Due to the distinct lack of genuine blue sky over the weekend and today, we thought we'd share with you 200 glimpses of cloudless, azure sky - though sadly, only available on canvas and not above our drizzled upon heads.
It was Blue Sky Day on Thursday 21 June last week, the longest day of the year so if there had been any sun, we would have had an excellent day for outdoor arts and craft. However, it was rather grey like today and the sight of blue cloudless sky on the easels was all the good weather we could have. Expedia.co.uk organised this event with the National Gallery - perhaps after one too many 'blue sky' thinking partnership meetings...? and put up 200 easels with pre-prepared blue sky canvases in Trafalgar. Showing off its ability to organise across cities, the online travel agent also managed to host 100 blue sky painters in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, and the happy artists who registered got stuck in very happily between 10am and 2pm.
One artistically driven Londonista joined the 'paint-out' and daubed a jaunty flying fish in his lunchbreak while soaking up the artistic aura hanging over the square. A select few of the paintings created in this event have been selected for exhibition in the National Gallery - a very, very, very special opportunity for any aspiring artist. For the less exalted but nonetheless special canvases from Blue Sky Day, there is an online gallery to be found here. We think they're all very lovely. Especially the one with the flying fish.
Images of Blue Sky Day by MykReeve, Londonist contributor and painter. Further images and information can be found in the Londonist Flickr pool here, on the eyerevolution site here and the Expedia.co.uk Let Yourself Go site here.
