SketchCrawl in Leeds City Centre

Not this last Saturday, but the one before, I went out to play with my SketchCrawl team again. We've already drawn so much of Sheffield since we began in 2010, that this time we took the train up to Leeds for a change, where the Sheffield sketchers met up with our SketchCrawl chums from all around the region. 


First stop was Leeds Art Gallery:

I started off with this statue, but soon decided it was way too nice a day to be inside - the glorious sunshine seemed like an extra special treat, given it was still March, so I soon headed out to sit on the steps in front of the gallery and drew John drawing the Town Hall, which was a few doors down:

Then, as I still had a bit of time left before we were due to move on, I drew the Town Hall too, using Inktense watercolour pencils:

Second stop, just round the corner, was Leeds City Museum. 

Like several people, I sat outside. I plonked myself in a sunny spot on the pavement opposite to the draw the fancy roof: 

I was lovely and warm when I began, but the shadow moved round and it got pretty chilly towards the end, so I went inside for the last bit of time, to warm up a bit and draw this statue from the Egyptian exhibition:

We walked back to the gallery for lunch, in the beautifully tiled hall that is now a cafe. Unfortunately I was too busy stuffing my face and gassing to draw, but others were more dedicated:

We next visited the indoor market, where a few of us managed to sneak upstairs past a 'private: no entry' sign, to get a perfect view down over the customers from a secret vantage point:

Just next door was the Corn Exchange, now the home for a 'fine and fancy goods' style market, worlds away from the very real-life feel of the previous market. Great building. I was a bit annoyed with myself though, for choosing a rather pedestrian view, and got a bit bored with all the identical arches!

This fella kept looking over my shoulder as I was drawing, so I got my revenge by turning round and drawing him just before it was time to head off for our usual sketchbook-sharing session.

We nipped round the corner to a coffee shop to look at everyone's work: 

Once again there was some really interesting drawing done in a wide cross-section of styles, so very inspiring. It was a really nice mix of people too: some regular members, some newbies. 

You can see some of the other work done on our SketchCrawl North page. If you'd like to join us some time, do get in touch - everyone is welcome and it's all free!