Curate’s Egg

Friday was a day off, all jobs on hold, so my husband and I went out into the wilds of Norfolk sketch hunting. The weather was glowering, although dry, and it was difficult to find a scene which pleased us both. I think that the lack of sun, and consequently shadows, played a big part in this. It’s easy to underestimate the impact a good shadow or two has on a slice of landscape.

Anyway, time was ticking on, we found this round-towered church at South Pickenham, and decided to just go for it. It’s a building which has obviously been added to and adapted over the centuries by builders of varying skill and ambition. The top of the round Norman tower is octagonal (although not convincingly so) and was added in the late mediaeval period. The main body of the church dates from at the latest the 14th Century, with the porch a positively modern Victorian addition.

As you can tell, we camped between the residents, who hopefully didn’t mind. There were a lot of perspective challenges here, and it was hard to believe my eyes as to the angles of slope on the rooflines, hence some inconsistencies. The foliage gave me a lot of trouble, but I’m quite pleased with the results on the yew to the left of the church. At home I employed a flat brush to introduce some further darks and changes of texture into the very large, dense tree on the right, and to sharpen up the lines on the church and grasses. As always, it was a battle to achieve sufficient contrast in the picture, especially given the dull conditions of the day. I’d have liked the outcome to have been fresher than it is.

This was the last page in my A4 watercolour sketchbook, so now I can archive this and move on to the delights of a new pad. Hurray!