Derbyshire Open Arts / Jubilee SketchCrawl

This Saturday was the third one on the trot when we have been out SketchCrawling. The first SketchCrawl in Buxton was so freezing we drew in gloves; the 2nd one, in Chesterfield, was so hot we couldn't bear to draw in the sun; this one was wet and windy - good variety at least.

The reason for going out again so soon, was to support a couple of our SketchCrawl North group, Lynne McPeake and Andrea Joseph, who were showing work in the Derbyshire Open Arts weekend. 

The exhibition was wonderfully varied and really inspiring. Unfortunately the weather got slowly worse as the day went on.

We braved our planned picnic lunch on the grass (red, white and blue 'Jubilee' food on a red tablecloth with white and blue plates). This is me and the other Lynne, happily stuffing our faces:

We even popped a bottle of bubbly to celebrate how great Lynne and Andrea's work looked and the fantastic hoards of people who were constantly crowding in.

Instead of walking up to the moors to draw, as we had intended, it was by then so windy that we stopped down in the shelter of the valley and drew from the back garden of the Old Hall, in whose barn the exhibition was being held. 

Still pretty good views though. I liked the way you could see the wide sweep of the valley, through gaps in the garden's trees:

We had to finish a bit early, because it started to spit with rain. A couple of us held out for a bit longer, as we were sheltered on a tree, but Diane was the bravest and the last the dive for cover and hot coffee:

It was a lovely day, despite the dampness. Thank you to everyone who travelled all the way out to the far-flunch reaches of Derbyshire to join us and congratulations to all those who exhibited. 

A big thank you to Catriona too, for letting us picnic and draw in her garden. This is her in the blue overalls. She painted the fab badger pic above, amongst many others. I especially loved the stripy guinea-pig / square cat combo you can just see in the background.

Thank you to Mohammad (below) for the photos, as usual. You can see more photos here and more of other people's sketches on the SketchCrawl North page.

Next sketchcrawl is on June 24th, when we will be drawing at the Crich Tramway Village, where they are holding a themed Rock and Roll weekend. I for one will be going in 50's gear - see you there?