This is a pen and watercolour pencil sketch of St John the Baptist in my village of Coltishall.
It has a thatch roof and wonderful bells ringing out especially Monday evening practice time. Viewed from my art room window over the village rooftops.
This is St Margarets at Stratton Strawless together with a gold candleholder I was able to sketch as this church is open through the Diocese of Norwich project pilot scheme with 20 churches open to the public around the Norfolk Broads. The leaflet I picked up said the tower was rebuilt in 1400's with plans for a higher stage which never happened. The roof is slate. By the way the name STRATTON STRAWLESS means the street on the heath where no corn grows.
This is sadly all that remains of this church with the rest of the structure collapsed into undergrowth and hardly anything left. Strangely, the lower grave yard is well maintained and used to this day judging from the date on some of the new stones. It is near a village I think is called Waterloo near Hainsforth. Pass it regularly on my way home from various trips and spotted the top of the tower on a slope amongst the trees. Hope to find out more about its history.
Other churches are open under this pilot project but eventually there should be some 40 open by 2009 with visitors access and information about each church. I plan to add to my church sketchbook by visiting the ones currently open in the Broads near me but waiting for better/warmer weather. I was 'stone' cold sketching the candleholder in St Margarets!!!
5 comments:
Very nice work. The ruins of the church was my favorite. One of my great grandmothers was born in England and came to the USA when she was five. Whenever someone mentions a graveyard in England I wonder if I have relatives there.
Joan these are seriously gorgeous, looking fwd to you converting them into oils.
Lovely sketches, Joan. I especially like what you've achieved with minimal use of coloured pencil in that second image.
And what a view you have from your art room!!
Thanks Anita, Robert and Emma. Nice thoughts to receive from fellow artists. Where did your grandmother come from Robert? Surprising Anita how little sketches in one of my black journals can come up well on screen. I'll be able to get rid of the dark background page when I find my new scanner. Im off to Laura's (my daughter) for couple of days so my plan to add something daily will go awry. Catch up with you Sunday or Monday!!
My mother is the keeper of the family
history and she is sick with the flu.
My mother looked like a copy of my great grandmother and she loves England. I try to pass that bit of info on to you when my mother feels better.
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