Bathurst Mansions and Hollywood Bistro, Holloway Road corner with Seven Sisters Road
Thanks to my Holloway twitter buddies, @RuthRobinsonLon, @TheHornseyRoad, @HollowayLife and in particular Mark Perronet @AtomGalleryN4, prints of some of my Holloway Road drawings are now up on display in the Atom Gallery, Stroud Green Road, London N4. It’s a five minute walk from Finsbury Park tube station.
Albermarle Mansions, Holloway Road, N7 (Limited edition print run of 50)
The exhibition opens tonight and runs until 4th April 2015. I really wish I could be there but I am grounded with three pelvic fractures, a fractured drawing arm and a chipped elbow. All my own doing as I fell on our own doorsteps, in broad daylight and stone cold sober!
Good luck to everyone showing at the Atom Gallery and thanks Mark, for this wonderful opportunity.
Bike park at Stafford Station sketched while passing through
The last few days have been spent mostly on trains and buses and taxis – no bicycles other than the above. I have only caught a passing glimpse of the awful events that have happened in Paris, but am heartened by the response of seeing so many drawings and cartoons appear online with ‘Je Suis Charlie’.
Drawing has become so much part of my life that I would now feel quite lost without pen and paper and I think the best tribute we can make to the lives lost is to pick up our pens, so much mightier than any sword or gun for that matter, and write, draw and give thanks for their lives lived to the full.
So a couple of drawn days in my life – collecting my son on his return form Hong Kong – our first Christmas without him – shhh… he missed a good one!
Doors to the Pumpkin of Perception, Stoke StationShiny red London 253 bus to Hackney Central via the Nags HeadBathurst Mansions and Hollywood cafe on the Holloway Road, London N7
All this sketching needs fuel – found at the pre-sketched Golden Croissant on the Holloway Road!
The Eaglet on Seven Sisters RoadArrival!
May the souls of the French artists rest in peace and thanks for reading.
Bathurst Mansions on the corner of Holloway Road and Seven Sisters Road, London N7Beautifully crafted lettering of the Bathurst Mansions, seen above the entrance on the Holloway Road
Over the past year, I have been regularly posting sketches and work-in-progress photos on social media. It has been a bit of a slog understanding how it all works but it has gradually paid off as I get a real buzz when people who live or work in the buildings respond positively to my sketches and a conversation kicks off.
Ornate stonework and a splash of red geraniums adorn the top of Bathurst Mansions
I was delighted when @TheHornseyRoad got in touch to ask if they could use my sketches of Bathurst Mansions on a blog post. Of course I said yes – I was intrigued to discover a little more about the building.
It turns out that on 2 Feb 1903, Bathurst Mansions was the birthplace of Hilton Edwards, who went on to direct Orson Welles in his first and last role on stage: ‘Few men of the present day theatre have sought so consistently to throw off the shackles of conventional drama as Hilton Edwards and Orson Welles have done’. There is more to read about this fascinating insight into the life of these buildings on The Hornsey Road blog post.
I draw these street scenes and sketch buildings because they mean something to me and I would miss them if they disappeared. Bathurst Mansions are quite a show stopper, standing proud on the corner of this busy crossroad. If you pause for a moment and look up, you will notice the care and skill that has gone into crafting the masonry, it really is a work of art.
Discovering insights into the life of buildings is one of the main reasons I draw streets – to record them as moments of living history; the drawings are brought to life with such nuggets of memory.Thank you @TheHornseyRoad.
Thanks for reading and keep in touch with me on Twitter @RonnieCruwys
PS Watch out for those Stokies playing Arsenal at the weekend, my husband and son will be there hopefully singing Delilahs and shouting ‘Go Stoke!’
Bathurst Mansions from the Holloway Road, London N7
Drawing the Street 