Part 3 Project 5 Ex 1a

Sketchbook of Townscape drawings

I feel somewhat reluctant to the exposure of sitting in town drawing.  I find this a bit odd because I don't feel shy of people seeing my finished work.  Maybe you just have to do it to see how it really feels. 

With this shyness in mind I've decided to go to Retford and select somewhere where I can be reasonably sure I won't be disturbed.  The canal (which is quiet) or the railway station where people are wrapped up in themselves are places I will try.

Two days later:
I've hit very cold, wet and windy weather and simply been unable to draw outdoors.  I have taken photos and tried to draw from them but I find it really unsatisfying.  As well as that my work from photos lacks  fluidity and spontaneity. The fallout is a lack of excitement and motivation - the first time this has hit me on Drawing 1.  I'm not sure how to handle this problem.

This is what I've drawn.

Retford Station 1

I took notes just as I would have if I'd been able to sketch.  The brickwork is a lovely honey colour - not at all a local feature and the metal supports and doorways are very ornate.  The whole station looks well maintained.When I took my photo the station was deserted and I recorded in my sketchbook how desolate it felt.  It was late afternoon when I was there and the low, intermittent sun made the walls look bright now and then and the shadows were fleeting.

When I was drawing this photo I realised that it wasn't the sort of sketch I enjoy doing.  In the countryside I felt able to make bold, swift marks and copying a photo just didn't hit the spot.

I drew from another photo and made a conscious effort to keep marks more fluid.  The view is slightly to the right of where I was before.

Retford Station 2

This feels a little less "tight" and it was certainly done a bit quicker.  There's less detail but more feeling in this work.


The ornate supports for the roof are rather lovely.

Retford Station - detail

I went to other end of the platform and tried to draw but it was far too cold.

Retford Station - unfinished sketch

When the weather was awful during my rural sketches I stayed in the car but I've found it much harder to park in town and get a view I want to draw.  There's some thinking to be done.


I decided to re frame my strategy and look for a place to park my car then see what was on offer.  I went to Gainsborough which in the past had heavy industry and has an interesting river front.  There were some old buildings that used to be maltings but are now apartments.


I like the way the untouched building on the left shows its history with layer upon layer of plaster and paint flaking off the wall.  On the right the building is apartments but in places the flakiness is still evident almost as if the building is hanging on to its past.

From the warmth of my car I tried to draw what I was seeing but didn't get the proportions right and it was too tight and controlled.

What I wanted to do was show the difference between the renovated and the untouched but it didn't work.  I went closer to try to capture the feeling better.

As I walked back to the car I looked over the road and saw a building that simply said "draw me" so I did.

This is built of red brick but it is dirty and run down.  The roof is slate and has some moss on.  I liked the idea that it looked as though it was "To Let" but in fact the sign refers to one of the apartments on my side of the road as are the railings.  Because the area is built up and the river runs alongside the building I couldn't look at the building from another angle so I did a tonal sketch to try to immerse my self a little more.

And then I used light water soluble crayon to subtly tint my drawing.  The use of heavy colour seemed wrong as the scene was very dull and devoid of bright colour.

I feel happy that this is nearer where I should be.  It has the sense of freedom that I like and the perspective that I've found tricky looks OK.

I have found this exercise difficult for more than one reason; the weather, feeling unable to find suitable material and becoming frustrated and then demotivated.

Part 3 Project 5 Research point 1(b)

Thinking about Project 4

I've been thinking quite a lot about Project 4 and wondering which town will provide the base for my work. I live in rural North Nottinghamshire and the nearest town to me is Retford, a small market town with lots of Georgian buildings.  I looked for paintings of the town and didn't find much.

Retford Fair - Keith Hudson, 1979
Acrylic on board , 42 x 80 (1)

I think this has been painted from the balcony of the Town Hall overlooking the Market Place. The artist has taken some creative decisions and made alterations to the buildings.

