Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Cliveden, Cookham and Stanley Spencer


Fernlea, birthplace and childhood home of Stanley Spencer
11.5" x 8.5", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
Yesterday was a glorious day - sunny and warm with a clear blue sky and excellent light which wasn't dazzling. Coming back from a meeting in Oxford, I decided to try and visit two places near the M4o that I'd been wanting to get to for some time, knowing full well that I'd do neither justice. This was very much a late afternoon 'scout round and decide how soon I want to come back if at all' visit!

So first I visited the National Trust gardens at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire. These are located north of Maidenhead and near the Thames just west of Heathrow. Two sketches, neither of them up to much. I suspect it might look better later in the year - although the wisteria was out and looked great.

I then travelled on to Cookham, which is on the River Thames betwen Maidenhead and Marlow in Berkshire. The Cookham Festival is on at present and finishes on May 7th.

I drew Fernlea, the birthplace and childhood home of Sir Stanley Spencer in the High Street (see top) before walking around the village to see various places which feature in his paintings. I now know where the gallery about him and his work is (and that it's currently being refurbished). I finished off by having dinner at The Ferry - and drew the diners.

11.5" x 17", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Sketches - and more about the visit - will appear on Travels with a Sketchbook when I finish the set from Yorkshire. I think I probably need a new collection for Travels with a sketchbook in the south of England!

Links:

6 comments:

  1. What no sketches of Oxford! Or are you leaving that territory to me!

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  2. I like these sketches very much. You have such a descriptive touch. Nice hatching.

    Jo

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  3. Your drawing of Stanley Spencer's house and visit to Cookham is a cause for nostalgia for me. Until moving to Cyprus, I lived in the next village. Thank you ... my mind had a mini Away-Day! Bee

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  4. Dave - of course Oxford is your territory! More to the point I wasn't going to try and park the car in the centre of Oxford! I was going to let you know I'd got an Examiners Meeting and suggest a late afternoon/ evening sketchcrawl - and then completely forgot!

    Thanks Jo!

    Bee - Thanks. You'll find more to look at in the future. I'm definitely going back to Cookham for a longer sketching visit. Maybe after the gallery reopens in August.

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  5. If I were Dave, I'd be sobbing quietly having discovered he missed the opportunity for an evening sketchcrawl. I suspect like me, he's going to have to get used to his own company. Great sketches as usual, I particularly like the diners - having once tried this, I'm always full of admiration at what you manage to achieve.

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  6. Ah well, another time!

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