A morning at King's Place

Meeting up with Art in the Park (Islington Art Society) to do some drawing ... but first I had to have a big cup of coffee ... and a long sit&think ...

... time for noticing things, like the colour schemes within the building, reflections, the patterns made by shapes and by the movements of people ...

and for a look around the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize exhibition (till 9 October). All works are online here. The first picture I saw used textile, which was surprising and passed my "why textile" text -

Emily Tull, Fragility #1, 2009; Needle painting

Nearby was this oil pastel, which intrigued me through its conjectural story telling (and passed my "are those words really necessary" test) -

Julia Thompson, Hark the Herald Angel.. Yew Tree Room Series no. 2

Another that gave rise to possible stories - and the use of figures on the jacket linked up nicely with a jacket in the Alexander McQueen exhibition with strategically placed faces from a medieval painting -

Peter Laraze, Self-Portrait as Saint Prince, 2004

A few paintings depicted groups of figures - which is the "self" being portrayed here? The one reflected in the glass covering the picture on the back wall, perhaps?

George Lloyd-Jones, During Canasta, 2015

One of the winners of a purchase prize - a linocut, hurrah -

Paul Bloomer, Self-Portrait in Shetland

Mostly the "just my head" works appealed to me less than the iconographic ones with all their included objects, but this one was painted on an antique linen sheet with known associations -

Liz Rideal, Marie Elisabeth Rideal (1954-)/Marthe Callet (Nee Bailleul,1897-1993), 2015

 My photo of this large conte and ink work loses the wonderful details -

Freya Pocklington, After Frida, 2014

 Finally, out into the air - before the arrival of lunch crowds - to join the other sketchers

 My subject: some of the narrowboats. Medium: water-soluble neopastel -

 Plenty of materials were in use. Most people seem to be painters, doing preparatory work for a "proper" painting -

On the way home, a quick look at "Sculptor's Drawings" at Pangolin Gallery (till 15 August; all works are online here) -

 And the discovery of a farmer's market at King's Cross station forecourt. Brilliant.

The big cheese!

Wonderful breads ... and more