On the tube

Quick sketches of people on the underground.

Good Luck to the Barley Mow!

There are a few Barley Mow pubs about. This one is located in Shoreditch, on the corner of Curtain Road and Rivington Street. It's a small pub and a lovely spot for a drink in summer when people spill out onto the pavement.

According to wikipedia - A barley mow is a stack of barley and also a cumulative folk song. The verses of "The Barley Mow" wish good luck to various sizes of vessels of alcoholic beverages, and lastly to the barley mow, a venerable reserve of one of beer's key ingredients. Later verses supplement this list with roles and occupations associated with beer, from brewing, to distribution, to serving in public houses, to drinking. Each verse wishes good luck to a new subject, which is then added to the beginning of the litany recited in the second line of the refrain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barley_Mow

Candelabra

A candelabra at The North Pole pub N1.  Drawing in ink on a watercolour background.  I have been doing an evening drawing class and we have been experimenting with different backgrounds created in advance.

Three Skulls

Some fantastic skulls on display at the Welcome Collection museum in London.  They are part of the 'Death: A self-portrait' exhibition.  A macabre and fascinating collection of death related objects. I especially the the Mexican papier-mache skull.

The chair at the cafe

I like this chair at Timberyard cafe on Old Street.


A woman reading the paper in the chair at the cafe. The woman's boots were black, but I thought red would look better.

Free lunchtime concert

Today I went to a free lunch time concert at St Brides church on Fleet St. Litsa Tunnah playing the violin and Petr Limonov playng the piano. Both extremely talented classical musicians. This sketch of Litsa is not very accurate, the face is all wrong.

The 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - Tate Modern

London sketchers including myself met at the Tate Modern last Saturday (19 January 2013) for the 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl.


It was a freezing cold day but I managed to do a couple of quick sketches outside before retreating inside.


Art Event Film


Hanging out in the cafe...before I was moved on by a security guard.


Come back soon!

On the South Bank and new pencils

I have some new coloured pencils which I tested out today with a few sketches at the the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. It's a great place to sketch on a cold day. Loads of good places to sit with fantastic views out to the Thames and the SouthBank area and some serious Brutalist architecture...and I really like the new pencils.


Thames view from the Royal Festival Hall. There are always people sitting around working on laptops making the most of the great views (and free wifi).


The Hayward Gallery. I love the brutalist style of this sixties building, in particlar this part which looks like a concrete monster robot face.


Skylon resaturant at the Royal Festival Hall


The National Theatre

Lady at cafe

Cooper and Wolf cafe in Hackney serves Scandinavian inspired food. I can recommend the fish cakes.

Summer holiday sketches

Some sketches from a recent holiday in Turkey......


View from the terrace, Sultanahmet Istanbul.


A man washing before prayer at the courtyard at Yeni Cami (New Mosque) in Istanbul. The 'New Mosque' is 400 years old!


A Nargile pipe


Apartment building in Beyoglu, Istanbul, over the road from the excellent Kronotrop cafe - they roast their own beans and the coffee is superb (www.kronotrop.com).


Tree house in Kabak Valey, Faralya.


Old guys playing cards and drinking tea in a cafe in the square in Selcuk.  Drinking tea seems to be a national pastime in Turkey.


Beach life - Ayazma Beach Bozcaada. I got very sunburnt doing this sketch.


Guys on the beach, Olympos.