A Visit to Southwell Minster

My first visit to Southwell Minster was about 20 years ago and I remember it well. I was an architectural student on a study visit with our history professor James Stevens Curl. We arrived by coach to be greeted by a freezing wind and driving rain, I stood admiring the entrance to the minster as my fellow students were being ushered from the warmth of the vehicle to the exposed grounds, lawns and graves. After a short while I turned around to find two of my friends huddled behind me using me as shelter. Despite the weather the talk and walk around by our professor was excellent, we were taken on a trip through time as descriptions of the geometric limitations of the romanesque arch transformed into the gothic and every word seemed to be accompanied with a glorious and carefully detailed piece of architecture within the Minster.

Now I am lucky enough to live near to Southwell and it is always a pleasure to visit and enjoy the sights with an informed and grateful eye. My last visit was to take a few pictures for a sepia ink illustration I had in mind. Camera in hand I found myself on the same grounds, but this time enjoying a sunny day. After an hour or so of reacquainting myself and getting as many reasonable images as I could with my limited photography skills I wandered inside to leave a donation and headed for home.

Here are a sequence of photos showing the development of the illustration. As usual I use Winsor and Newton Drawing and Calligraphy inks, the drawing inks are brush applied and start off in a watered down state to allow me to build up the layers and get a feel for the sepia tones to provide a ghost image of the building and landscape. Once I have this I switch to the acrylic calligraphy ink and the pens to begin defining the detail and concentrating on bringing out the form of the building. The pens I use vary from an old fashioned dip pen, a Rotring art pen and a Rotring Isograph for the fine details.

Next stop on my ink illustration trip around Nottinghamshire is the village of South Scarle.

Further References:

http://www.southwellminster.org/

http://jamesstevenscurl.com/about-james-stevens-curl

http://www.winsornewton.com/uk/

St Giles, Holme, Nottinghamshire

Earlier this year I took a trip out to visit some of the churches around the North Nottinghamshire area to reacquaint myself with traditional architecture and the vernacular. This last year or so much of my work has centred around industrial buildings and helping architects, engineers and contractors to understand ways of putting elements together so it was a pleasure to enjoy the sunshine and take time to enjoy the traditional.

I decided to break out the sepia inks and capture a scene of St Giles church in Holme, I have added these images to our twitter feed but I felt it might be interesting to add them onto a single blog post so the process can be followed.

I use Winsor & Newton drawings and sepia inks to achieve this effect. The tools range from brushes, Roting art pen (with a modified cartridge to allow bottled ink to be used) a Rotring Isograph .18mm technical pen & a traditional dip pen too.

Hope you enjoy the process.

Next stop will be Southwell Minster, traditional architecture on a very different scale!

Swinderby Church in Sepia Inks

I have been using brown and sepia tone inks for a number of years now, however last month I decided to experiment with the technique a little further and attempt to make some improvements. I chose the subject of the church in Swinderby, Lincolnshire. The sandstone on the main church together with the timber framed and shingled gate seemed to lend itself well to the possibility of a monotone illustration. The many years this church has stood within the village and the long effects of the weather have also softened the materials and edges, adding to the beauty of this wonderful old building.

After outlining the illustration in a light pencil line onto watercolour board I applied a brush wash of the diluted Winsor & Newton peat brown drawing ink to add in the sky and base tones. The ink can be added in layers to build up the wash effect and colour depth but I have never been entirely happy with the ink when applying it with a dip pen and I have stayed away from using it with Rotring Isograph technical pens for fear of ruining the nib. For this reason I switched to the Winsor & Newton sepia calligraphy ink.

The calligraphy ink, was both predictable and gave a deep defined colour from both the technical pen and the dip pen allowing me to get the definition I wanted around the foliage, forms and the shadows. All in all I was pleased with the combination and performance of the different inks. A little knowledge and experimentation with different types of inks is well worth while for those who wish to get familiar with the medium and will help control the extremes of wash and depth to gain the effect desired for the subject.

Hill Holt Wood - Sketching the Woodland

For those who follow our twitter feed you may be aware of what I refer to as a "Sunday Sketch". Typically I like to get out and about for an hour or so and put pen to paper to capture a little scene before me.

A regular stopping point is Hill Holt Wood near Norton Disney in Lincolnshire. This ancient woodland runs partly as a business, social enterprise and a charity. Its safe environment draws families in to have a wander around, but unlike some family woodlands there are no mountain bikes for hire or adventure playgrounds. Instead there is the woodland and a number of little projects sitting quietly beneath the canopy working in harmony with nature.

We spent a days course with the staff at Hill Holt to see how their ethics and business work hand in hand and were most impressed. As well as a run down on their projects and interaction with the community we also got to spend time with one of their rangers (sharing a little knowledge and enthusiasm for green wood working and a mutual respect for the work of craftsmen such as Robin Wood) and enjoy some home grown food.

Since that day we have been regular Sunday visitors, sketching and escaping escaping the cold spring we have just endured into the cafe for a bowl of soup and a coffee. I have attached the sketches to this blog post for your amusement, they typically take about 30 to 45 minutes and are sketched with either a Rotring Art Pen & brown ink or Faber Castell Pitt Sepia Artists Pens.

If you are looking for a place to visit and enjoy a little quiet time, you might well enjoy it. If you are looking for a glimpse of how businesses can work in harmony and respect with the environment and community, you may well be inspired!

http://www.hillholtwood.com/

(blog post by Al, with respect to Karen, Nigel, Oliver, Steve, Al and the other staff & rangers)

Purelands, A Place of Tranquility & Reflection

In many ways we have been very fortunate over the last few years. We have been busy while many others have not been so lucky. Getting some time to relax and collect thoughts for a while has been at a premium but there are places we go grab a little quiet time and recharge the batteries. These vary from the woodlands and paths of the east midlands to places such as Purelands.

Situated in the village of North Clifton in Nottinghamshire, this beautiful garden and centre is a haven of peace. Winding paths, trickling streams and reflective pools have been carefully sculpted from the landscape. Unlike many english gardens and landscapes, the japanese garden does not focus on vistas, axis and monuments, but instead the turns of the path bring you to living in the moment and discovering treasures around the next turn. The sweeping landscapes exist in miniature across a still pond or raked gravel bed and around the garden are places to sit and meditate or simply enjoy the surroundings.

it seems a very english thing to wait until the sun is shining before we rush out to take in the sights and drink tea beneath blue grey skies. But for me I enjoy visiting Purelands in the rain as well as the sun. To sit in the little houses and shelters within the gardens, listening to the rain on the roof and foliage brings moments of peace and freshness to a mind often cluttered with the issues of day to day life. The weekends of August and September bring a different energy to the gardens when the lanterns are lit and visitors are encouraged to enjoy their warm glow and soft shadows as the sun is setting.

As artists the garden has an irresistible call, dotted around this post are sketches and drawings Purelands, i hope we have gone some way to capture the skill & patience of Maitreya (creator and owner of Purelands). When it came to selecting images for the greetings cards we do, the ink wash image of Purelands was an obvious choice for us.

Below is a link to the website for Purelands, it is well worth an online visit, but far more rewarding to actually call in and relax there for a while.

http://www.buddhamaitreya.co.uk/garden.html

If you happen to come across someone sitting sketching in a quiet corner, feel free to say hello.

(Blog post by Al)