RWS Friends Sketching Day - 20th March 2011

Wonderful day along the river today! We visited the RWS Spring Exhibition first, with one of the Friends giving us a guided tour through so many inspiring paintings (some others not so much!). Then we headed off towards the Tate Modern. One of the Friends and I found a nice spot on the steps just below the Millennium Bridge and, although it was crowded as usual, the view was not interrupted. I liked the overall view with the modern and sinuous silhouette of the bridge and the very classic St Paul's Cathedral at the end. I did underestimate, however, the very complex shape and perspective of the bridge! I also realised, after so many years sketching in London, that the colour palette that I use the most is always the same: cobalt blue, yellow ochre and ivory black.....not very exciting! I think I'm going try a different approach next time, I'll take out these three colours from my sketching kit and let's see what happens.

St Raphaels Church from Kingston Riverside

What a sunny day! It was warm and calm; we went for a nice walk along the Thames and sat relaxing in the sunshine. The colours of the riverside walk are slowly changing, yellows are starting to show and beds of early spring flowers are announcing the coming season.

Hedera Helix or Hibernica?

I finally finished this painting which I started back in November last year. I had to wait for few months until the berries were ripe, and that led to early February. I then decided to add a pencil drawing at the back. The decision was purely made to cover a mistake with the stalk, it was to stiff and I wanted to add an extra leaf, but didn't work out very well. So here it is, early March and it's finally done. I'm still not sure what type of ivy this is, both species look the same to me!