THREE CADELLS OF VENICE

It was a really pleasant surprise to see the three Cadells which the SNGMA in Edinburgh acquired last year. Not Cadell's greatest things I am sure, but they are very pleasant and full of  light.

These three works were originally in the collection of Sir Patrick Ford and they were presented to the gallery in his honour. He supported Cadell's visit to Venice in 1910 when these paintings were made.

 The dark frames-a complete contrast to the white Iona frames you see so often- seem quite apropriate here.

Santa Maria della Salute

ARTHUR MELVILLE EXHIBITION

This gorgeous exhbitiion is still running at the National Gallery of Scotland-until Jan 17, 2016. I have just visited and one of the things which I particularly noticed was that so many of the paintings are still housed in their original frames, If you are going, make sure to study the frames.The watercolours are exhibited in C19 manner without  any visible mount. Melville's large, broadly painted watercolours (more than three feet along one side in some cases), stand up to this very well. There are roughly speaking two types of frame, a flat gold with many  margins and on rarer occasions  of a coarse unplaned wood which is also gilt. Indeed it is the watercolours without their original frames which stand out here as the unfortunate exceptions. The Bravo Toro from the V&A and the lovely example from the Fleming-Wyfold Collection stand out like sore thumbs in this context.

The sight of so many original frames is a sign that the paintings have been treasured, it probably also means that so mnany of them are still with their original owners.

His oil paintings are a different matter. He uses a lot of oil in his painting medium and his handling can often be rather coarse. The large portrait -The White Piano-from Preston has a background of biomorphic art nouveau  shapes. They are painted very solidly and resemble lacquer. In the lower part of the painting the paint has sunk drastically.

When I get a chance to look at the catalogue I may review it. My post on Melville's highly original watercolour technique can be found here.

PASTE MEDIUM

This is a watercolour study in paste medium. Which means that flour paste rather than water is used as a medium for the watercolour. This results in a slight body and sluggishness in the paint which can be very pleasant to work with.You can also,to a degree, remove watercolour if you wish. The rock like shapes at the lower edge were developed by removing watercolour.

(See my other posts about how to make flour paste which is here and my post about Cotman's use of flour paste in his late works here. This sketch was done with a thin flour paste.

CLOUD PRACTICE

My aim in making this tiny watercolour was to see if I could suggest a large landscape with big clouds-such as you get in Northumberland, and to do it on a small piece of paper. This measures 7.5"X5.5" or approx 19X14cm.

DUNSTANBURGH DESIGNS

I was briefly at Craster yesterday and noticing that the tide was high I only walked a little way towards Dunstanburgh and decided to sketch the classic view-which I do not usually draw. But, as I say the tide was high, the waves were quite big also and there was much white water. The light was tremendous and there was much spray in the air. It looked more like Spring than Autumn.

Sketchbook pages,08/10/15, Dunstanburgh

Colour study from memory today, acrylic on a scrap of hardboard about 10" long.

BERNAT KLEIN

The Bernat Klein exhibition at the  Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh has ended. It was a pleasure to see this retrospective devoted to the work of such a remarkable designer who sadly passed away last year.One could  see samples of his  multi-coloured yarns, some of the tapestries he made in collaboration with the Dovecot and some of the oil paintings he made whilst developing his  textile designs. He had a remarkable life-from Yugoslavia to Israel to Galashiels he followed his vocation in textiles with great determination and originality.

Bernat Klein Dress:Polyester, 1969 V&A. Not shown.

Detail from Bernat Klein painting. This one was in the exhibition and seems to relate to the dress shown above.

Bernat Klein painting-as shown

The paintings were mostly very attractive and the tie-in with the textiles obvious at a glance. The colour is rich,clean and luminous. It is obvious that the paintings have been cared for and it is delightful to see that some have been sold.

Bernat Klein painting as shown.

Published by Bernat Klein Scotland with Collins,
London 1965. (The colophon says that Collins were the distributors)

Double page spread from "An Eye for Colour" Showing on the left a painting "Seascape" and don the right the cloth known as "Velvet Tweed"-with a velvet ribbon for the warp and one of the multi-coloured yarns for the weft.

