Karen Neale Art

My passion is sketching and painting the world around me in my annotated sketchbook diaries. In autumn 2010 I moved to Stamford (in lovely Lincolnshire), from London. Stamford is a special place. The town and its people are friendly and welcoming. It is an untarnished treasure, discovered by the discerning, and for me, it feels like I’ve come home. It was not long after my arrival that I was out and about in Stamford with my sketchbook.

'Stamford Sketchbook’ is published by Walkers, Stamford’s local bookshop, in November 2011, and I'll be doing a book signing at the Stamford shop on Saturday 10th December.Stamford’s stony streets and buildings are steeped in history and they are also thriving in the 21st century. My sketchbook reflects this, from Barn Hill to Burghley House, and St. Paul’s Street to St. Peter’s Hill. There are 24 sketches and I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have in its creation!

That's me in the top left corner of this web page, sketching the last football match at Arsenal's Highbury ground on May 7th 2006, as a commission for an ardent fan! In the top right corner, I'm braving the winds racing across Waterloo Bridge in November 2007.

I stand ‘in situ’ and draw with an ordinary black biro as much as I can of what is going on around me in my book. Then, I add colour with my small field box of watercolours. The notes I make around the perimeter are observations I’ve made whilst I’ve been sketching. It is a great privilege and pleasure to simply spend time in a place and draw, and it is a wonderful way to get to know a place and in this time Stamford.

I’ve kept sketchbooks since leaving school, throughout my architectural studies at Newcastle and Sheffield Universities, subsequent move to London and eventual qualification as an architect in 1999. My sketchbooks have taken me on some wonderful adventures. In 2001 I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to undertake an artist’s journey through World Heritage Cities and Sites. from France travelling eastwards through eight countries to Nepal, recording it all in the pages of my sketchbook diary. Subsequently I spent time in Cuba, culminating in a solo exhibition of my work at the British Ambassador’s residence in Havana.

Closer to home I continued the World Heritage theme with a community project along Hadrian’s Wall. Then in London, I was privileged to sketch in and around the Palace of Westminster and was artist in residence at the Athenaeum Club in 2004. Rather auspiciously I was appointed ‘MCC Young Cricket Artist for 2005’, based at Lord’s Cricket Ground, and subsequently artist in residence at The Queen’s Club for the 2007 tennis season.

I’ve had some fabulous commissions. In 2006 The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust commissioned me to produce a painting to present to Her Majesty the Queen. I’ve also worked with Bob Wilson’s charity, The Willow Foundation, sketching in and around Arsenal’s football stadiums.

In October 2006 my first London sketchbook diary was published by Methuen, entitled ‘London in Landscape’ with Winston Churchill’s daughter, Lady Soames generously writing the foreword. In 2009 the second volume of ‘London in Landscape’ was launched with an exhibition of my paintings in the Barbican Centre, London. Both books are available through Methuen, Amazon, and me. Now in 2011, Walkers, Stamford’s local bookshop, is publishing my Stamford sketchbook.

These books have been a real labour of love for me as I’ve been out in all weathers, on tops of buildings, along the streets, in various wonderful institutions, sports grounds, churches and cathedrals, markets, museums and so on. It is an utterly uplifting experience which carries you through any down times.