Paintings: Ruined Window Watercolour

Watercolour and Indian Ink on A4 Cartridge Paper

So I am once again back and blogging once more and I thought I would start this new blogging year with this piece featuring a ruined church window. I created this artwork a while ago and I liked it because  it was all overgrown with ivy, the trees were growing though the window and plants were clinging onto the rocky walls; it already seemed like a piece of art before I even started to draw it.

I worked with some watercolour tablets and Indian ink on this artwork, consciously using quite vibrant colours to try and convey a subtle reminder of stained glass. I am not sure if this worked, you will have to decide for yourselves on that, but I am definitively pleased with the finished result anyway.

Sketchbook: Rainy Archways

Indian Ink in A4 Sketchbook

I created this piece in one of my sketchbooks a while ago of the inside of a ruined cathedral. I really liked the drama of the place, this great gothic ruin in the rain, forming huge puddles in the middle of the stone floor.

I used some Indian ink, beginning with a light wash and working some darker tones into it while it was still wet. This let some of the tones bleed into each other. I quite like the effect, all the elements working together to create quite a simple but likeable piece of art.

Back Catalogue: An Eerie Ruin in Watercolour and Mixed Media

Mixed Media on Cartridge Paper

Been a while since I put anything up on this blog, I shall try not to leave it so long in the future.

This is a piece I created a while ago as part of a project on Ruin and Decay that I think I have mentioned in one or two previous posts. I chose this ruined tower that I believe was part of a castle keep perched on top of a little hill as the subject for a mixed media painting. It had quite a serious, almost spooky feel to the place that I wanted to try and communicate in this piece.

I went quite ambitious with the scale of this piece being just a little bit smaller than A1 size. I roughly plotted out all the bits of shadows and darker areas in some Indian ink and then diluted some more to create a wash. When I was happy with this layer I proceeded to work into it with some watercolour paints, trying not being too strict with my palette. I also added some marks in crayons and some chalk, and finished it off with some last details in ink with a thin brush.

Drawings: Blitzed Building

Pencil on Cartridge Paper

I created this drawing of a building, completely ruined after a World War Two air raid, from an old photograph recording the event. I thought it was interesting how although totally gutted and ruined inside, the defining feature of it is not the burnt out remains but the tower and the entranceway that still stand proud and defiant. In the photograph I drew this from, there is no background, due to the smoke and dust from the collapsed building, leaving the building looking like it had been drawn onto a bare canvas, feeling lonely and forgotten.

I employed the use of several grades of pencil, specifically a 2H, HB, 2B and in just a few places a 6B. I concentrated most of the detailed drawing techniques on the tower and doorway, leaving the ruined part of the building a little bit more vague. I left the background almost totally blank, much like the photograph where all you could see was the dust, I think it captured the forsaken feel of the place quite well.

Back Catalogue: Colourful Crumbling Church

Acrylic on Board 24"x20"

This was a piece that I created a while ago as part of a project at college, I decided to experiment and not hold back with the colour. As a result I ended up going slightly mad with it and this eventually culminated with the piece above.

The Subject is taken from a quick sketch I had done of a ruined church situated on the side of a hill, though to look at you would hardly recognise it as such if it were not for the tower still somewhat identifiable. The whole place is locked in a fierce battle against the elements that it unfortunately seems to be losing; however it is definitely going out with a bit of a bang, in the form of this dramatic ruin that staunchly refuses to go quietly.

As I said before, I didn’t hold back with the colour on this piece and just went for it, smearing it on in various hues with your bog standard brushes and few different palette knives for the larger areas. I think this has added a slightly eerie quality to the overall appearance, which I have decided that I quite enjoy, although I’m not a hundred percent sure why.