I first heard of  Bernat Klein, An Eye for Colour when my local library bought a copy. It wasn't that I had much interest in textiles or knowledge of them but here was a nicely produced book with lots of good colour illustrations and excellent typography. From what I later learned of Klein this could be no surprise. It was immediately obvious that he wanted quality in whatever he produced. In a word, the book stood out and was immensely attractive in itself. This was something to be treasured way back in the 1960s. There were numerous colour illustrations and of course I was delighted to find that Klein shared my fascination with Seurat. He names him as one of the inspirations of his multi coloured wool fibres and textiles.I cannot pretend that I read the book from cover to cover on first acquaintance. I did that a few years ago when I bought my own copy and my respect for the man increased considerably.


Klein's archives exist at Herriot-Watt's border campus (14 linear metres) and this PDF gives an idea of the range of items. For a sketch of his career and further illustrations  this item will be very helpful.You can see textile samples at the National Museum of Scotland here. The NMS will eventually be opening a gallery which will include Klein's work.

Iona Sketch

Tiny sketch of my own. Acrylic study about 7"X5".Perhaps an idea for a painting.
Looking towards Eilean Didil from the Bay at the Back of the Ocean

IONA NORTH END- THEMES FROM PEPLOE AND CADELL

I  have been to Iona recently and as an artist  with a strong interest in Cadell and Peploe paintings of Iona one of the first places I made for  was the North End and the White Strand.I did not take Coupe with me to the scene but preferred to walk around and hopefully produce some reasonably composed photos of this iconic area.So here are some illustrations which show one of the  favourite areas where they painted.These identifications could scarcely have been made without Mr Coupe's excellent book. My review is here. One or two of the works I illustrate are not mentioned by him. There is no implied criticism. The number of Iona works Cadell and Pepoe produced is high and to illustrate them all would  require  a huge book. All the paintings ( and therefore photographs) have viewpoints literally within yards of each other amongst  the variety of curiously formed rocks- often quite tall when seen from beach level.

S Peploe: Cathedral Rock, Iona. (sold Lyon& Turnbull,
For comparison see photo below. Not in Coupe.

Cadell's view of Cathedral Rock.Staffa on the horizon. Note the pyramidal split stones which appear about half way up this painting. Also seen in the Peploe above.Coupe does not seem to mention them.You could call them the "Split Pyramid".Not in Coupe.

Cadell's view of the same area. Not in Coupe.(Hunterian circa 1923)

Cadell's painting  (Hunterian circa 1923) featuring a similar viewpoint to Peploe's below.See Coupe page 124.Also below and penultimate photo .

 S Peploe:Little Pinnacle on Right and  part of Pulpit Rock on left of painting.

For this painting in the Hunterian we can imagine Cadell working somewhere to the top left of the beach shown below where you can see Cathedral Rock and a flat "Table Rock" as I shall call it.See below. Coupe p 144.

White Strand Iona: Cathedral Rock on left, Pulpit Rock crouching like a lion on right. with Eilean Annrhaid  upper right.The "Little Pinnacle" is on the extreme right of the photo."Table Rock" -my name for it -is just to the right of Cathedral Rock.

Rocks at the North End: Cows Rock in middle distance and Ross of Mull on horizon.
This photo corresponds very closely with Peploe's painting of the same subject which is plate 137 in Coupe.In this case the sand has come back-it was not apparent in his photo of 2009.

Now that I have my own copy of the book Iona Portrayed by Jessica Christian and Charles Stiller  I can see that some of my work was already done. The authors have a nice double page spread of paintings of Pulpit Rock. This very pleasant book records the multitude of other artists who painted Iona.
Last Revised 17/08/15.

My main post about Philip Coupe's excellent book is here.

MURRAY McCHEYNE-NOTES ABOUT AN ARTIST

It was good to learn that auction houses-and collectors are taking interest in the  work of Murray McCheyne.His late and quite large woodcarving Xoanon was recently sold at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh. Now I learn that  Anderson and Garland are selling a fine group of works by McCheyne on July 14, 2015. I particularly like the drawings which span his whole career.The group includes some excellent and vigorous work from the 1930s which have very personal associations for McCheyne, as well as later groups which show that right up to his death he was developing as an artist. This is not given to everyone.

To clarify things immediately I will say that, yes, he was named after the Scottish C19 minister.

Of the sculpture in the sale  I have much less to say. They are typical good McCheyne works from-mostly  the early part of his career. My purpose here is to note some memories of the artist and to express my enthusiasm for the drawings-many of which  I have seen in his studio but some of which  were also a surprise to me.My information about him and his work comes from conversations with the artist. (Where an item is in the sale I have given a lot number.)

