November in Richmond Park

Walking in Richmond Park

Alison Staite
Watercolor on paper

Alison's postcard is from her walk in Richmond Park and the beautiful autumn colors. This is a view of some of the Beech trees that she says have lost all of their leaves now, so the ground is hot with copper color (of course she spells it colour) when the sun breaks through the clouds. The freshness of the way the paint has been applied is a real treat for my eyes. It is just what I want to see when using watercolors. I love the way the chemicals in the paint pull and push away from each other to make the blooms of soft and hard edges. My eyes see shapes that my brain says are distant trees and forest shrubs in a moisture filled misty autumn afternoon.

A Fallow Deer from Richmond Park

A special postcard from Alison arrived last week - something I associate so closely with her - one of the beautiful fallow deer that she often sees along with the larger red deer, in Richmond Park near where she lives. I've photographed it as my scanner didn't do justice to the lovely delicate, free brushmarks that describe the antlers and tail. Alison said she struggled with producing an animal for me, then one day after watching the fallow deer for a long time, decided to paint one directly with the brush, and it all fell into place. She wasn't sure if it was the long looking or the freedom of no preliminary pencil lines - all I can say is that it's so successful, and a lovely addition to my growing collection.

Willow reflections

Katherine's card popped up at Coin Perdu in the New Year, but it was actually done still in the old year. Maybe reflecting on the old year, while sketching the reflections of the willow...?

..the willows..
done in colored pencil and pen on Arches HP paper, 19x28.5cm

Between the full sketch and the crop below, one can get a great feeling of the marks Katherine makes with her pencils and pen. a lot of cross hatching, some erasing for the higlights, some darker pressure here and a soft touch there... I especially love the darkness of the reflections breaking up into softer tones and hues and more highlights and finally disappear into the lefthand corner, adding such lovely diagonal movement. I feel as if I'm slowly passing in a canoe, dragging my hand through the ripples and reflections.

...the willows(detail)...

Katherine chose to compliment the Loire here in my world with her sketch of the willows at the basin of the Regent's canal there in her world...very appropriate and very special! Thank you for a lovely card Katherine!

A Golden Glow in Richmond Park

A view of Richmond Park, London in the glow of an Autumn sun.

Richmond Park is a very special place for Alison and she says that without it she couldn't survive in London. In her beautiful loose,watercolour style she's put down the "raw sienna carpet of bracken as it dies back and the copper gold of the beach leaves".

She tells me that the park has a path which runs right the way around it and that there are parts that are densely wooded with magnificent old oak trees. That's my kind of place too - there's just something about trees that bring a sense of peace and belonging especially if the trees are as aged and wise as these.

I've never been to Richmond Park but Alison makes it sound and look very appealing.

Thank you for this lovely card.

When even the ground is gorgeous

Alison Staite was inspired by the masses of fallen leaves all over London – ‘a great excuse to play with orange, red and muted greens’ – to paint this exquisite little piece of the landscape near her home. It’s an increasingly rare treat to find actual personal correspondence in the piles of stuff from the Post Office, and jewels like this are an absolute delight!

Thank you, Alison.

A postcard from Lisbon and London!

I feel very privileged this month to get two postcards for the price of one! On the front, Liz has drawn a view of the Belém Tower in Lisbon, when she was attending the Urban Sketchers Symposium with the equally famous (in the Sketchercise group, at least!) Portugese Tarts in the foreground. There is a lovely balance between the loose and colourful watercolours and the very delicate pen lines.

Later in the month, Liz went to London so on the back is a drawing of St. Pauls with a cup of tea from Fortnum & Mason's tea room in the foreground. The colourful stamps and the lovely handwriting enhance these wonderful, vibrant images. Thank you so much Liz, for this amazing card!

A Beach in London!

You wouldn't think that Katherine had been going through a torrid time in London, looking at this tranquil scene in her local park. She transformed the drained lake into an 'urban beach' scene in her distinctive cross-hatching with coloured pencils style - so beautiful to see in the original. I love the clean, elegant composition and the lovely cool colours - gives me a feeling of a real haven of peace in spite of what had been going on very closeby.
And don't the British just do the most beautiful stamps!?

Private View of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

Mall Galleries, The Mall, London, by Katherine Tyrrell

Kathine Tyrrell often reviews major exhibitions in the UK on her highly-ranked art blog Making a Mark, and she sometimes does amazing sketches of the other folks invited to the private viewings and previews.  Although she sketched this nicely nuanced vignette early in May she had it propped up near her computer and “forgot to post it on time because it had become part of (her) office!”  I’m absolutely thrilled that when she finally got it mailed, it arrived in Victoria in just a few days, and now it’s part of MY office!  

