UK Sketchbook Part 2: York and Edinburgh

We had only one day in York, which wasn't quite enough. We hit most of the "sights" in the central area, but next time I would love to venture farther afield. (By the way, we'd highly recommend the Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa -- steps from the York train station, it's an old railway company HQ that's been converted into a hotel, complete with a fabulously atmospheric spa in the basement vaults.)

The street view in the sketch above is typical of what you see in the medieval-walled town -- especially enjoyed the famous Shambles, which many have compared to Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter series. There was even a small art supply store there, so I bought a Hahnemuhle sketchbook to add to my collection.

The next morning it was on to Edinburgh. It's truly as lovely as advertised -- the views in every direction just beg to be painted. We spent the first day wandering around, going to shops and getting oriented. At Waterstones on Princes Street, I picked up a copy of Mairi Hedderwick's book An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey. Her fresh, lively drawings really capture the rugged remoteness of the islands.

Inspired, I was determined to do slightly less walking and more sketching the following day. The (nearly deserted) rooftop terrace of the National Museum of Scotland was a great setting from which to draw Edinburgh Castle.



I certainly wasn't going to leave Scotland without sketching at least one bagpiper entertaning the tourists on the Mound:



After a delicious vegetarian lunch at David Bann, M. took off to bike around Holyrood Park while I searched out Greyfriars Art Shop (to buy a DaVinci travel watercolor sable brush). I'd heard of the store from an article in Artists & Illustrators magazine about "traditional" art supply stores in the UK. The two Greyfriars outlets I visited in Edinburgh are certainly old school -- packed with merchandise, plus very helpful and friendly staff.

I hope they stay in business, since there are so many lovely things to paint in the city! The pitch of the streets meant that I could stand outside our hotel on the Royal Mile and look straight down to the water:



And this was the view out of our fourth-floor window at the Radisson:



We barely scratched the surface before it was time to head back to London. On our next trip, we'll have to go to Glasgow. And the Highlands. And the Isle of Skye...

UK Sketchbook Part 1: London

Just back from our annual hop across the pond for London Book Fair. It was a tough week in the world, but it was comforting to meet friends and colleagues. I was fortunate enough to be able to take Colin Merrin's weekend workshop "From the Sketchbook to the Finished Work" at the Bankside Gallery. The idea was to take small everyday thumbnails and drafts and turn them into something more finished without losing freshness and spontaneity. Easier said than done! His numerous well-thumbed sketchbooks were an inspiration, and he soon sent us off into the overcast outdoors to dash off sketches.

Started off with some quick ones of the Blackfriars Railway Bridge and some people sitting in front of the pub.





My eyes were then drawn to the busker in front of the Tate Modern. I wasn't the only one; he attracted quite a crowd with his slow, deliberate dance holding a glassy orb.



A few sprinkles from the sky sent me back into the gallery, where I took two of my sketches to develop further. I repainted them using only watercolor (no pencil or ink first) on Arches cold press paper.





The next day, I wandered further afield, ending up at London Bridge. I stopped at the Shard to sketch a view looking down to the street below:



And then a couple talking at Southwark Cathedral...



...and people sitting near the railway bridge.



I finished the day on the steps by the river, sketching children and their parents hunting for treasures as the Thames lapped at their feet.



A few days later, I took the Docklands Light Rail (I've been fascinated by it ever since I took it to London City Airport last year) down to Greenwich. I had hopes of straddling the prime meridian, but found that it was a bit of a walk from the train station. So I sat by the Cutty Sark and sketched the town instead; later I collaged in a few scraps from the Greenwich pages of a vintage London guidebook.



The next day, we boarded a train for York, on our way to Edinburgh. (To be continued...)

Waiting in Line at the Art Institute, Chicago, IL

A sole sketch from a whirlwind weekend in Chicago to attend a friend's wedding.

Sketching at the Brooklyn Library

Spent an hour sketching at the Brooklyn Library's cafe last weekend with the NYC Urban Sketchers.





