Lauriston Castle sketching workshop

Fellow sketchers drawing in the Rose Garden.

Mark supplied us with a mount to display
our favourite image.

I've visited Lauriston Castle and grounds many times over the years. Today was one of the most fun and inspiring occasions.  I attended a speed sketching workshop with Mark Kirkham, better known to locals and readers of the Evening News as Edinburgh Sketcher.  Mark has been running a few of these classes over the summer for adults and families.  We were there for a couple of hours and tea and cake was provided, which always helps.  Luckily the weather held out today so we all went outdoors (20 of us I think) armed with our sketch pads and a few tips from Mark who guided us through the process of studying small details first (such as the window or flowers) then expanding upon those ideas to a larger scene.  After about and hour and a half we headed back inside a room in the castle to highlight our pictures with watercolours.  I enjoyed seeing what others created too.  I really must think about joining a sketching group as this is a very enjoyable way to spend your time and it was particularly pleasant to be with others engaged in the same activity rather than being on my own as I usually am when sketching.  Check out Mark's website here.

Assembly

The building with the two towers is the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland in the centre of Edinburgh.  It dates back to 1846.  From 1994 until 2004 the Scottish Parliament was based here until it moved to its permanent and specially built home down the Royal Mile at Holyrood. At this time of year the building is used for Fringe shows as one of the 'Assembly' group of performance spaces.  The Greek style building in the bottom right is the National Gallery of Scotland.

The British Museum, Bloomsbury, London

Some of The Parthenon Sculptures, probably better known
as the Elgin Marbles.

Someone else was enjoying sketching
the marbles too.

Charlton House

Charlton House is in South East London between Blackheath and Woolwich.  It is a Jacobean mansion house built in the sixteen hundreds.  It has quiet gardens, including the Amnesty International Peace Garden (supporting the Stop Violence against Women campaign) and sits on a large park which includes a couple of cafes.  It is a pleasant spot to spend some time (and sketch of course).

Sculpture in the peace garden

A few days in London

This was my first attempt to sketch someone
sitting on a train.  It was pretty tricky as the
train was bumpy.

I was enjoying the sunshine whilst sitting at the Diana Memorial
Fountain in Kensington Gardens.  This chap sat in front
 of  me.

I've just come back from a short trip to London. I hadn't been for a while and had forgotten just how much fun the city can be.  While away I managed to do a few quick sketches.  Here are the first bunch.  I'll post some more in the coming days.

I tried to sketch people walking across the front entrance of Kings Cross
Station.  Not an easy task but good fun and I like the scene I've
created here.

Manseibashi Station (update)

Manseibashi Station

 
I realise that this one is pretty feint.  I used a hard pencil and sketched this during my lunch hour so didn't have time to fill in any details with a softer pencil.  I sort of like it the way it is at the moment so wanted to post it here for my own record. This is an old railway station on the Kanda river dating back to 1912 which is on the edge of the Akihabara district in Tokyo.  On the left are the railway arches of the station which have been turned into various facilities under the name Maach Ecute Kanda Manseibashi  including shops, a micro brewery and a cafe.  The shops sell unique items of contemporary design which were interesting to wander through.  It is quite a contrast to walk past the bright and brash shops of Akihabara's electric town which is known for selling electrical goods and electrical parts and the otaku manga culture, then end up here which has a sort of northern European cultural feel.

Gifford Park

I passed these artists painting a mural on a passage way up the south side of Edinburgh this afternoon.  It was looking great.  I love to see this type of street art brighten the place up.

Wasdale

JR's

Yeah well, what can I tell you, these are tricky to draw

Mobster

Pose

Balloons

We have had somewhat changeable weather in Edinburgh this summer. This week has seen high winds and flooding for instance.  A couple of Saturdays ago we did have a really lovely warm and sunny evening and I went along to the Meadows which is a large park in the city centre.  There was a small arts event taking place called Colour the Sky which ultimately involved lots of people standing in a circle and letting balloons go up in to the sky (we were assured that the balloons were biodegradable).  The best part was being able to sit outdoors on an evening drinking wine with friends.  I drew this little sketch today from one of the photos I took.  I used a 9B pencil for the figures and some colour pencils for the balloons.  I thought it was about time I introduced colour back in to the blog as I've focussed a lot on graphite pencil for a while.

Random round-up

Messy and Fun - Phyllida Barlow

I don't know quite how to describe the current exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, but messy and fun are two words which spring to mind.  Phyllida is from Newcastle and I wasn't previously familiar with her work. This exhibition is called 'Set'.  The entire gallery is taken up with these massive installations dotted about the gallery space which you wander into, under and through.  I can't quite explain why, but I loved it.  Below, I took some pictures with the Hipstamtic App on Iphone.

Johnny

Rider

Jeremy

Hugh

Natalie