The other day, Liz was busy with all sorts of meetings happening, so she suggested to me that is was an ideal opportunity for me to swary of to London and sketch a little; not a bad idea I thought! So happily off I went. Upon arrival the streets were windy, cold and this swary all seemed like a rather chilly mistake. However I persevered and wandered with no real aim, working my way behind Trafalgar Square into all those narrow twisting streets which in the not to distant past were the rather seedy Soho; thankfully now significantly cleaned up and a delight of twisting and narrow streets and alleys, but it was still very cold.

However I passed this alley, with nowhere to sit, workmen hosing down the street, more workmen doing some sort of repairs; a lot of banging, hammering and shouting to each other going on; so I leant against a wooden wall and started sketching. Then somebody moved something and apologised for blocking my view, I said nothing, just laughed, the obstruction was removed quickly. They carried on working, then started chatting with me as well; they were a good bunch and I did enjoy my time with them. The sketch wasn't to bad either.

A nice way to spent some spare time and to relax. Only one sketch was produced as it realy was a tad cold, but that was a special time in that alley. Try to be brave and paint/sketch in very public places, people will talk to you, you will have a good time. Go on, try it.