Urban Sketchers Swindon

 The first meeting of our urban sketching group for almost two years.  A very cold, but mostly bright morning. Just over a dozen turned up and sketched in the grounds of the Richard Jefferies Museum (the cottage was the birthplace of this well-known Victorian nature writer).

Pilot G-tec pen and watercolour

Collage Journal

I mentioned earlier that I was following an online course by Lydia Rink.  The first task was to construct a simple handmade journal for our collage work.  Lydia uses text, letter shapes and found images - you can see some of her work here.

The first couple of exercises related mainly to shapes and composition and I must admit my initial attempts are not worth showing.  However, I will persevere and hope to improve by the time my journal is complete.

Collage Journal cover (approx 6" x 8")

Book pages and hand-printed tissue

More printed tissue paper, scan of watercolour sketch
and hand-cut lettering

Inktober 15th - 16th and a Sculpture Park visit.

I am halfway there!  I have completed one side of my fold sketchbook.  

Last week my daughter and I visited a sculpture park in the Cotswolds.  It was a reasonably fine day and I took plenty of photos (there were well over 100 sculptures both large and small) so a couple provided me with subjects for my 15th and 16th sketches. 

This is the full, unfolded side.  I have now reversed the folds and started on the other side for the remainder of the month.

Urban Sketchers - December meeting

Last Saturday's meeting was held in Swindon's Railway Village Museum.  This is a Great Western Railway worker's terraced cottage, one of 300 built in the 1840's for the employees of Brunel's railway works.  All the cottages were taken over by the local council and renovation started in 1966, but this particular building was retained intact as a "living museum".

Records show that early residents included a couple with 8 children in 1851, and a family with 5 children 10 years later.  It must have been quite crowded and it is believed cooking at that time would have been done over an open fire in the living room - the lean-to kitchen was a later addition (probably around 1890) in what was the back yard.  Currently, the house interior has been furnished to represent the 1900s.

I am not sure how many of us turned up, possibly 10 or 12 - we were squeezed into odd corners around the house, together with 3 or 4 museum volunteers who were preparing for next weekend's seasonally decorated opening.  It was just as well some of our members were otherwise engaged with Christmas markets, etc., I don't think there would have been space for any more.

I was perched on my 3-legged sketching stool in the doorway of this bedroom.

Pen and watercolour
The child's cast iron cot was definitely a Health and Safety nightmare!

If you are in the area this coming weekend, the cottage is open and will be decorated for a Victorian Christmas.  It is well worth a visit.  34 Faringdon Road, Swindon, Wiltshire - Saturday and Sunday, 8th and 9th December, from 10 am to 3 pm - entrance is free.

Buscot Park, Oxfordshire

Blue skies and plenty of warm sunshine yesterday prompted us to pay a repeat visit to Buscot Park, a nearby National Trust property.  Although at this time of the year most of the flowering plants were finished there were plenty of interesting vistas with the water garden cascading down to the lake, fountains, statues and a fascinating obelisk sundial at the top of the Egyptian Avenue.

Before heading home I made a quick tour of the inside of the house, just to look at the four magnificent large paintings by Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Burne-Jones,  which decorate the entire width of three walls of the saloon.  They are entitled "The Legend of the Briar Rose" and are based on the Sleeping Beauty story.

I managed a couple of quick sketches in my new Hahnemuhle Cappuccino book - the clock tower is definitely a bit wonky as I was attempting this standing up.

Pen, watercolour and burnt sienna watercolour marker

Urban Sketchers Swindon

The local John Lewis department store invited our sketch group to spend a couple of hours in and around the store, in part helping to promote Swindon Open Studios which takes place near the end of this month.

Initially, the suggestion did not seem to attract much enthusiasm, but on the day there was quite a good turnout and the challenge was enjoyed.

I wasn't particularly pleased with my effort, having chosen a complicated view of the escalator and stairs, but I struggled on.  I should have followed the example of others in the group who isolated still life subjects from the various display stands.

Pen, watercolour, gouache, wax crayon, gel pen on tan paper

Below are some of the photos taken by Daniel Thuysbaert who organised the event.

A canal, a tunnel and a bit of history

Wednesday, 25th July - A grand day out with a local sketch group at a hidden-away gem in the Gloucestershire countryside.

Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, at the end of a long, narrow gravel track is The Tunnel House Inn, surrounded by fields and shady, woodland areas.  Steps down a steep slope lead to a long disused canal and a grand Georgian style tunnel entrance, known as the Coates Portal.

The Sapperton Tunnel was constructed in 1784-9 and, at over 2 miles, was the longest ever built at the time.  The tunnel was too narrow to accommodate a tow path for the horses which pulled the barges, therefore a couple of men would lay on their backs on the front of the barge and "walk" their way along the walls, hence earning the name "leggers".  Meanwhile, the horses had to be led overground to meet up at the other end of the tunnel at Daneway.

The Tunnel House originally served as a hostel for the construction workers, but once the canal was in use it became a place for refreshment.  Traffic through the tunnel ceased in 1911 and subsequent roof falls made it impassable.  The portals at both ends were restored in the 1970s, but efforts to restore the weak areas of the interior seem to have been abandoned.

My sketches were done with sepia fine liner, watercolour, gouache, wax crayon and white gel pen.

Crop Circle

On Sunday we visited Hackpen Hill, on the Ridgeway long distance path, not 6 or 7 miles from where we live.  It is well-known as the site of one of Wiltshire's white horses (carved out of the chalk hillside) and for the appearance of crop circles during the summer months.  We had heard rumours of a newly formed circle so took the opportunity to try and get photographs.  After clambering down to the vicinity of the chalk horse, we were able to get some distant shots.  However, for a much better view you need to be filming from the air and I found a link to this video on one of the crop circle sites.

I was primarily interested in taking photos, but I did attempt a very quick and crude pen sketch.

One of the legs of the chalk horse can be seen in the foreground
and the camper van at the bottom of the hill is the
"ticket office" for entry to the farmer's field -
£3 per person donated to charity