Antiques Road Show

My book roughs have been going well: I have now sketched the whole lot - hurrah! Which allowed me to be tempted into taking a day off recently.

A friend asked if I fancied going with him to the Antiques Road Show recordings, in Beverley Minster. It's a bit of a haul by train from Sheffield, but I rather fancied sketching queues of people with grandfather clocks or the family silver tucked under their arm...


There was indeed a queue: when I arrived it was 2.5 hrs long and growing. But unfortunately, people's clocks, paintings and various antique knick-knacks were well wrapped up and hidden in carrier-bags. Rats.

I decided to wait for the queues to die down and then draw inside. As it was sunny, I sat on the grass outside St Mary's Church, scoffed my packed lunch early and did this drawing, while waiting for my friend:


An hour later, the queue was no better, but round the side of the Minster, they were filming a piece about a vintage car:

After I'd drawn it, we checked again: still an hour long queue. I drew a detail of the Minster while my friend sketched the trees. The sun went in, the wind got up...


We still didn't fancy the queue, so we tried to peer in at the Minster door. The door-woman gave me a look. I explained we didn't have any antiques to register, we just wanted a nosy. She must have felt sorry for us, as she waved us in - hurrah!

It was incredibly crowded: the poor people who'd queued for hours to register their objects, now had to join new, still very long queues for specific experts.


The queues snaked around one another, so it was hard to move about, but my sketchbook proved very handy: while other onlookers were moved on by attendants, I was allowed to finish my drawings!


I had just started sketching an elephant (!), when I was asked to be in the background of a filmed interview about a harmonium.


Which means I might just get to be on telly (although I know they don't broadcast all the interviews they film).

I didn't have a very good view of the harmonium while they were filming, so I started a new sketch of it afterwards, but after a few minutes, two men came and rolled it away into storage.

I'll let you know if I find out when the show's going to be broadcast.

Sorry, by the way, about the veeeeeeeerrrry loooooonnng posts lately: almost as bad as those queues!