Bankside. the bridges you can see are the Blackfriars Railway Bridge and then Blackfriars Bridge carrying the road just beyond it. This sketch is described as 'part plein air' as it started to drizzle shortly

Sketching the Japanese Landscape at Kew Gardens

2008-04-11T13:52:00.011+01:00

Chokushi-Mon coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook (8.5" x 11.5") copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is the second of two blogs posts about a visit this week to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The other post is on my other blog - Japanese Art - drawing the Chokushi Mon in Kew Gardens #1. It about how I designed my sketch in relation to specific aspects of Japanese art and the things I

Don't get a cold......

2008-04-11T13:41:00.003+01:00

Running two blogs with regular posts takes some doing on a day to day basis when everything is normal. Starting a new series on this blog at the same time as I was about to start a major new project on my other blog was very silly to put it mildly - so I took a short break while I got myself organised. During which I caught "the head cold from hell" which went on for WEEKS (I jest not!) and

4th April 1997: Arriving in Australia

2008-02-22T11:20:00.003Z

Aerial view of Sydney photo courtesy of Joel Kingston and Wikimedia Commons If you ever fly into Australia you need to have your camera at the ready as the flight over the city centre and harbour / River Paramatta gives you simply stunning views. It's one of those flights where virtually everybody is trying to look out the window. After all it is the biggest natural harbour anywhere in the

3rd April 1997: Flying to Australia - via a beach in Bali

2008-02-21T13:03:00.009Z

My travel sketchbook for Australia actually contains sketches of my back-to-back trips to Australia and Bali in April/May 1997. As I needed a flight to Australia which did a stopover in Bali on the return trip - for a painting holiday - I also had a stopover in Bali en route to Australia. So I flew London to Bali, had a 12 hour stopover and then flew another 6 hours onto Sydney. Bali is also a

Travels with a Sketchbook in Australia

2008-02-19T10:15:00.000Z

Two views from Circular Quay - Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Ferries (pencil, 8" x 11") - Sydney Opera House from Wolfie's (coloured pencils, 8" x 11") copyright Katherine Tyrrell My sister Helen lives in Australia and in 1997 I visited her and her husband Phil and my 'soon to be three' niece Kate in Sydney, the largest city in Australia and the capital of New South Wales. Making a

Henry Moore in Kew Gardens

2008-02-13T15:40:00.003Z

The Palm House on an Autumn afternoon 11" x 16", pencil and coloured pencils copyright Katherine Tyrrell ...otherwise known as monumental sculpture in a world heritage setting! At the end of October last year, we visited Kew Gardens on a sunny afternoon in order to get a lot of a fresh air, see the trees on the turn, walk a lot, sketch a bit and view some of the very many works by Henry Moore

Walbrook Wharf and Southwark Bridge

2008-02-06T07:03:00.000Z

Barges at Walbrook Wharf and Southwark Bridge from the Thames Path pencils and coloured pencil in Moleskine, 8" x 10" all images and text copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is almost a nocturne. At the end of November, after visiting the Lynn Painter-Stainers Exhibition at Painters Hall, I walked down to the River Thames and sketched barges at Walbrook Wharf, with Southwark Bridge and the sun