Taking a Closer Look (M6 Chpt 4)

 I was worried about finding suitable drawing matter for architectural detail - not sure why really, as I realised fairly quickly there was no end of possibilities. Where possible I have kept to medieval details as my overall subject is medieval King's Lynn. I have completed four pieces or work for this chapter, really owing to time constraints as I would have liked to try out more things and techniques. However the chapter is now done.

Three of the detail pieces use techniques I used before and one tries out a new technique I found by chance in one of Beany and Littlejohn's lovely little pamphlets (expect more where that came from).

Subject one:

Medieval Statue/relief carving Head: Observational and completed coloured piece, in crayon, watercolour and ink. This was a fairy challenging piece to start with and was a logical start given ink had been the subject of the previous chapter.

Subject Two

Column head / decoration. Observational drawing then worked in oil pastel and 6b pencil:

Subject three

Late Medieval embossed leather wallpaper - not of the easiest of things to reproduce especially as I chose watercolour, colouring pencil and pencil. I completed half of this image coloured. However the observational drawing went very well:

Subject 4

Worn medieval encaustic floor tile: I chose a chequered tile for this piece and so an observational drawing isn't really that important. However I used a technique used by Beany and Littlejohn, and used wax crayon distressed with a scalpel and then colour washed with brusho. I think I can fairly honestly say this is the first time I've found a good use for those powders. I'll definitely have another go with this technique.

Claire Gordon

08/07/2021