sticks in the smoke

My ‘Sticks in the Smoke’ project began in January 2016: each week visiting, researching and drawing a different public garden or park in London, exploring the theme of city green spaces from the perspective of a rural landscape painter. This research along with each drawing presented in a regular blog (find links to the blogs in the sidebar on this page).

Above is the first mixed media sketchbook drawing made as part of this project: St. Paul’s Cathedral Gardens, London. 21 January 2016 (click here to read the blog post for that visit). And below is The Brunswick Plane at Brunswick Square, London, 16 March 2017 (click here to read the blog post for that visit). And at the top is my drawing of Westbourne Green Park, London, 10 October 2016 (click here to read that blog post).

The project was leading to an exhibition in London at the Curwen Gallery, London in April 2017 with a follow up in 2018, but was was cancelled as Curwen Gallery had to close unexpectedly.

I have now visited over 86 London green spaces, and am on my 6th sketchbook. Although my last Sticks in the Smoke drawing was in autumn 2019, I see this project as ‘work in progress‘ and hope to return to it in the very near future.

Full size prints of my sketchbook drawings are available. Follow this link for details and ordering.

I am planning towards the publication of my Sticks in the Smoke sketchbooks. To receive notification of this, please sign up for my newsletter here. Meanwhile, I have provided illustrations for ‘Bloomsbury’s Squares and Gardens’, a book published by the Association of Bloomsbury Squares and Gardens. For full details and purchasing follow this link.