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.

At the Natural History Museum

A bank holiday weekend is a bad time to go to the NHM.  I knew it would be busy, but I didn't realise just how busy - it was heaving, had to queue to get in!  Still, I found some sheltered spots to do some drawings of these massive skeletons....

Plant eating giant!  Dippy, the affectionately named cast of a Diplodocus dinosaur in the Central Hall. This guy is a huge 26 metres long.  This is my favourite thing at the NHM.

Eschrichtius Robustus - Skeleton of a gray whale hanging in the Mammal and Whale Gallery.

Lights

Lights in the foyer of the Citizen M hotel in Southwark St London, which opened last month. I kept an eye on construction of this hotel, it is opposite my work and I can see it from my desk. It sprang up quickly, it was built by stacking up a whole heap of prefabricated containers

I went into the hotel a couple of weeks ago to listen to a free talk by 'Mr Bingo' a talented illustrator based in Shoreditch. I like his style and wit. Check out his stuff - www.mr-bingo.org.uk

Coffee Van at Portobello Market

A good spot to escape the crowds and have a decent coffee. Below the Westway flyover at the Ladbroke Grove tube station end of the market.

Room with a view...

I visited Prague recently. This is the wonderful rooftop view from the room we rented in the Old Town.

Reading the paper and a pint of beer

Reading the paper and a pint of beer on a Saturday afternoon at the Electricity Show Rooms pub in Hoxton.