New Sketchbook Series

Because of changes in family circumstances visits to the studio have been a bit sporadic of late, hence the slow progress of the larger work, "Dream of the Rood". However it has not stopped me from working at home using sketchbooks. I usually carry an A5 hardback one with me; it is a useful "go anywhere" size but for now I've bought an A4 book instead, a proper desktop size and am using it to make mainly pen-and-wash/watercolour work working from a huge amount of photographs accumulated over the years. I'll try to keep this book for finished or semi-finished work rather than the quickly scribbled ideas. We'll see....

I visited Lichfield Cathedral in November last year. I find myself attracted to the  not so  obvious bits that tourists flock to, but rather the obscure and sometimes apparently neglected corners which probably have their own story to tell, making me speculate what these little niches are about. This is one such outside the South Wall of the nave. It must have served some purpose in the past.
All the pages are A4 as pointed out earlier and drawn on 150 gsm cartridge paper. Line drawing with a 0.3 mm. black ink micro-pen with watercolour.

 There is a ruined Saxon Monastery at Heysham Head near Lancaster. The photo was taken in August 2015 whilst showing a friend of mine from Cambridge around. We had a good afternoon at the site doing quite a bit of Plein Air sketching. I only completed this piece  this morning.
Drawn on A4 150 gsm cartridge paper. Line drawing with a 0.3 mm. black ink micro-pen with watercolour.

The Dream of the Rood (2). A page from the current sketchbook where I've developed the initial idea posted earlier.Here I'm looking at how it might work as a stained glass piece set in three lancet windows in a church. 
No particular place in mind except that this would be an ideal setting.
Tom Denny's stained glass work is the obvious influence.

Study for "Dream of the Rood"

Study of the tree envisioned in the "Dream of the Rood".  Drawn and painted on Fabriano paper 300 gsm. Size of image, 10 x 13 cms but here enhanced to A4 with increased resolution. As usual I used Daler FW acrylic drawing inks. To get an idea of the true colour I used Prussian Blue for the area surrounding the tree roots and for the the corpora, Vermilion with the merest touch of Prussian Blue added. The lines were drawn using  0.1mm and 0.3mm pens.

As the poem implies, this was a dream and to facilitate this I chose to have the sun just about peering between the branches at the top of the trunk and the corpora to appear as a trick of the light.

Its been an interesting little project and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't stop there.

A Small Project.... perhaps

An idea came to mind to make four pieces of work that look back to Saxon and Celtic legend. As seen here there is the initial layout starting with postcard sized sketches along a line above the main pieces which are being drawn on A4 size 200gsm Daler cartridge paper. The photo on the left is a seascape placed over the original figure drawing as a reference for the sea component of that picture. The tree at the top is a study for  the work in progress below. The figure on the right is work-in-progress of a wanderer/pilgrim traversing a windswept fell-top.

The Dream of the Rood. A kneeling figure looks out from a chapel doorway and sees a vision of a tree bearing a cruciform figure. The title is taken from an Anglo-Saxon poem describing the cross, - or tree's version of Christ's crucifixion.

Seven Stanes. On the England-Scotland border not far from the western end of  Kielder Reservoir  stands a fell of that name. Seven stones do indeed sit on that summit but little or no hint of a ruined chapel and the trees are absent too. However, hagiographies and archaeological evidence suggests that the early Christian missionaries such as Patrick, Columba and Aidan built their chapels on the sites of stone circles. These places  had spiritual significance long before the Christians arrived. Stone circles are themselves pre-dated by avenues and circles of trees known as henges. I have brought all three elements together to given it a wraith-like quality where time stands still. I know when I've visited these places I could sense that timelessness.

Caedmon was a deeply religious man who worked alongside St Hilda at her double monastery in Whitby on the North-East coast of England in the 6th  century. "Caedmon's Hymn", written in old Northumbrian, is a paean to the glory of existence.
I hope at some future point I'll be able to feature the words from "Dream of the Rood" and "Caedmon's Hymn."  I have them to hand. Its really a question of finding time to set it out here.

Sketchbook Items (1)

If I may move away from the "music themed" work for a while I'll post some items from my much-used sketchbook. One idea I'm looking at is the Saxon Writing, "The Dream of the Rood" by an unknown author but has an archaic English translation.   What is shown  is a concept of a chancel arch based on the one in Jarrow. There is a similar church in Sunderland. Both have connections to the Venerable Bede, a famous 7th. century monk. Whether or not Bede was involved with the poem is uncertain.

Archaeological evidence elsewhere suggests Saxon roods were stone affairs built in to the very structure of the building unlike their mediaeval wooden counterparts. A "rood" is a form of the Christian's cross.

This image is an exploration of the above idea incorporating verses from the "Dream".

The verse I've put into the sketch is shown below.

The choicest vision I do tell

Which came as a midnight dream

I saw a wondrous tree

Borne aloft - wound with light

The brightest of beams.

All was that beacon sprinkled with gold.....

..... All beheld the angel of God

Fair through pre-destiny.

[This] was no malefactor's gallows,

As holy souls beheld it.

I saw the Glory Tree....

Full text etc. here.