Tuesday 29 March 2011

Jaunt to London

Have spent the weekend in London. Managed to squeeze some drawing into a pretty packed weekend.

Started with the early Saturday morning train - doodling while looking out of the window. Am still experimenting with using pencil.

  
And you can tell tthe weather has changed - train travellers that were only wearing jackets! The coats and scarves had been abandoned!






Saturday was spent in central London and had a fabulous early evening meal at Tas restuarant (hearty recommendation, if you are in the Bloomsbury area of London - food and restaurant atmosphere were both fantastic).

Sunday I discovered Columbia Road flower market - what a place! Absolutely brilliant value cut flowers and all sorts of plants, from tiny alpines to huge exotics. Will definitely be back here to stock up. But is also worth going for the shopping, as the market is surrounded by quirky, independent shops. Popped into the Rob Ryan shop there - am a huge fan of his papercuts and the shop didn't disappoint.

These are some of the vast bouquet of lillies I bought at the market, that were well worth the struggle home on the train, particularly as they lasted 2 weeks.


Then Brick Lane market. I had no idea that Brick Lane had a market on Sundays and that the area was so full of young designers and vintage shops. The Old Truman Brewery had some original stalls, selling everything from ceramics to fashion. It was bursting with people and again is somewhere I will definitely make a point of coming back to. Managed a quick sketch in the coffee shop here


Think next time I head up, will go with sole purpose of drawing. Was so much to see in both Brick Lane and Columbia Road, would make a perfect Sunday's sketching.

Thursday 17 March 2011

Tonight I am ignoring

...the washing up.



Instead I am going to for a coffee, then I am going to watch Danny Boyle's Frankenstein.

Better than my average Thursday evening!

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Nearly a whole 2 months without blogging

Shameful....

In the background have been doing plenty - drawing, visiting London and entertaining lots of visitors. Plan to do some scanning soon of most recent pencil drawings. In the meantime, these are the gorgeous pussy willow branches I bought at Columbia Road market last weekend.



Is a brilliant place to visit on a Sunday morning in London. Huge selection of cheap flowers and plants and a whole street full of small, independent quirky shops. I didn't have much time, but am going back very soon and hope to be able to stop and draw, as well as explore.