London in sketches 2018

Chelsea School of Art, February 2018

London drawings from my sketchbooks which haven't appeared on my blog this year (although some have featured on Instagram and Twitter).

Leadenhall Market, March 2018

God's Own Junkyard, April 2018

Three Mills Island, May 2018

View across the Thames, June 2018

Flatiron Square, July 2018

The London Mastaba, Hyde Park, July 2018

Mercato Metropolitano, September 2018

Around the Russell Square area, September 2018

Cambridge Circus, October 2018

The view from Peter Jones cafe, October 2018

The Theatre Cafe, Vauxhall, October 2018

Peckham Levels, November 2018

Mercato Metropolitano, November 2018

Drawing in Docklands

I worked on an exciting commission in October with IRS, the specialist office interiors company. They were fitting out new offices in Docklands for an international tech company and wanted bespoke drawings to decorate the walls. One of the images was blown up to fill an entire wall and others formed a gallery in the main boardroom.

A compilation image was used as a large mural.

The brief asked for black and white line drawings with touches of blue, reflecting the client's corporate colours. They needed to reflect the heritage of the area, focussing on cranes, boats and canals. I made most of the drawings on location, in and around the South Quay area. It's a really interesting spot so was a very enjoyable job. The sort of drawing that I love to do!

If you would like to know more about commissioning bespoke illustrations for yourself or your company, please get in touch!

Christmas online shop update!

I've added some new items to my online Etsy shop and here are a few photos to show you what is new. I've tried to reflect the current season in the styling!

This is the link to the shop if you'd care to take a look - https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lineandwash

It closes for a holiday break on Thursday 20th December and re-opens on January 3rd 2019.

Visiting the travel sketchbook festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France

It was lovely to visit the travel sketchbook event, ‘Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage’ earlier this month. I first visited the festival, which is held in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand, last year and vowed to return, this time with more spending money! Over 90 artists, including many from the Urban Sketchers community, come together to show drawings from their travels all over the world. Quite a few artists who I follow on Instagram had stands at the festival and I left with a great haul of books, all signed and some with special drawings too. 

The festival is held at the Polydome near the city's rugby ground.

My haul of books!

Here are links to the artists I bought books from:

Hugo Barros Costa - @yolahugo on Instagram

Lapin - http://www.lesillustrationsdelapin.com/

Manu Ripoll - @manuripoll89 on instagram

Juliette Plisson - @juliette.plisson on Instagram

Marielle Durand - @idrawamerica on Instagram

Olivier Kugler - http://www.olivierkugler.com/

Hugo Barros Costa on his stand 

Lapin drew a portrait for me!

Manu Ripoll signing my copy of his book of drawings

Beautiful fold-out print by Juliette Plisson

Lovely display from Francois Wagner

Below are my own sketchbook pages from the trip.

The watercolour illustration at the top of the blog post is of the 'Hotel le Lion' where I stayed on my trip. I had a room on the top floor with a great view across the central square, which you can see in some of the sketches. I booked through Expedia and thought it was good value and would recommend it to anyone visiting the city!

This is the link to their website - http://www.hotel-le-lion-clermont.fr/en/

This is the link to the 'Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage' website - https://www.rendezvous-carnetdevoyage.com/en/

New studio space!

Lots of light!

It’s been almost two months since I moved into my new studio space. It’s still not Pinterest-ready (will it ever be?) but already it has helped me get more work done. It’s the first time that I’ve ever had a room of my own to work in. Over the years, I’ve worked mainly from home, either on the kitchen table or using a temporary desk in the front room. Most of the time this has worked okay but domestic restrictions mean that work has to be packed away at certain times and it’s difficult to separate work with home life.

Books and art materials 

I have tried a few other options. First sharing with local graphic designer which was great until rain kept on coming in and nothing seemed to be happening to fix the problem. I left there, moving to a desk space area on the top floor of an old building in Croydon Old Town. This worked okay but then the studio owner moved to a different venue and the new space didn’t really work for me. A desk space in a lighting designer’s studio was next. The space was okay with lots of natural light but it wasn’t the sort of place I’d like to stay on to work in the evening or at weekends.

Inspiration on the walls

Of course, the biggest concern from my point of view about renting space is the cost. So I was interested to hear about the new Artist Company Studios (ASC) being built in Croydon and the fact that they might be affordable for me. I’d heard about ASC from a couple of artists so had been on their email mailing list. Although I thought they would be quite a way out of town, I was pleasantly surprised when I went on the Open Day that they were quite close to transport links, had large windows and lots of extras including a communal kitchen and seating area. There is also a gallery area.

The Grand Entrance

On Friday the gallery holds its first exhibition, ‘40 degrees centigrade’ curated by Tabish Khan, art critic and Visual Arts Editor for The Londonist.

The PV will be open from 6 - 9pm. For more details, contact ASC by email at reception@ascstudios.co.uk or view their website.

I'm hoping the new space will allow me to be more productive so that I have time to experiment with new techniques too.

What's it like to go to a Makelight Photography Workshop?

One of the people I love to follow online is Emily Quinton from Makelight. She takes the most beautifully styled photographs, so I was very excited to spend a day doing a photography workshop at her home last month. I’d previously enrolled onto her ‘Joy of Summer’ course and felt that it helped me make the most of the summer months.

Emily (who despite having broken her hand still went ahead with the workshop!) was helped on the day by Bethie Hungerford and there were eight in the workshop group. We were welcomed with tea and coffee, and sitting around Emily’s large kitchen table, introduced ourselves. Emily started by talking about her work as a photographer, moving on to talk about how to best use the camera on your phone. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and I felt comfortable asking even the most basic questions. Using backgrounds and editing apps, finding the best light and making test shots were some of the topics covered.

Using a roll-up background

We then spent some time taking photographs in the kitchen and in the garden. (I need to point out that this is no ordinary kitchen. It is a huge, light filled room, full of beautiful photogenic props, flowers and books)

Homemade bread

Frittata and flowers

Lentil Salad

Yummy fruit crumble

Lunch had been cooked by the very talented Bethie and despite the broken hand, Emily showed us how she would go about styling a table for photographs, so there was more opportunity for pictures. The food tasted as delicious as it looked, with something for all tastes and dietary requirements.

In the afternoon we moved on to using a ‘proper’ camera, something I hadn’t done for a while. I’d borrowed one for the day and my unfamiliarity with it was a bit of a problem, especially when the battery ran out very quickly. Still, sometimes it is when things go wrong that you learn the most, so I learnt quite a lot even though I didn’t have much to show in the way of photographic results!

I paid £95 for the workshop in the Makelight sale and thought it was good value for money. Emily runs online workshops and courses, is on Instagram @emilyquinton and you can find out more at makelight.com

Bethie Hungerford is an amazing cook, on Instagram @hungermama and blogs at hungermama.com

Empty cups at the end of the day

*All the photographs here were taken on the day with my rather ancient Windows Phone.