Here’s a quick little post about a building sketch I did in Alnwick, Northumberland England. Alnwick is an old town, perhaps 800 years or so, and therefor filled with interesting architectural elements. It has it’s very own castle on the edge of town and a huge stone gate that once was part of a wall around the town, now gone for building stones.
Baily's Cafe sketch
I sat on a cold, hard, stone wall on the busy “Bondgate Within” street, a street with shops, small hotels and the upper part still filled with bumpy cobbles. They do have new benches but none gave this straight-on view of the shop I wanted to sketch. I only had enough time to start my sketch when Gary showed up and we were off and running again; this was on June 17.
Bailey's Cafe sketch finished
Click here to see sketches of buildings in my shop as note cards, more coming!
We returned on July 20 and I, with sketchbook in hand, said I’d be drawing while he ran errands. I had about 35-45 minutes to finish this sketch, so I found the same hard, cold rock on the stone wall to sit on and got busy. This is with a permanent ink pen so whatever marks I made were not erasable. I first tried to put the rest of the lines in for the main building row and the dome. Then I added windows, lamps, people and cars. I didn’t bother to add the distant buildings and cars till the end, but glad I got them in, they really add some depth and interest to the drawing. What I loved about this building was it’s green patina dome, I would really like to do another sketch of it using my colors.
That’s really beautiful. What a fantastic sketch. I don’t know why but I prefer urban landscapes to more traditional, rural ones. I’m not sure if it’s the people or the buildings but the absence of one or both usually leaves me a bit cold. I think there should at least be animals in most landscapes. A watercolour painting of this scene would be wonderful. Good work!
Well thanks so much Mark, I have been thinking a lot more about architecture lately. I went up to Edinburgh this week twice to research ideas and wow, talk about architectural stimulation! Everywhere you look! I created a new category on the right for architectural stuff, I hope to get more in there soon.
About the animals in a landscape, I know what you mean, I love the old English landscapes with cows or livestock and that’s something I want to work on more too.