The ROI Summer Picnic

A few days ago I joined the Friends of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) and yesterday happened to be their annual summer picnic so I took the train to London to join them.
At first I was nervous as I hadn't met anyone before and we went straight off to paint. I found myself painting alone on a very busy bridge overlooking the Thames. There were loads of tourists who stopped to chat with me and even took photos (I forgot to take a photo of my easel/painting myself!). I was painting in direct sunlight which was tricky but note-to-self to buy an umbrella shade some time soon.
Afterwards we met in the park to view paintings and the president of the ROI Adebanji gave us some top tips.
The best part of the day was meeting some fellow artists whose work I have admired and so it was lovely to see them in person eg:
Denise Doran; Max White; Nataliya Zozulya; John Walsom and Adebanji Alade.
Anyway it was a most inspiring day so thank you ROI and I look forward to taking part in more events soon!