Yet another opportunity for drawing

Recently I joined the local art society, not sure of what to expect, apart from the chance to exhibit work twice a year. Turns out it has a sketching group, which met recently at Sutton House in Hackney.

In its garden is a strange contraption -

which turns out to be a rather magical place, a sort of compressed classical interior - go up the narrow staircase to the gallery, or go past the grand fireplace to the lower area, which is the right height for a child or a seated adult -

On a warmer day it would have been a good subject for a pastiche on Piranesi?

Inside the house, the cellar was a bit chilly but had a convenient table, and some enticing baskets in the corner -

 My drawing is a (lurid!) concatenation of the two areas -

A possibility for another drawing was this staircase-window view, with its gamut of reds and a convenient step to sit on -

But the Georgian Parlour offered a windowseat with radiator underneath, so I edited a few things out of this crowded corner (what a glorious chair...) -

Too much editing-out, perhaps - the drawing looks  sadly empty, but maybe that's because the perspective has gone a bit wonky here and there -

Never mind, I'm really enjoying using the neopastels and the waterbrush, and am getting bolder about mixing colours. Anyway, it's all about looking.... and I've just now seen that any shadow from the table is missing, as well as any indication of a skirting board.

Elsewhere in the house is a cafe with second-hand books to browse -

And these chairs in the garden rather called to me -