A product of what sounds like a fine educational system Murray McCheyne went to Kirkcaldy Grammar School and then to art school in  Edinburgh. His schooldays seem to have been the start of a substantial interest in literature.(He was enthusiastic about The Seven Pillars of Wisdom when he was young). He was fortunate enough to go to art school when drawing was still valued.Drawing is a tool for thought as well as communication.

He and Isabel a fellow art student and another Fifer had a long engagement.Before his appointment to Newcastle he did some work with Sandy Carrick. But in the Thirties there was  not a great call for sculpture and war was looming. McCheyne exhibited two figures at the  Glasgow Empire Exhibition in 1938 -Bella and Houston he called them after the park where the exhibition was held. His work at this time related much more to the Scandinavian tradition.The response to Moore's ideas comes after the war.
He came to Newcastle as his only teaching post and remained here all his life. His appointment was scarcely made before he was conscripted.

The Blue House, Olympia,1937, lino-cut, cut 1937,printed 1973

If you visit Newbiggin and the church is open you can  see McCheyne's small but monumental woodcarving of Christ the King.This dates from the 1950s.The best known and most visible work for anyone in Newcastle are  of course the sea-horses on the Civic Centre.

Christ the King by Murray McCheyne.

Newbiggin Parish, Church

Northumberland.

As a student he headed for Greece and Scandinavia rather than Paris.The view from Edinburgh was  not the same as that from London. He was a year in Copenhagen studying with Utzon Frank. So the Danish capital provides the subject for the drawing of  Kongens Nytorv the park in the centre of the city which is No 150 in the sale and done during his student year. He went back with Isabel in later years.

Murray often said that he was fortunate to able able to travel in Europe before the Second World War. He wasn't a great traveller but Greece was his number one destination abroad.He always remembered the hospitality and generosity of Greeks he met in his youth. (Food shared   and a Greek style jacket given by someone who could perhaps scarcely afford the loss)  The landscape around Olympia provided many subjects for him during his visit in the 1930s.

The drawings of Olympia for sale  show the freshness and vigour of a young artist. It should be recorded here that he appreciated modern Greek poetry. He wrote poetry himself and was very interested in modern Scottish poetry. He was a great reader of The Penguin New Writing as they came out.

The Thessaloniki drawing , Lot 155 is rather good a strong composition and  with bold  black wash.

Street in Thessaloniki,1937.

As a student he had headed for Greece and Scandinavia rather than Paris.The view from Edinburgh was  not the same as that from London. He was a year in Copenhagen studying  at the Academy with  Einar Utzon- Frank. So the Danish capital provides the subject for the drawing of  Kongens Nytorv the park in the centre of the city which is No 150 in the sale and done during his student year. He went back with Isobel in later years.

Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen,1937. Lot 150

On a trip to Oslo he visited Edward Munch and saw the paintings Munch had pinned up outside in the snow.He also traveled through Germany as a student. Was that the trip he made with Denis Peploe? I am practically certain it was.

 Wartime saw McCheyne enlisted and at first and with the usual military lack of insight he was sent of to do something totally inappropriate for his background . Later, as one of the odd-bods he was sent to work on camouflage at Farnham. It was there that he met the pastellist Guy Roddon who was to become a lifelong friend. One of Murray's drawings of an off-duty soldier is in the Imperial War Museum along with a few relics of his wartime service. This  fine, large drawing shows a room which he and his friends had  rented for off-duty relaxation.The soldier reclines on an old sofa.(See below)

His 1940 ink drawing listed in the catalogue as ON KIMMON HILL, No154  is very free, perhaps not the kind of drawing you would associate with a sculptor. (Did Moore or Gill or Rodin have much interest in landscape-not really, I think). I cannot throw any light on the actual place.

He took many photos of modern sculpture and of his own works. At one point he made a cine film about the Hatton's Rysbrack sculpture.He wanted to use one of Britten's slighter pieces  as background music but this was refused. Murray was very knowledgeable about tape-recorders and such-like devices.

He was always interested in Scandinavian design (So too his wife Isobel, also an artist.) It was Murray who first mentioned Nielsen's music to me. Their home at 38 High Street, Gosforth was decorated in a light clean, modern way and one of the chief features in the sitting room was a  very large cast of a Cycladic figure which a friend had brought back from Greece for him.He also owned a cast of the  "Mourning Athena" which hangs on  the wall beside me as I type.At the back of the house Murray had a small, purpose-built studio for drawing and sketch works.

