Thatcham, Berkshire

The Bluecoats School on the A4

Roof line of Thatcham House

Two of the most interesting buildings in Thatcham, sketched quickly in sepia calligraphy ink, black rollerball and with, in the case of the Bluecoats sketch, a Derwent Drawing pencil sky added later.

Hay-On-Wye

This is a sketch made from a photograph (an old that I took over a decade ago). What makes it a sketch? Arbitrarily, because I decided it was one! It's small, it didn't take long, and its main purpose was to try line and wash on a sample piece of paper (Jackson's ECO, approx A5).

We used to visit Hay-on-Wye nearly every year for a while, before our chldren were born. Just to buy books and meet up with friends.

St. Mark and St. Luke, Avington

Church vertebrae? - 6B Graphite stick

A sketching expedition in the rain; an intriguing little 12th century Norman church. Made for each other

Thatcham... from a couple of car parks

From Waitrose's car park
(Japanese calligraphy pen and blue gel pen)

From The Swan's car park
(Derwent Graphik Line Painters)

I had cause to be in Thatcham for just over an hour this afternoon. Not long, but long enough to buy some oddments from Waitrose, grab a free coffee and sketch the backs of some of the premises on the town's markeplace from the corner of the supermarket car park. (The view from my car was less than inspiring, so I stood outside and ignored the other shoppers almost as much as they ignored me).

And I had some time left over, so I drove to the outskirts and parked in a pub car park for ten minutes. I didn't dare go further out of town in case I got caught the wrong side of the level crossing; I had to be somewhere in Thatcham promptly! The canal was invisible, the hills nearly so; but there were plenty of trees and the footbridge over the railway mad an interesting focal point.