About twenty miles away is the city of Lincoln which in past times has been the capital of England. Because it was so important a city it had (and still has) a hilltop Castle, a magnificent Cathedral and even Roman ruins. The Castle and the Cathedral dominate the landscape for miles around and I was moved to see what artists had made of the sights.

One of the views I'm considering drawing is the Brayford Pool.  This is a natural lake formed by the widening of the River Witham and it was used as a harbour in Roman times.  The Romans connected it to the River Trent by digging the Foss Dyke.  Today it is the backdrop to the university and a wide variety of social venues - it still buzzes with life.

Lincoln from Brayford by Joseph Baker - 1770 (2)

This is all decidedly rural but things were changing when in 1802-3 Turner painted from the same vantage point.  I recognise this because of the small church centre right.  The palette is very different, certainly there doesn't seem to be any intention to create anything idyllically rural.  Even the sky look a bit troubled with its muddy yellow.

Lincoln Cathedral from the Holmes, Brayford -  JMW Turner - 1802-3
Graphite, watercolour and body colour on paper.  660 x 1020 mm (3)

By the time Carmichael painted the Brayford the towers to the Cathedral had been removed for safety reasons, there were lots more buildings and the water was much busier.  All sense of the rural has disappeared.

The Brayford Pool and Lincoln Cathedral - John Wilson Carmichael, 1858 (4)
Oil on Canvas, 89 x 134.5 cm

• 
  

Montgomery offers a contemporary view from a slightly different angle with a more recreational look:

Brayford Pool and Lincoln Cathedral - Peter Montgomery (5)

It's fascinating to see art that shows the rural, then industrialisation and its recent reversal.  When I first knew the Brayford there were lots of small workshops, marshalling yards and heavy industry.  

Lincoln offers many iconic images and it's hard to find a different take on things.  Probably Turner felt the same.

Cathedral Church at Lincoln - JMW Turner, exhibited 1795
Watercolour and graphite on paper, 446 - 348 mm (6)

Contemporary artists are taking pretty much the same line.

Lincoln Cathedral from Castle Square - Peter Montgomery (7)

Susan Isaac draws the same view but in a different style

Lincoln Cathedral from Castle - Susan Isaccs (8)

The Cathedral and Castle are at the top of the notorious Steep Hill.  This too attracts artists.

Steep Hill - Sarah Pullen (9)
Pen and ink

Steep Hill - David Work (10)

My friend Sue joins in as well - this was her Christmas card for 2014:

The Straight, Lincoln - Sue -  2014
Pen and ink with pastels

Lincoln industry developed hugely in the nineteenth through into the twentieth century and it was of the heavy kind.  The tank was developed in Lincoln and helped the troops in the First World War.  True to form L S Lowry painted the grittier side of Lincoln many times with the Cathedral just vaguely in the background.  It is a very linear image.

Lincoln - L S Lowry (11)
Oil on canvas, 41 x 61 cm

I have begun to think that it's a fine dividing line between an overworked view and one that stands countless re-interpretations.  Lowry seems to have found another, less picturesque side to Lincoln where the focus is on the present rather than the past.


Some time later:

I found this interesting perspective of Retford Market Square from the most unlikely source.  Some years ago the Market Place was resurfaced and this image comes from Aggregate Industries who supplied the materials.  I think it's an aerial photo but I'm not sure.

Retford Market Place (12)

(1)  http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/retford-fair-nottinghamshire-47884

(2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/joseph-baker

(3) http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-lincoln-cathedral-from-the-holmes-brayford-tw0351

 (4) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-brayford-pool-and-lincoln-cathedral-81826

(5) http://www.lasartsales.co.uk/artwork/Brayford%20Pool%20and%20Lincoln%20Cathedral%20by%20Peter%20Montgomery

(6)  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-cathedral-church-at-lincoln-tw0377

(7) http://www.artistpetermontgomery.co.uk/paintings-gallery-2/paintings-of-lincoln

(8)  http://www.susan-isaac.co.uk/pages/Lincoln%20&%20Newark.html

(9)  http://community.saa.co.uk/gallery/artist-media/pen-ink-by-sarah-pullen_286784_41.html