He and Isabel were often in the Borders and for some time had a caravan at Ettrick. He had relatives also at Moniaive.The borders, towards Dumfriesshire and Galloway provided  many subjects for drawings both early and late. He drew at Glencairn Kirkyard in 1939 a large drawing in ink (not in the sale). He would not have parted with his drawing of Ettrick Bridge in his lifetime I think.

Ettrick Bridge End,1937, Lot152

The late drawings from Mossyard subjects show him studying natural forms to see how layers of stone interlock with each other. Nature he would have said is usually the best source.

Mossyard 3, 1972, Lot162.

The plant drawings are confident and clear. You would not guess that they are the late work of an artist not in the best of health.

Scindapsus 1,Lot 163

 There is one  fine group of very complex late drawings which go to urban material for their source but remain something of a mystery to me.One of them is illustrated below.Their structure  of  semi abstract overlapping forms looks inevitable and thoroughly composed. How much is improvised, how much might be from observation I cannot say.

Urban Landscape,1971,Lot 169.

 To compose a drawing like that must have required a considerable ability to hold or imagine-or discover form in the process of drawing.Sometimes there is some perspective and it looks as if he is drawing the results of a demolition. Sometimes there is the look of a plan or map and a kind of transparency of superimposed layers.

CADELL'S ABSORBENT GROUNDS

Those of us lucky enough to visit the small but rather lovely exhibition of paintings of Iona by Cadell and Peploe at the Scottish Gallery in 2014 saw several of the works exhibited naked so to speak and not under glass.
The painting below was  sold by Bonhams in2014. They have sold many Cadells in their time.

Iona(The white sands looking East)
by F.C.B Cadell.

There are instructions in Cadell's hand on the back of many paintings, including this one, which say,

"Absorbent ground. NEVER varnish".

Back of the painting with Cadell's inscriptions including the address of the purchaser and specification for the usual white frame with gold fillet

So why would he say this?

It must be that Cadell preferred a chalky, matte appearance in these works. The look of the paint surface matters to him. He does not want the buttery, glossy effect of an oil rich painting medium. He wants the painting to have a more matte and less reflective surface.And he certainly does not want varnish puddling in the crevices of his impasto, or perhaps altering the colour of any of the ground which might show through. Reflections from varnish are another possibility.There is also the possibility that Cadell liked the drag which an absorbent ground gives to ground: the paint stays in place and does not want to be pushed about!

And a final reason could be one of practicality. An absorbent ground will suck the oil out of paint which will then harden a little more quickly.There is no need to squeeze out your paint onto newspaper before working on an absorbent ground-as some have suggested, that would remove too much of the oil and render the paint very fragile after drying.In modern times we particularly associate it with Lautrec's peinture a l'essence technique on cardboard.  OIl removed before painting and painting onto an absorbent ground would also make the paint almost unworkable in any normal way. Cadell and Peploe were professionals who would have known this and acted accordingly.

   The Iona paintings are quite small and probably travelled back in Cadell's luggage-or maybe in that of acquaintances who were, so the stories go, inclined  and encouraged to purchase newly finished work straight from the artist's abode on the island.

Christian and Stiller* give credit for the introduction of gesso grounds among the landscape painters to John Duncan who worked in tempera. This is a very reasonable explanation and tempera paintings are usually made on a gesso ground.

One final speculation. Gesso is a cheap and very permanent form of ground for painting. It is basically glue size and some form of white pigment. Such a paint was well known to our country ancestors. Whiting and glue size were in the past very cheap and easily available in town and village.They would be used by farmers who wanted to paint the interior of a barn or dairy.They do not make the whitest of grounds but it is pretty good and a stronger pigment can be added. Could such a surface have been improvised on location, out in the country? It wouldn't be a gesso sottile but it would work.Gesso has never been  a common ground for oil painters but it has been used and on the right support it is very stable. The so called acrylic gesso is not the same thing.it has its uses but I would raather not use it myself.

We may never know anything more on this topic-but what would the alternative have been? Lead white as  a ground would have been pretty usual in those days.
It too dries quickly.

(see also my later analysis of two paintings in the Fleming-Wyfold Foundation here.)

*Iona Portrayed: The Island through Artists' Eyes 1760-1960.by Jessica Christian and Charles Stiller, New Iona Press,2000.page 56.
Updated June 2019.

MURRAY McCHEYNE- SCULPTOR-COMMISSIONS AND CASUALTIES

Although he had significant public commissions in his lifetime  Murray McCheyne was not one to push himself forward.The best known of these works, which still remain are the sea-horses on the Civic Centre in Newcastle. 

