Sunday 30 September 2012

Saturday 29 September 2012

Urban Sketchers 1

I am a big fan of Urban Sketchers and have been plotting over the last few months about trying to establish a Manchester group. This really started to take shape whilst in Singapore over the summer when I met Mdm Tia Boon Sim, one of the group's founding directors. I was invited to a private view which displayed work from a recent sketching weekend in Penang, Malyasia, and I was delighted to meet a number of Singapore Urban Sketchers. Needless to say their work was beautiful and made me even more determind to get involved with something similar back home. London recently started a group and so far Manchester doesn't appear to have one, but watch this space...

One of Mdm Tia's urban sketches

At the private view in a Singapore Tea House
Some of the work on display

Sunday 23 September 2012

London skyline


This is a drawing from Greenwich Observatory looking out across the Naval College and River Thames, over towards Canary Wharf.  I was partcularly interested in the complicated juxtapostion of classical buildings in the foreground, with the modern city skyline beyond. The drawing is A3 sized and taken from from an assemblage of my photographs. I have had it professionally printed onto watercolour ready to paint.

Thursday 20 September 2012

Albert Square, Manchester

Two architectural paintings of the same view, one preparatory and one more detailed. Both watercolour and pencil. The view is from Clarence Street looking into Albert Square, Manchester and shows the Christmas Market. Painted 2010.

 

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Another sketchbook drawing

Stockport Town Hall ceiling detail drawn during a Stockport Symphony Orchestra concert, December 2011. Fascinated by the overly ornate ceiling and (I think) slightly Rococco detailing.


Sunday 16 September 2012

ManchesterInArt exhibition

I am delighted to be one of the artists in VenturesInArt's 'ManchesterInArt' exhibition, at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, Piccadilly Place. I have five Manchester city views on display and they are available to buy online via VenturesInArt's website. The exhibition is an interesting mix of original artwork with over 70 paintings and photographs by 18 local artists. Definitely worth a visit and runs until January 2013.


ManchesterInArt website
ManchesterInArt Simone Ridyard

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Manchester skyline watercolour (reworked 2012)

Thursday 13 September 2012

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Busy times...

I have spent the last couple of days intermittently tinkering with the layout of this blog and am finally getting close to how I would like it to look. Thanks to anyone looking at it, but I'm not properly 'live' yet....do return again when I'm properly set up.

In the meantime here is a link to VenturesInArt's ManchesterInArt exhibition featuring my work, email me for more info.

http://www.venturesinart.com/simone-ridyard.html

Sunday 9 September 2012

Gauguin's Loft: Paintings of Rock and the Camel Estuary and a few ...

I absolutely love Melanie's work. The Cornish light shimmering on the Camel estuary is captured perfectly. Therapy for an imminently autumnal Manchester.

Gauguin's Loft: Paintings of Rock and the Camel Estuary and a few ...: Those moments, tasted once and never done, Of long surf breaking in the mid-day sun. And in the shadowless, unclouded glare Deep blue a...

Following with interest

http://urbansketchers-london.blogspot.co.uk/

A bit of an introduction

I've spent the last few months now posting lots of images to Twitter, but once uploaded they're lost into the big Twitter 'ether'. So have decided I must make a real attempt to persevere with this blog. I am really interested in drawing and will be teaching a new term of drawing classes to first year interior design students at Manchester School of Art in a couple of weeks. I intend to blog about these classes on a weekly basis.

I am also very interested in Urban Sketchers and keen to establish, or be involved in a Manchester Urban Sketchers group...contact me if interested and watch this space!




Cornwall wall


Singapore, views around Marina Bay




Welcome to my blog

Here is where I work at home. I like to be surrounded by paintings. My workspace inspires me to be creative.