Katherine has written many wonderfully helpful posts about sketching on Travels with a Sketchbook and Making a Mark (one of my favourites is 10 tips for how to sketch people) – but to actually sketch so beautifully and with such apparent ease takes hundreds of hours of practice, upon which I’ve barely started… so you can see why I’m so very pleased to have received this 'original’ from Katherine herself.

A postcard from London - the meeting place

The Mall Galleries, London, Katherine Tyrrell, coloured pencil

I've been lucky enough to scan through Katherine's sketchbooks on many occasions when we've met up - but never owned any of her work  - until now :>)

This gorgeous large card was waiting for me when I got back from Cornwall.   It's of the entrance to the Mall Galleries, huge trees along the pavement, luminous spring leaves with a wonderful subtle dappled light filtering through and making the grey pavements alive with colour.

It's where we often meet up on the rare occasions when I manage to get down to London so a familiar and very apt subject.

I love the attitude of the man in the centre of the group of   :>).

The warm colour of the poster is just perfect as a small accent amongst all that spring green.

The bulk, weight and age of that front tree is well done.

Altogether - I'm delighted!   I'm building such a lovely collection from you all :>)

Thank you everyone

Richmond Hill - a view protected by an Act of Parliament

The View from Richmond Hill by Alison Staite

I was absolutely delighted to receive a watercolour painting of the view from the top of Richmond Hill from Alison.

This is an absolutely classic landscape view.  So much so that it's actually the only view of a landscape in the UK that is protected by an Act of Parliament - the Richmond, Ham and Petersham Open Spaces Act passed in 1902 - to protect the land on and below Richmond Hill and thus preserve the fine foreground views to the west and south. This might possibly have had something to do with the fact that Sir Joshua Reynolds who was President of the Royal Academy of Arts used to have his home in a large house at the top of Richmond Hill and this was the view from his house!  Plus Turner painted this view.  It's certainly been painted by a lot of other artists since - and now that list includes Alison.

I know you loved views and vistas so it seemed appropriate for you!

Then I remembered that I'd had in mind to do the same view for her when her turn came round - so I guess I'm going to have think of something else now! :)

Alison has gone for an extended landscape format and she describes it as a rather oversized postcard.  She has painted the view on khadi which is a handmade cotton rag paper with an interesting deckle edge.

It was the first time I'd tried it for sketching, so what with all the greens to mix and an unfamiliar paper I was way out of my comfort zone.  The paper is really good fun though and I'll definitely be having another go.  I need Robyn's help so I can make a proper bound sketchbook out of it.

Looks to me like Alison has had a great time and I certainly recognised the view straight out of the envelope!

Trees by the Tate - Greetings from London

During the lunch break I heard a rattling at letter box and I was delighted to find this beautiful postcard from London inside. Katherine Tyrrell had taken the time and effort to sketch some trees at the famous Tate Gallery, London and had posted them to me.

The drawing is in coloured liner pen and coloured pencils I think, on a buff white strong card in a slightly panoramic view (1:2). I like the way how people are arranged in different scale from foreground to the background and it is nice to follow them through the picture. To me it seems like a film still and immediately I began to wonder what the story could be about.

Thank you very much Katherine for this unique piece of mail art.

Winter in Richmond Park; a postcard from Alison to Ronelle

Alison Staite's (Lens and pencil) postcard reached me just in time before I took off to Singapore.

What can I say? Beautiful in its monochrome colours, with a serenity and quietude that captures your spirit. "...but oh, wait a minute...what is that behind the tree stirring this peace...? Oh look, a deer! There...to the right! Oh, and another one,..! Aren't they so beautiful?"

Winter in Richmond Park

A story...this is what Alison's postcard is about. And reading her story in her own handwriting, makes it personal. Gives it life. Movement.

I know you would like Richmond Park.  Some of the old oak trees. like the one I have painted here are so contorted and bizarre they seem unreal.

The park is full of deer who eat the lower branches.  This gives the trees a manicured loo, some of them like lollipops - like the ones in the distance on my postcard.

The rest of the park is covered in rough grass and bracken.  All this surrounded by a huge continuous wall enclosing the area 10km2 - that's three times the size Central Park in New York.  I am so lucky to have this on my doorstep!

Come and visit!

Stirs the desire to look again. Closer.

And simply enjoy.

Links re Richmond Park, London

• More reading:  Royal Parks: Richmond Park
• Location on Google Maps:  Richmond Park

Postcard from Alison Staite

What a thrill to recieve this, my first card, a beautiful and very delicate watercolour sketch by Alison in London! It came with a handwritten note with information about where it was painted (Kew Gardens), the atmosphere of the day and her thoughts on the process. I'm afraid my scan hasn't done justice to all the greens and how subtly they all blend into each other.

