OVER THE WEEKEND I’ve been thinking what would it be like if
I allowed myself to go to some place I’ve never visited before,
to draw, but not to be in a hurry and to draw exactly what I would like
to draw, not to feel obliged to go for the thing that I must draw.
Today I’ve got a chance to try that out because I’m here at Roche Abbey, near Maltby, South Yorkshire, with my artist friends John Welding and Helen Thomas on a pilgrimage-come-sketchcrawl.
As the name suggests, it was the rocks that drew the Cistercian monks to Roche. They sought out secluded places and this bend on Maltby Beck is like Fountains Abbey in miniature. I decide that I’d like to start with the rocks too and I spend the morning drawing this magnesian limestone cliff immediately to the north of the nave of the ruined abbey church. From some viewpoints you get the impression that the early Gothic abbey has grown from the rock. Even before the monks arrived a stone in the shape of a cross had attracted pilgrims here.
With Ruskin’s advice on clear line and the example of Hergé fresh
in my mind I struggle to start the drawing in the top left-hand corner,
feeling awkward about it. It’s not until I get to the blocky strata
at the bottom of the drawing that I feel myself loosening up.
For simplicity I'm working in Rotring Art Pen with an extra fine sketch nib. As you can see from the detail of the carving (right), the problem I've got is that one drop of water can blot the drawing. I can soon get rid of the blot in Photoshop but it makes drawing an anxious process if a grey cloud drifts over.
I might move onto drawing in dip pen. We'll see.
Maltby
Beck