Sketching London

London. Where do I begin? Ten days in this wonderful city.

5aug2016-london-russell-square

We’ve been to London before, the last visit in 2013. I had lived here  a long time ago and had a few return visits. There were many places to return to this visit and also a few new places to explore. I now have a whole sketchbook full of memories for myself and to share with anyone who is interested. I am still scanning the pages.

dscn8156

Mum & I arrived after 9 am in Trafalgar Square. There were not too many tourists about and the National Gallery did not open until 10 am. We had agreed that I would sketch ’til then and Mum would explore the area. It works well when we arrange my sketching times. I take advantage of travelling times and queuing/waiting and eating times to sketch. We will choose our seats at lunch for the best sketching view. I also let her know if there is something I NEED to sketch. She is VERY VERY patient.

While I sketched, Mum walked down towards Whitehall and Westminster, viewing  those amazing buildings, some of the iconic sights of London. She could also report back that the queues were so long for Westminster Abbey that we did not need to go there .
8aug2016-trafalgar-square-lions

So what could I draw in just under an hour?  I knew that I wanted to draw the Lions. I did last time I was here and now I know that I want to every time I visit. I put some light pencils lines in makes sure the lion would fit on the page and then just launched in with my Lamy Sarfari Joy ink pen. I was really pleased with result, and realised that I wanted to put him in context. The background setting was perfect and then I waited til red buses zoomed past and slowly added their height and windows in relation to the lion.

8aug2016-trafalgar-square-lions-up-close

I was really excited by producing this sketch in just 10 minutes! Just looking at it makes me feel like I am there.

London is visual overload as there is much to take in. Each day there is so much to see and do. I hardly took any photographs when travelling, apart from people. Mum took photos, and wrote her  diary so between the two of us we can re-live and piece together our time there.

Already it seems so long ago (it wasn’t) and I want to go back again (I will) .

I will keep adding London sketches everyday to my flickr albums  
If there are any questions anyone has about sketching and travelling or watercolour pencils, please ask. Having a travel sketchbook is a wonderful and unique way of capturing a time and place. It doesn’t have to be the slightly obsessive all encompassing way that I do it. Just a little sketch on a page or a scrap paper will be a momento for life.

5 thoughts on “Sketching London

  1. Maureen

    I love your sketches, blog and how you apply the watercolour pencils. I am a beginner sketcher and wondered if you apply a fixative to your finished pencil drawings? Is that necessary to preserve the watercolour pencil pigment on the pages over time?

  2. alissa Post author

    Hello Maureen and Thank you. It is so lovely to know that someone finds some inspiration from my blog and considers using or continuing on with watercolour pencils. They are such a joy to use. I don’t use a fixative at all. I m not sure how it would affect the page or the marks on the page, I should try it one day.
    A few years ago I made a decision to draw on both sides of the pages in my Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook. My sketchbooks are a narrative and I like the way you can turn the pages to see the story of my day by day. IF I have a page that
    -starts to rub off on the opposite page
    -or has very dark colour
    -or is a particularly special drawing
    I tape a piece of baking paper/tracing paper between the two pages. This happens every in two or three books.
    Otherwise they are a diary of my life, on the shelf, but bought out every now and then. Sometimes the pages are a little smudged but I don’t get too concerned.

  3. alissa Post author

    Hello Mary – so glad to have you along on my travels ! I wrote a quick blog post listing my watercolour pencils just before I went on holidays this year. http://www.alissaduke.com/2016/07/packing-for-my-uk-sketching-holiday.html. I only use watercolour pencils and ink pen so I don’t have a paint kit as well. Some people carry a few pencils in their paint kit and combine the different media.
    In the next few weeks I plan to write about some of the new colours that I discovered for using in the UK.

  4. Maureen

    Alissa,
    Thanks for your reply. Good idea about taping baking paper to preserve or separate some of your pencil drawings.
    I’m looking forward to reading about the new watercolour pencils you’ve discovered on your UK trip.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *