Royal Kingston-upon-Thames; the Parish Church, All Saints with the Dodgers (again…I have lost count) but it has been ‘re-ordered’ hugely successfully and instead of being a barrier between The Marketplace and The main shopping area and bus stops is a brilliant link between them.
 
Plenty to paint albeit challenging.  Every view seems to have a stained glass window.  Very vertical with pronounced gothic arches which are difficult.  Hey ho….have a go.  I chose a corner with views of more verticals in the Candle, Cross, fine Font ….Have done some more work on it, but it needs more.  Will leave it for a week or so before tackling that.

Home of Queen Victoria’s favourite Prime Minister.  Evidence of her visits includes a chair of which Disraeli had cut part of the legs so her feet could touch the floor.  On the other hand the enmity between him and Gladstone is illustrated by the definitions of disaster and calamity….’If Gladstone fell into The Thames that would be a calamity…if someone pulled him out that would be a disaster.’
 
For us a mellower prospect of the house decorated in Victorian traditional manner for Christmas complete with a visit from Wycombe Abbey School Choir singing for an hour in the magnificent Library.  Crowds directed my sketches be framed by the doorway…interesting in itself being Gothic – the general style of the house but this room de-gothed by his nephew Coningsby who inherited it.
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The idea was to meet later than usual to catch the Norway Spruce Tree as it became dusk.  But with a Rugby match, KO 3:00pm I’d have to leave at 2:00 – so went early and found a great perch – so I thought – in Prêt a Manger just to the south.  Oh those dreaded double decker busses at the traffic lights.  An interrupted sketch...fountain, National Gallery, Tree and the front part of a lion.
 
The tree this year has a distinct list but rather than people think I can’t draw straight (pride) corrected it.

For my second I went for the perspective from close below the neo-classical offices on the corner of The Strand and Northumberland Avenue.  Interesting too as it was window cleaning day.  I assume harnesses were being used but I was too busy with my pen to check.

And to continue the precarious theme finished with a couple of the Levitating Santas – a new twist on those all too common human statues – all along the pedestrianised front of The National Gallery, a dozen of them, mostly Santa but a couple of Star Wars characters and a witch or two.  At least they were relatively still.  I asked them to sign but it was difficult while holding on tightly to their post to do other than capitals.

Due at an evening Life Class at the Fleming Collection I went early to try and find and draw Christmas Trees in churches.  But no – they seem to do them much later.  However the lively Piccadilly Market in St James’s Church was a huge source.  Feeling ambitious I sat opposite and attempted the bigger picture...then tried again...then, third attempt managed to get it onto one page and the proportions roughly right.
 
Interesting the number of people who looked, one sitting with me and chatting for 20 minutes.  A rather rewarding session which gave me sufficient to work up a small painting to decorate my Christmas cake for 2015.  Watch this space...

​Today we went to Standen a National Trust house near East Grinstead.  Designed by my namesake (but no relation) Philip Webb it is a wonderfully mixed Arts and Crafts house.  Many references in the design to the Sussex Vernacular.  Decorated for Christmas in the style of the time...with the exception of the courtyard Christmas Tree designed by Dame Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan.  Very pink and getting a mixed reception.  However a closer look rewarded with surprising intricacies.
 
The gardens are extensive and the site of much activity, especially planting bulbs for next spring.  We were allowed to help...