The  large.abstract sculpture on the side of Wellbar House, Newcastle was removed after severe storm damage in the 1980's.

 His family group for Shieldfield was totally destroyed  by vandals.The Laing Art Gallery has a maquette. The press accounts of the commission bring back memories of an earlier age of Civic Idealism.

Somewhere in the North-East he made one of the first play sculptures.

There was also a small relief sculpture on the primary school at Belford. That slightly biomorphic work is no longer in place.

I have no further information on the Stations of the Cross he made in plaster for the Catholic church at Lowick.

Some commisssions which should still survive include the altar  furniture he made for local churches in the north Newcastle area.

If you visit Newbiggin and the church is open you can certainly see McCheyne's small but monumental woodcarving of Christ the King.This dates from the 1950s.

IONA THROUGH THE EYES OF CADELL AND PEPLOE-A STUDY BY PHILIP MacLEOD COUPE

Those who are interested in the work of the Scottish Colourists will know that Iona was much painted by Peploe and Cadell.Thanks to them it must be one of the most intensively painted spots in Scotland.These two fine artists were active chiefly in the inter-war years.Cadell  was first to visit -before the Great War in which he served. And Peploe sometimes visited in the winter which Cadell may not have done.What a lovely way to spend your holidays!

This large format, fully illustrated paperback book will give real pleasure  to any reader who cares about these artists and their work.

Philip Macleod Coupe has produced  a guide to their paintings-and in a way a guide also to much of  Iona itself. Not the whole of Iona because of the artists' preferences. He has found the sites and mapped them, confirming convincingly that Peploe favoured the North End and that  Cadell  wandered over much of the island.The south western corner does not apparently figure in their work.

The book has  several outlines  showing the  silhouettes of islands  in the paintings which will be a great help to those who want to orientate themselves vis-a-vis the several islands seen from Iona. There are also black and white photos by Mr Coupe himself of the views as they were recently and some old photographs of the island as it was.In one or two cases paintings are juxtaposed which show Cadell and Peploe painting from almost the same viewpoint. I wonder if they ever painted together in the same way as Cézanne and Pissarro or Cézanne and Renoir. Cadell showed much more interest in the crofts and the life of the island and the steamers which served it in those days. Guy Peploe's introduction reproduces  a droll letter from Cadell to his grandfather.

The most beautiful part of the island is the north end: white sands and beautiful rocks, looking across to Mull....."( *Peploe, p63.)

It was Peploe who confined himself pretty much to pure landscape while Cadell was much more willing to paint the crofts and buildings themselves. In addition Cadell seems to have been the one to make watercolours- a wise tactic as their relatively lower price might have attracted some  custom from visitors who were less prosperous. Or maybe he had run out of board to paint on, or wanted a change.

Cadell often adds a figure or perhaps a yacht coming through the Sound of
Iona at just the right point of focus/balance in the composition.

Peploe commented on the light of Iona and incidentally hints at some of the difficulties a landscape painter faces:

"We had miserable weather in Iona this year-worst in living memory-gales and rain the whole time. I got very little done. But that kind of weather suits Iona: the rocks and distant shores seen through falling rain, veil behind veil, take on an elusive quality, and when the light shines through one has visions or rare beauty. I think I might prefer it these days to your blue skies and clear distances." (*Peploe p73 .)

It is a matter of great regret that Mr Coupe did not live to see the publication of this labour of love. A painter himself he must have needed his painterly eye to find some of the sites. Some become visible at differing states of the tide and some-as the author demonstrates- have changed since the paintings were made: sand has disappeared from some beaches leaving more stone exposed. Or the machair has extended in some places.

This is one of his Iona landscapes which shows him positioning himself in the footsteps of the colourists-a view towards Gribun and Loch na Keal.

Philip MacLeod Coupe

His family have seen the book through the press. A labour of love for them too, one may be sure. The author's  delight in  the work of these artists shines out. He seems to have been a man of many talents-originally trained as an architect he became a luthier before he became an artist/historian.

The book is not a catalogue or census  of everything the two artists produced on Iona .To attempt such a project would have made the result too unwieldy. There is no evidence that the author set out to produce such a thing. Indeed there may still be Cadells out there unrecognised given his way of disposing of them. Remember the anecdotes that he sold paintings directly from  whatever croft he was renting? According to story a purchaser was shown out the front door but a non-purchaser was shown out the back way by Cadell's manservant. Circumstances such as these explain how artists and collectors lose track of work.

