On Monday 5th August we visited Heaton Park – taking the tram out of Manchester. I did two sketches there – the first when we sat down for a coffee and lunch at the Lakeside Cafe (where the park was crowded with families and lots of push chairs…this sketch is barely finished and was done really quickly). The second was done when we stopped for rest in the animal centre area where there were some Highland Cattle (just about visible as blobs in my sketch).
Mon-5-Aug-2024
On Sunday 4th August we started our day with a trip to Fred Aldous (my favourite art shop in Manchester) where I restrained myself and only bought two packets of SeaWhite paper (we don’t have enough weight allowance for me to bring much back to the Philippines). Then we visited Salford Museum and Art Gallery and walked around the nearby Peel Park. I sketched this while my wife and daughter wandered off to see “the meadow” which is in a meander of the river Irwell. The statue is of Joseph Brotherton, representative of the borough of Salford in the House of Commons for 24 years (from 1832 to 1857).
Sun-4-Aug-2024
While we still had the car we decided to make a trip out of Manchester and picked this historical house. The National Trust describe it as a topsy-turvy half-timbered Tudor house with a moat, that was built more than 500 years ago. It’s amazing that it’s still standing.
Fri-2-Aug-2024
Here is the first sketch I did on the day after we arrived in Manchester. We had planned to go hot air ballooning early in the morning but it didn’t push through because of poor weather in York. Instead we just hung out at our daughters house, filled the rental car with a ‘big shop’ and went out for a little walk (in a little park near the university of Manchester where I sketched this woman snoozing) and a milk shake. My milk shake was banana and peanut butter flavour…so thick it was like ice cream.
Thu-1-Aug-2024
Here is my last sketch from our trip to the UK, naturally done at the airport. Although our flight boarded late, there were very few places to sit in Terminal 1 of Manchester airport. We walked through the nicer part of the airport (lots of coffee bars, places to eat and seating), and then through some pokey corridors, to get to Terminal 1. Then we stood around for ages (waiting for them to open the gate) and then were finally herded into some seated areas. Despite the long wait overall we only sat down for 15 minutes before boarding, so I just did the ink-work for this sketch on the spot. I added the colour (using watercolour pencils for a change) at home.
Sun-23-Jul-2023
This is almost my last sketch from our trip to the UK (naturally the last one was done at the airport), done when we had a birthday brunch for our daughter. She chose this place, which was a fair walk away and for which we had to queue up (in the drizzle), but it was well worth it, as they served great food at reasonable prices…and decent sized portions too! These two people were sitting near us.
Sun-23-Jul-2023
I am still catching up with posting sketches from our trip to the UK. This one was done on the day our youngest daughter graduated – on the train journey from Manchester to Liverpool (again we were really lucky with the weather thank goodness). I added the colour later as it was a short but very shaky trip. I also realised later that this lady looks a bit out of proportion – but I was quite pleased with the way her face came out.
Thu-20-Jul-2023
Here is another sketch from our time in Manchester, done when we visited the Science and Industry Museum. The museum seemed to be mostly about the cotton industry, but it was interesting. There was also a separate section on Stephen Hawking which we enjoyed. Unfortunately while we were at the museum there was a huge party of school kids visiting, who were incredibly noisy.
Wed-19-Jul-2023
Last Saturday we took a train to Birmingham from Manchester to meet a friend. This sketch was done on the first leg of the journey – according to the tickets we were supposed to change seats (on the same carriage) but didn’t bother.
Sat-15-Jul-2023