A curious young man (I think he was 10, but for some reason my sketch makes him look older) stopped to see what we were doing; he ended up taking out his notebook and sketching with us, as he chatted about Picasso and the Guggenheim -- and then he posed for a portrait.

March in Manhattan

It all started with a casual leaf (well, digital swipe) through the current issue of Country Living. Intrigued by a feature excerpted from Sibella Court's new book, I researched her and found that she'd earlier written The Stylist's Guide to NYC. A curated pick of shops in the city? Sounded like my kind of book -- and as the Union Square Barnes & Noble had it in stock, off to Manhattan we went yesterday.

After procuring the book, I stopped in for an hour and a half at Old Town Bar, where the NYC Urban Sketchers were holding court. We were blessed with a steady stream of models (I mean, bar patrons) to draw.



Afterward, I met M. at Strand Books, where I snagged the now out-of-print Robert Wade's Watercolor Workshop Handbook.

Two places that Sibella Court favored were next on our list: Olde Good Things and the Antiques Garage in Chelsea. Fun stuff in both places, but definitely priced well above what we'd get them for outside NYC.

We ended our day at Jones Wood Foundry, a cozy British-style pub on the Upper East Side, because I was craving sticky toffee pudding. And it was good.

Off the Menu: Bodega Taco Bar

Bodega's takeout menu, with its fab truck logo, just *begs* to be sketched on. I love the challenge of incorporating existing graphics into the sketch. Drew the goings-on in the kitchen a few weeks ago during breaks between dinner courses. Used colored pencil instead of watercolor with the ink drawing because of the thin paper. Just looking at the menu is making me dream of their brussels sprouts, the cazuela with quinoa, the kale salad -- yum!

Ottawa Sketchbook

In bleakest February, the hardy people of Canada's capital turn the Rideau Canal into the world's longest skating rink, get international artists to sculpt fantastical things out of ice blocks and throw a big party in their city called Winterlude. So how could we not go?

Ottawa turned out to be our getaway, our escape from the blizzard Nemo, which left great boulders of snow in places that were already Sandy-scarred. It snowed up there too, of course -- this was a storm that made headlines even in the north country -- but they are used to it there. There were people pedaling bicycles even as the snow kept falling that Friday, blithely commuting through the accumulating drifts to their homes, to stores, to dinner.

So I wasn't about to let the bone-chilling cold stop me from sketching. I was well-prepared for the weather -- I had an ankle-length down coat, a fleece balaclava to protect my head and neck, lined boots and wool gloves.

The problem, of course, is maintaining dexterity when your hands are mummy-wrapped. Nina Johansson inspired me with her recent gloved sketches of Stockholm done with thick markers, so I brought along some Caran d'Ache Neocolor II water-soluble crayons and other supplies to try. When I was browsing through Wallack's, the local art supply store a few blocks from our hotel, I picked up a Sakura SumoGrip mechanical pencil as well -- figured the fat barrel would be perfect for grasping through gloves.

It's a good thing I bought it, because it turned out to be the perfect tool for sketching in the extreme cold. On Saturday morning I skated out to a bench in the middle of the Rideau Canal to draw. The pencil worked like a dream, but the Neocolor IIs didn't cooperate, and trying to dissolve the hesitant marks with a waterbrush just made them turn to flakes of waxy colored ice that skittered right off the page. You can see my attempt in the sketch below (before I sort of salvaged it much later with watercolors).



I did the pencil drawing of Parliament Hill while sitting on my folding stool next to Major's Hill Park, just before the Alexandra Bridge, and colored it later with watercolors. I marveled at the number of runners who flew past me in the snow on their way across the bridge to Gatineau (which is in Quebec).





On the drive back home, I took out the Strathmore Toned Gray sketchbook and drew the landscape -- it looked this way for hours on I-81.



How about you? What are your tips for sketching in extreme cold?