Coincidentally, I was over in England a few days after I received it. I was admiring the English countryside as it whizzed past the coach window lamenting the fact that I had no time to sketch it when I realised that Alison had captured the atmosphere of it perfectly! Thank you Alison!

Postcard from Katherine Tyrrell, London

I was the lucky recipient of Katherine's first post card! She had a outing with other artists to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London where she penned these beautiful butterflies.

Thank you Katherine for such a lovely card. My daughter, who loves butterflies asked is she could have it framed for her room, I think we might fight over who gets to keep this one! I admire all those tiny pen strokes that make up the butterflies, then it seems like you added some colored pencil to complete the masterpiece. A lovely way to start my spring season, thank you so much!!! 

Introducing Katherine Tyrrell

Sketches in London by Katherine Tyrrell

My involvement with the Postcard from my Walk project dates back to 2006 and a small group of bloggers who were all taking their sketchbooks with them as they took regular exercise.  It was the sketching version of a painting a day - with walking a mile thrown in!

Sketchercise

What became very clear to me was that they kept going because of the mutual support.  That notion of mutual support was the main reason I founded Sketchercise in June 2009 - see

• Sketchercise! (the blog post) 
• Sketchercise the Ning site (by invitation only)
• Sketchercise on Flickr for those people who would like to give Sketchercise a try.

Why A Postcard from my Walk is important to me

A Postcard from my Walk is a project/blog for regular contributors to the Sketchercise Ning Group.  The idea is to produce sketches which we can see for real as opposed to on our screens in a digital format.

The other main reason why I need a group and the discipline of walking and sketching is that I have a disability in my feet.  I've experienced cycles of tissue contraction/falls/tearing tissue which leaves me on crutches for 6 weeks plus very poor balance and constant pain in my feet.

I've adopted a strategy of trying to manage risks better.  In 2009 I decided to try and exercise more so that I could lose weight, reduce swelling and hence reduce the risks of more falls/tissue tears/etc.   Walking is also the best way for me of exercising my feet and strengthening the soft tissue which, after many falls and tears, is fairly mangled.  My physio has commented in the past about how much simpler it would be if I broke bones rather than tearing tissue!

In 2009, I gave up all the naughty calories (eg alcohol, chocolate, biscuits, cakes, cheese and anything else which was packed full of calories for relatively little nutritional value) PLUS vowed to do a lot more walking. As a result, in fits and starts (largely related to things like flu and how active I was) by the end of the year I had achieved a weight loss of very nearly 3 stones. 

8 reasons to exercise (my personal memory jogger!)

1. Exercise strengthens and stretches muscles which helps to prevent pain and being pain free means being able to draw and paint and do other activities for longer!
2. Exercise improves balance, which prevents injuries
3. Exercise builds bones
4. Exercise reduces stress!!!!
5. Exercise lowers cholesterol
6. Exercise creates endorphins which make you feel great both during and after exercise
7. Regular exercise rebuilds the habit of regular exercise
8. Exercise leads to weight loss and looking better

It also helped me work on my Ecology Park Pond series

Last year, I was working hard for my local residents association.  A major local redevelopment caused me a phenomenal amount of work in getting to grips with planning law/regulations and lobbying hard on pre-commencement planning conditions.  This meant I first took a break from exercise and sketching and then took a break from the Sketchercise group as the workload on the planning front threatened to swamp me.  As a result of a very sedentary lifestyle in 2010 the weight piled back on!  I don't in any way regret the commitment I made but I now need to get back to walking again as it's very clear that this is the key to my weight loss - and keeping it off!

Which means that A Postcard from my Walk comes at a very opportune time for me. I'm now more than ever convinced that:

• regular long walks help me lose weight and maintain weight loss
• I need the virtual company and encouragement of others to make sure I keep going

The nice thing about this project is that I've got to achieve the production of a postcard each month - so I need to get out and about again.

My travels with a sketchbook

When I travel I sketch and when I sketch I record the stories behind sketches from my travels in my blog.  

I'm a great devotee and promoter of the value of sketching and you can:

• See sketches done all around the world on my website
• Read about my sketching trips on my sketching blog Travels with my sketchbook in......  eg
• Venice in 2005,  
• California / South Western States and New England in 2006 and  
• Paris and Normandy in 2009
• plus all my local outings in London and the rest of the UK.

Travels with my sketchbook

• Read my Advice on How to Sketch

You'll find that most of my sketches are:

• local places in East London
• trips to places - often parks and gardens - in London
• generated while walking around major galleries and museums or my local branch of a huge supermarket if surfaces are wet or slippery
• often involve a stop for a cup of tea!

The major challenge for me will be sketching as small as 7" x 5"!  I usually sketch much larger.......