Basingstoke Spiritualist Church

Yesterday, I had occasion to be loitering in the Proteus Creation Space car park. Our - Artikinesis' - exhibition was within the Creation Space. Making more pictures of Basingstoke was, of course, completely pointless.

So I did it anyway.

I had had my eye on the Spiritualist Church building for a while. A low, corrugated shack, directly opposite the grandeur of All Saints (not pictured), it looks like a relic from a not-too-distant past.

Drawn in an A6 sketchbook using Winsor and Newton's Indian Red calligraphy ink, loaded into my Sailor Fude de Mannen (Japanese calligraphy pen).

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.

Fallen Trees in the Woods on Greenham Common

A little on the blue side because of the lateness of the hour that I took the photograph, this is the first sketch in a new sketchbook (a Seawhite "Popular" book - 250 x 190mm), and the first of several that I made on a circular wak on Greenham Common today. It was made in indigo calligraphy ink using the Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen that I imported from Japan.

St. Peter's, Headley

 

St Peter's is a pretty little church, surrounded by dense woodland o two sides, that I drive past fairly often. I've stopped to sketch it once before - albeit with less than satisfactory results. But that was a few years ago, and I think I may have got better at quick sketching.

I had to be quite quick - it was cold out there!

As well as the three sketches of the church, I also turned to the woods and a fabulous yew within the churchyard with stonework leaing up against it, and ivy-covered crosses... perhaps some people like their churchyards neat and tidy, but I do rather like to see evidence of nature and the passage of time.

Although I'm not laying claim to any churchyards, of course.

All sketches done using the Japanese calligraphy pen, with graphite added to the churchyard.