Lunch at Ochre April 2024
It's not often the name of a favourite pigment is also the name of a favoured restaurant. We stopped by Ochre at the National Gallery last week for a late lunch after Holbein at the Tudor Court, an exhibition of the artist's exquisite portrait drawings at the Queen's Gallery in Buckingham Palace.
This time I had remembered to carry the little Papilio close-focus binoculars, all the better to examine Holbein's artworks in detail while standing a good few feet away behind other visitors. What an eye he had!
I had also remembered to bring a new sketchbook, a little hardbound Hahnemühle model which fits neatly alongside one's plate in between courses and dashes of the pen. In the foreground Tony taps at his phone screen to book another table for supper back home in Windsor the next day. (Alas, we never made that booking thanks to a low grade fever and an annoying cough). As always, back in the studio I added watercolour, straightened a few off-kilter lines, and altered the identities of fellow diners nearby.
The exhibition catalogue had sold out at the gallery, but I've ordered a copy online. It makes all the difference having seen the originals, and until the book arrives the exhibition replays in the mind.
Pen and watercolour in A6 sketchbook
