Yvan and I got a chance to sketch at the Chalmers-Wesley United Church last Wednesday. Sketching the many carved surfaces in these churches is excellent hand-eye coordination exercise but, for me, the big deal is that with so many surfaces going in so many directions, it’s good experience in trying to see and replicate tonal variation. I still struggle with capturing this in ink so I like to do it when I get the chance.
We set up around a baptism urn (apologies if that’s not what it’s called). This one had a triangular base with three panels of stone engravings, each of them unique, and we set our sights on drawing them. We were going to draw for a couple hours, listen to a scheduled organ recital, and then head to the museum to try to sketch moving targets in the form of dancers. That’s what Yvan did, I think. For me things didn’t go so well.
I got a migraine as I was drawing. I finished up the sketch below, packed up and went home. No more drawing, no organ recital, no dancers. Not all sketching days go well.
It looks like you have mastered the subtleties of ink shading Larry.
This is so nicely rendered
I hope the migraine subsided
Alan
Thanks, Alan. I only wish it were true 🙂 Hatched shading, for me, looks quite straight-forward but when I try to do it it suddenly becomes complex, with too many decisions (direction, tone, size/shape) to make. Clearly, though, doing sketches like the church panel really help to learn how to do it. — Larry
Baptismal font 😉