For example, there  are no illustrations of the two fine works by Cadell sold  at  Christies this  26 June 2015. Both originally were in the Service collection. One of them, No194,(£47.000) is very pleasing but the exact site is unspecified. One of the houses has  the same fenestration as Iona Cottage-though that cannot be the subject as it is not near the shore.

Cadell:Sligneach.The white croft has been replaced with a modern two storey building.
In fact the work is annotated, "Sligneach", which is to the south of the pier .

 No 195, ( £62.500) is another landscape in the same sale which is a more typical white sands picture.

 I mention these because I think Mr Coupe's book is infectious. Once you have seen a good group of these Iona paintings you will surely be left wanting more. Further examples can be found in my post here.

Paintings of Iona: Cadell and Peploe,
Philip MacLeod Coupe.With a foreword by Guy Peploe.
Published by:The heirs of Philip MacLeod Coupe. 2014
ISBN 978-0-9928597-0-1

* S  Peploe, 1871-1935: Guy Peploe, Mainstream, Edinburgh and London, 2000.

For a discussion of the technique two landscapes by Cadell in the Fleming-Wyfold collection see my post here

Revised 7/08/15.

DUNSTANBURGH SKETCHES

Some drawings in one of last year's sketch books  from visits to Dunstanburgh. Two of them are quick sketches to get the idea of the cloudscape behind the castle.

LIFE MODELS FOR FREE

Now that I have your attention...You can see living models in the streets of any town. This post is about my method of sketching them. Let me tell you something about the way I work when I am drawing people I see in the street. There you have the opportunity to study how people stand, hold their shopping etc.You can get plenty of prectice in looking-andunderstanding.

MATERIALS
I often use small, very unobtrusive pieces of paper, it is a good way to use scraps of good quality paper which can be kept tucked inside a  folded, book like piece of card. That is all you need.I usually use two coloured pencil stubs. Perhaps grey and black or brown and black with the lighter colour for a quick outline. My favourite coloured pencils are Faber- Castell Polychromos and for street sketching I cut  pencils into halves or smaller so that can easily hold two different stubs in the palm of my hand.Stubs are less visible. These pencils have very strong leads and they do not smudge easily.

I do sometimes draw into sketchbooks if that is all I have with me.But often, quite frequently, in fact, your model will move or just go away. So there is an argument for using only a cheap sketchbook.
At the moment I am using an out of date Moleskine diary. It isn't that I have any great liking for Moleskine but this was going cheap in a charity shop.As you can see it is tiny.One of the things I liked about it was the fact that the print is grey-and often minute so it is easier to see the drawing.

DRAWING PEOPLE IN TOWN-WHERE TO FIND SUBJECTS
Two places which come to mind are public transport and bus queues.If you are sitting on a bus you will probably have the back of someone's head  directly in front of you.Perhaps he wears a cap, or her hair is cascading all over the place. They cannot see you and you are not staring at them in any kind of intimidating way.It is all good drawing practice.If the person is across the aisle and one seat in front of you they will probably be visible in lost profile. Again they cannot see you out of the corner of their eye so you are not being intrusive.

On the bus

old Moleskine diary-in the bus queue and on the bus,

Another location which you might find useful is somewhere near a group of cashpoints. Again, you get a back view but there is the challenge-which I like-of getting something down quickly.

Apart from this, in town, especially where people meet in town centres there will often be a quiet place
where you can stand which is not in anyone's way and from which you can observe.

At the cashpoint

ATTITUDE TO DRAWING
You have a challenge in drawing someone at a cash point. Enjoy it and try to get something essential down on your pad.If you are drawing someone on this situation they cannot observe you. But what if you want to draw someone full face. In a formal sitting the artist is allowed to scrutinize the subject thoroughly. In drawing someone you do not know it is different. Staring could well be distressing to the subject.You do not want to do that and in general I would personally scan the subject in a general way.

on the bus

If you are on a bus and there is someone a couple of seats down who is facing you then you will be looking in that direction anyway. You have to scan in my opinion because that is the best way to get a general impression. This type of drawing situation is not for those who are obsessed with detail.

In a cafe-Durham

I cannot give you any legal advice on the subject.I have drawn people in public places in the UK for many years and only one person has ever commented.A young woman had come out of her office to smoke a cigarette and I was standing near a bus queue and  tried to draw her. She noticed and asked if I was in fact  drawing her . I said that I was and that I was an artist and often drew people out of doors. She was happy to look at my sketchbook and didn't really mind.
You can see more recent cafe drawings here.