Sketch Crawl : Jesmond Old Cemetery, Newcastle

Jesmond Old Cemetery
(0.8 marker in A4 sketchbook)

Despite heavy rain the previous day, the ground of Jesmond Old Cemetery was not at all muddy as I'd feared it might be. There were some unexpected absences, but Michael, Richard and Allan turned up at 1 o'clock at the South Lodge to be welcomed by Sally, one of the Friends of Jesmond Old Cemetery who is also a friend of mine. 

Pat had come along to keep Sally company, as well as Mike's friend Nicola, and after welcome coffee and biscuits we all went off for a short walk around the Cemetery, with Sally pointing out graves of interest. And there are very many of those - most of the famous and wealthy families of Newcastle, such as Grainger, Fenwick, Bainbridge, and John Dobson, who designed the whole Cemetery, have family plots there.

At the end of the tour, Sally and Pat went off to pick up litter (not much of that, luckily) and the three artists wandered off in search of subject matter. Or should I say, wandered off to single out particular views because I reckon we were spoilt for choice of subject matter. I could spend a week there and not run out of things to draw (provided those things were gravestones, memorials ,and trees, of course).

The drawing above took me until 3 o'clock to complete and by then it was naturally time to return to the South Lodge for more coffee and biscuits. 

Deciding to spend another hour drawing again, we said goodbye to Sally and Pat who had to leave (Nicola had left earlier) and found more things to draw. I knew I couldn't do what I wanted in marker because it takes me much longer to draw that way, so I opted for a 2B mechanical pencil in my A4 sketchbook and made this drawing. I'd intended to ink it in later, but have now decided I'll leave it as it is.