Today the Manchester Urban Sketching Group met up at the recently reopened Central Library in the centre of Manchester. I don’t think I ever visited it before it was renovated, but the new version is very impressive.

Here is my sketch. I was regretting my choice half way through drawing the books!

The building is circular and I had problems with some of the ceiling features. Here is a photo of ‘the real thing’.

After finishing this sketch I had a wander round the rest of the library. What struck me was the lack of ‘libraryness’. Just to the right of where I was drawing was the cafe. No ‘No food beyond this point’ notices or anything like that. Some members were using water colours. Can you imagine using watercolours in most libraries? I remember not being allowed charcoal at a life drawing session at Whitworth Art Gallery.

There were some…