Peterborough Market’s been moved before and it’s currently in the middle of another upheaval. It was always a haven for me when I was drawing and I loved lots of the stalls over the years which, at times, kept me in flowers, provided those pieces of haberdashery I couldn’t find elsewhere or the baking tin I needed, at times when I worked nearer it provided my daily lunch from the foodstalls which sprung up during a previous reconfiguration.
Markets change as life and needs change. Some of the stalls moved then survived or not and others are in the process of restarting. Change can often be difficult and we still don’t know how this one is going to pan out. I’ve always loved markets and hope Peterborough manage to keep that market feeling somehow, somewhere.
This illustration was drawn from one of the two yellow benches which used to be there and I can recall meeting a photographer the first time I sat and drew from here. He was trying to get me in one of his iconic images as I was tring to draw the market. In the end I drew him photographing me drawing him into my sketch. I’ll have to go find that one again now. As photographs trigger memories all of my drawings do the same, the memory of the place, when I was drawing it and any previous drawings from that same bench. This Market is now a changing space and we will all have our own views and different memories of it.
My theme for A to Z Blogging Challenge is my Bench Views Revisited illustrations done from benches in and around Peterborough UK which I started in September 2019. I drew No. 88 in February 2020 then lockdown hit. I restarted the series in August 2020 which meant almost half the series were drawn pre-covid lockdown and the rest of the 190 illustrations were done post COVID-19 lockdown.
lynnelives 
I like the thought of the photographer snapping you and you painting them.
My post has a connection with today being Good Friday. https://suestrifles.wordpress.com/2022/04/15/mary-the-magi-and-myrrh-atozchallenge/
you’re having a good AtoZ Sue. Thanks for popping by. Yes that meeting with the photographer was priceless.
“I drew him photographing me drawing him into my sketch” – That would be a great sketch to see.
Today’s sketch is lovely!
I’ll see if I’d already posted it as it was over 5 years ago. Found it. The bottom photo on this post from 2015 (not sure if the link will work) is the sketch I referred to. Thanks for your comments.
Very nice artwork! I only go to the supermarket. Doesn’t seem quite as romantic as going to a market place but I guess I get what I need without the aesthetic views.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Thanks for your comment, glad you like my artwork. Do you get the conversation, variety, smells and sounds that you need too though? Few supermarkets deliver the same mixture of experience a market does in my personal view. I headed more often to the supermarket for convenience once the market carpark closed and am not now surprised that this market I’ve been drawing over the years is being redeveloped.