(10) http://www.watercoloursdavidwork.co.uk/products/details/3859.html

(11) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/lincoln-82034

(12) http://www.aggregate.com/media-and-resources/case-studies/retford-market-place/#

Part 3 Project 5 Research point 1(a)

Contemporary landscape

John Virtue

John Virtue is an artist who has pushed the boundaries of the concept of landscape.  Between 2003 and 2005 he was associate artist at the National Gallery.  The associate artist scheme enables leading artists (by invitation and for a period of two years) to work with a collection of paintings that were made before 1900.  The idea is that the old masters can continue to influence contemporary artists. (1)

Although he is influenced by oriental brushwork and American expressionism the main inspirations for Virtue were Turner (1775-1851) and Constable (1776-1837).  Other influences are Ruisdael (1628-1682), Koninck (1619-1698) and Rubens (1577-1640).  If the aim of the National Gallery associate artist scheme is to demonstrate the influence of old masters it seems that Virtue obliges in spades.

As I have noted in another post Virtue uses whatever geographical situation he is in to inspire his art so it follows that working in a studio at the National Gallery would enable him the produce paintings of the London landscape.

Virtue works on large canvases in monochrome using white acrylic paint, black ink and shellac.

Virtue's studio at the National Gallery (1)

Michael Glover (Independent 08.02.2013) finds himself unsure of exactly where Virtue positioned himself to make his London sketches:

there is much here that we can very quickly, and very readily, identify: the Gherkin, the NatWest tower, St Paul's Cathedral, all pent within the near-vanished walls of the old Roman city. What exactly is the vantage point here? We know that Virtue has favoured two during the ongoing making of this series of London paintings (all of which, curiously, are numbered but not named), the Oxo Tower and Somerset House. Is this a view from Somerset House then? Is that not the Victoria Embankment we can see underneath its walls? But could you achieve quite so broad and compendious a view from the topmost vantage point of Somerset House? Or does this painting merely take that vantage point as its starting point, and then range – spread its shoulders – more fancifully? (2)

Landscape No 710 - John Virtue.  2003-4 (2)

I like the thought that the London skyline can be changed by a brushstroke.  Michael Glover goes on to remark on Virtues' ability to make atmospheric paintings that "puts us in mind of Turner, whose paintings were often charged by elemental drama" just like the one above. (2)

The roof of the National Gallery was a  favourite vantage point. This is where he found Horatio Nelson from a different perspective:

Half way up Nelson's Column - John Virtue (3)

View from the National Gallery roof - John Virtue (4)

I have found Virtue's work very hard to understand because it seems so dark and brooding.  However, as I look at his work more I find the light sometimes winning through.  I find his sketches inspiring and as I progress though Project 5 I will be looking at these a lot as I learn about perspective.

Like Turner, Virtue has turned his hand to all sorts of landscapes

The Sea - John Virtue. 2011-2013 (5)

I find this painting very exciting with its sparkling water and huge rollers.

Tim Curtis

A friend alerted me to the work of Tim Curtis whose work she had seen in a northern exhibition.  He is a community based artist with wide experience who has some interesting ideas in his work with children.

Bovvered Bout Bradford  - 2009. Mixed media
Y7 Grange and Titus Salt Secondary School, Bradford (6)

Lister's Mill pod skeletons - Tim Curtis 2008 (6)

I'm not quite sure what "pod skeletons" means but I like the perspective drawing.

This idea particularly caught my eye.  Curtis has used discarded corrugated cardboard on which to draw a townscape.

What did you do in the Nineties Daddy? - Tim Curtis. 2011
Mixed media on corrugated cardboard. (6)

Near and Farscapes - Tim Curtis 2013 (7)

The use of the card to emphasise the verticals is (I think) brilliant.

Much of the time Curtis spends working with groups of children, although adults seem to be welcome. I can find little regarding his working techniques but he is someone I'll keep an eye out for.

