Archway To Hartlip Church, Dashed And Splashed

This was the only time today when I put down some pencil guidelines to help with the drawing.  All the other three subjects were based on straight lines and I felt more confident putting these down in pen.  But for the archway I needed to think of too many things at once while drawing, so went for the pencils and had two or three attempts before getting something acceptable.  While drawing, I was keen to get lots of detail into the arch and very little into the church and I’m glad to see I stuck to the plan.  I think I made good use of the thickest pen here, putting down some large cracks in the archway and some foliage silhouettes in the foreground.  It’s as if I’m wanting the pen drawing to be able to stand as an artwork in its own right.  In fact, I’m probably going too far down that route: I’m not sure I need all that crosshatching in the tree shapes.

Now that’s interesting.  A bright cool blue to add some energy, an earthy yellow that will really help with stonework and an earthy red that will again help with stonework but might also make a good earth colour when mixed with the blue.  A promising selection.

And, yes, they worked out well.  I got all the colours I needed and was enjoying this triad so much that I couldn’t resist adding some random blues and burnt siennas to the archway in places.  This one worked out just fine and was later bought by my biggest local fan.

I’m not saying much about the painting stage in these dash and splashes.  It’s because that splash stage really is one big splash.  It’s over really quickly and I try not to think too much about what I’m doing.