Sasa's Sketchbook 3

Had fun with watercolors (and white gouache).

A scene from Notting Hill Carneval Can you find a policeman talking on a mobile in this picture?

  I was drawing this week in Kensington Roof Gardens, which is an amazing hidden oasis in busy Kensington. It is hard to belief you are actually in a roof of a building. There are trees and flowers, ponds and bridges, a waterfall, a Spanish style villa, ducks - and even flamingos! I would have liked to sketch one but unfortunately didn't have time . As you can see, I wasn't alone, we had a quite big group of sketchers there, which meant I spent most of the time chatting about anything between toilet habits around the world to fostering children, and not that much drawing.   (Maybe I shouldn't have added that fence to the sketch, I think it looked better before.)

Went to Camden Beach yesterday with a bunch of artist friends. It is a rooftop with fine sand, deckchairs, beach huts and expensive drinks. It was a cold and windy day but at least it didn't start raining.

  I had some time this afternoon so visited the Kensal Green cemetery again. I am still fascinated by the wild chaotic feel of the place. Very different from the graveyards in Finland where the stones are straight and organized according to a grid plan and the vegetation is kept under control - so boring...

Found a bunch of pens and grey markers (in different shades) I had brought from China but had forgotten and never really used. So had to test them and drew another corner of our kitchen . (Markers are really difficult to use.)

Went back to Kensal Green cemetery to sketch today. I wanted to sketch one of the big old tombs or memorials there and was drawn to this one. It belongs to a military man from Bengal army, the weird stuff on  top of the coffin seems to be a cloak, a helmet, and maybe a shield. I guess there must be a sword somewhere there too.