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.

Brahms' German Requiem Part 2

Completed at last! Its only taken the best part of four months to complete this 70 x 50 cm work on a sheet of 300 gsm Fabriano5 paper. Black ink line drawing with FW acrylic inks for the more painterly aspects.
This is part of the art/music project. This piece is titled "Brahms' German Requiem, second stanza". The stanza is part two of a nine-part work. I intend only to do two of the stanzas. There are other composer's works in the pipeline.
I've already made preliminary sketches for "Elgar's Dream" (Gerontius), Mahler's second symphony "The Resurrection" (Finale) and the Finale of Sibelius' fifth symphony.
As ever the work is intended to portray the imagery that the actual music sounds generates but also the patterns of the written music on the stave

Bach B minor Mass: - the Drawing.

The title looks like it should read "Bach B minor - the Movie" but no, its a drawing on 300 gsm cartridge 50 x 70 cm. It is the finished piece developed from the study sketch, - along with several others, - shown previously. Close examination should reveal some of the technical drawing aspects I've used. The German Romantics have played a role here, the painter David Caspar Friedrich and the composer Robert Schumann as well as my own interpretation.  I spent lot of my time when I was younger walking the more infrequently visited parts of the Northumberland and Scottish Border areas so quite naturally, I suppose, such features as coniferous forests, moorland, standing stones and ancient ruins.  I think I've inadvertently walked in the footsteps of the solitary wanderer featured so much in both the artist's and musician's footstep to say nothing of the writers such as Goethe and Schiller. Yes it is all very German and it is my second language to boot.

But enough of that. Sufficient to say this is a drawing using black ink and micro pen for the line and the "painterly" component is coloured inks and  brushwork.

The Sanctus in Bach's work has a filigree quality which I've reflected in the  tree-tops and the tall straight tree-trunks provide the rhythmic bass which could be the huge diapason pipes of the organ. But let's not get too bogged down in explanations. I'd  prefer you to make your own interpretation(s).