Category Archives: Architecture

More Little Boxes

Well, I’m still going. There should be twenty when I am finished, even though I have lived in over 24 houses (counting everywhere I have lived for more than 3 months). What I think I am interested in here, not only the buildings themselves – but the potential for hinting at, or picking out someContinue reading “More Little Boxes”

Naples Feb 2019

I’ve just come back from a 2/3 day sketching trip to Naples. My mum’s friend visited Naples and described it as ‘a shit hole’. I can see her point. Naples is busy, polluted, dirty and smelly. Yet – there’s something incredible about it. It feels very foreign for a European city. It’s not particularly touristy.Continue reading “Naples Feb 2019”

Buildings with Personality

Buildings have always been an anathema to me, well – unless I can draw them in a very scribbly, lazy sort of way (maybe looking back at the Rome sketchbook will show that perhaps I wasn’t ALWAYS afraid of tackling buildings). But to give them personality, play with the reality of them, treat them asContinue reading “Buildings with Personality”

Sketchbook: Little Chimney Houses

From our apartment in Bologna I could see rooftops. Well, mainly one rooftop. I noticed, not immediately, this delightful way of making the chimneys. Perhaps it is a peculiarly Bolognese thing, I don’t know. Presumably it was done to prevent birds nesting on top of the chimney – except they look rather like inviting little housesContinue reading “Sketchbook: Little Chimney Houses”

Victorian House

  Same house, two versions. Which do you like best? I was commissioned to draw a house for a couple who are moving and leaving this one, presumably their first house together. It happens to be a really nice house to draw but that isn’t why I drew it twice. I began drawing it andContinue reading “Victorian House”

Delicatessen Undertakers

Here I am again, trying to ‘make friends with architecture’. I read somewhere that I should treat buildings in the same way I would a plant or person, you know, see it as something organic. So here is my attempt. Admittedly it was drawn from a photograph I’d taken, to make it easier to simplify; although perhapsContinue reading “Delicatessen Undertakers”

That Butcher’s Shop Again

Progress with architecture – still that Butcher’s shop! But am I making progress? I think I am. The final Butcher’s shop in this series has been created with more clarity as to what I wanted to achieve. And I think it is subtler, with less emphasis on line to sort out tonal issues. Not thatContinue reading “That Butcher’s Shop Again”

Making Friends with Architecture

 I’m so excited about this. It is ‘re-worked’ from my original drawing and I like the brickwork and tiles. That’s how I wanted to do it when I was drawing it on location. It’s looser, more free and I’ve used a dip pen, which is so much better as the line is less controlled. OKContinue reading “Making Friends with Architecture”