Julian Bray

I came across Julian Bray's work as I trawled through past exhibition photos of Retford Art Society. (8) His work is sometimes very architectural but remains sensitive and full of life.  Initial drawing gives Bray the structure to use multi media in both dramatic and subtle ways.  Sometimes his work is semi abstracted and at other times it is atmospheric and plays with light and shade. In his own words 

I celebrate shape and colour and I hope to encourage the viewer to see their surroundings afresh.  (9)

The following paintings are from a series Bray did while he was working on the Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire.  The series seems to me to give him scope to use all his talents; the detailed drawing skill in the architectural work and the fanciful and flamboyant  in paintings like Magical Garden.

Magical Garden - Julian Bray (10)

Chatsworth Magnificence - Julian Bray  (11)

In direct contrast but showing Bray's multifaceted skill is a more draughtsman like work that emphasises perspective in a very rigid way: 

Chatsworth Perspective - Julian Bray (12)

Bray does not stop at landscape and architecture but has an elegant touch with people as well:

Fletchers workshop, Welbeck - Julian Bray (8)

I can only marvel at this sort of diversity.

My task in the research was to look specifically at the work of John Virtue while he was associate artist at the National Gallery.  A further suggestion was to look at other artists who might inspire my own work and both of the artists I selected do that.  I am led to wonder what the thread is between the three artists who are so different yet can still inspire me.  I have come to the following conclusions:

• all prepared to be experimental and take risks
• they all adapt to their surroundings
• all work with confidence
• they have great technical skill
• as artists they feel approachable 
• they produce accessible work

In my web wanderings I have extended my research a little and I will put it on my next post because it has a slightly different focus.

(1) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/learning/associate-artist-scheme/john-virtue/

(2) http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-landscape-no-710-20034-by-john-virtue-8485446.html
(3) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artist-john-virtue/studies/national_acc_4.htm

(4) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artist-john-virtue/studies/national_acc_2.htm

(5) http://www.artfund.org/what-to-see/exhibitions/2015/01/17/john-virtue-the-sea

(6) http://www.timcurtisartist.co.uk/index.php

(7) http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/whatson/event_detail.php?ID=533

(8) http://www.retford-art-society.co.uk/news-jb-oct07.html

 (9) https://gallerytop.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/julian-bray/

(10) http://www.gallerytop.co.uk/?attachment_id=303

(11) http://www.gallerytop.co.uk/?attachment_id=299

(12)  http://www.gallerytop.co.uk/products-page/painters/julian-bray-chatsworth-perspective

Part 3 Project 4 Ex 3

Aerial or atmospheric perspective

This section is about another sort of perspective, aerial or atmospheric perspective.  The principle is that the further away the object to be drawn is the smaller, paler and less distinct it will look.

It is almost New Year and although there is still snow on the ground it is sunny and bright.  I'm lucky to have the Idle Valley Nature Park on my doorstep and I thought this would offer me scope for a few sketches and the chance of a walk.  The Park has been developed by the Notts Wildlife Trust from old gravel workings so there's lots of water and all the attendant wildlife.  It's a wonderful place.

This is the start of one of the pathways:

Willow arch pathway

We were lucky enough to see a kingfisher:

....and take lots of lovely photos.

It was pretty cold to be hanging about so I did a couple of 5 minute sketches that I worked on later at home. Each of these were no more than 15 minutes in total.

Looking over the lake at the Idle Valley
Charcoal and soft pastel

Field with fence at the Idle Valley
Charcoal and soft pastel

There's another wildlife haven I often go to called Treswell Wood.  It is ancient woodland again run by the Wildlife Trust. Recently they have bought a piece of farmland that fills in a gap in the wood and I visited to see how restoration work was progressing.

It was another cold, bright day and the view I sketched was looking over the valley.  I completed it at home as my fingers got so cold.

Cottam Power Station from Treswell Wood
Graphite stick, pencil,soft pastel and charcoal

I spent more time on this mainly because it was more involved and I used different materials.  I'm really enjoyed making marks to represent things.  The hedge for instance is just a closed up squiggle.

