Studio Chair

Studio Chair

(marker and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

When the Government advised us, as over 70s, to self-isolate for the sake of our health in the face of the Coronavirus onslaught, the fate of urban sketch groups was sealed, at least for the foreseeable future.

Not to be defeated, Mondaymondaysketchers decided to try to maintain group involvement, even if only online. So last Monday it was suggested that members should draw their favourite chair and post them on the group's Facebook Page.

This is my studio chair. It belonged to my Mum who hated it, but I've found it very comfortable; its only drawback is that whenever I drop something (which is often), it's really difficult to bend over the side to pick it up.

Condiments at The Quayside

Condiments, The Quayside, Newcastle

(markers and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

Good day out with the Mondaymondaysketchers, but it comes to something when you sit in the upstairs room of a pub with a window view of all the Tyne bridges and end up drawing the condiments set on the table. 

It was a sunny day but the wind was cold and a cold wind on the Tyne is even colder, coming as it often does from the North Sea. I found one or two hardy souls sitting at the tables outside The Quayside (a Tim Widdlespoons pub, so I held my nose and put my conscience on hold), but the upper floor indoors seemed more attractive. Quite a few other Mondaymondaysketchers were there, clustered round a table by a window with a good view of the High Level Bridge and beyond. No room left at that table, so I moved down a couple of  tables, but the view from that window was more restricted, so I resorted to drawing the condiments set on the table. I've been finding such subject matter increasingly interesting and was pleased to find that this one came out well. A few markers and coloured pencils lent a bit of colour.

[Little did I realise this would be the last Mondaymondaysketchers outing for quite some time.]

Plaza de la Virgen, Valencia

Plaza de la Virgen, Valencia

(Black marker and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

We spent three wonderful weeks in Spain in September; two in Valencia and one in Malaga. The choice of cities was in part due to the convenience of flights from and to Newcastle and, in the case of Malaga, because we'd been before and liked it.

Valencia is a beautiful city that proved really difficult for me to draw. The buildings are impressive but also very tall, so that the parts that I found most interesting were inevitably at the top and there was no way I could either get up to their height, or find a spot in crowded streets where I could easily sit and look upwards.

I did at one point consider doing some drawings of  the really exciting modernist buildings by Santiago Calatrava at the City of Arts and Sciences, but realised that, in effect, the designer had done all the work for me - everywhere I looked was a great composition!

Determined to come away from Valencia with at least one drawing in my sketchbook, I sat with a drink in the Plaza de la Virgen and drew this part of a square where all the world comes to mingle and take selfies in front of the fountain.

Sketch Crawl - The Hoppings, Newcastle Town Moor

Closed Teapot Ride

(0.5 marker in A5 sketchbook)

With the return of the annual Hoppings to Newcastle's Town Moor last month, I thought it was an opportunity to invite a few Tyne and Wear Urban Sketchers to a mid-week sketch crawl. Unusually for Hoppings week, we had glorious sunshine and although drawing in the middle of the day before the funfair opened at 2 o'clock meant few people were about, it also meant a serious absence of shade. 

To be honest, I'd forgotten what a visual overload the Hoppings presents, with complicated rides and stalls, all garishly decorated. The challenge was to find the basic shapes and include only sufficient decoration to make the drawing work.

After a short walk around, I stood in the shade of a closed stall and drew a teapot ride, also closed. I saw it later after it had opened up for business and realised how difficult it would have been to draw then.

Prizes

(0.5 marker in A5 sketchbook)

A little later, I decided it might be fun to capture some of the prizes hanging up on the stalls. Standing again in the shade of a closed stall, I drew these stuffed animals on offer as prizes on a "lucky number" stall. After a while, the man who'd been hanging up these soft toys, walked past me and I could sense he was standing behind. I ignored him and a few minutes later he went back to his job, shaking his head.

Helter Skelter

(0.5 marker, brushpen and coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

After a break for regrouping, a sit down with chips and fizzy drinks (by which time our original seven or eight had reduced to three), I set off with Luigi to take a look at the top end of the funfair before setting off for home. I'd just about decided that the long hot afternoon had worn me out but decided at the last minute to give the helter skelter a go. Standing in the shade of the back of a burger van, I did this last drawing. I got so involved with it that I found I was prepared to take the time to add colour with a red brushpen and some coloured pencils.

Then back home, reflecting on the fact that unlike my boyhood visits to the Hoppings when coconuts and goldfish were the prizes on most stalls, the goldfish were thankfully gone and there was a stall advertising that it was the only place to get a coconut, which you had to pay for.

No boxing booth, naked ladies or freak shows either, but we live in different times.