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.

The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living!

Shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde.  Part of Damien Hurst's current exhibition at the Tate Modern. I liked this and the sliced up cows.  The butterfly room and flies with cow head were pretty impressive too.    Not sure about some of the other stuff.

Prince Edward Theatre

Old Compton Street, Soho, London, W1

Look Mum No Hands

Hanging out at 'Look Mum No Hands' one of my favourite cafes in London. Great coffee and atmosphere.

Summer in the Barbican

People relaxing and enjoying sun in the garden of the Baribcan Estate, on one of the few good days we have had this summer.

I like to travel on Eurostar

Some sketches from a recent trip to the Netherlands....

Travelling in style on the Eurostar - more pleasant than flying.

M&S Belgian Lager! I don't usually buy supermarket brand beer, but I wanted some beer to take on the train and it was the only beer I could buy at St Pancras Station. Seemed appropriate as we were travelling to Amsterdam via Belgium!  Tasted pretty good too.


Sketching the view and drinking a cold beer in the sun in the Jordaan - I love Amsterdam.

 
Mallootje taking a nap, he's an old dog.

Let's Draw London

I took part in the 'Let's Draw London' sketching meetup on 26 May organised by Pete Scully. It was a  beautifully sunny day and there was a really good turnout.  Great to meet other sketchers and most enjoyable.


People gathering at the starting point - Temple Underground station.


A selection of sketches at the mid way point.


One of my sketches - The George pub on Fleet Street opposite the Royal Courts of Justice.


And another - This building is on Devereux Court, one of the lanes off Fleet Street opposite the Royal Courts of Justice.

The Royal Exchange

One of the fancy lamp posts outside the Royal Exchange in the City of London. A lady enjoying the sun in the background.

The Monument

'The Monument' - City of London, built (between 1671 and 1677) to commemorate the Great Fire of London and to celebrate the rebuilding of the City.

Trying out new landscape pad, in vertical position.  Scale all wrong - top and bottom cut off.

City view

I sat in this position to draw 'The Monument' which did not turn out well, as I got the scale all wrong and it didn't fit on the page. Turned slightly to the right and drew this view which isn't so bad.
View towards the Gherkin from the top of King William Street. City of London.

People needed!

 
My sketches lack people - practising drawing people at the British Museum.

The Sculpture Show

 

I visited Edinburgh recently.  I really enjoyed 'The Sculpture Show' exhibition which is on at the moment at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.  It rained most of the time.

Luardos

Luardos

Wandered down Whitecross Street today in my lunch break and did this quick sketch of Luardos Mexican food van (I added the colour later). I've not eaten here but it looks good and was busy. There is a very good coffee stall in the small park just off Whitecross Street - Giddyup Coffee. Well worth checking out.

35th World Wide SketchCrawl - London

Yesterday I met up with some friendly and very talented people in central London to takepart in the 35th World Wide SketchCrawl. We started at the British Museum and ended at the Barbican, stopping at Russell Square, the Brunswick Centre and Smithfield Market in between. Great day sketching. Here are some of my sketches. I added the colour later at home, either digitally or watercolour.

British Museum - our starting point

Nathan sketching at the British Museum




Smithfield car park



The Renoir at the Brunswick Centre




Strada at the Brunswick Centre

Coffee

My reusable take-away coffee cup. 

Old Fish Street Hill

The back of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey viewed from Old Fish Street Hill EC4. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in the 1670's after the great fire. I pass this church every day on my walk to work. I don't think it is used currently as it seems to be closed up.

Haggerston Gasometers

Gasometers at Haggerston Gasworks viewed from Regent's Canal towpath - London.

Inspired by Le Corbusier

Great Arthur House is in the Golden Lane Estate in the city of London. I love this tower block with its bright yellow panels and curved hat. According to the English Heritage web site it was designed by the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and inspired by the work of Le Corbusier. It was built in the 1950's. There is a lovely indoor swimming pool on the estate which has recently reopened after being renovated.

St Paul's protest

From last month....I almost missed my opportunity to do this sketch.  The Occupy London protesters where evicted by the police later that evening.