I'm a glutton for punishment and on New Years Eve I went to the flood bank at Littleborough.  It's a desolate place - wild, lonely and very remote.  Just over the river is Lincolnshire.

The day was another bright and sunny one but the wind from the river was bitterly cold.  I took my small sketchbook and some pencils and did a couple of rapid sketches but I had to give up because my fingers became cold so quickly.  I intended to carry on at home but I really didn't have enough of a basis to work on.  I decided to use my sketches as an aide memoire and supplement them with photos taken from a similar position.

My very quick, inadequate sketch

These sketches show the Folly on the snowy hill and at the bottom of the hill winds the River Trent.

The Folly from Littleborough

I find this drawing too busy.  I drew exactly what was there and I'm beginning to understand that I can leave some things out and get a better result.  I often draw water and I'm going to have to put some work into learning how to do it properly.

Lincolnshire from Littleborough

I like this much better because it's more atmospheric - it looks like a cold day.  In the foreground is snowy, boggy land with marsh grass.  In the mid distance there's the River Trent and the bank followed by a few fields.  In the background indistinct trees and hedges.

I used charcoal and conte crayon and held them on their side for much of the time.  The hawthorn on the left is in heavy pencil. The grasses were done with quick upward and downward movements at a variety of angles.

Until I started to draw the landscape around me I hadn't appreciated just how dominant the power stations are.  It was a bit of a relief to look over into Lincolnshire and see no pylons or looming cooling towers.

Part 3 Project 4 Ex 2

Two point or angular perspective

It is the day after Boxing Day and although the weather is bright the ground is covered in a substantial depth of snow.  In view of that I've opted to draw a pile of books on a table rather than a building seen corner on.

I am reminded of my very first work on this course and how I tussled with drawings books on a table.

My early drawing of books on a table

I can only hope that the things I've learnt help a bit!

I now know that what I was attempting was just too complicated for someone who didn't know what she doing!

Only in the interest of honesty in my blog am I including this.  I've marked on my eye level and drawn in some perspective lines but it seems so wrong I couldn't continue.  I think maybe it's the fact that all the books are at a different angle.  I ended up getting so frustrated I put it to one side hoping that something would drop into place.

Fortunately the following day there was less snow around so I was able to draw the corner of the barn.

I felt fairly confident in what I'd drawn only to find it was very inaccurate when I drew on the perspective lines.

The barn on the corner

The barn on the corner with perspective lines

Once again I can see clearly that it's not right but at the time I drew it looked OK.

I went back to the building and had a closer look (see photo).  There was snow on  the ground that stopped me getting a proper base line and the walls were well out of square which ever way I looked. However, all that did was to make me a more difficult job and I should have spotted the problems before I started.

I'm understanding 2 point perspective intellectually but practically I'm floundering.  Time for some practice.

I've found a  you tube video that gives me a bit of help (1) and so I'm going to give it a try because it means lots of practice so I might get my head around what I'm doing.

Cityscape after Tom MacPherson (1)

This was an excellent way to try lots of angles and I've gained a better understanding of what I'm doing and why.  I've been unexpectedly plunged back to my schooldays when my constant question in maths was "why" or "how" and I've realised that what I've been doing is very maths based.

I'm hoping that the work I've done will give me a good grounding for the townscapes that are coming up in the Project 5.

My next task in this exercise is to check the accuracy of the perspective in a drawing by Sir Muirhead Bone.  Rome was sketched in pencil in 1910.

From OCA manual

I was asked to copy a simplified version of this image then superimpose the perspective lines.  I stared at my blank paper for ages and simply couldn't fathom out where to start so I took a photocopy and used that.

The accuracy of the drawing is variable - some windows are out of alignment and there are lots of curves around.  The perspective lines are all in the same general area so I am beginning to conclude that "good enough" is OK although in a sketch.  That's not to say it should be sloppy!  An architectural drawing would need to be much more accurate but then it wouldn't need to be sensitive as this sketch is.  Horses for courses I think.


(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNq78n02fMQ