Gorgeous Hunk

…of marble, that is. Buff, and buffed to perfection.

On our big sketching day, the second port of call was the Victoria & Albert Museum. It’s probably my favourite in London, hosting the most amazing examples of the world’s art and design achievements, from the time man first set his hand to create something beautiful.

We were arrested by the sculpture galleries, where Michaelangelo’s imposing David takes centre stage. There was simply no question about what to draw first.

First I drew the main shapes in fineliner, then added the contours with Tombow and waterpen. I find it pleasing how the paint has separated to give blueish and reddish tones to the shades.

As you see, I made life difficult for myself with the positioning of David on the paper – he could have done with being either a little lower, or smaller and higher. It would seem an undeserved indignity to have given him only half of what he was due in the nether regions, so I opted for complete omission instead. A handy cop-out.

The afternoon light was excellent in this gallery, and provided lots of good shadows and highlights. This, combined with the museum stools fortunately to hand, made it a real pleasure to sketch here.